Fiji's New Pro-Bitcoin Prime Minister Ponders Legal Tender Bill 51
Pro-Bitcoin politician Sitiveni Rabuka recently took office as the new Prime Minister of the Pacific Islands of Fiji. Now, it seems the new PM is actively considering the adoption of bitcoin as legal tender there. Bitcoin Magazine reports: While Rabuka himself hasn't been very public about his opinions on Bitcoin thus far, Lord Fusitu'a, a noble and former member of parliament of neighboring nation Tonga, has reportedly confirmed that the Fijian politician is a bitcoin bull. "The new PM is definitely pro-Bitcoin," Lord Fusitu'a assured Cointelegraph. Lord Fusitu'a also shared the news on Twitter. "A new pro-#Bitcoin friendly Prime Minister in the South Pacific. Fiji's newly elected Prime Minister @slrabuka," Lord Fusitu'a wrote, tagging Rabuka.
In the second part of his tweet, Lord Fusitu'a hinted at the legal tender legislation. "Let's go 2 for 2 - BTC Legal Tender Bills for the Pacific in 2023," the tweet reads, hinting at Tonga's own Bitcoin legal tender legislation that could reportedly go live as early as Q2 2023. The Bitcoin dream first started brewing in Tonga right after El Salvador's Bitcoin Law came into effect.
In the second part of his tweet, Lord Fusitu'a hinted at the legal tender legislation. "Let's go 2 for 2 - BTC Legal Tender Bills for the Pacific in 2023," the tweet reads, hinting at Tonga's own Bitcoin legal tender legislation that could reportedly go live as early as Q2 2023. The Bitcoin dream first started brewing in Tonga right after El Salvador's Bitcoin Law came into effect.
Ironic (Score:4, Interesting)
Now they want to stand behind a major carbon emitting form of "currency"?
Re: (Score:1)
Just means they do not actually have a moral compass there either. They just like to use the these days so popular "victim narrative".
Re:BitCoin not inherently carbon emitting (Score:5, Informative)
A few fossil power plants have been brought out of retirement just to power Bitcoin mining operations, including some particularly filthy coal plants. Unfortunately renewable is only cheaper than fossil if they either both already exist, or you have to choose between building one or the other. Existing fossil still beats new renewable, so a lot of Bitcoin still gets mined on that. It's the same reason fossil grid power is still around at all, for the most part.
Even if it were using all renewable power, proof-of-work is a horrendous waste of electricity that could be better put to use powering something less wasteful and ideally more important, thus allowing a reduction of fossil power usage instead.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
A few fossil power plants have been brought out of retirement just to power Bitcoin mining operations
But that's not all bitcoin, and those efforts are now probably shut down due to the cost of running them.
In fact the drop in bitcoin value has probably shut down more fossil fuel plants than anything you ever do will! So Bitcoin is inherently more eco-friendly than you are.
Re: (Score:2)
But that's not all bitcoin
Doesn't fucking matter. The only thing that matters is how much extra CO2 is being pumped into the atmosphere as a result of Bitcoin hogging so much electricity.
Re: (Score:1)
In fact the drop in bitcoin value has probably shut down more fossil fuel plants than anything you ever do will! So Bitcoin is inherently more eco-friendly than you are.
The fuck are you talking about, my dude. Citation needed!
Re: (Score:2)
But that's not all bitcoin
#NotAllBitcoin
In fact the drop in bitcoin value has probably shut down more fossil fuel plants than anything you ever do will! So Bitcoin is inherently more eco-friendly than you are.
Maybe if I set enough oil wells on fire and then put them all out, I too can be an eco-friendly hero in this way!
Re: (Score:2)
Also even when using alternative energies, they deprive legitimate customers of the same source, and thus fossil fuel energy gets used. These so called miners are not building their own dams or solar/wind farms. Often they get cheap rates by bribing local politicians.
