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Re:Why Bitcoin Matters for Africa by res0nat0r on Sunday February 23, 2014 @09:24PM (#7288777)
I should have qualified above with something like e-currency.

> M-Pesa uses local currencies, which frequently lose their value in non-OECD countries.

The outrageous swings of bitcoin hour by hour have the same issue. I don't see how using the USD, like Zimbabwe did to prevent inflation coupled with M-Pesa wouldn't be a better solution if you are suggesting the country move to a new system.

Re:Why Bitcoin Matters for Africa by wyager on Monday February 24, 2014 @01:40AM (#7289417)
>The outrageous swings of bitcoin hour by hour have the same issue.

Bitcoin loses, at worst, maybe 50% of its value over the course of a few weeks. The Zimbabwe dollar lost 99.99% of its value over the course of a few weeks.

Of course, on larger time scales, the volatility of Bitcoin has been in a distinctly upward direction. So yeah, I guess Bitcoin has kind of the opposite problem of the Zimbabwe Dollar (if you can call it a problem).

And then, of course, Bitcoin will probably stabilize over time. New currencies are not historically stable.