Comment by mxwsn
1 year ago
Can SDR really be traded on demand by civilians with a smartphone or computer at any time of day anywhere in the world with internet? It doesn't seem so from a quick Google search, but I don't know. If not, it seems pretty clearly quite different from stablecoins operating on blockchains.
You can't buy them as a normal person afaik. I learned about them during some boating / radio exams. They're (also) used to pay for satellite calls at sea, which I thought was interesting.
A stablecoin (or any 'coin' for that matter) does not need a blockchain to fulfill its purpose.
The interesting parts for me are:
- It was created 2 years before the dollar officially lost the gold standard
- It's a product of the IMF
- It is seen as a reserve currency
- It's 'stable' the sense that it's a basket of currencies
- I don't think I've ever heard anybody talk about this during any blockchain / crypto / stablecoin event.
I didn't look into how "stable" the coin actually has been over time. But I think it's good to look at the policies and thoughts from IMF's point of few as well as how countries deal with it. They have smart people there, so there's probably something we can learn from them.
One sure can cash in on crypto, even today! Or so I am told in various YouTube get rich quick adds. And since YC is following the strategy of selling shovels during a gold rush, them promoting stablecoims makes perfect sense!