[FANTASY] What if.. the Greek people choose Bitcoin/Crypto as a currency?

[Zetacoin Express]

This is pure fantasy since I know there is no chance it would ever happen, but I (as well as others) like to fantasize because it's fun and makes us feel good.  

Besides, I'm bored and have a few minutes to waste.

Building on this thread:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1009415.0

I wonder, what would actually happen if Greece does indeed exit the Euro and decides to adopt Bitcoin as it's national currency.  Here's my take on it.

For starters the Greek exit alone would cause a price rise in Bitcoin, Gold, and the altcoin markets.  The Euro will drop and the US dollar will follow.

Then when Greece announces it is going to use Bitcoin there will be a massive surge in Bitcoin's price.  Up to the 10's of thousands of US dollars.  Not only because (Bitcoins) become more valued, but also because the US dollar and Euro have lost value.  The Greek citizens would have the strongest currency (in regards to buying power) in the world.  Outstanding debts would be paid off almost effortlessly. Assuming of course that the government and citizens began to buy Bitcoin in the months prior to these events.  Within a year Greece would probably be the most prosperous nation in the world.  Other Euro nations may follow and drive Bitcoin's price even higher.  The US dollar and Euro would suffer tremendously.

Greece would basically be at the epicenter of crypto-currency.  Most Bitcoin business would probably move and setup in Greece.  We would see a whole new multitude of Bitcoin based services operating out of Greece with the government's blessing.

Nice right? but yeah, I see the problems that would prevent such a thing from happening.  First of all, Greece would need to be able to buy Bitcoins in order to have a reserve supply.  I don't expect a government will simply adopt a currency without holding a major supply of it.  Greece is broke, so I don't see it being able to buy enough Bitcoins.

This is why it would make sense for Greece to adopt a low valued Altcoin (or create one).  It could buy up most of the supply of the selected altcoin and use that instead.  This would be the intelligent option and would have the same effect as if using Bitcoin.  Whatever they choose, Bitcoin would still benefit.

Anyways, I'm just some dude posting on a forum having fun fantasizing about stuff that may not happen.  Would love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Take a moment and fantasize...  

[1714901743]

1714901743

[1714901743]

1714901743

[1714901743]

1714901743

[rocks]

Greece won't adopt Bitcoin as a currency. That is not how sound money mechanisms work.

Now the Greek people themselves might choose to ignore government fiat and adopt Bitcoin. But that is very different from Greece adopting bitcoin.

[Morecoin Freeman]

I would move to Greece then.

[Zetacoin Express]

That is not how sound money mechanisms work.

Could you expand on that?
I don't understand.

[BTCtrader71]

I've been having a similar fantasy myself just now as I listen to NPR talk about a miscalculation by Greek leaders leading to an accidental Grexit - a "Graccident"

In my dream version, the Greek leaders don't know what to do on Monday after they default. In a panic, and for lack of any better ideas, they start to talk about a Cyprus-style haircut. Greek citizens rush into various safe havens and find bitcoin is the easiest and quickest. As money drains from Greek banks, leaders realize the haircut will have to be shorter, and shorter, and shorter, encouraging even faster flight into bitcoin. Within  a few days of Graccident we see the value of bitcoin triple. Now Greek leaders are in total panic when they realize the haircut will be like 50% or more of bank funds (not just 10% like in Cyprus). Meanwhile, the people start using bitcoin (and tether and other blockchain based currencies) because all of their fiat has been confiscated and whatever is left they know will be stolen by the gov't. Greek leaders disagree over what to do about bitcoin and as a result, they do nothing. Within 6 months, Greek unemployment has stabilized at 25%; within 12 months, it has decreased to 10%. The world says: holy fuck, how did that happen -- we thought unemployment would rise!!?!? And that's when the whole world wakes up to bitcoin. (And price shoots to a new ATH of $50,000, before crashing to $3000 .... voila, bitcoin's next bubble cycle.)

20 years later, historians talk about how Graccident triggered the First Bitcoin Big Bang.

Of course, that's all just a dream. But wouldn't it be nice 

[cellard]

I would move to Greece then.