All in all, it's just a waste. There's no need for bitcoin, all this mining is done for only one purpose - to make money from nothing. The primary uses of bitcoin continue to remain criminal; money laundering, hiding money transfers, scams,
Re: (Score:2)
So mostly bitcoin miners are seeking cheaper forms of energy like renewables or nuclear - zero carbon.
What?! Miners just mine wherever energy happens to be cheap - unless you're suggesting they somehow build their own wind turbines or nuclear power plants.
Even if the entirety of Bitcoin mining ran off hydroelectric power, it'd still generate ~2 Metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. [ccaf.io] And that's the most charitable scenario possible.
Re: (Score:2)
The Tongan royal family and the associated nobles are notoriously corrupt and I'm picking this particular scam artist is running the line he's been paid to run.
The story is in "Bitcoin Magazine" and has no corroborating evidence that Sitivene Rabuka is pro any sort of crypto. Rambuka heads a government made up of a three party coalition so he can't legislate without the support of his partners anyway.
Dumb story, probably not true.
How do they profit? (Score:3)
As much as I can see bitcoins merits it seems to lack the primary needs for a national currency: stability of value and transaction speed. It's conceivable that the latter can be fixed someday but currently isn't directly so and the former seems insurmountable as there is no central bank of bit coin. So why would they do that? And how does it profit the nobles?
Re: (Score:2)
Bitcoin offers Fiji nothing.
Re: (Score:1)
The latter was fixed long ago with lightning.
Re: (Score:2)
The latter was fixed long ago with lightning.
This statement will never not make me laugh. People are insane.
Re: (Score:2)
Stability of value is simply a matter of scale. These are small nations, individually they still don't represent enough economic activity to back a stable currency but bitcoin enables these small nations to do something new. They effectively form a combined currency like the EURO... the more nations that sign on the more stable BTC will become.
Why do you think the IMF freaks out about this activity?
Re: (Score:2)
Then use a cryptocurrency not tainted by the worse stability of them all and whose major users are criminal. These small leaders only want bitcoin because they're either already criminal or because they want a way to keep their money once they get deposed and exiled. Only a fool thinks that bitcoin would actually help the general population of a country.
Re: (Score:2)
"Only a fool thinks that bitcoin would actually help the general population of a country." because...
Re: (Score:2)
Any politician in a small country seeking to use bitcoin should automatically raise red flags. They're clearly doing this for their own personal gain and not for the citizens.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Well, you continue to demonstrate you are a moron. No surprise really.
Re: (Score:3)
Especially since El Salvador tried it (even mentioned in the article) and are now hiding the true extent of their losses as as "state secret."
Going to make foreign trade "interesting", especially when you can't be sure what the real value of the country's reserves are in "real money."
Re: (Score:2)
Why is it a state secret? Everyone know El Salvador bought higher and about how much.
No, we just know what Bukele tweets every now and then.
What are El Salvador's government wallet addresses?
Re: Good idea (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Agreed that moving away from traditional fiat, especially fiat controlled by big governments who may turn against you, is a good idea.
No it's not. It's bloody stupid.
Re: (Score:1)
I know Slashdot has a lot of 5-digit UID cranks who are no longer real nerds, but don't you think it would serve you to do some reading on the subject of transactional capacity with bitcoin that is more recent than, say, 2017?
Lightning Network [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:1)
And here is the graph of how much a lying sack of shit you are at any particular time during the last year:
https://ycharts.com/indicators... [ycharts.com]
Re: Good idea (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Oooh boy.
Lightning not only doesn't solve any issues associated with bitcoin, it introduces a whole new set of them. Have they even solved the routing problem yet?
Re: Good idea (Score:1)
You mean, the traveling salesman problem. Not sure what you are talking about, since you are writing this on a forum hosted on protocols with the same routing problems.
Re: (Score:3)
Not sure what you are talking about, since you are writing this on a forum hosted on protocols with the same routing problems.
