I recall reading about people taking the ferry over to Uraguay in order to stock up on dollars.
Exactly, and I know many who had to travel to the USA to be able to retrieve the money in person. Bitcoin and by far and large USDT allowed the proliferation of the freelacer industry here. It's insane to think that those technologies allowed (and allow) many of us to live decently, by all standards, amidst such a terrible crisis. That's the reason many of us hold to it for (literally) dear life. I hope bitcoin developers are proud to know they provided millions with a lifeline to actual work (not trading), gives me goosebumps to think about it.
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Hold on dear life or HODL
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Can't get more literal!
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Your story is remarkable. You should write a book!
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Thank you buddy, I appreciate that :)
I'm indeed slowly crafting a book around all of this in a similar style as Adam Smith did, and I'm planning to publish it on Nostr.
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People actually do that? Hold brings of dollars?
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As literal as you read it, it's not only a thing, it was by far the optimal alternative before USDT became more integrated. Travelling personally to another country to retrieve physical money and bringing in the stacks was the safest and most cost effective option by such a ridiculous margin that it was the go-to option.
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Wow, I am surprised people took that risk.
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The good thing is that for us the usefulness of crypto became so blatantly evident
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So people use USDT now? They dont bother getting stacks of cash?
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Not if they work for off-shore remote jobs, not anymore. Of course there are boomers who still need to have the physical bill in their hands, but the youth stays in crypto (either USDT or BTC or a mix of both). I personally like to keep my stack on BTC only, tough many keep it on USDT only.
People who earn in local currency, again mostly boomers, do keep their stack in phyisical USD only because it's really easy to get. But the youth use apps to buy USDT, tough most keep the money in local currency and use apps that provide yield in local currency.
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