In a country crushed by inflation and sanctions, cryptocurrency has become a way to protect savings from a collapsing rial. But without the internet, online crypto exchanges are cut off.
Many years ago I took a finance class in which the first week of 2 was about the history of money. Or what was considered money when purchasing things. Two points has always stood out to me. 1) the dominance of the US dollar is not permanent. History teaches us that nothing is permanent. 2) and please remember this is based on a decades old memory. The stock exchange exists because people, in the street, were betting on the future and prospects of American companies. It was so popular that it became difficult to control and police. So they were given an ultimatum forcing them to develop rules and behave legitimately. So they moved inside and developed the stock exchange system. It’s not a perfect system but it works to the benefit, mostly, for everyone good or bad. This makes me think of cryptocurrency as much aligned, dark, and with a lot of illegality associated with it. Yet it still sticks around and provides a lot of positive options to people who need it. Just like this story illustrates.
I’m not really sure. But opinion news is quite prevalent and in uncertain times people look to perceived authority figures to tell them what to expect. Gambling has been around for millennia and technology creates new ways to gamble online. In a capitalist society people look for easy ways to make money. Looking at it that way, it’s not surprising that prediction markets are becoming popular.
Paula, that’s fascinating. Of course we’re talking about crypto here, but your comment made me think immediately of new predilection markets like Polymarket and Kalshi. Any thoughts on those, and where they’re headed?
Thank you! I met Sina while celebrating the Persian New Year, Nowruz, in Yerevan, Armenia. He told me he had left Iran just a few days prior, and I was fascinated by the lens he offered into the country during wartime.
Many years ago I took a finance class in which the first week of 2 was about the history of money. Or what was considered money when purchasing things. Two points has always stood out to me. 1) the dominance of the US dollar is not permanent. History teaches us that nothing is permanent. 2) and please remember this is based on a decades old memory. The stock exchange exists because people, in the street, were betting on the future and prospects of American companies. It was so popular that it became difficult to control and police. So they were given an ultimatum forcing them to develop rules and behave legitimately. So they moved inside and developed the stock exchange system. It’s not a perfect system but it works to the benefit, mostly, for everyone good or bad. This makes me think of cryptocurrency as much aligned, dark, and with a lot of illegality associated with it. Yet it still sticks around and provides a lot of positive options to people who need it. Just like this story illustrates.
I’m not really sure. But opinion news is quite prevalent and in uncertain times people look to perceived authority figures to tell them what to expect. Gambling has been around for millennia and technology creates new ways to gamble online. In a capitalist society people look for easy ways to make money. Looking at it that way, it’s not surprising that prediction markets are becoming popular.
Paula, that’s fascinating. Of course we’re talking about crypto here, but your comment made me think immediately of new predilection markets like Polymarket and Kalshi. Any thoughts on those, and where they’re headed?
I really loved this article Jacqueline. Learned a lot and really interesting. Where did you meet this guy?
Thank you! I met Sina while celebrating the Persian New Year, Nowruz, in Yerevan, Armenia. He told me he had left Iran just a few days prior, and I was fascinated by the lens he offered into the country during wartime.