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CookieCrisp 2 days ago

Hahaha, that’s a good joke

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diegolas a day ago | parent | next [-]

some ways of using crypto are pretty common in countries with high inflation rates

weak src: me, a citizen from a country with high inflation rates

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OutOfHere 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

It's not a joke. It's 100% true. People tend to be extremely uneducated wrt crypto, also favoring to dwell in their ignorance.

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robocat a day ago | parent [-]

I spent months in South America and tried to use crypto in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. I was motivated because of this pro-crypto article: https://devonzuegel.com/inside-argentina-s-currency-exchange...

People in many South American countries should be highly motivated to use crypto because fiat is usually damn shit.

I was motivated because cash machines were extremely crappy for a tourist (when you could find an ATM that even had any money in its cassettes). Argentina was a USD8 withdrawal fee plus the super shitty official exchange rate and half the time you could only withdraw maybe USD30 maximum so you maybe needed to do multiple transactions. I also had NZD bank fees and poor exchange rates from my own NZ bank added.

It was a total shitshow trying to use crypto. I would honestly have been better wandering around with gold in my pockets.

Crypto was high risk: dangerously unsafe. Also mostly unavailable unless you were really lucky. Complex. Massively taxed for recipients if they used anything that officially supported crypto. Arbolitos (street money changers) would take a 10-15% cut and it always felt super effing dodgy (felt like a risk of getting kidnapped).

I can't recommend it. There was no way to learn how to do crypto transactions safely, even though I have conversational Spanish.

Scary as all fuck. My kind of holiday, but I couldn't recommend anyone take those risks unless they're as stupid an idiot as me.

I'm mostly relaxed about countries taking advantage of me (or other tourists), but South America was so OTT that I mostly wouldn't go back. That said, I loved Brazil even though I can't speak a word of Portuguese. That's the only place I would make an effort to return to from my 3 months travelling in South America.

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OutOfHere a day ago | parent [-]

So don't pay with it in unsafe settings. For them, crypto still can absolutely be a very valid means of saving money. When the local currency is inflationary and the banks restrict dollars, crypto saves the day wrt holdings. Transfer to bank account in local currency as needed.

And you should never allow anyone to take advantage of you or any tourist. It is never acceptable, and it happens because of relaxed dotards who don't fight or prevent it. As a tourist, being taken advantage in dollars is what I consider scary.

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robocat 14 hours ago | parent [-]

You are suggesting that people should illegally hide their crypto from their government and taxation.

I assume if you live in say Argentina, then you really have little other choice.

But they don't have the knowledge to be safe, even though they strongly understand the need for security. I prefer not to advise other people to perform risky actions.

> you should never allow anyone to take advantage of you or any tourist

And you should never tell other people what to do.

I am actually pretty okay with being generous and paying "too much". I've traveled to places where I'm relatively a fucking rich bastard. I don't see that I should be a selfish arsehole towards people that earn cents compared to me.

I hate foreign governments ripping me off because I know the money isn't going towards anything useful.

But I attempt to be thoughtfully generous towards individuals.

Although I avoid tipping culture (as a New Zealander it feels prostitutionally sleazy to me).

I remember some Germans telling me I was ruining it for other tourists by not haggling enough. Fuck those tight wankers.

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OutOfHere 13 hours ago | parent [-]

Being generous is completely different from getting scammed. For example, one can be generous by not bargaining it the price is within affluent standards. One can however be scammed by being taken for a useless long taxi ride. The point is to reward the good and prevent the bad. It depends on whether you see yourself as a force for good in this world or not.

Tipping culture is a distortion of what tipping should be. Tipping should be a reward for "unexpectedly extraordinary" service - this by definition is a rare occurrence.

The government doesn't ask me when it prints money to pay the interest on its debt. It applies this inflation tax regardless of how much income tax one pays, which compounds hugely over the years. It is in this way the biggest scammer, and I believe I already declared my lack of support for scammers.

	▲	robocat 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Sounds like we mostly agree. I dislike scammers, and when travelling I practice my skills at recognising them. I'm okay at avoiding getting targeted (using a variety of techniques). If scammers are feeding their families, and relatively rich tourists are sufficiently incautious, then I don't have huge sympathy for the tourists. The rules of the street are everywhere in the world. I don't support drug users in my home town either. Of course I've run into many selfish arsehole scammers including ones with their police on thier side. Options against bent cops in foreign countries are more limited. But yes, my government always wants to increase taxation, and they are rather deceptive about everything. But I pay my taxes and I'm mostly okay with what it is used for. Without our social and legal infrastructure, I wouldn't have got anything.