The beauty of Bitcoin is you wouldn't probably need to move to Greece to benefit from it. Just get the citizenship, start a business there and that's all, you can come back home and operate your BTC business.

[Fakhoury]

I've been having a similar fantasy myself just now as I listen to NPR talk about a miscalculation by Greek leaders leading to an accidental Grexit - a "Graccident"

In my dream version, the Greek leaders don't know what to do on Monday after they default. In a panic, and for lack of any better ideas, they start to talk about a Cyprus-style haircut. Greek citizens rush into various safe havens and find bitcoin is the easiest and quickest. As money drains from Greek banks, leaders realize the haircut will have to be shorter, and shorter, and shorter, encouraging even faster flight into bitcoin. Within  a few days of Graccident we see the value of bitcoin triple. Now Greek leaders are in total panic when they realize the haircut will be like 50% or more of bank funds (not just 10% like in Cyprus). Meanwhile, the people start using bitcoin (and tether and other blockchain based currencies) because all of their fiat has been confiscated and whatever is left they know will be stolen by the gov't. Greek leaders disagree over what to do about bitcoin and as a result, they do nothing. Within 6 months, Greek unemployment has stabilized at 25%; within 12 months, it has decreased to 10%. The world says: holy fuck, how did that happen -- we thought unemployment would rise!!?!? And that's when the whole world wakes up to bitcoin. (And price shoots to a new ATH of $50,000, before crashing to $3000 .... voila, bitcoin's next bubble cycle.)

20 years later, historians talk about how Graccident triggered the First Bitcoin Big Bang.

Of course, that's all just a dream. But wouldn't it be nice 

Why this would be a dream, serious talking ?

[BTCtrader71]

I've been having a similar fantasy myself just now as I listen to NPR talk about a miscalculation by Greek leaders leading to an accidental Grexit - a "Graccident"

In my dream version, the Greek leaders don't know what to do on Monday after they default. In a panic, and for lack of any better ideas, they start to talk about a Cyprus-style haircut. Greek citizens rush into various safe havens and find bitcoin is the easiest and quickest. As money drains from Greek banks, leaders realize the haircut will have to be shorter, and shorter, and shorter, encouraging even faster flight into bitcoin. Within  a few days of Graccident we see the value of bitcoin triple. Now Greek leaders are in total panic when they realize the haircut will be like 50% or more of bank funds (not just 10% like in Cyprus). Meanwhile, the people start using bitcoin (and tether and other blockchain based currencies) because all of their fiat has been confiscated and whatever is left they know will be stolen by the gov't. Greek leaders disagree over what to do about bitcoin and as a result, they do nothing. Within 6 months, Greek unemployment has stabilized at 25%; within 12 months, it has decreased to 10%. The world says: holy fuck, how did that happen -- we thought unemployment would rise!!?!? And that's when the whole world wakes up to bitcoin. (And price shoots to a new ATH of $50,000, before crashing to $3000 .... voila, bitcoin's next bubble cycle.)

20 years later, historians talk about how Graccident triggered the First Bitcoin Big Bang.

Of course, that's all just a dream. But wouldn't it be nice 

Why this would be a dream, serious talking ?

Are you asking what's to stop this from really happening?

[Fakhoury]

I've been having a similar fantasy myself just now as I listen to NPR talk about a miscalculation by Greek leaders leading to an accidental Grexit - a "Graccident"

In my dream version, the Greek leaders don't know what to do on Monday after they default. In a panic, and for lack of any better ideas, they start to talk about a Cyprus-style haircut. Greek citizens rush into various safe havens and find bitcoin is the easiest and quickest. As money drains from Greek banks, leaders realize the haircut will have to be shorter, and shorter, and shorter, encouraging even faster flight into bitcoin. Within  a few days of Graccident we see the value of bitcoin triple. Now Greek leaders are in total panic when they realize the haircut will be like 50% or more of bank funds (not just 10% like in Cyprus). Meanwhile, the people start using bitcoin (and tether and other blockchain based currencies) because all of their fiat has been confiscated and whatever is left they know will be stolen by the gov't. Greek leaders disagree over what to do about bitcoin and as a result, they do nothing. Within 6 months, Greek unemployment has stabilized at 25%; within 12 months, it has decreased to 10%. The world says: holy fuck, how did that happen -- we thought unemployment would rise!!?!? And that's when the whole world wakes up to bitcoin. (And price shoots to a new ATH of $50,000, before crashing to $3000 .... voila, bitcoin's next bubble cycle.)

