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Re:No Bitcoin ETFs at Vanguard by erikpukinskis on Sunday January 26, 2025 @06:01PM (#42835174)
> Bitcoin, the most popular cryptcoin in the world, is far from quick and cheap to exchange

Compared to what?

Let’s say your goal is to get some wealth out of Tibet into India.

Is it “quick and easy” to do that with dollars? Or Yuan? How about gold bricks? Maybe goats?

I’m not sure what the Chinese authorities at the border would have to say about those things.

With Bitcoin you can memorize a phrase like “witch collapse practice feed shame open despair creek road again ice least” and with that information in your brain you can move any amount of money anywhere your brain can go.

That is one _utility_ of Bitcoin. Just like one _utility_ of a dollar bill is I can put it in a Coke machine.

Re:No Bitcoin ETFs at Vanguard by depingus on Sunday January 26, 2025 @07:24PM (#42835867)
"Committing crimes is easier with bitcoin," is an interesting argument.
Re:No Bitcoin ETFs at Vanguard by dns_snek on Monday January 27, 2025 @04:45AM (#42839210)
A crime can be just about anything that the current government doesn't like, for any reason.

The first thing that many governments will do when a protest of any kind starts becoming too effective is to make it a crime to participate or support the protest. I think we should all keep this scenario in mind when discussing what the future of our financial system should look like.

It's foolish to gloss over the word "crime" like it only describes human trafficking and international drug trade, especially with everything going on in the US. What was "going to the doctor" yesterday could be "committing a crime" tomorrow.

Re:No Bitcoin ETFs at Vanguard by stouset on Sunday January 26, 2025 @08:57PM (#42836534)
And in your hypothetical scenario, how did you get that value into Bitcoin to begin with?