Stick with bitcoin and stay away from centralized crypto, especially stablecoins

[Findingnemo]

One more example for why we need to avoid centralized cryptos, and to compare it to physical money is far better because the government can't freeze them unless they announce all the money is not usable anymore which is less likely to happen right.

Now coming to the topic, bitcoin the only truly decentralized crypto and everything else is somewhat traceable and centralized so pick which one that gives the ultimate freedom.

[Y3shot]

This is to tell bitcoin remains bitcoin and it cant be in the same class with other cryptocurrency. So many cryptocurrency that claims to be decentralized are not true decentralized because it can be controlled when the times comes.  Bitcoin is a decentralized currency that can be control by anyone. So far as no one have access to your wallet you rule your bitcoin, and because of the true decentralization bitcoin has it is important people should always choose bitcoin because it gives real power over your own money and no one can block it or take it away from you.

[promise444c5]

Somehow, it doesn't seem to me that they were uninformed in the sense that they didn't know about other options, but probably the opinion prevailed that it was the best and simplest option. Besides, they have been using that system for years, and who knows how many other addresses haven't even been discovered yet.

Is it worth it though.. I don’t know what they were thinking when they chose that particular stablecoin, but I’m sure they must have been aware of the buildup even before the final action. That should have given them enough time to look for other alternatives that can’t be manipulated.

Well, they could have more, just as you mentioned. I only hope it’s not in a state that can meet the same fate..

[Cryptomultiplier]

One more example for why we need to avoid centralized cryptos, and to compare it to physical money is far better because the government can't freeze them unless they announce all the money is not usable anymore which is less likely to happen right.

Now coming to the topic, bitcoin the only truly decentralized crypto and everything else is somewhat traceable and centralized so pick which one that gives the ultimate freedom.

Bitcoin was founded by a fair launch without VCs as compared to stablecoins with ICOs, VCs. Bitcoin doesn't have a leader unlike most stablecoins with leadership heads or founder.
With ease of stablecoins being frozen by any CEX, Bitcoin excels in this aspect by being resistant, easy to use and for long term investment plans and top performing to earn the capital name, 'digital Gold'.

[Jatiluhung]

Storing our assets in altcoins or even stablecoins, which are also altcoins, is a reckless move if it is for the long term. Unless we are only using them for a momentary transaction. After that, convert them back to bitcoin and store them back in our cold wallet.

Holding stablecoins long-term is akin to entrusting our assets to the owners or issuers of those stablecoins, which is essentially the same as depositing our money in a bank. Any altcoin, including stablecoins, can collapse in a short period if errors occur, potentially causing losses beyond just having our assets frozen. Remember the case of USTC from Terraform Labs and several other stablecoins that were also unable to maintain their value. So, yes, we must be careful.

[bhadz]

Use Bitcoin. Everything else is secondary. We don't need any more examples.         

I agree, nobody can freeze Bitcoin unless someone has intentionally deposit their Bitcoins into a centralized exchange. But if not and kept to their own personal wallets, there is no one that can freeze them.

I get your point, but to make it even more clear to readers, it’s the account (with only figures) that gets frozen through the C.exchange, not the Bitcoin.
The Bitcoin will still be sitting in the exchange's self-custody wallets.

Yeah, technically it's the account but also you've deposited it there and the exchange has the authority not to allow to withdraw your actual Bitcoins from them. So from that standpoint and easier terms to understand, one normal user would say that if it ever happens, the exchange has frozen their bitcoins.

Also,while it can’t be frozen, there are other ways to lose your Bitcoins too and  wallet is part of it..so the personal wallet should be  a trusted, open-sourced, self-custody wallet.

Exactly, and don't be a victim of those websites that can lead to phishing which is the new investors are prone to this.

[rdluffy]

I consider my satoshis to be my protection and security, no doubt about it
They are in my custody, with my seeds in the safest way I can 

However, I still need to use USDT, USDC, or occasionally some other tokenized dollar 
Since my country's currency is not the dollar and suffers from significant devaluation against the US currency, I need to have some dollars as well, and the best way I have found is to divide them between USDT and USDC
However, these are small amounts, hardly attracting any attention, and I use them in DeFi protocols
I find it difficult to live without tokenized dollars nowadays, at least in my situation

But USDT is centralized, can be frozen, blocked and you'll lost your money

[EFS]

If someone can freeze your money whenever they want, then the control is not in your hands. With Bitcoin, this is not possible. Anything presented under the name of stablecoins is still a product of a centralized system and the control belongs to others. People are not aware of this when they invest money in them.

