Bitcoin becomes priority alternative when cash fails

[Zlantann]

This is a country specific matter due to which there is an influx of bitcoin purchase transactions. But if I try to find out the same trend worldwide, I don't see any credible source of information that says bitcoin has become the world's favorite reserve currency for individuals.

Nope! Bitcoin has not yet reached that level. The capital protection leader is still gold and other precious metals. There's no proof that majority of the population is buying bitcoin for the unforeseen emergencies. What's happening in Ukraine, is an exception!

Yes Bitcoin has been around for few years now but it has not reached the level of global acceptance. To most of us cryptocurrency transactions are easy to understand but it is very complicated to most people, even the US government is still studying the system. In Africa for example were a larger part of the population has no access to education or the internet. It would take decades for cryptocurrencies to penetrate some financial market. Like the founder of bitcoin said: There is much work to be done.

[Wind_FURY]

But wouldn't the Russian government start avoiding accumulation of U.S. Dollars currently that they are sanctioned from using it? All Dollars held within Russia and in Russian banks are essentially "erased" from the ledger.

No, money held by the central reserve and their own banks in their OWN accounts and not overseas accounts as collateral is not touched by these sanctions and the Russian government needs dollars because it has debts to pay, one was just the other day, it has to pay the debt of the companies that are owned by the state, the sum is of around 150 billion, that's why they had reserves in foreign nations, to back up this debt as collateral, not because Russia managed miraculously to set aside 30% of their GDP in savings in 3 years.
If they can't service the debt there will be a default, and if their own companies can't do that either there will be bankruptcies, and assets are going to be seized.
It's the USSR all over again, what other choice do they have than getting dollars? Do you think China will accept rubles for their stuff?  

They are sanctioned from using the Dollar, but they are still required to pay their debts in Dollars? Wouldn't that make the lender, for receiving payments from Russian companies/financial institutions, be breaking U.S. orders under the sanction? I believe the U.S. have also sanctioned Russian Gold.

My viewpoint truly is, I believe the sanction might hurt the Dollar more in the future, because other nation-states might start losing trust in the cabal behind the U.S. Dollar.

[wozzek23]

Crypto in general became one for me years ago. I have been working freelance for many years now, a lot of years actually and I can tell you that I have been paying for many things as well. I always wanted my own project and that resulted with me spending money by paying people all around the world as well, other freelancers and domains and hosting and servers and software as well.

So, I have spent and earned crypto for years and that proves to me that I never really needed fiat. Sure I still use fiat in my regular life, but that is because I have to, not because I prefer to. Who would prefer fiat if they could spend crypto everywhere? The amount of people who own fiat would drop significantly in that case.

[AmoreJaz]

Crypto in general became one for me years ago. I have been working freelance for many years now, a lot of years actually and I can tell you that I have been paying for many things as well. I always wanted my own project and that resulted with me spending money by paying people all around the world as well, other freelancers and domains and hosting and servers and software as well.

So, I have spent and earned crypto for years and that proves to me that I never really needed fiat. Sure I still use fiat in my regular life, but that is because I have to, not because I prefer to. Who would prefer fiat if they could spend crypto everywhere? The amount of people who own fiat would drop significantly in that case.

this is still the setback of crypto, you can't easily use it as direct payment to your local shops or merchants. so you still need to convert your crypto to your fiat if you want to spend it. but i do agree, if you have the skills, you can really earn good money via this industry. you just know how to. nowadays, freelancers are growing in numbers because we are discovering a lot of jobs that you can do at the comfort of your home. this has been boosted by this pandemic when most of us are forced to do your work at home as much as possible.
but still, even if you have crypto willing to spend for your daily needs, you can't find a lot of these shops to accept crypto. this i think is still work-in-progress, as more merchants are now trying to integrate crypto in their payment system as part of becoming more digital or additional options to their consumers..

[stompix]

~

They are sanctioned from using the Dollar, but they are still required to pay their debts in Dollars? Wouldn't that make the lender, for receiving payments from Russian companies/financial institutions, be breaking U.S. orders under the sanction? I believe the U.S. have also sanctioned Russian Gold.

My viewpoint truly is, I believe the sanction might hurt the Dollar more in the future, because other nation-states might start losing trust in the cabal behind the U.S. Dollar.

The sanction against using the dollar is more theoretical, the actual way it works is that they can't issue more debt in dollars nor can they ask for financing through most financial systems. But nobody is stopping them to pay from their bank's accounts to some bank in China 1 billion dollars, that's why I told you on the other topic, sanctions don't work by chopping somebody's hand off so he can't play tennis anymore, it's more like nobody wants to play tennis with him at all.
Plus Russian companies' debt and governmental debt can't be sanctions since it's actually not theirs anymore, for example, if the IRS would seize all your goods and funds and bank accounts, they won't cancel your mortgage, that would still be up and running.