20 years later, historians talk about how Graccident triggered the First Bitcoin Big Bang.

Of course, that's all just a dream. But wouldn't it be nice 

Why this would be a dream, serious talking ?

Are you asking what's to stop this from really happening?

Yes, it's sounds not a dream, but a difficult scenario, but still, not a dream.

[BTCtrader71]

I've been having a similar fantasy myself just now as I listen to NPR talk about a miscalculation by Greek leaders leading to an accidental Grexit - a "Graccident"

In my dream version, the Greek leaders don't know what to do on Monday after they default. In a panic, and for lack of any better ideas, they start to talk about a Cyprus-style haircut. Greek citizens rush into various safe havens and find bitcoin is the easiest and quickest. As money drains from Greek banks, leaders realize the haircut will have to be shorter, and shorter, and shorter, encouraging even faster flight into bitcoin. Within  a few days of Graccident we see the value of bitcoin triple. Now Greek leaders are in total panic when they realize the haircut will be like 50% or more of bank funds (not just 10% like in Cyprus). Meanwhile, the people start using bitcoin (and tether and other blockchain based currencies) because all of their fiat has been confiscated and whatever is left they know will be stolen by the gov't. Greek leaders disagree over what to do about bitcoin and as a result, they do nothing. Within 6 months, Greek unemployment has stabilized at 25%; within 12 months, it has decreased to 10%. The world says: holy fuck, how did that happen -- we thought unemployment would rise!!?!? And that's when the whole world wakes up to bitcoin. (And price shoots to a new ATH of $50,000, before crashing to $3000 .... voila, bitcoin's next bubble cycle.)

20 years later, historians talk about how Graccident triggered the First Bitcoin Big Bang.

Of course, that's all just a dream. But wouldn't it be nice 

Why this would be a dream, serious talking ?

Are you asking what's to stop this from really happening?

Yes, it's sounds not a dream, but a difficult scenario, but still, not a dream.

My dream is based on the idea that the Greek leadership is left in an unusual state of disarray, to the point of inaction. In reality, I think capitol controls would get clamped down sooner and harder; they wouldn't let all those euros just drain out like that. Also, I question whether the average Greek citizen would be sufficiently motivated to adopt bitcoin that quickly.

[BTCtrader71]

In my dream, the Greek state continues (over days and weeks) to confiscate euros from anybody who has them in electronic form, but they make no such threats against funds stored as bitcoin. That's the only reason I can think of for the average citizen to panic-flee (over days and weeks) into bitcoin, and that would take unusually inept political leadership: stupid enough to continue to threaten stealing euros, stupid enough not to exert effective capital controls, and stupid enough to take a hands-off approach to bitcoin. (Stupid enough to do all 3 at the same time is what I mean. It would require a perfect storm of ineptitude.)

[Amph]

not a new argument, sometims i feel like dejavu here in bitcointalk, the same argumen over and over again...anyway how they can adopt it, if they are in a bad economic situation, they need to buy bitcoin first, and they cannot do it, with the misery that they have

but one thing is certain, if some big government that need desperately money can buy massively a coin like bitcoin, thus starting a panic buy chain, that will rise the price to an unbelievable level, they could potentially take a good profit from it

[Zetacoin Express]

There have been some developments since I first posted this a few weeks ago.  Looks like capital controls have indeed come.  From what I heard, they can no longer pay for digital items?  Hmm...

Anyway.  I understand now that while the government may not official adopt Bitcoin, the people could choose to do so.  Problem is of course (as mentioned) no many in Greece can afford to thow some money at Bitcoin, and with the limits on withdrawals and the inability to send money outside the country or purchase digital items, buying Bitcoin is not an attractive option.

