Crypto is saving lives in Ukraine

https://www.bloombergquint.com/onweb/ukraine-s-crypto-banker-describes-how-war-is-changing-his-life

by ca98am79 • 4 years ago

10 18 4 years ago

bloombergquint.com

SpodGaju3• 4 years ago

Misleading title. Headline is

“Ukraine’s Crypto Banker Describes How War Is Changing His Life”

Crypto is saving zero lives in Ukraine and all this guy is doing is profiting from war and fear.

ca98am793• 4 years ago

He literally says: "Now there is no skepticism because they understand that we save lives every single minute with crypto. You can try to ignore it, but you cannot ignore when their families are actually fed with crypto, or when the soldiers are dressed in bulletproof vests and helmets with crypto."

goalieca2• 4 years ago

The Russian government is bypassing sanctions with crypto.

tablespoon2• 4 years ago

He literally says: "Now there is no skepticism because they understand that we save lives every single minute with crypto. You can try to ignore it, but you cannot ignore when their families are actually fed with crypto, or when the soldiers are dressed in bulletproof vests and helmets with crypto."

But that has nothing to do with cryptocurrency, specifically.

If there's any truth to what he says, it's more true of National Bank of Ukraine Special Account UA843000010000000047330992708 [1]. So:

Now there is no skepticism because they understand that we save lives every single minute with [money donated to National Bank of Ukraine Special Account UA843000010000000047330992708]. You can try to ignore it, but you cannot ignore when their families are actually fed with [money donated to National Bank of Ukraine Special Account UA843000010000000047330992708], or when the soldiers are dressed in bulletproof vests and helmets with [money donated to National Bank of Ukraine Special Account UA843000010000000047330992708].

[1] https://bank.gov.ua/en/news/all/natsionalniy-bank-vidkriv-sp...

rvz4• 4 years ago

Shall we also go to Afghanistan and talk to the hungry afghans about how they are able to receive USDC stablecoins and exchange it for their currency so they can eat and not starve to death? [0]

[0] https://theintercept.com/2022/01/19/crypto-afghanistan-sanct...

SpodGaju3• 4 years ago

The article was not about Afghanistan.

But we can talk about how the U.S. is creating the sanctions in Afghanistan. And we can also talk about how Russia is using Crypto to get around sanctions.

All crypto does is make money for the gatekeepers of crypto and profit off of war, sanction, and fear. Crypto solves zero problems, it only profits off of the problems governments create.

thrwy_918• 4 years ago

I think even crypto-skeptics can see the utility of crypto in situations where people do not have access to functioning banking system.

But I think the most useful type of crypto in such a situation would be something like a decentralized version of a "stable" coin like tether or USDC, rather than a speculative asset like more classic crypto coins. People in dire straits want to transact trustlessly or move their wealth to a safe jurisdiction, they don't want to speculate on the value of a volatile asset.

The issue is, I can't really see how a decentralized stablecoin could exist.

tablespoon2• 4 years ago

I think even crypto-skeptics can see the utility of crypto in situations where people do not have access to functioning banking system.

In this case, the Ukrainian government does have access to the banking system. It sounds like this guy is just managing once channel of cryptocurrency donations, which I'm sure isn't their largest channel of financial support. The headline here is pretty misleading, because it makes it seem like cryptocurrency is doing something special.

And the problem with your general sentiment is that cryptocurrency requires access to quite advanced technical infrastructure (on a personal and civil level), which in many situations is contraindicated by "not having access to functioning banking system."

The main use of cryptocurrency is in this crisis is probably for Russian oligarchs to avoid sanctions.

bb88• 4 years ago

I think even crypto-skeptics can see the utility of crypto

No. Electronic payments based in a stable country, yes, but that doesn't have to be crypto blockchain speculative shit that passes as a fiat alternative today.

And the stablecoins so far aren't. If anything, they're the ripest area for corruption in the crypto network today.

alphabettsy• 4 years ago

Nothing in this article indicates that some unique factor of crypto enables it to save lives. It does say that donations have allowed them to purchase life-protecting and life-saving supplies but how are crypto donations unique. I can speculate, but I shouldn’t have to with an article titled as such.

ca98am793• 4 years ago

What about the part where it says you can get access to it within 10 minutes, while the traditional banking industry takes 3 days?

thraxil• 4 years ago

If I send/receive a bank transfer here in the UK, it's available within seconds if not minutes. International transfers from my US account to the UK or vice versa with Wise go through in a similar amount of time. If it takes 3 days for a transfer to go through somewhere, that's a specific issue with the local banking system, not a fundamental issue that only cryptocurrency can solve.

Crypto is saving lives in Ukraine

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