pocoloco
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Little bitcoin report from San Salvador, El Salvador
For the vast majority of Salvadorans bitcoin is a synonym of the Chivo wallet app. This app had lots of issues and was revamped and replaced internally around the end of the year. Anyone using the Chivo app with other Chivo users do not in fact interact with the bitcoin ecosystem. While there are issues of identity theft where someone can use some else ID to steal their $30 bonus from the gov, most people that use chivo seem to be OK. On the other hand, anyone that interact with Chivo from the bitcoin network, i.e. non-chivo wallet, will hit a snag at some point. I personally have $400 stuck in chivo but it’s being resolved.
After the initial rollout which included the $30 bonus to any new user, the novelty has died off and very few ordinary people use it for day to day transactions. I suspect that this is in part due to many issues in chivo before it was replaced by the new system where lightning payments always had issues and many payments got lost. Many businesses stopped accepting bitcoin since they were using chivo POS. Bigger businesses use other payment processors such as IBEX Mercado or OpenNode which always work reliably.
What’s most interesting is the excitement of most foreigners coming here since these people are knowledgeable either on the financial side of bitcoin, or the technical side, or both. The community is so small still that I, just a simple pleb with citizenship here, get to meet some investors and tech gurus that can direct millions in investments. They all are excited and they all mention that there are lots of people and business getting ready to come here. If that happens look out.
This place is going to look a lot different in 10 years.
I’ll be migrating again. I’ve been unemployed for a while mostly by choice. I’ve been caring for my dying mother that passed away from cancer last year. I spent most of my life making sure that my parents were financially stable. My dad can take care for himself and my brother and sister will help him. I’m moving back where I was born, in El Salvador. The new Bitcoin law, that makes it legal tender over there, opens up a new universe of possibilities since I’m in the software business. I invite all of you to inform yourself regarding Bitcoin and the lightning network. This is providing liquidity to a society that has lived using mostly cash until now. There are lots of issues but the future IMO looks bright.
> Dr. Chinda Brandolino and her wild conspiracy theory… pic.twitter.com/fSrh8SJSKB
Imagine having that huge market of people with transgenic people that can only get meds from approved pharma companies that are supposedly custom made for their DNA profile. That DNA knowledge will be gold.
It seems Blackstone thinks so too:
Blackstone Reaches $4.7 Billion Deal to Buy Ancestry.com
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-05/blackstone-said-to-reach-4-7-billion-deal-to-buy-ancestry-comHi Wes,
Yes I agree with you. I made a mistake in my post when I said BTC is the only game in town. I meant the only game among the cryptocurrencies. I do consider gold and silver investments.
Regarding the saying, I believe gold is the insurance against the breakdown of the financial system while bitcoin allows for the development of new ways of doing finance that empower the people while being beyond the reach of the sociopaths running the asylum.
Hope this explains better my take. I believe everyone that can afford it should have gold.
I believe that the original saying was:
“Gold is for when you’re bearish on society and Bitcoin is for when you’re bullish”
and may have been coined by Max Keiser in one of his interviews. I do agree with Max.
Personally I’ve been following BTC for some time and after listening to what Jeff Booth, a Canadian engineer and entrepreneur, I have finally come to the conclusion that the only game in town is BTC. It’s the only tool that cannot be manipulated by central banks and govs.
Jeff explains his take well in this podcast (he only talks about BTC):
How Inflation Is Stealing Your Wealth | Jeff Booth | Pomp Podcast #572 – Video 1hr 13min
Wow, thanks Ilargi. That was very insightful. I tend to think that it’s either them (i.e. China) or us (i.e. west) that’s gonna get screwed but we is more like anybody on the wrong side of the economical apartheid wall of low interest rates, like Max Keiser likes to say, either here or in China.
Hmm… the commenting system sanitized the shortened youtube link [1] above and took out the jump to minute 18 and 31 seconds where Jim and Max have a short discussion on the US dollar. I’ll try again with the non-shortened link [2] below:
[2] Keiser Report: Wall Street’s ‘Dean of Valuation’ (E1103) @ 18:31 – Published on Jul 29, 2017
Regarding US dollar, I found a short discussion between Jim Rogers and Max Keiser. Jim agrees with you Ilargi [1]. He expects to go quite higher and maybe into bubble territory when the markets go belly up.