Would a less expensive Altcoin be able to sneak it's way in and save they day?
So inexpensive that it would just be 'airdropped' and merchants could be encourage to accept it?

[BTCtrader71]

Problem is of course (as mentioned) no many in Greece can afford to thow some money at Bitcoin, and with the limits on withdrawals and the inability to send money outside the country or purchase digital items, buying Bitcoin is not an attractive option.

In my dream, this is how the trickle begins:

Spartan Route proposes economic connectivity through bitcoin by purchasing Greek exports in bitcoin. The site will invoice the customers in euros while merchants still complete the delivery through the normal process and be paid in bitcoin.

http://spartanroute.com/#focus

[BTCtrader71]

I still think of this as a fantasy, and yet, it's hard to imagine a better setup than the one that could very well play out in the coming months: Greece exits the Euro. Greek citizens are given a 30% "haircut" to pay off the debt, with the remainder converted to drachma. Greeks flee the drachma because it suffers tremendous inflation and keeping money in banks is viewed as inherently risky after the haircut. Credit cards, bank transfers, paypal and other traditional methods of online commerce [which are temporarily impossible due to the current bank closure] become more cumbersome and more expensive. Stories start to emerge of resourceful small Greek business owners prospering by exporting their goods for bitcoin (which they sell at a premium bc their competitors cannot conduct business) using services like Spartan Route (which stand to make a killing btw), then spending their bitcoin online (eg on Amazon, via gift cards bought with bitcoin) for daily needs like groceries which they have FedEx'ed from as far away as necessary.

[HigsonPP]

Greece should have never been a part of Euro zone. Euro's price was not something which they could afford either way and as shit went further, things didn't seem to be good for Greece. They were in debt of 1.7 billion euros. Adopting bitcoin, a currency which will multiply 55 times after Greece adopts it, would doom Greece rather than make it a strong nation.

[BTCtrader71]

Greece should have never been a part of Euro zone. Euro's price was not something which they could afford either way and as shit went further, things didn't seem to be good for Greece. They were in debt of 1.7 billion euros. Adopting bitcoin, a currency which will multiply 55 times after Greece adopts it, would doom Greece rather than make it a strong nation.

I think it is much more plausible and more likely for bitcoin to be used unofficially than for it to become officially adopted by the Greek government. But if (hypothetically) the government were to adopt it, with stage one of adoption being to accumulate a stash quietly while it is still niche, and then it goes up in value over the next few years ... then bye bye Greek debt (One of the many reasons they would not officially adopt it at this stage is that the very act of accumulating it would move the market too much. )

[Dump3er]

Greece should have never been a part of Euro zone. Euro's price was not something which they could afford either way and as shit went further, things didn't seem to be good for Greece. They were in debt of 1.7 billion euros. Adopting bitcoin, a currency which will multiply 55 times after Greece adopts it, would doom Greece rather than make it a strong nation.

There are solutions for all the economic problems that could be affected by adopting bitcoin. The real problem is that you need a very educated, young, modern and flexible society for such a scenario.

I can’t see any nation that would be able to adopt bitcoin as their official currency (for now), but particularly watching at Greece:

[tyz]

One third of all Greeks don't even have a bank account and credit or debt cards. How do you want to set up a virtual currency for such people on the county. i don't think Bitcoin would not work as a first currency in a countries like Greece.

[Herbert2020]

since the price of bitcoin is not stable and more importantly can no be measured for the single country all the Greeks are going to be f**ked. they will be millionaires one day and broke the next day.
also for buying anything they have to wait at least 5-15 minutes for their transaction to get confirmed and then get out of the shop!

[randy8777]

the price would definitely explode to insane levels. it would show how capable bitcoin is a currency. no more having to worry about banks going down with your money.

[BTCtrader71]

also for buying anything they have to wait at least 5-15 minutes for their transaction to get confirmed and then get out of the shop!

That would only be an issue for large purchases. For small ones most shop owners would not require waiting for multiple confirmations. I bought a beer in DC with bitcoin recently and it only took a few seconds.

[myfirst]

After what is happening today this may be much more a reality than a fantasy.

