• FaceDeer@kbin.social
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    7 months ago

    Ok, so a stablecoin means, that the holder gives an unsecured, zero-interest loan to a company with unknown credit worthiness.

    No. Neither of the approaches I described means that. You can check the credit-worthiness of Tether and other such companies (Tether was just an example, there are many others) and decide whether you want to use their token based on what you learn if you wish. As I said, you only need the token to last for as long as you’re using it for, so if you’re running a storefront for example you can be paid in those tokens and immediately trade them for something you trust more.

    And you can’t actually redeem the stablecoin for money, you can only get crypto that trades for $1, allegedly.

    The stablecoin is worth $1, yes. That’s the point of the stablecoin. The “allegedly” part is not actually allegedly, it’s part of how the smart contract backing the token operates.

    Are you for real?

    Yes. I get the impression that you’re arguing in bad faith, though. I’m happy to discuss the details of how these things work but you’re calling this “insane” and that’s not a particularly useful mindset for learning.

    • General_Effort@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      No. Neither of the approaches I described means that.

      Yes, it does. You can redeem the “stablecoin”. That means it’s an IOU; a debt. That means you are granting a loan while holding the coin.

      There are several reasons why there is interest on loans. One is risk. If you lend $1 to 11 people and one of them can’t pay back, you are left with only $10 of $11. No problem among friends, but not a viable business model. You’d have to charge 10% interest to break even.

      It’s not a problem to use debt as money, cause that’s what we do. What you have in your checking account is a debt owed by the bank to you. The difference is that your checking account is insured. You will not lose money if the bank goes bust.

      The “allegedly” part is not actually allegedly, it’s part of how the smart contract backing the token operates.

      How is the smart contract updated with the current market prices?

      Yes. I get the impression that you’re arguing in bad faith, though.

      I know how crypto works and I’m being honest with you. I had hoped that my question would make you realize that a debt is not a separate currency. Well, that didn’t work but now we know. I am quite willing to learn how these smart-contract-stablecoins work, or if they do.

      Regarding the question of “bad faith”: I am sure that you have already checked if what you just learned about Tether is true. That means you understand that using it as an example of a viable currency potentially helps a company defraud people. Will you edit your post?

      The fact of the matter is that I have warned you about the clear and well-known dangers of USDT. I could have been more polite but I still have done you a great favor, that may save you a lot of money. You’re welcome.

      I was irritated that someone, who apparently considers themselves knowledgeable on crypto, would not know about tether. I am also irritated that this great favors is met with accusations of bad faith.