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El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender

(ticotimes.net)
927 points smallerfish | 2 comments | 04 Feb 25 00:00 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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ks2048 ◴[04 Feb 25 00:26 UTC] No.42925530[source]▶
Do pro-bitcoin people still talk about goals of bitcoin being a currency that people use daily?

I don't follow it closely, but that idea seems to have faded and now it's just an asset to buy and hold while it magically goes up forever.

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desumeku ◴[04 Feb 25 00:37 UTC] No.42925658[source]▶
For daily usage, Bitcoin is simply inferior to Ethereum and other blockchains.
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block_dagger ◴[04 Feb 25 00:38 UTC] No.42925670[source]▶
That opinion is not shared by those who think Proof of Stake and no ceiling to supply are bugs vs features.
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desumeku ◴[04 Feb 25 00:41 UTC] No.42925704[source]▶
Those issues are not really relevant when it comes to factors like transaction speeds and the diversity of assets available to transact with, such as stablecoins, as well as DeFi platforms to actually use those assets on.
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1. bloatedGoat ◴[04 Feb 25 02:42 UTC] No.42927029{4}[source]▶
If all you care about are transaction speeds then use the lightning network. Instant settlement of bitcoin and much lower fees. There are protocols like Cashu [1] that allow you to transact offline anonymously for no fees and settle on the lightning network.

Why do you need "diversity of assets to transact with"? Go to any store in almost any country and they usually accept a single currency. Maybe in some they take local + USD. You're arguing for something the market doesn't seem to care about outside of speculative trading for fiat gains.

And even if you really want stablecoins they've been added to bitcoin via the lightning network and taproot assets. Tether for example can be used via bitcoin [2]. There's a reason Bitcoin makes up well over 50% of the total crypto market.

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1. https://cashu.space/

2. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/01/30/tether-brings-i...

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2. desumeku ◴[04 Feb 25 02:49 UTC] No.42927104[source]▶
You "can" do all these things on BTC. Almost nobody does. All of Tether & USDC usage takes place on other blockchains. The lightning network is notoriously tricky to use and isn't trustless. A diversity of assets enables things like PAXG, an ERC-20 token backed fully by real-world gold, as well as things like tokenized stocks, bonds, and t-bills, the last already existing, and the former surely coming in the near future.

Additionally BTC isn't "over 50% of the market", it's over 50% of the market capitalization, which is a huge difference. BTC doesn't have the raw TX speed to make up 50% of actual market activity.