Why local currencies when there is bitcoin ?

[Darker45]

I'm actually amazed that there is such a thing as this.

There was a local community here in my country that issued its own currency. It hit the headlines. It was a big deal. Everyone was surprised. Television programs conducted interviews with central bank officials clarifying its legitimacy and even legality.

Little did I know that this isn't actually something weird, at least not in France. But I think this is superfluous.

Finally, maybe it's just a ploy by the French government to authorize useless currencies to prevent people from learning about bitcoin?

I don't think so.

Alongside the euro, dozens of local currencies are in circulation across France. They surged in 2010 following the global financial crisis and can only be used in a limited area like a town or region.

They surged at a time when Bitcoin was barely heard of.

[mamesso]

=> A local currency can only be used in a restricted territory: city, region, and only concerns a limited range of goods and services. It is set up by an association which manages it with the help of a financial institution. You can only pay with the local currency for certain goods.

In my country there is only one local currency or fiat currency that can be used throughout the region, there are no certain restrictions for paying for goods and services. Local currency which is very limited in nature does not have freedom for its users, when you go to another area the currency has no function.

I just found out that there are about 80 local currencies in your country because so far I know there is only one fiat currency in a country. Nothing can match the advantages of Bitcoin, local/fiat currency is limited, while Bitcoin is general. Tell your friends we already have Bitcoin that is inflation-resistant and not regulated by any particular authority.

[asbani]

It's needed because of governments, and lets be honest here people do not want a coin/asset which its price flucuate alot.

Ok lets make an example here, lets say I get about $1000 a week for my job. Now lets say the world changed to using BTC right?

1)  will you give me a SET number of btc each week? i.e. 0.008 BTC a week? If this is the case then thats dangerous because what if BTC dumps to 100 dollars tomorrow?

OR

2) will you give me a number of btc that is equivalent to my $1000 which I had received weekly regardless of the price of btc? In this case there's other problems that can arise, you can speculate on a few.

Now for purchasing from the vendors is another issue. How would we price stuff? is it based on our dollars equivalent, or will we have a pricing TAG purely on BTC? I don't know, lots of things to work out.

[Oasisman]

I am perplexed about the term "local currency." If you are referring to your fiat currency, then there should only be one type used in a particular country since multiple currencies wouldn't be practical. Therefore, I don't understand how there could be 80 local currencies. Could you kindly provide more clarity on your concern? By doing so, we can better comprehend the context and provide appropriate answers or learn more about the topic.

I think he is referring to a specific currency for a certain region which can only be accepted exclusively within that region. Outside it, you need to use fiat or the country 's main currency. That really sounds complicated if you haven't heard about it before. Here in my country, I found 2 tribes (just a small number of population) who they also have these specific currency they used internally, but things get a little weird when they proposed to the senate for their currency to be used as alternative currency that co-exist with the fiat currency. Ultimately, that went to trash immediately.
Not sure about these local currencies though, but I don't think it's a good idea to have a savings in that form of currency.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

I didn't know about the local currencies in France either.

I leave them using what they want, in 10 years there are only 500 users for the local currency in my region... Maybe nobody see any point in using this currency either.

I am not surprised.

As I understand it, they would be like casino chips, which have monetary value but only within the casino. Similarly, this would be the case for local currencies in certain regions.

However, there are many places where bitcoin is used. Besides, bitcoin beach seems to work very well for example.

Fees and waiting times up to at least 1 confirmation also work well?

Finally, maybe it's just a ploy by the French government to authorize useless currencies to prevent people from learning about bitcoin?

I don't think the level of conspiracy will go that far, having the internet available today at any time where bitcoin information is available.

[ranochigo]

Maybe, but as the parity is 1/1, I don't really see what these local currencies are for. I mean what more (or less) than the euro.

Depends on the size of the economy. It can be quite difficult for your government to enact fiscal policies if they didn't have a large enough reserve. The currency and the need to separate them has a lot to do with economics and how countries use currency to stabilize their own economy.

However, there are many places where bitcoin is used. Besides, bitcoin beach seems to work very well for example.

Finally, maybe it's just a ploy by the French government to authorize useless currencies to prevent people from learning about bitcoin?

Nope, tons of reasons. Bitcoin is not user-friendly at the slightest. There has been quite a lot of negative publicity surrounding Bitcoin in the recent months and that contributes to the negative perception of Crypto. In addition, governments are always trying to encourage people to use their currency as a legal tender to better enact capital controls and stuff on their own citizens.

Without the endorsement of the government, people have no reason to accept Bitcoin as a currency.

