Crypto assets are ‘worth nothing,’ says ECB’s Christine Lagarde

Sure, in this case. But imagine the US and EU aren't your friend but are attempting every means possible to prevent you from moving funds. Suddenly it can become very difficult.

Being barred from Paypal VISA, or a regular bank account, is surprisingly effective a means of control. I would argue it's the main means of censorship in the West these days. It's a soft form of control, and not absolute, but it is highly effective.

For example, the standards of payment processors effectively determine what kind of porn you're allowed to watch. There mere suggestion of a policy change by the credit card payment handlers was behind OnlyFans's bizarre recent move to eliminate sexually explicit material from its platform, for example. There's a reason so many of their competitors emphasize Bitcoin as a payment method.

Similarly, the Paypal/VISA/British-American bank blockade of Wikileaks cut their donations ~95% almost overnight.

If you offend, or piss off, the American and British banks, it can become almost impossible to move large amounts of money around in the West. it's only possible to do if the authorities like you. I'm not passing any value judgements on whether Onlyfans should be able to host content the credit card companies don't like, or whether it should be de facto banned to donate to Wikileaks. But that's how it is. And cryptocurrency does address that niche.

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