"Regarding faith, when it comes to the topic of belief, most people who come into this space initially do so with the intention of making quick money. Talking about 'faith' can seem quite abstract, but I actually do have a belief, and here I'll casually share some thoughts on my faith in Bitcoin / Stablecoins.
Interpretations of Bitcoin faith vary widely among different individuals, influenced by their life experiences and differing focuses.
Before the gambling ban on August 18th, I had been to Cambodia. At that time, the real estate and land markets there were booming due to the thriving illegal online gambling and telecom fraud industries. I visited Phnom Penh, Poipet, Bavet, and of course, the later notorious Sihanoukville, which now reminds one of the roaring 1920s depicted in 'The Great Gatsby.'
Everyone was imagining that this place could become the next Macau or Shenzhen. Being in such a distorted, rough, yet vibrant environment, people were eager to get involved, although fortunately, I did not participate.
All this came crashing down after the Cambodian gambling ban, which is another story.
Do you think I'm going to talk about the various urban legends involving the big bosses in these zones? Not really, and besides, as a mere observer, I never got close enough to enter those circles.
What surprised me was the country's currency and banking system.
The US dollar is commonly used here, referred to as 'moolah.' The local currency, the Cambodian Riel, is practically worthless; if you try to pay for a tuk-tuk ride with it, the driver will give you an annoyed look.
Opening a bank account here is done without any compliance or risk management. Anyone can open an account, and reportedly millions of dollars flow through them daily, including cash deposits and withdrawals, without requiring any compliance documents.
Those living in mainland China may not fully understand, but overseas Chinese would know how challenging this can be in any other SWIFT-system bank.
Similar situations exist in countries like Argentina and Ecuador, where the local currency has been effectively abandoned.
How vast is the scale of this underground dollar system? While I don't have specific data for Cambodia, according to the Tax Justice Network, around $8-10 trillion in assets are hidden in offshore financial centers globally, including Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands.
This is truly the upper limit of Bitcoin, as it eventually serves as a portion of the offshore/underground dollar system's store of value (SOV).
Offshore banks can still freeze assets and may be disconnected from the SWIFT system or blacklisted due to compliance issues. If you've ever sent money to the Cayman Islands or Gibraltar, you'd understand what I mean.
Apart from its volatility, Bitcoin is an excellent choice for the wealthy seeking anonymity, such as grey-market bosses or warlords, and it fundamentally solves the issue of asset liquidity.
Due to Proof-of-Work (PoW), theoretically, these individuals can convert their wealth into mining power to produce new coins, which cannot be traced back to any source (which is why the U.S. has compliance guidelines for mining operations and mining pools implement stricter Know Your Customer (KYC) policies).
Like meme coins, which lack a valuation model, the more they rise, the better their liquidity becomes. As Bitcoin rises, its liquidity improves, and its volatility relatively decreases, increasing its capacity as an SOV.
However, this demand has been partially diverted by stablecoins. Although Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) can freeze stablecoin assets at user addresses, they represent an even wilder existence than Cambodian banks.
Has this changed the fundamental nature of Bitcoin? It's like corporate competition between Bitcoin and Stablecoin, with varying market shares. Since the competition is differentiated, neither can kill the other; only the percentages change.
But could Bitcoin + Stablecoin replace the dollar business of traditional offshore financial centers? This seems somewhat possible because the competition in the underground dollar system is homogeneous. As younger tycoons replace the aging ones, we might see the market share of traditional offshore financial centers gradually shift to the Bitcoin + Stablecoin system each year.
Note that we're talking about the dollar business of traditional offshore financial centers, and there are many other services that remain irreplaceable, such as entity setup, capital gains tax benefits, trusts, etc.
A digital offshore free port that fully embraces cryptocurrency might emerge, such as the Hong Kong government, which clearly understands the nature of the funds it deals with and is making efforts to embrace this change, though...
Once upon a time, I thought the most ingenious use case for blockchain was DAI / LUSD, creating unregulated underground dollar credit in a decentralized manner. Despite being limited by the market cap and liquidity of ETH, the value of this concept is immense, as Milton Friedman might say, what is the value of freedom?
Now, with Maker's upgrade to something called Sky, adding address blacklists and blocking access via VPN, it represents a betrayal of the crypto spirit after the team's successful whitewashing and exit.
During the DeFi boom, ETH, which was still operating under PoW, had the opportunity to pivot towards an SOV position. But now, talking about these things feels like historical nihilism."
Here is the translation of your text into English:
"Regarding the 'faith' in Shitcoins, I'll write about that another day; it's a completely different system. In fact, I've written about it before — 'Better Gray Market Securitization.'
Let me conclude with a quote from Jihan Wu from 2012. His character is for others to judge, but writing such insightful words at that point in time undoubtedly shows he was an incredibly intelligent person with vision. Vision is a state of mind, not a function of the eye:
Bitcoin seamlessly embeds a virtual offshore financial haven into the entire world.
The Bitcoin network is the Hong Kong, BVI, and Macau of cyberspace. Buying Bitcoin now is akin to owning a building on the Peak in Hong Kong.
Don’t just see the lack of development on the mountain right now; instead, envision the skyscrapers that will line the base of the mountain in the future.
Unrestricted savings accounts, easy-to-maintain depositor confidentiality, low transaction fees, no taxation, free trade, unrestricted gambling, strict monetary discipline.
Welcome to the Bitcoin network, the financial free port, tax-free trade zone, and anarchist paradise of the internet."#小非农增幅创3年多新低 #非农就业数据即将公布