[1] Keiser Report: Wall Street’s ‘Dean of Valuation’ (E1103) @ 18:31 – Published on Jul 29, 2017
Thank you Ilargi for condensing everything into this post. I saw all the articles that you reference by themselves but I did not, or perhaps did not want to, realize the severity. This is going to be an epic debt deflation.
The comments from Carney are, to me, quite concerning. I think that is possible that he means it just not for everyone. He said [1] that the issues are fixed, the markets are simpler and fairer and that the too-big-to-fail banks are now capitalized. This to me could be a message indicating that the central banks will go full steam ahead acquiring real assets in all markets with printed money [2] effectively eliminating any big crash. I don’t know much about the banks capitalization but it could mean that the banks under the FSB and others are now protected so that any other small bank could be allowed to go under.
This would mean that the people that say that the markets will go to the moon [3] may be right and if your savings are not in the market they’ll be destroyed.
It’s a scary scenario where the establishment has given up concealing its machinations and it’s all done in the open for the good of us all.
Ilargi, what’s your view for the US dollar if the central banks will not allow markets to go down by doing QE-to-infinity, buying assets left and right?
[1] We Have Fixed Issues That Caused Financial Crisis, Says Mark Carney (G.) (See first article above)
[2] “Nothing Else Matters”: Central Banks Have Bought A Record $1.5 Trillion In Assets In 2017
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-06-09/nothing-else-matters-central-banks-have-bought-record-15-trillion-assets-2017[3] X22Report Spotlight: The Economy Is Being Prepped, Everything Is About To Change: V & CJ
Hi Raúl, here is a very interesting article that you may have already linked to but just in case:
Why Poverty Is Like a Disease
Emerging science is putting the lie to American meritocracy.
https://nautil.us/issue/47/consciousness/why-poverty-is-like-a-diseaseThe science of the biological effects of the stresses of poverty is in its early stages. Still, it has presented us with multiple mechanisms through which such effects could happen, and many of these admit an inheritable component. If a pregnant woman, for example, is exposed to the stresses of poverty, her fetus and that fetus’ gametes can both be affected, extending the effects of poverty to at least her grandchildren. And it could go further.
Raúl, here is an interesting book review:
America is Regressing into a Developing Nation for Most People
https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/america-is-regressing-into-a-developing-nation-for-most-peopleThere are a few observations that I find very interesting and that ‘knew’ but couldn’t express such as:
A majority of the low-wage sector is white, with blacks and Latinos making up the other part, but politicians learned to talk as if the low-wage sector is mostly black because it allowed them to appeal to racial prejudice, which is useful in maintaining support for the structure of the dual economy — and hurting everyone in the low-wage sector.
Sidenote: I found this through Hacker News [1] which I read often mostly for the comments and analisys on the story more than for the story itself. But this one in particular was flagged, meaning that it broke one or more guidelines according to a moderator. This to say that it may not be as good as I think but I personally find it very informative.
The article at nycaviation [1] (see my other comment) says:
The creator of the circular runway concept even admits that he was “inspired by watching scary crosswind landings on YouTube,” not from any challenge or need that the aviation industry is actually facing.
And its easy to take it seriously since it comes from someone at the Netherlands Aerospace Centre. So indeed it appears that it was a brain fart.
Hi Ilargi. There’s an article at nycaviation [1] that uses what seems to be valid and informed arguments to show that the circular runway is not practical at all. I’m sad that my first comment at TAE is to show a different opinion but I felt that it was important to bring your attention to it. I’m a loyal reader and in my opinion your reasoning, i.e., Nicole’s and yours, is correct if not accurate. Your use of morality in your reasoning in addition to logic and facts is what leads me to believe so. Please, keep the hard work.
[1] Why The Circular Runway Concept Would Not Work
https://www.nycaviation.com/2017/03/circular-runway-concept-work/
