Do exchanges use stablecoins to make transfers that would otherwise be too difficult/slow through the banking system?
I don't know about exchanges, but traders use it, and A LOT!! That is certainly one of the main reasons stable coins exists.
I frequently hear people describe being long bitcoin as being short the US Dollar, and that gold, silver and other precious metals are better stores of value than USD because their supplies are difficult to increase. Every stablecoin pegged to the US dollar is subject to the same level of inflation, so your Tether essentially sits on top of a digital fire that burns away 2% of the value every year. Isn't the entire crypto ethos centred on the idea that the asset/currency's value/supply is *not* influenced by a centralized government? Is this not why bitcoin is inherently deflationary?
People also use Stablecoins when they live in a place where it is very expensive or difficult to buy USD directly.
For example, anyone can make an account in Binance and buy 100,000 USD (less than 2 BTC) in binance. But it is not easy to buy 100,000 USD in a country from latin America. There is a LOT of paper work and taxes and fees to pay.
And yes, ofc USDT has the same inflation of the USD.
To me, fiat pegged stablecoins almost seem like the worst of both the legacy and future banking systems, especially since there are so many different coins that are pegged to the same fiat currencies. That being said, they have massive trading volume and market caps, so I must be missing something. What do you guys use stablecoins for, and how long do you typically hold onto them?
I agree 100% with this. Stable coins are the worse of the banking system and the worse of cryptocurrencies.
Stable coins are centralized and they are risky also.
WHen you buy USDT you are basically lending money to TETHER, a private company. That company promises to pay you back 1 USD for each USDT, but there is guarantee that will have the money to pay everyone. And the worse: You are lending money with zero interest rates.
That being said, stable coins are useful for making trades, transactions and also are a good gateway Local Fiat X USD for people who live in poor countries.
Ah that's so, out of all replies i found this one really interesting and open my mind, i never thought that stable coin can be used like that, but now that you mention it, well that surely is really beneficial to buy usd without needing to deal with unnecessary things. But then, it might be really bad for the bank, and it's really dangerous i guess if it's getting too large, or that people prefer using stable coin instead and making the banking system go worse. But, there's nothing that can be changed to that though. Thanks for the answer it gives me new knowledge and perception.