[BlackBoss_]

Nope, tons of reasons. Bitcoin is not user-friendly at the slightest. There has been quite a lot of negative publicity surrounding Bitcoin in the recent months and that contributes to the negative perception of Crypto. In addition, governments are always trying to encourage people to use their currency as a legal tender to better enact capital controls and stuff on their own citizens.

Without the endorsement of the government, people have no reason to accept Bitcoin as a currency.

First of all, governments don't want their citizens to stop using their national fiat currencies and in future their CBDCs. Because of such, governments will build many barriers to prevent their citizens, from laws, regulations to fud at governmental levels.

However if governments support Bitcoin like El Salvador, make Bitcoin legal tender like El Salvador, their citizens will have other reasons to dislike Bitcoin. About technical things and more important the volatility of Bitcoin can cause losses for their business income and treasury. It's hard for small business to accept Bitcoin and have to deal with cost from on chain transaction fee as well as high volatility of Bitcoin.

[kotajikikox]

I don't know what it is in other countries but in France there are local currencies, about 80.

Although it is difficult to determine an exact number, it is estimated that there are about 80 on French territory. Through a social, environmental, local or even regional objective, their interest is to convey the values ​​that conventional currencies no longer embody today, and this movement is arousing growing enthusiasm if we are to believe a report by the Sol Movement , which oversees local currencies at the national level, published in early 2021. ID offers you a non-exhaustive list of local currencies in circulation by region, as well as an evolving map.

A friend was bragging to me about the merits of her local currency, but I wonder what's the point since we have bitcoin? Bitcoin which obviously includes the world population. I did not really understand the objectives of these local currencies, I was wondering if local currencies existed in other countries and if people understood the interest of these local currencies which seem to undergo inflation like the fiats.

https://www.linfodurable.fr/conso/la-carte-de-france-des-monnaies-locales-en-circulation-16262

https://www.linfodurable.fr/social/des-monnaies-locales-pour-transformer-les-modes-de-consommation-26697

Just now that I heard something like 80 currencies in a country that spendable ,
in ours there are only couple of paper and coins that stands in each value .
but seriously in france  that is a huge count lol.

maybe If I live in place such that and has a chance to use only one , then i will choose bitcoin instead for less complication .
and will people gonna memorize such lot of coins?

[adaseb]

Multiple currencies are useful in many areas where there is lots of Tourism. Besides the US Dollar there are many currencies which are used by travellers and this is where it becomes useful. Many dont want to convert their fiat to another currency so they just use their own local currency to pay for goods and services.

The reason why Bitcoin won't be the local currency to any country is because its way too volatile. At the peak it was $70K and then a year later it was like $15K and now its double that. Its way too volatile to be used as a currency for day to day use.

[mindrust]

The problem is not everybody trusts bitcoin yet. People still trust their government even though it is the stupidest thing one can do. That's because people are not well-informed about bitcoin. It is our duty to explain why bitcoin is superior to their local FIAT currency. (actually it is superior to any FIAT currency)

This is not going to be a quick process anyway. It will probably take multiple decades before bitcoin dominates every FIAT currency in the world. 2040 sounds like a good target.

[Davidvictorson]

These local currencies have their functions in the territories where they are used. Bitcoin has it's own function. The sky is big enough to occupy both Bitcoin, USD, Pounds, Euros, and other local currencies. The local currencies used in those French regions have been in use for many years and helped to facilitate trade and investment. I don't think anyone questioned their use.

It is important to note that Bitcoin is not here to destroy, annihilated and make extinct our local currencies but is here to offer a "better" more advanced method of exchange and way to store wealth. Live and let love baby.

[Faisal2202]

I don't know what it is in other countries but in France there are local currencies, about 80.

Although it is difficult to determine an exact number, it is estimated that there are about 80 on French territory. Through a social, environmental, local or even regional objective, their interest is to convey the values ​​that conventional currencies no longer embody today, and this movement is arousing growing enthusiasm if we are to believe a report by the Sol Movement , which oversees local currencies at the national level, published in early 2021. ID offers you a non-exhaustive list of local currencies in circulation by region, as well as an evolving map.

Wait what really! i mean 80 currencies in single region. How can that be possible. Maybe i took the idea wrong here. so please correct me. But how 80 currencies are being managed their. How people could even remember the one. Are you referring to 80 different types of currencies or what. Like here in pakistan we have different notes but the currency is same as PKR. We have notes of 10, 20, 50, 75, 100, 500, 1000, 5000.