As for the second part, I don't know how old you are, but my father when he was a child had nothing else to listen than to all that communist propaganda about the fall of the dollar and look now, 60 years have passed, and the dollar is going strong but people still say it will ...what?
Russians are desperate for getting dollars and you think this will hurt it? Lol.

[yazher]

With the world right now is uncertain, you don't know when your country will become like Ukrain or like Russia facing sanctions from various industries. It's better for us to save some money and convert it to bitcoins in case we suffer like the current state of Ukraine where people are struggling to withdraw their money back because of the long line and they're having some hard time transporting it. When you have most of it in bitcoins, you are just chilling because you already know that this would happen and you are already prepared.

[smartaction]

Actually this epic moment happened in Ukraine, I don't know how difficult it is to get cash there (even using e-money). Someone sells "a Legendary Car" with bitcoin. View more...

Another milestone that bitcoin really serves as an alternative currency especially in times of urgency, bitcoin is really valuable for someone to survive. Because urgent situations are not just about war, calamities can also have more severe repercussions. I think this is a perfect consideration for any government not to be too strict on bitcoin regulations.

Bitcoin has been created as an alternative to Fiat Money its true.  Bitcoin is very popular and and easy use to anytime  anywhere. But then it is meaningless. When, you have Bitcoin, but your phone will not have internet connection. But when there is an internet connection, Bitcoin will act as a valuable currency in the absence of money

[noorman0]

Actually this epic moment happened in Ukraine, I don't know how difficult it is to get cash there (even using e-money). Someone sells "a Legendary Car" with bitcoin. View more...

You don't need to send cash to Ukraine, because Ukraine's electronic payment systems are fully operational. If a person refuses to accept them and wants cash, chances that they will accept Bitcoin are actually pretty low. If you think that a 50 y.o. dude from Ukraine who only uses the Internet for Facebook and Telegram will be interesting in listening in a lecture about the benefits of Bitcoin while being in the middle of war trying to sell his car to the highest bidder, you are a bit unrealistic.

Still, it's nice that Bitcoin exists and is being used and is helpful in extreme situations. Just don't think that this is a common occurrence.

The assumption is that the buyers in this case are tourists (they speak English) who are trapped in a warring country and want to get out of the city immediately but there is no public transportation operating in the middle of the conflict. In this situation where cash and e-money are needed more by local residents so that the demand for exchanging foreign currency into local currency has reached the bank's daily transaction threshold (possibly over-demanded), I don't think there is an alternative currency to get something tourists need quickly except for a new currency which was just legalized.

[Wind_FURY]

~

They are sanctioned from using the Dollar, but they are still required to pay their debts in Dollars? Wouldn't that make the lender, for receiving payments from Russian companies/financial institutions, be breaking U.S. orders under the sanction? I believe the U.S. have also sanctioned Russian Gold.

My viewpoint truly is, I believe the sanction might hurt the Dollar more in the future, because other nation-states might start losing trust in the cabal behind the U.S. Dollar.

The sanction against using the dollar is more theoretical, the actual way it works is that they can't issue more debt in dollars nor can they ask for financing through most financial systems. But nobody is stopping them to pay from their bank's accounts to some bank in China 1 billion dollars, that's why I told you on the other topic, sanctions don't work by chopping somebody's hand off so he can't play tennis anymore, it's more like nobody wants to play tennis with him at all.
Plus Russian companies' debt and governmental debt can't be sanctions since it's actually not theirs anymore, for example, if the IRS would seize all your goods and funds and bank accounts, they won't cancel your mortgage, that would still be up and running.

As for the second part, I don't know how old you are, but my father when he was a child had nothing else to listen than to all that communist propaganda about the fall of the dollar and look now, 60 years have passed, and the dollar is going strong but people still say it will ...what?
Russians are desperate for getting dollars and you think this will hurt it? Lol.

I believe it MIGHT hurt the sanctity of the U.S. Dollar, I never said that it will definitely hurt it. Do you believe that the United States' actions will strengthen the other nation-states' trust on the cabal behind the Dollar? It might weaken that trust, which was the main point.

[jaberwock]

this is still the setback of crypto, you can't easily use it as direct payment to your local shops or merchants. so you still need to convert your crypto to your fiat if you want to spend it. but i do agree, if you have the skills, you can really earn good money via this industry. you just know how to. nowadays, freelancers are growing in numbers because we are discovering a lot of jobs that you can do at the comfort of your home. this has been boosted by this pandemic when most of us are forced to do your work at home as much as possible.
but still, even if you have crypto willing to spend for your daily needs, you can't find a lot of these shops to accept crypto. this i think is still work-in-progress, as more merchants are now trying to integrate crypto in their payment system as part of becoming more digital or additional options to their consumers..