Venezuela's choice is also interesting. Why did they use a US-based stablecoin while they are trying to avoid US sanctions? Didn't anyone warn these officials? I think they were unaware that such a freezing action could be carried out.

[MusaMohamed]

If someone can freeze your money whenever they want, then the control is not in your hands. With Bitcoin, this is not possible. Anything presented under the name of stablecoins is still a product of a centralized system and the control belongs to others. People are not aware of this when they invest money in them.

Venezuela's choice is also interesting. Why did they use a US-based stablecoin while they are trying to avoid US sanctions? Didn't anyone warn these officials? I think they were unaware that such a freezing action could be carried out.

They tried to avoid sanctions from the USA, and chose cryptocurrencies, this decision looks good. Unfortunately, they had narrow mind and picked US-based stablecoin while they did not know or ignored risk of freeze of stablecoins in non-custodial wallets.

I don't know what happened in their mind before making that big but bad decision, while this severe mistake from Venezuela reminds me a famous saying that scammers are pretty stupid.

On the other hand, scammers are often pretty stupid

[fuguebtc]

They tried to avoid sanctions from the USA, and chose cryptocurrencies, this decision looks good. Unfortunately, they had narrow mind and picked US-based stablecoin while they did not know or ignored risk of freeze of stablecoins in non-custodial wallets.

I don't know what happened in their mind before making that big but bad decision, while this severe mistake from Venezuela reminds me a famous saying that scammers are pretty stupid.

As far as I know, Tether's official headquarter are currently located in El Salvador, not the Us. However, regardless of which country issues or supports these stablecoins, but using them to circumvent US sanctions is a mistake. Because everything is centralized and with its power, the US can order the freezing of any account it wants. Indeed, it is difficult to understand why Venezuela would make such a foolish mistake

However, such event are not necessarily bad, because they show the world serious weaknesses in centralized systems. After all this, I think the world will soon realize the potential and importance of bitcoin.

[TastyChillySauce00]

Stablecoin is just an IOU. The control is on the issuer, this is why storing stablecoin even in your truly owned wallet like hardware wallet is kind of pointless if what you're seeking is security because the control is on the issuer.

Moreover it's a private owned company that issue the stablecoin, as usual on the term and condition they will always reserve the right to control their issued stablecoin. The same way bank can freeze account without proper explanation.

[buwaytress]

Building on Tron? Ethereum? Oh, believe me, you are not as free to build as you might believe.

There are different decentralization levels in altcoins. Since you mentioned Tron and Ethereum, the latter is more decentralized than the former, but both still serve the interests of powerful individuals and organizations. Ethereum proved that many years ago with its blockchain rollback. 

Indeed. And with practically all their validators known entities (and commercial -- though I haven't checked recently, there's no reason to believe it's changed), it would be as easy to rollback again or give up tx originators, or simply deny validation. Unlikely to happen, as it would be yet another reputational blow, but if Tether bent the knee...

[davis196]

Tether froze over $180 million in USDT across five wallets on the Tron blockchain a few days ago. It's believed that those wallets are connected to Venezuela, that used USDT for oil trade and to evade US sanctions. It's reported that 80% of Venezuela's oil revenue is settled in USDT. And what happened? US political interests happened, and that resulted in Tether freezing the addresses.

The government of Venezuela was dumb enough to believe that using USDT can bypass the US sanctions and USDT can provide some sort of privacy. This is hilarious. I can assume that Tron cannot be trusted as well, since stablecoin transactions on their blockchain can get blocked.
The bad news is having BTC in your account inside a centralized crypto exchange is the pretty much the same as having USDT. The centralized crypto exchange can simply freeze your funds, if the "powers that be" ask the crypto exchange owners to do so. The only safe bet is to keep all BTC in a cold wallet and use only decentralized exchanges to buy and sell BTC(bear in mind that DEX have their own problems).

