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  • etherphon@piefed.worldEnglish
    1394·
    2 days ago

    Crypto and oil, two things I would wish would just fuck off already. Religion too.

      • leadore@lemmy.world
        31·
        1 day ago

        Crypto , Oil, Religion. All practically the same thing at this point.

        “And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the bitcoin.” – Revelation 6:6

    • Sunflier@lemmy.worldEnglish
      83·
      1 day ago

      Crypto? Crypto provides a viable alternative to the dollar for international transactions.

      Want to engage in ecconomic activities, but you’re sanctioned by the US?

      Well, here’s a tradable asset that the US can’t control because it is decentralized, and it has value in that it can be used by others as a vehicle for international trade like the dollar used to be. Gold does the same thing, but its really heavy, the US controls a HUGE supply of it, and you can’t prove the gold is yours if it gets stolen and melted. Cryptos sometimes get stolen too because the exchanges are hacked, but that isn’t really possible with a cold wallet for a host of technical reasons (if anything, you have to have a key/pin to use a cold wallet just like you do with a payment card).

      So, basically there’s now an international vehicle of trade that isn’t subject to the arbitrary whims of a Republican the US. It also cannot be duplicated—there will only ever be 20 or 21 million.

      A lot of people say bitcoin has no value, which is true on some level. But, neither does the dollar (other than its backing by the US government, but that’s arbitrary) or gold (gold’s value is a combination of scarcity and the whims of the market, but the exact same can be said of crypto).

      I mean, there’s a daily usage consideration like with the dollar and Visa/Mastercard/Amex. But, what happens if/when those CC suddenly allow you to pay with crypto? I mean, the US government is depreciating its dollar constantly. So, why wouldn’t they accept an alternative form of payment? I mean, what if/when everyone loses trust in the US because of Trump/Republicans its politics so they let/demand Americans pay their bill in Euros? Yuan? BRICS money?

      Also, its worth noting there are 1:1 crypto:dollar coins that are secure like with a bank, can’t be stolen from a cold wallet, and appreciate with interest like if you opened a bank account.

      In fact, banks are throwing a bitch at the regulatory level because Congress’s crypto bill had a loophole in it that lets there be a viable dollar-Crypto alternative to bank accounts with a higher interest rate (savings accounts have like a 0.25 APY, but the crypto incarnaton of USD automatically appreciates at the Reserve’s rate).

      That doesn’t even get into Ethereum being able to serve as a viable alternative-network for the tokenization and exchange of real world assets (whats the difference between owning 1 physical stock certificate out of 100 for companyX and 1 “coin” version of said stock certificate out of 100?). Ethereum has the added benefit of not closing like clearing houses do.

      • phutatorius@lemmy.zip
        21·
        1 day ago

        you can’t prove the gold is yours if it gets stolen and melted

        You can’t prove crypto is yours either. All you can prove is that you have, or once had, access to it. Authentication is not identity. In fact, crypto is designed to keep those two things separate.

        neither does the dollar (other than its backing by the US government, but that’s arbitrary)

        That’s far less arbitrary than the backing of some random collection of anonymous people saying “trust me, bro.” Just look at the history of crypto rug-pulls, market manipulation, exchanges vanishing overnight, etc.

        So, why wouldn’t they accept an alternative form of payment?

        Because know-your-customer laws are quite effective at finding the proceeds of crime and stopping money-laundering, and (in countries without Citizens United) preventing interference in politics by anonymous actors, often hostile states.

        • Sunflier@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          1 day ago

          You can’t prove crypto is yours either. All you can prove is that you have, or once had, access to it.

          Right, and cold wallets are super fucking secure like banking is. Like, the cold wallets have the same level of security as banks (more so depending on which one you use). Its the exchanges you’re thinking of (you buy from an exchange and send to your cold wallet, and send back if you want to sell it or xfer from your cold wallet directly to the other person’s wallet to pay them). Exchanges get hacked all the time, but you can sue/get recovery depending on the exhange (Robinhood is safe-ish).