 Greek banks to remain shut in coming days.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/greek-banks-to-remain-shut-in-coming-days-reuters-2015-07-06

[chesthing]

also for buying anything they have to wait at least 5-15 minutes for their transaction to get confirmed and then get out of the shop!

That would only be an issue for large purchases. For small ones most shop owners would not require waiting for multiple confirmations. I bought a beer in DC with bitcoin recently and it only took a few seconds.

Why would anyone have to wait for confirmation for any size purchase? the block chain sees transactions almost immediately.

[kaykawa]

After what is happening today this may be much more a reality than a fantasy.

 Greek banks to remain shut in coming days.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/greek-banks-to-remain-shut-in-coming-days-reuters-2015-07-06

I doubt they will until some sort of agreement is reached with the Euro...

[Herbert2020]

also for buying anything they have to wait at least 5-15 minutes for their transaction to get confirmed and then get out of the shop!

That would only be an issue for large purchases. For small ones most shop owners would not require waiting for multiple confirmations. I bought a beer in DC with bitcoin recently and it only took a few seconds.

Why would anyone have to wait for confirmation for any size purchase? the block chain sees transactions almost immediately.

Exactly.  Bitcoin functions perfectly well without confirms, why do we even need them in the first place? And miners?

without confirmation anybody can easily double spend their bitcoins and then only one receiver will receive the bitcoin, which means one shop is going to be left without their payment because they have accepted it without confirmation.
but i kind of agree with BTCtrader71 since on small transactions the risk of person cheating with that amount is small and also the loss is going to be small.

[needFREElunch]

Don't you think that's like the best thing they can do to themselves? Adopting Bitcoin as their currency. But unfortunately , Greece doesn't have the kind of infrastructure to support the decentralized Bitcoin system.

[Amph]

also for buying anything they have to wait at least 5-15 minutes for their transaction to get confirmed and then get out of the shop!

That would only be an issue for large purchases. For small ones most shop owners would not require waiting for multiple confirmations. I bought a beer in DC with bitcoin recently and it only took a few seconds.

and i'm sure that with large purchase you are willing to wait more, i mean if i want to purchase a car waiting 10 min for the first confrimation should not be a problem for me or waiting even 1 hour or two, it shouldn't either

i don't need to wait in front of my car, i can wait at home and then go there two hours later to take the vehicle

also for buying anything they have to wait at least 5-15 minutes for their transaction to get confirmed and then get out of the shop!

That would only be an issue for large purchases. For small ones most shop owners would not require waiting for multiple confirmations. I bought a beer in DC with bitcoin recently and it only took a few seconds.

Why would anyone have to wait for confirmation for any size purchase? the block chain sees transactions almost immediately.

it is because of security, many attack can be performed based the 51%, like finney attack on zero confirmation

[Lauda]

I don't even know where to begin here. Looks like a group of posters either didn't understand the tittle or skipped it.
It clearly says 'FANTASY' :

Code:

the faculty or activity of imagining impossible or improbable things.

Stop discussing why it can't/won't happen, but rather what will happen with Bitcoin if they do.

There are solutions for all the economic problems that could be affected by adopting bitcoin. The real problem is that you need a very educated, young, modern and flexible society for such a scenario.

I can’t see any nation that would be able to adopt bitcoin as their official currency (for now), but particularly watching at Greece:

There are other solutions but they aren't achievable in this corrupt system. However, with Bitcoin the story is different. Certain groups of people will lose their control, something that should have been done a long time ago. I should be the owner of my money, and the banks should not be able to touch it. If you remember the situation with Cyprus, you would know. They just take a cut of your hard earned money, one didn't even have a say in it. This might happen to Greece as well.

In the scenario mentioned in the title: I think that the price and adoption (outside of Greece) would rise exponentially. Greeks would increase the price enough for others to join, and so the ride would begin.

[NorrisK]

Export would potentially be annihilated if the currency is worth too much.. Nobody would buy expensive Greek products then..

[BTCtrader71]

Export would potentially be annihilated if the currency is worth too much.. Nobody would buy expensive Greek products then..