Huh? What in the name of the fuck are you talking about? Routing in Lightning has little to do with the internet, in the sense that you need to know channel balances in advance to build a viable path. What is already a NP-hard problem is then compounded with a myriad of other issues - for example, the cost trial-and-error path selection, or how intermediate nodes are forced to freeze required funds in their channels while path are negotiated.
The best part though? Bitcoin is not even required for something l
Re: (Score:3)
All the goldbugs can go pound sand - the gold standard was abandoned for really good reasons.
As for crypto hahaha if you think that’s a good idea, you obviously haven’t read the news in the last 18 months. In terms of control over my money, I’ll take
Re: (Score:2)
Bitcoin succeeded (if you can call it that) for two reasons: it was attractive for criminal enterprises; and the rapid rise seemed good to some as a speculative investment. Both of those reasons are terrible for an actual day-to-day currency. No one wants to be paid in junk bonds or lottery tickets, and the stores won't accept them for goods and services. So if you were paid in bitcoin and the value is going up at a high rate then that's deflation and it can ruin an economy quickly just the same as infla
Re: (Score:2)
...there is no question that it's a good idea to move away from currencies controlled by governments...
There is absolutely a question about that.
There is a good reason all the cryptos are valued in US dollars. Can you guess what it is?
That's only a momentary convenience (Score:1)
There is a good reason all the cryptos are valued in US dollars.
They are at the moment but only because that's the reference people are used to (and also because you are used to reading U.S. news).
Just like oil USED to only be valued in USD, but that is recently no longer true.
In reality BitCoin is valued in terms of whatever you can get for it. That may be USD - but it also may be other goods or services, or other currencies.
Again let me be super clear, I own no Bitcoin and think buying it right now is a
Re: (Score:2)
Oil is valued in US dollars, and America has destroyed countries to ensure that continues to happen. If you think some other currency is involved, you have not been paying attention.
Re: (Score:2)
First the plural of Bitcoin is Bitcoin; there is no significance to whole units or discreet coins.
I have been regularly buying and selling goods and services with bitcoin for better than a decade. The new AC/Heating system I installed in my home was paid for in Bitcoin; my wedding ring purchased at overstock using BTC; I buy firewood with BTC each year; usenet access; various gadgets around the house; I donate to a number of individuals and efforts in BTC and accept donations in BTC. We used to do lunch gro
Re: (Score:2)
Once again, any currency which has large changes in its value over short periods is useless, which is exactly the reason central banks are trying to prevent inflation getting worse.
Re: (Score:2)
Actually that is a very interesting real world case. I've been using that same firewood guy for 6 years now and while I don't have the exact history at my fingertips it is a relatively constant charge around $400 somewhere around November. Of course, we don't know what the firewood guy does with the money... if he converts to USD immediately then he has simply paid less fees than a credit card payment but less than cash.
But if he'd simply been keeping the BTC what has happened... calculating using the Nov c
Re: (Score:2)
there is no question that it's a good idea to move away from currencies controlled by governments that really do not have the best interests of other nations in mind.
Errr... what? I mean I get it the general meme is that government controlled currency is bad for the people, but did you have a stroke mid sentence and think that this has anything to do with the best interest of "other nations"?
Please respond with your address, I have emergency services on hold waiting to dispatch help.
Re: (Score:2)
This is satire, right?
It worked out so well for El Salvador (Score:2)
Re: It worked out so well for El Salvador (Score:1)
Interesting, because since ~2 years ago the dollar has lost its value due to government-caused inflation, El Salvador is amongst the top countries in GDP gain.
Seems really odd (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You are assuming their own currency is more stable. You are probably used to USD and EUR... the scale of those currencies is massive.
What we are seeing is places undergoing great turmoil or who are simply small turning to cryptocurrency, adding their own economy as real underlying basis for Bitcoin. Every small market player is volatile the larger the adoption of Bitcoin (for real use) the larger a player it becomes and the more stable it will be on the market.
Hope (Score:2)
AGW dovetail: BTC as a Fiji money (Score:2)
In the end of global warming, Fiji could enjoy a BTC network effect even though its sovereign nation status is all wet.