          That’s far less arbitrary than the backing of some random collection of anonymous people saying “trust me, bro.”

          Crypto is decentralized, so that’s not really a thing. Unless you mean like the global crypto user population, but at that point you’re basically at the same population of some countries, just more spread out. And, at that point, isn’t that the same thing as governments and their money?

          Because know-your-customer laws are quite effective at finding the proceeds of crime and stopping money-laundering.

          Must be nice living in a country that cares about its people. But, even then, there’s no reason that an electric company can’t set up a unique wallet it controlls for every customer to pay into so the company can know its bills are being paid by monitoring said wallet addresses.

          preventing interference in politics by anonymous actors, often hostile states.

          Ha! I got a moon to sell you.

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    75·
    2 days ago

    Another Shart of the Deal from the nine-dimensional chess player.

    It’s almost like the dumbest fucking people all banded together to find one of the dumbest people they could find to “lead” this country. JFC. And they still love this asshole.

    • Tyrq@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      7·
      1 day ago

      thoughts from beyond braindead

      ‘Hey, this guys a dumbass, and he made it to president, there’s time for me to sparkle yet mama’

  • dhork@lemmy.worldEnglish
    541·
    2 days ago

    “Once the email arrives and Iran completes its assessment, vessels are given a few seconds to pay in bitcoin, ensuring they can’t be traced or confiscated due to sanctions,” Hosseini told the newspaper.

    Oh shit, it’s one thing to be on the wrong side of the US Army. But the Iranians are about to be on the wrong side of Monero shills, who will loudly proclaim “Bitcoin isn’t untraceable, they should use Monero instead” from the comfort of their parents’ basement…

    • redsand@infosec.pub
      7·
      1 day ago

      I think the reporter is just misunderstanding. Iran and North Korea don’t have any reason to care if you can “trace” the transaction. They just need confirmation which bitcoin is slow at so Iran should defiantly investigate better options. Ideally options that will be quantum secure by Q day

      • explodicle@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        2·
        1 day ago

        10 minutes is nothing in this context. There’s so many Bitcoin exchanges that it can’t effectively be stopped.

        • redsand@infosec.pub
          2·
          1 day ago

          Normally under optimal network conditions. Iran has a unique set of connections to the internet, is up against the PayPal mafia and trading with the countries who tie it into fiber. It’s a strange threat model

      • FaceDeer@fedia.io
        19·
        2 days ago

        There are several that are indeed designed for anonymity, such as Monero or Zcash. And others that have mechanisms for anonymity within them, such as Ethereum’s Tornado Cash mixer or Aztec rollup.

  • F/15/Cali@threads.net@sh.itjust.works
    11·
    2 days ago

    Could you imagine if this is what causes the US to finally go all-in on electric?? I mean, it won’t because petrol companies own the government, but I’d still like to fantasize

    • FaceDeer@fedia.io
      18·
      2 days ago

      In the specific case of Iran and Bitcoin, using a currency that requires expenditure is actually a benefit. It increases demand for the very thing that they’re selling.

      More generally, though, there are plenty of cryptocurrencies that don’t burn significant quantities of energy. Anything running on Ethereum has been validated using proof-of-stake since 2022.

      • teyrnon@sh.itjust.works
        21·
        2 days ago

        I have heard that at least drug dealers are using Monero now. At least the ones that I have second hand familiarity with.

    • YurkshireLad@lemmy.ca
      3·
      2 days ago

      Haha! I can see Trump threatening over this, sending demands and walking away saying “job done” with the higher price as you point out. Priceless!

  • teyrnon@sh.itjust.works
    41·
    2 days ago

    I don’t know how many barrels of oil a ship holds, but this seems significantly less than the 2 million per tanker they were saying they were going to charge just a couple hours ago on the guardian at least.