Or the Greek exporters could just, well, lower their prices. They would get fewer bitcoin per sale but the bitcoin is worth more so that would even out.

[HarHarHar9965]

Don't you think that's like the best thing they can do to themselves? Adopting Bitcoin as their currency. But unfortunately , Greece doesn't have the kind of infrastructure to support the decentralized Bitcoin system.

Assuming they did have the ability to sustain bitcoins, I assume that the reason the Greek economy collapsed was because they couldn't fucking afford euro. They still went through with it and fucked it all up creating a huge debt. I don't understand if it would be a logical solution to choose a currency which will multiply 55 times just as they adopt it. The increase in price will screw them over again, do you think they have that much money in their reserve to even fucking buy enough bitcoins to make it their national currency anyway?

[bumm]

technically greece wont adopt bitcoin, people of greece might. and yes if people in greece adopt bitcoin, the bitcoin value will again hit crazy figures. but i dont think that it is possible to adopt virtual money as a local currency to buy and sell daily goods.
it would be very difficult for greece to adopt virtual currency.

[BTCtrader71]

I thought my fantasy was unlikely bc it was based on the idea of a "Graccident" due to unusually inept Syriza party leadership. And I thought that was unlikely. Well, that may be exactly what we have. I can't imagine a better way to drive a population into the arms of cryptocurrency than to do exactly what Tsipras is doing. Presumably this is not on purpose, although I'm starting to have my doubts.

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard at The Telegraph has just dropped a bomb on the situation in Greece.
Writing in The Telegraph on Tuesday, Evans-Pritchard reports that the Greek referendum unexpectedly called Friday and carried out Sunday was held in anticipation that Greece's controlling Syriza government would lose.

That's right: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called a referendum on the latest bailout terms offered to Greece, campaigned that the Greek voters should vote "no" and reject these measures, and expected the vote would still be a "yes."

Instead the vote was an overwhelming "no," with 61% of the votes going that way and Syriza seeming to have won a huge victory.

But as Evans-Pritchard outlines in his bombshell report Tuesday, everything is falling apart for Syriza, Tsipras, and the entire country of Greece.

"What should have been a celebration on Sunday night turned into a wake," Evans-Pritchard writes.


"Mr Tsipras was depressed, dissecting all the errors that Syriza has made since taking power in January, talking into the early hours. The prime minister was reportedly told that the time had come to choose, either he should seize on the momentum of the 61pc landslide vote, and take the fight to the Eurogroup, or yield to the creditor demands — and give up the volatile [Greek Finance Minister Yanis] Varoufakis in the process as a token of good faith."
Varoufakis resigned in the middle of the night Sunday, and news broke that Tsipras and Varoufakis' replacement — Euclid Tsakalotos — would head to Brussels for an emergency meeting on Tuesday.

When they showed up at the meeting Tuesday, they didn't have a plan.

A report from Reuters on Tuesday indicated that Greece's banks had only two days of cash left. And this after ATM withdrawals had been limited to 60 euros per day for over a week.

On Monday, the European Central Bank declined to increase its emergency lending assistance to Greece, meaning that Greek banks will not have access to any more cash from the ECB. Greece last week, and again Monday, had requested an increase in the ELA.

As Evans-Pritchard reports, "Syriza has been in utter disarray for 36 hours ... Events are now spinning out of control. The banks remain shut. The ECB has maintained its liquidity freeze, and through its inaction is asphyxiating the banking system."

Reports on Monday also indicated that Greek banks would be closed at least through Wednesday, but now it looks as if the bigger question is how the banks will reopen at all.

...

According to Evans-Pritchard's report, Tsipras rejected a "triple plan" devised ahead of the referendum that aimed to avoid a Grexit by firing the Bank of Greece governor, seizing all cash stowed away in various central bank branches, and issuing a parallel currency with IOUs denominated in euros.

Something like this plan, however, is what Tsipras may have to do anyway, according to Evans-Pritchard, as Greece has quickly run out of options.