You can actually. In El Salvador they can now use their crypto directly for buying anything locally, that is because cryptos on their country is now a legal tender. We just need to wait though for our country to become one of it. For sure it will happen to other countries too soon and not just on the El Salvador.

For countries that only adopted bitcoin normally, why can't they use a service that converts crypto to fiat on their shop so that people that prefers crypto can still use their cryptos directly? I think that was still allowed. If they didn't do it yet, your best chance to spend your crypto is via online shops. There are have lots of them now.

[pawanjain]

Actually this epic moment happened in Ukraine, I don't know how difficult it is to get cash there (even using e-money). Someone sells "a Legendary Car" with bitcoin. View more...

Another milestone that bitcoin really serves as an alternative currency especially in times of urgency, bitcoin is really valuable for someone to survive. Because urgent situations are not just about war, calamities can also have more severe repercussions. I think this is a perfect consideration for any government not to be too strict on bitcoin regulations.

(The point of this thread is not about Ukraine situations specifically, but to the experiences of the people on this story.)

bitcoin has proved time over time that it is more than just a cryptocurrency. It is something that people trust at time of emergencies.
It is more like a safe haven for many people and as time goes by more number of people will start believing bitcoin for what it is and what value it brings to them.
US has also started the preparation of regulating cryptocurrencies. Many other countries have also realized the fact that its impossible to completely ban cryptocurrencies so why not regulate it instead.
Good times are only getting started.

[tbterryboy]

bitcoin has proved time over time that it is more than just a cryptocurrency. It is something that people trust at time of emergencies.
It is more like a safe haven for many people and as time goes by more number of people will start believing bitcoin for what it is and what value it brings to them.
US has also started the preparation of regulating cryptocurrencies. Many other countries have also realized the fact that its impossible to completely ban cryptocurrencies so why not regulate it instead.
Good times are only getting started.

The fact that you could even tax it makes it even more illogical to ban it as well. Like if you could just tax it, get money from the people who use crypto, that means we are talking about making a good income. I have been paying crypto taxes for 4 years in my nation right now, and I have to say if they banned it, they would have lost out on all of that income from me, and that is just me, there are over 1.5 million people investing or at least in one point owned crypto.

It means that even if they all paid just one thousand dollars overall (some paid A LOT more, some paid less) that makes it 1.5 billion dollars yearly, and in the last 4 years (since we started legalizing and taxing crypto) that would have made it 6 billion dollars. Seriously, why ban it when you can make that kind of money?

[ChiBitCTy]

Actually this epic moment happened in Ukraine, I don't know how difficult it is to get cash there (even using e-money). Someone sells "a Legendary Car" with bitcoin. View more...

Another milestone that bitcoin really serves as an alternative currency especially in times of urgency, bitcoin is really valuable for someone to survive. Because urgent situations are not just about war, calamities can also have more severe repercussions. I think this is a perfect consideration for any government not to be too strict on bitcoin regulations.

(The point of this thread is not about Ukraine situations specifically, but to the experiences of the people on this story.)

You’re right if there’s a such thing as a silver liner when it comes to the Russian / Ukrainian war is that it showed the importance and the uniqueness of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency and how it can come in hand when it comes to not being able to access your countries fiat services. I am kind of surprised that values didn’t go up a bit more than they did Over this time but they will.

[panukurap]

Bitcoin is truly an alternative currency that helps even in a pinch. As you said about the Ukrainians who took advantage of Bitcoin during the war because of access using fiat currency. This proves that Bitcoin is indeed an alternative currency that can really help even in dire circumstances. The more you come here, the more it appears that Bitcoin is indeed useful and really helps, it is appropriate that people look at Bitcoin. Although full of risks, Bitcoin also brings many benefits.

[Blended@]

Hmmmm as innovations increases new is come,however there is what we called cashless policy now day if bitcoin come to stay as castless transaction it will still fine but there are some primitive people that   will not bitcoin but the prefer cash

[CaVO32]

Bitcoin is truly an alternative currency that helps even in a pinch. As you said about the Ukrainians who took advantage of Bitcoin during the war because of access using fiat currency. This proves that Bitcoin is indeed an alternative currency that can really help even in dire circumstances. The more you come here, the more it appears that Bitcoin is indeed useful and really helps, it is appropriate that people look at Bitcoin. Although full of risks, Bitcoin also brings many benefits.

