MelonTree

If this pandemic does not teach nations, governments and people why it is so important to have short local and capable supply chains, I don't know what will.

I doubt it will. I order a lot of construction materials, so I've been exposed to most of the supply chain issues. Some of the worst and most unexpected delays have been from the local suppliers. Presumedly because they are also constrained on some parts, and they don't prioritize me simply because I'm local. So going forward, I certainly don't see why I would pay a premium for local suppliers..

He said: "I only needed 6"

It's massively easier. If at the time I had my money in bitcoin, I would just need to find willing trader (someone who would trade my bitcoin for making my rent payment). But because I didn't, and my bank account was frozen, I had to find someone to pay my rent _on credit_. I was lucky to have someone to turn to, I suspect not everyone is fortunate to have friends who are willing and able to help and trust someone with a frozen bank account.

And what also is scary, if I had been a real target and not bycatch, I bet anyone who helped me would've also faced the same asset freeze for helping me.

Yeah, it was the US. Funnily enough, I never found out why it happened. Everyone claimed to not know, have no access to it, and the people who were supposed to be in touch with me never were. A week earlier I did send a reasonable amount of money to someone in country that is most well known for it's illegal drug industry. Although I have nothing to do with drugs or anything illegal, and no way of knowing if that was even related or not (no one even asked me about it, so hard to tell if it was a coincidence or not)

No, not at all. During my asset freeze, I considered trying to take action against my bank to force something to actually happen and facts to come to light. But I also had access to no money, and and my time was better spent working some cash jobs so I didn't have to lean so much on my friends. And then once my assets were unfrozen, I don't think I really have much grounds for recourse..

So basically he believes bitcoin is a ponzi because bitcoin investors "expect good profits" yet also believes "few if any gold investors have expectations of profits".

I laughed a little, but then I realized he was serious.

I got involved in bitcoin after being blackballed from the (US) financial world while for 2-3 months while I was "investigated" in the most dystopianly opaque way possible. One day I lost the ability to transact. A few months later I got it back. Had it not been for good friends who could cover my expenses, I could have easily ended up homeless. And the most shocking part of it all, was that I was merely collateral damage -- I had done nothing to piss off any of the powers to be.

It made me quickly appreciate that a persons ability to transact while not quite a human right, isn't too far from it either. There is no way the government (or financial world) should hold the power to wreck someone with no accountability. Bitcoin as I see it, is a way to shift the balance of power somewhere closer to where it belongs.

I don't hold bitcoin because I think it'll go up in value, I hold it because I don't want someone to tell me I can't pay rent because ... well they can't tell me why, because "sorry, I don't have access to that information"

100 years ago, you would've used the same argument to try ban cars. They're fundamentally antithetical to democracy, as they allow anyone to .. commit crimes and get away with it.

More informative than one you didn't go to?

my partner is intergender but biologically female/female-presenting

Out of curiosity, would that make you bisexual?

Ah, blockchain innovation, which is somehow so vital to the shining future of mankind, yet has utterly failed to produce anything of technological or economic value with the billions already invested.

Cryptocurrencies have allowed me to feed my family back home in Lebanon, in a way that would simply not be possible with out it. I'm not sure if you don't think this happens on a daily basis, or is not of economic value.

HN tends to be very skeptical in general. It's easy to sound intelligent with a well-reasoned negative opinion than it is with an optimistic one. I think with cryptocurrency in particular a lot of HN'ers have really just dug their heals in and don't want to admit they were wrong.