For reference:

I've been having a similar fantasy myself just now as I listen to NPR talk about a miscalculation by Greek leaders leading to an accidental Grexit - a "Graccident"

In my dream version, the Greek leaders don't know what to do on Monday after they default. In a panic, and for lack of any better ideas, they start to talk about a Cyprus-style haircut. Greek citizens rush into various safe havens and find bitcoin is the easiest and quickest. As money drains from Greek banks, leaders realize the haircut will have to be shorter, and shorter, and shorter, encouraging even faster flight into bitcoin. Within  a few days of Graccident we see the value of bitcoin triple. Now Greek leaders are in total panic when they realize the haircut will be like 50% or more of bank funds (not just 10% like in Cyprus). Meanwhile, the people start using bitcoin (and tether and other blockchain based currencies) because all of their fiat has been confiscated and whatever is left they know will be stolen by the gov't. Greek leaders disagree over what to do about bitcoin and as a result, they do nothing. Within 6 months, Greek unemployment has stabilized at 25%; within 12 months, it has decreased to 10%. The world says: holy fuck, how did that happen -- we thought unemployment would rise!!?!? And that's when the whole world wakes up to bitcoin. (And price shoots to a new ATH of $50,000, before crashing to $3000 .... voila, bitcoin's next bubble cycle.)

20 years later, historians talk about how Graccident triggered the First Bitcoin Big Bang.

Of course, that's all just a dream. But wouldn't it be nice 

... [my dream won't really happen because it] would take unusually inept political leadership ...

My dream is based on the idea that the Greek leadership is left in an unusual state of disarray...

[Zetacoin Express]

The people of Greece were recently dealt another blow with the latest terms.  From what I understand it's a far worse deal than the one they rejected.  Perhaps this could be the tipping point that will at least get people thinking more about Crypto.

This may have originally started off as a fantasy, but as we get deeper into this it seems that such a fantasy may not be impossible.

Even when the banks re-open, I expect there will still be a huge run.  I can't image anyone with some degree of intelligence will continue to keep large amounts of their life savings in a bank after what's happened.

[Pab]

 There is already project complimentary currency for Greece

You can read about on fundrising campaigne

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/greece-new-currency#/story

Geece is blackmailled.opressed and i think Tsipras lost his head,looks like he had brain washing in Brusseles

Whtever wecan expect Eurogeddon soon,question is,what will be after

[Shiver]

I don't think Bitcoin is capable of being a currency on a country level yet, not even a #2 currency (though that can change).  The government will never accept it... but the people might vote with their feet anyhow (Democracy is their word after all, meaning literally "mob rule"), and we may see an interesting new view of the people and what the the purpose of government is (at least from a monetary pov).

It could be used for large purchases as a previous poster mentioned (eg. cars where you can wait an hour), and also for a cup of coffee where you don't worry about the risk without having confirmations, but it seems to me there's a gap in the middle sized transactions.  For online stuff where things are shipped next day it's no issue, but if you're doing a weeks shopping in a supermarket then a fraudulent transaction could wipe out a low margin shop sustainability in no time, and for that I don't think it's appropriate in its current form.

I think for some Greek entrepreneurs there is a *huge huge huge* opportunity here. If Gov't were to get involved in an opportunity (which I doubt) then they have potential to catapult themselves to the top of the world and be a leader, debt free, have kudos, and show the rest of the world how it's done.  I won't be holding my breath, though I would love to see Greece do a smack down on those that are pressuring them right now (I'm from England by the way so have no skin in that game, but I would be a cheer leader for them all the way).

[BTCtrader71]

if you're doing a weeks shopping in a supermarket then a fraudulent transaction could wipe out a low margin shop sustainability in no time, and for that I don't think it's appropriate in its current form.

I'm not up to date on the tricks people can use to perform a fraudulent (double spend) transaction, but I would bet that the cost (to the criminal) would be much higher than the amounts of money you're thinking of, which would make it unprofitable to the criminal. But worth looking into. Also according to the link below, there are ways to insure against double spending. Do BitPay and / or Coinbase insure against that? Not sure but I would almost be surprised if they don't.

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Double-spending

I think for some Greek entrepreneurs there is a *huge huge huge* opportunity here.

I would definitely agree with that.