I am little confused here. how one territory could have so many currencies and managed to run them. That's so confusing and amazing too. Yeah, i know amazing because, one if gets to know that this country has 80 types of currencies then that person is never going to forget it and will tell other about the country. Which of course is no use to that country but a word being spread brings fruits too. (i hope if you understand)

[libert19]

It's because Bitcoin is highly volatile, and not everyone accepts it.

Unless Bitcoin's value is no longer tied with USD and goods are purchasable solely with fixed price in Satoshi, then alone will BTC reign as one currency for whole world.

[buwaytress]

Walking around now eating street food (literally) and just so nice that Fintech advancements here in the global south means you can walk up to a guy with a stall on the road, order some food or snack and pay with a qr code or phone number.

Zero fees. Instant. No change needed. The tiniest bit of data needed, if not even sms works.

Even with Lightning I can't imagine that same ease or convenience. Can you?

[harapan]

Op is talking about micro currencies which operate in certain localities within a country besides the legal tender which is used all over the country. We don't have them in my country, but I have read a bit about them being used in communities in other countries.

So there are countries that have other micro currencies aside the general fiat currency of the country? Never heard of it.
I think in going to do a little research about it.
I have questions though, is the currency legal tender in all part of the country or only in specific regions? Does anybody need that currency in the international market.
What's even the point another currency? If it has more value than the main currency then why hasn't it been adopted by majority of the people in the country. I have so many questions because this concept is not realistic at all.

[davis196]

I guess that by "local currencies" OP means some kind of voucher system, which can be used to buy food and other stuff.
The national currency and legal tender in France is the euro. There aren't any other currencies.
In my country(a member of the EU) there's also a voucher system, where the workers get vouchers in addition to their usual salary, so they could buy food.
It's obvious that Bitcoin isn't the most convenient option for grocery stores, and that's perfectly fine. I don't mind living in a world, that has multiple currencies(fiat and crypto). Bitcoin cannot become the one and only currency around the globe. The people should have freedom of choice.

[Kakmakr]

The Fiat (local government currencies) are the first currencies that were introduced by the governments, so they support that. They also do not want to allow any competition for these local currencies, because they have control over these currencies.

So, even if Bitcoin is a better alternative to Fiat currencies, it will still have strong push back from governments. We can still use Bitcoin without the governments consent, but they will eventually clamp down on Bitcoin, if it is seen as a threat. 

[eightdots]

Op is talking about micro currencies which operate in certain localities within a country besides the legal tender which is used all over the country. We don't have them in my country, but I have read a bit about them being used in communities in other countries.

What's the point of these microcurrencies, then? At first, I thought that the OP was talking about fiat currencies; this is the first time I'm reading about local currencies, and even by translating and reading the articles provided in the starting post, I'm yet to understand what they actually are and what their purpose is. What are they based on, and why is there a need to have over 80 local currencies in France? Have we returned to the good ol' days when we were exchanging eggs for bread and so on?

Moreover, the main reason I don't see Bitcoin as a viable currency anymore is because it is nowadays deemed an asset that appreciates in value. On the one hand, you have fiat currencies, which, due to inflation, constantly depreciate in value, and on the other hand, Bitcoin, which is an anti-inflation measure and is expected to gain value in the upcoming years.

Like you said, I think we're back to the old trading days. The existence of so many currencies is due to a lack of control. It is not right to free the markets so much. Like you, I thought at first that it was written about fiat money. However, the existence of these currencies is useless. Even if it works, its validity will be short-term.

Bitcoin has not yet reached the desired level. I'm not saying this in terms of Bitcoin's value. I mean it in the sense that bitcoin is accepted all over the world and is used as a currency in many places. If this happens, Bitcoin will replace any other currency.

[Luzin]

Bitcoin has not yet reached the desired level. I'm not saying this in terms of Bitcoin's value. I mean it in the sense that bitcoin is accepted all over the world and is used as a currency in many places. If this happens, Bitcoin will replace any other currency.

Actually, this has been discussed a lot. We know the Bitcoin system and the government money system are different. Bitcoin has a decentralized system that cannot be regulated by anyone and that is contrary to the system of government or financial system. So that's why the government does not want to make Bitcoin as a currency. There are still many losses that are likely to be obtained by the government if they agree as a means of transaction. I am currently still very happy that the government considers it as a commodity, because it can still use it for profit. There is no ban, in fact I am happy that the government is starting to take taxes from Crypto. This is one good sign.

[worle1bm]

We also have one legal tender in our country and it's used everywhere as we don't have any local currency here what you are referring to it but even in their existence we can't say Bitcoin is used and accepted by all like suppose you can buy stuff with legal currency for example grocery but will the shopkeeper ready to accept bitcoin as payment? So we still need them and can't completely avoid them.