People are now realizing the good features of bitcoin as the advantages of using it has been seen during this pandemic and war crisis. As you don't need any third party just to send crypto to anyone at any part of the world, the experience is borderless, while enjoying the cheap and fast transactions. And now, many people are changing their perspectives towards bitcoin. Before a lot are thinking that bitcoin is a scam, fraud or whatever you may call it. But with the participation of the government like in El Salvador and big companies like PayPal, people are seeing that it is not the problem of the bitcoin itself but the people who are trying to use it to deceive gullible people.

[GreatArkansas]

Bitcoin is truly an alternative currency that helps even in a pinch. As you said about the Ukrainians who took advantage of Bitcoin during the war because of access using fiat currency. This proves that Bitcoin is indeed an alternative currency that can really help even in dire circumstances. The more you come here, the more it appears that Bitcoin is indeed useful and really helps, it is appropriate that people look at Bitcoin. Although full of risks, Bitcoin also brings many benefits.

People are now realizing the good features of bitcoin as the advantages of using it has been seen during this pandemic and war crisis. As you don't need any third party just to send crypto to anyone at any part of the world, the experience is borderless, while enjoying the cheap and fast transactions.
(....)

This is another reason why we really don't see these days a huge drop in the price of Bitcoin. I believe that the volume now is really huge and a lot of people using Bitcoin especially when the pandemic started, Bitcoin was really useful during those times and that's the time how most people appreciate the use case of Bitcoin.

[Xampeuu]

Bitcoin is truly an alternative currency that helps even in a pinch. As you said about the Ukrainians who took advantage of Bitcoin during the war because of access using fiat currency. This proves that Bitcoin is indeed an alternative currency that can really help even in dire circumstances. The more you come here, the more it appears that Bitcoin is indeed useful and really helps, it is appropriate that people look at Bitcoin. Although full of risks, Bitcoin also brings many benefits.

People are now realizing the good features of bitcoin as the advantages of using it has been seen during this pandemic and war crisis. As you don't need any third party just to send crypto to anyone at any part of the world, the experience is borderless, while enjoying the cheap and fast transactions. And now, many people are changing their perspectives towards bitcoin. Before a lot are thinking that bitcoin is a scam, fraud or whatever you may call it. But with the participation of the government like in El Salvador and big companies like PayPal, people are seeing that it is not the problem of the bitcoin itself but the people who are trying to use it to deceive gullible people.

for the matter of fraud, it may be from other parties outside bitcoin who are in the name of bitcoin. but at this time we do admit that bitcoin can be an alternative payment due to the ukraine war. in this case bitcoin is an example that it can be used in unsupportive situations, but globally the problem comes from the government with all its considerations, so most countries have not been able to legalize it

[pawanjain]

bitcoin has proved time over time that it is more than just a cryptocurrency. It is something that people trust at time of emergencies.
It is more like a safe haven for many people and as time goes by more number of people will start believing bitcoin for what it is and what value it brings to them.
US has also started the preparation of regulating cryptocurrencies. Many other countries have also realized the fact that its impossible to completely ban cryptocurrencies so why not regulate it instead.
Good times are only getting started.

The fact that you could even tax it makes it even more illogical to ban it as well. Like if you could just tax it, get money from the people who use crypto, that means we are talking about making a good income. I have been paying crypto taxes for 4 years in my nation right now, and I have to say if they banned it, they would have lost out on all of that income from me, and that is just me, there are over 1.5 million people investing or at least in one point owned crypto.

It means that even if they all paid just one thousand dollars overall (some paid A LOT more, some paid less) that makes it 1.5 billion dollars yearly, and in the last 4 years (since we started legalizing and taxing crypto) that would have made it 6 billion dollars. Seriously, why ban it when you can make that kind of money?

Ofcourse they can. Generating income from taxing income from cryptocurrencies is a great way for governments to grab a decent amount from the citizens of their country.
But at the same time if they are taxing cryptocurrencies then they will also have to come out with laws and policies to regulate cryptocurrencies to protect funds of their people.
This is where many governments are struggling in my opinion. There are no clear laws in many countries for cryptocurrencies including my country India.

[redsun114]

for the matter of fraud, it may be from other parties outside bitcoin who are in the name of bitcoin. but at this time we do admit that bitcoin can be an alternative payment due to the ukraine war. in this case bitcoin is an example that it can be used in unsupportive situations, but globally the problem comes from the government with all its considerations, so most countries have not been able to legalize it

People are doubting in bitcoin that what if it was a scam because bitcoin was not known back in time and almost all the people that use bitcoin that time are scammers and criminals. They use bitcoin as a medium on the dark market but now that bitcoin is not new anymore, lots of merchants have also opened up and this proves that bitcoin is clean.

Not only this time but bitcoin is really an alternative payment next to fiats or banks, that is why those that are affected in wars didn't hesitate to use bitcoin to accept donations because they are having a problem with traditional payment system. No matter how strict a government, they will always give an exception when they are in trouble.