I had movers a couple months ago and tried to tip them. Note that I don't ever carry cash and am a proponent of abolishing the Federal Reserve. I asked them for their Ethereum or Bitcoin address, and they said, "neither of us don't have that, but we take cash." I calmly tried to explain to them the evils of the Federal Reserve for around five minutes, then began to set them up with their own cryptocurrency wallets on their phones. I then plugged in my Ledger Nano S and had them each read me their public keys, which I entered into Ledger Live and sent them each their five dollar tip. It was a simple process and did not take longer than thirty minutes. By the end of the exchange, they were both very happy with the arrangement and thanked me profusely for setting them up to use the future of currency, although I was still in the process of explaining its importance.
"Teach a man to fish," they say, and I believe I did it on that day. I encourage everyone else to do the same.
Transfer fees on Ethereum are currently $2.75, so either the movers got $2.25 or the dude paid an extra 55% just to pay them in something that's less useful for them.
> By the end of the exchange, they were both very happy with the arrangement and thanked me profusely for setting them up to use the future of currency, although I was still in the process of explaining its importance.
Given the 'about' section of their user says "you're all idiots" it seems reasonable to assume everything they say is either satire or an attempt at it.
>> I calmly tried to explain to them the evils of the Federal Reserve for around five minutes
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>> sent them each their five dollar tip
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>> It was a simple process and did not take longer than thirty minutes.
I also had movers, and wanted to tip them. When I asked what they took. I was shocked when they said Bitcoin!
They said some person that they had helped move before had helped them set up bitcoin addresses.
They were so excited by this. It was also pretty easy to convince them to read me both their public and private keys for those addresses (I told them that if I sent it to their public key, it would be public so their boss and the IRS would find out, however, if they gave me the private key, it would be completely private).
I then tipped both of them $50. They were so overjoyed.
Then later that night, I emptied both of their wallets.
(By the way, to the OP, thanks for teaching them about cryptocurrency, and for the $10).
I love this analogy[0], but to play devil's advocate I do a lot of tipping in cash and it's kind of a pain to break down big bills, so I can see some benefits to normalizing more digital options that actually work.
My bank is digital, it doesn't have a local branch, and most ATMs around me dispense cash in $20 bills. So I can make a small purchase near the ATM if it's in a shop and then ask them to give me change in smaller bills, but usually there's nothing I want. I don't have a local branch to drive to, but maybe other banks would help split bills? It's not awful, but it is pretty inconvenient.
Of course, the way to fix that might not be for everyone to standardize on iPhones, it might be to just have more ATMs that dispense smaller bills. But I do see why someone would find tipping primarily over, say, Venmo preferable, even though I don't think that appeal is enough to outweigh the benefits of cash tips (privacy, universal compatibility, simplicity, etc) in many situations.
Or I could just start tipping everyone everywhere in increments of $20 bills I guess, but I'm not that generous.
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[0]: assuming you did actually mean it as an analogy for dropping cash for digital payments
I solve for this by stockpiling small bills in a drawer from which to replenish my wallet. I add to the pile by specifically paying with a large bill whenever the pile starts to dwindle, and I use a card whenever possible otherwise. The trick is to not habitually spend them except in situations (like tipping) where there's no reasonable alternative.
That makes sense. I think part of the problem is I'm trying to play both sides and mostly use a card for normal purchases, and mostly use cash for smaller purchases/tips. So you're right, I'm almost never using cash in situations that net me more small bills than I started with.
If I was a bit more consistent about occasionally just paying for something normal with cash it would possibly be more sustainable, right now I usually try to break apart small bills specifically when I'm completely out of them or when I know I'm going to need to tip someone in like an hour.
Also yeah, having a stockpile would probably be a good idea, since right now I typically only keep enough small bills to get me though my immediate tipping needs and no further, so any surprise situations mean I'm immediately out of small bills and can only pay for things by card.
Regardless, definitely more management than I would like to do, so I get why people might want a system that doesn't force them to think about that stuff at all. It's just that the alternative digital systems come with other downsides.
So how does not carrying cash equate to getting rid of the Fed? You know it's not the money printed on paper that matters, but the actual number in a database?
Let's not turn hn into a discord channel about how crypto is going to disrupt all the things and make them more "decentralized" by having "federated exchanges" that allow you to "stake" your assets where, otherwise, it would be impossible to form a "liquidity provider" since, of course, without it why would you even want to live.
"Teach a man to fish," they say, and I believe I did it on that day. I encourage everyone else to do the same.