Can bitcoin really save Greece?

[saddampbuh]

obviously not for the reasons already given, but it amazes me that greeks have had a year to withdraw their euros and do something with them but instead most did nothing and left them in banks. enjoy having your life savings redenominated in a devalued drachma.

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[Argwai96]

Majority of Greeks are not familiar with bitcoin, although exchanges have seen more trades from Greece lately, but its very tiny.

Greeks who know about bitcoin are very small minority. Greeks who know about bitcoin and believe that bitcoin could save their economy are probably non existent.
Why would Greece gravitate towards bitcoin when they have EURO? If they still had Drahma, their old currency Bitcoin could be the cure for them. But Euro won't collapse that easily.

is most likely the tech savvy will be taking advance of the none ones, greece has about 11 million in total population lets say 1% knows about bitcoin thats just about 110,000 people that know about bitcoin right now thats if its 1%.

[Scamalert]

I think any greek guy hodling BTC is in a great position right now. He can buy stuff, he can make overseas transfer, can proberly sell BTC at overprice on Local bitcoins. Greek as a country switching to BTC is not an option, they need common accepted capita to do currency trade on the internatiol market.

[Lauda]

Majority of Greeks are not familiar with bitcoin, although exchanges have seen more trades from Greece lately, but its very tiny.

This just makes me go back to a question that I've asked myself recently and wrote about in some post. A lot of people are claiming to be "ultimate" Bitcoin supporters, so why did nobody go there to make local conferences or something?
I understand that some people do not have time/money, as neither do I. However, I'm pretty sure that there are individuals who could have done this, and I'm asking myself why they didn't?

This would be beneficial to both Bitcoin and Greeks, unlike the Indiegogo campaign.

[Argwai96]

Majority of Greeks are not familiar with bitcoin, although exchanges have seen more trades from Greece lately, but its very tiny.

This just makes me go back to a question that I've asked myself recently and wrote about in some post. A lot of people are claiming to be "ultimate" Bitcoin supporters, so why did nobody go there to make local conferences or something?
I understand that some people do not have time/money, as neither do I. However, I'm pretty sure that there are individuals who could have done this, and I'm asking myself why they didn't?

This would be beneficial to both Bitcoin and Greeks, unlike the Indiegogo campaign.

There is a lot jealousy in the bitcoin rich or just a every one for their own right now, some of then might be looking just to even get richer in bitcoin amounts and don't want the general public to begin paying attention to bitcoin, some of them are into regulating bitcoin and lobbying for bitcoin, some of then just dont give a crap about letting countries on distress know what bitcoin could offer them.

[NorrisK]

obviously not for the reasons already given, but it amazes me that greeks have had a year to withdraw their euros and do something with them but instead most did nothing and left them in banks. enjoy having your life savings redenominated in a devalued drachma.

Thats wat we call denial.. The Greeks did not want to beleive something like this could happen.. More money will come, like always.. Hard lesson learned here..

[Argwai96]

well there some coverage and speculation from media about the topic people will love this




https://twitter.com/Sonnenshein/status/616274021122969600



this will get the tech savvy from greece to job on the bitcoin investment movement or at lease have then to think about it.

[blablaace]

bitcoin is the only way forward for the Greek people, in my opinion!

[Borisz]

If you saw that something like this would happen, then you could have kept your savings in cash (€) as well. If you didn't see this coming then it doesn't matter if you don't have Euros or you don't have Bitcoin, its the same in the end.

On an individual level yes maybe Bitcoins could have been a solution, but were there any who gambled their life on bitcoin? As a country and economy as a whole, a cryptocurrency is probably not the solution. Also, imagine the number of transactions (block size?) per second if entire Greece (or well any single country) would fully switch to bitcoin.

[jorjito25]

I would not term it save, but bitcoin as alternative will stabilize the market moves, even if Germany keeps being so aggressive.

[Argwai96]

If you saw that something like this would happen, then you could have kept your savings in cash (€) as well. If you didn't see this coming then it doesn't matter if you don't have Euros or you don't have Bitcoin, its the same in the end.

On an individual level yes maybe Bitcoins could have been a solution, but were there any who gambled their life on bitcoin? As a country and economy as a whole, a cryptocurrency is probably not the solution. Also, imagine the number of transactions (block size?) per second if entire Greece (or well any single country) would fully switch to bitcoin.

yea most likely an alternative means of investment for tech savvy and investors looking to keep part of their funds on the country banks would be most likely using bitcoin, has bitcoin is not ready for the general public and world transactions.

[kolloh]

It would certainly be better than having money in the banks for them at the current time. They wouldn't have to deal with those withdraw limitations.

Only issue would be finding sellers who accept bitcoin instead of fiat. If more local people started using it instead of fiat, that issue would probably fade fairly quickly.

[qwep]

well there some coverage and speculation from media about the topic people will love this




https://twitter.com/Sonnenshein/status/616274021122969600



this will get the tech savvy from greece to job on the bitcoin investment movement or at lease have then to think about it.

good to see media using bitcoin has a tool to save an economy.

[Argwai96]

we are more likely to see more media covering Greece and using bitcoin has an alternative tool to investors or so,
just keep in mind is positive for bitcoin to get some what in the picture against a country in on financial trouble,
this will turn a good amount of tech savvy and investors to bitoin.

[krazey]

I think the current situation Greece is facing, Bitcoin will unlikely be able to save her.
Nice to hear in theory but it just won't work out.

[Possum577]

Bitcoin cannot save Greece, and it's not supposed to. Bitcoin is supposed to save people, and it can!

Giving people an alternative to any Government controlled fiat currency allows them to eliminate some country risk from their financial lives. There's also a secondary effect that Governments may do things differently if they know that an alternative currency exists, but the reality of this happening is driven by the people more than by Bitcoin.

[TheButterZone]

It could, but do all Greeks really want to be saved? They keep getting ass-raped by capital controls and "haircuts" et al. If they were lifted at any point, every single bit of fiat currency should have been withdrawn from the banks and all other capital-controllable fiat stores like PayPal.

[jaberwock]

Question is: how will they buy Bitcoins with such severe capital controls?

And if they are able to buy and sell BTC easily, how long until Bitcoin gets banned from Greece once it turns out to be popular, and then what?

[PenguinFire]

Heck no, bitcoin cannot save Greece's economy.  I have only taken two courses of macroeconomics in college but I don't see how it would unless everyone invested there switched over.  Even then I don't see it completely saving Greece.  Also there is the no guarantee on the future value of bitcoin.   

[Kprawn]

Bitcoin cannot save Greece, they are too deep into debt to be saved by Bitcoin. If the people could extract enough euro's from the banks, and convert it into Bitcoin, before they go back to the Drachma, they might protect the value of their money.

The biggest lesson MANY people around the world need to learn about this situation is this :

1. Access to your money in the bank is not guaranteed.
2. Banks look after their own interrest first.
3. Governments control Banks
4. Bitcoin is a alternative to Banks

When you look at this, and it sinks into your brain, you will know what real financial freedom feels like. {Or the closest to it}