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El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender

(ticotimes.net)
927 points smallerfish | 3 comments | 04 Feb 25 00:00 UTC | HN request time: 0.638s | source
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twodave ◴[04 Feb 25 02:57 UTC] No.42927187[source]▶
Didn’t we learn back in the 1500s that asset-backed currencies are unsustainable? Bitcoin will never, ever be able to take the place of a fiat currency because it carries with it many of the same problems as Spanish silver the conquistadors were traveling all the way to SOUTH AMERICA to mine half a millennium ago. It was essentially a very difficult proof of work. The only real advantage bitcoin has is that it’s easy to carry.

Even when the entire world started selling off their gold to the US in the 30s and 40s it became obvious by the 70s that there wasn’t enough gold mining capacity on earth to sustain a global asset-backed currency.

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olalonde ◴[04 Feb 25 04:03 UTC] No.42927756[source]▶
https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/ might temper your enthusiasm towards modern fiat currency.
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1. twodave ◴[04 Feb 25 04:56 UTC] No.42928173[source]▶
I’m not sure what exact point or points you want me to care about, but none of these charts seem to suggest _why_ we and every other country moved to fiat. I’ll admit I didn’t look at them all, you didn’t give me nearly the effort in your comment that you’re asking from me…
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2. toenail ◴[04 Feb 25 07:08 UTC] No.42929078[source]▶
We moved to fiat because politicians like the indirect taxation through inflation. It's free money for them, what's not to like?
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3. twodave ◴[05 Feb 25 00:04 UTC] No.42941251[source]▶
That is not why we moved to fiat. It may be a consequence, but there are also seriously consequential checks against doing it too freely.