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A comment on Crypto in 2026: Oh, This Is the Bad Place. Parent comment

Re:Crypto in 2026: Oh, This Is the Bad Place by trollbridge on Tuesday June 23, 2026 @10:24AM (#48645442)
Euros, dollars, pounds, francs, and yen are all more stable and easier to use than cryptocurrencies.

It gets even easier once you toss in Visa, Mastercard, Discover, Amex, various debit card and regional networks, and ubiquitous banking services. Checks and online ACH payments are free or nearly free. Payment card platforms are cheap in consideration the value you get for them.

Meanwhile actually spending crypto is quite expensive - worse than Visa’s transaction fees, and far less consumer and merchant protections.

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Re:Crypto in 2026: Oh, This Is the Bad Place by glitchc on Tuesday June 23, 2026 @10:45AM (#48645839)
The key difference is that they all require identity to use and can be traced back to a person.
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Re:Crypto in 2026: Oh, This Is the Bad Place by atomic_cowprod on Tuesday June 23, 2026 @10:58AM (#48646039)
That is by design and is a good thing to everyone except cartels and communist governments.
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Re:Crypto in 2026: Oh, This Is the Bad Place by inigyou on Tuesday June 23, 2026 @11:35AM (#48646724)
What about people wanting to buy abortion pills?
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Re:Crypto in 2026: Oh, This Is the Bad Place by trollbridge on Tuesday June 23, 2026 @02:23PM (#48649170)
Cash, at a pharmacy.

Crypto doesn’t make that any better.

Neither does online ordering. Online orders have to have a degree of KYC.

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Re:Crypto in 2026: Oh, This Is the Bad Place by inigyou on Tuesday June 23, 2026 @11:50PM (#48654859)
It's illegal to sell abortion pills. What now?
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Re:Crypto in 2026: Oh, This Is the Bad Place by trollbridge on Wednesday June 24, 2026 @12:19AM (#48655061)
Cash seems to have functioned pretty well for the illegal drug trade for a long time.

What’s your point? Crypto somehow facilitates illegal financial transactions? That is not going to make normal people eager to use it.

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Re:Crypto in 2026: Oh, This Is the Bad Place by inigyou on Wednesday June 24, 2026 @04:01AM (#48656668)
At least not until normal things become crimes.
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Re:Crypto in 2026: Oh, This Is the Bad Place by trollbridge on Tuesday June 23, 2026 @02:22PM (#48649158)
Cash requires no such thing. Neither do easily available gift cards. There is a little more friction involved.

As a merchant I have zero desire to sell online to an anonymous buyer because the fraud risk is too high. I have to know whom I’m shipping to and how they’re paying for it.

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Re:Crypto in 2026: Oh, This Is the Bad Place by glitchc on Wednesday June 24, 2026 @11:53AM (#48661770)
We were talking about digital payments right? Cash isn't digital.
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