[AbuBhakar]

As far as I know, Tether's official headquarter are currently located in El Salvador, not the Us. However, regardless of which country issues or supports these stablecoins, but using them to circumvent US sanctions is a mistake. Because everything is centralized and with its power, the US can order the freezing of any account it wants. Indeed, it is difficult to understand why Venezuela would make such a foolish mistake

However, such event are not necessarily bad, because they show the world serious weaknesses in centralized systems. After all this, I think the world will soon realize the potential and importance of bitcoin.

What they did is really worrying. Your money can suddenly be frozen just because of the political agenda they are on. That is worrying, especially for the affected countries like Iran and Venezuela. If they cannot secure their money in a stable coin, it would probably be better for them to just buy Bitcoin directly rather than going through stable coins that can also be frozen at any time they want. It seems like big countries are holding you by the neck. If that is the system, it would be better to just buy Bitcoin directly and then just ignore its fluctuating price. Maybe in the end, you will benefit more if the price increases in the long term.

[babo]

I found this nice graph somewhere, I don't remember exactly where but I think it makes you think a lot
that most alts tend to die and that the only currency that has been alive for 17 years is bitcoin
Bitcoin represents, for me, in my opinion, something that gives me security.

[Pmalek]

One more example for why we need to avoid centralized cryptos, and to compare it to physical money is far better because the government can't freeze them unless they announce all the money is not usable anymore which is less likely to happen right.

Holding physical cash carries with its own dangers. I am not talking about the danger to have the money stolen or lose it due to floods or earthquakes, etc. Central banks sometimes replace old bills with new ones. If you hold a significant amount of cash, you will have to turn that cash in and replace it with the new bills or put it in circulation in the economy. If such exchanges of bills require ID verification, which they most probably do, your bank might report your activities because they are legally obliged to and someone will ask the question where you got all that cash from and how did you come by it.   

[Findingnemo]

One more example for why we need to avoid centralized cryptos, and to compare it to physical money is far better because the government can't freeze them unless they announce all the money is not usable anymore which is less likely to happen right.

Holding physical cash carries with its own dangers. I am not talking about the danger to have the money stolen or lose it due to floods or earthquakes, etc. Central banks sometimes replace old bills with new ones. If you hold a significant amount of cash, you will have to turn that cash in and replace it with the new bills or put it in circulation in the economy. If such exchanges of bills require ID verification, which they most probably do, your bank might report your activities because they are legally obliged to and someone will ask the question where you got all that cash from and how did you come by it.   

I am not saying fiat is better but compared to these stable coins and then CBDC the physical hard cash is hard to freeze or track and that is used by most of the illegal activities even now and these controlled banking system can't do anything about it. So people who are afraid of volatility of crypto and wants to cash out their profits then it is better to go with fiat in my opinion.

[passwordnow]

What they did is really worrying. Your money can suddenly be frozen just because of the political agenda they are on. That is worrying, especially for the affected countries like Iran and Venezuela. If they cannot secure their money in a stable coin, it would probably be better for them to just buy Bitcoin directly rather than going through stable coins that can also be frozen at any time they want. It seems like big countries are holding you by the neck. If that is the system, it would be better to just buy Bitcoin directly and then just ignore its fluctuating price. Maybe in the end, you will benefit more if the price increases in the long term.

I think that they have put that into consideration but it's too late for them to revert that decision and move they've made for buying Bitcoin directly. Some assets were already traced I think were converted into stable coins and that's done in some UK exchange. If the stable coins are still there, the government has the power to freeze the assets but even without them intervening, the issuer of the stable coin can easily freeze it on its own. That's the danger of going with stable coins which is a centralized crypto that many have been keeping their bitcoin sell off profits.

[zeuner]

The lesson is clear. You don't own centralized stablecoins. You co-own them with the issuer. An issuer that can remove you from the equation at any time. Stablecoins can be a very dangerous double-edged sword, and the way they work is very different from bitcoin.    

Who would be surprised? Centralized financial services existed long before Bitcoin. Why would calling them a *coin make anything better? No one is surprised either when a PayPal account is frozen...

[DiMarxist]

When it comes to crypto currency Bitcoin should be prioritized over centralized stablecoins as these stable coins are not trustworthy at all. Just imagine these wallets address are been frozen even though politics is at play. Bitcoin is decentralized making it more safer and as there is no body that is in control of your coins. Stable coins are easily manipulated because most of them are just been hyped and is not worth investing because, there is no future prospects for most of these coins.