> Take the use case of global stablecoin transfers. The ability to send cash point-to-point anywhere in the world is obviously valuable and novel.
You're not sending "cash" though, you're most likely sending USDT or some other centralized stablecoin backed by a shady company ("stablecoin" is a very misleading term in this context given the counterparty risk). That's one point about trust being moved instead of removed, you need to trust the issuer to some extent. To this day I still haven't heard of a centralized stablecoin being fully audited, you merely get attestations, meaning that you can't treat them as "cash", you have a big risk just holding them.
Transferring / converting currencies from most countries to most other countries is easy and way cheaper via centralized means, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wise_(company) has been around for 11 years and was probably not first, and the fees are lower than what a blockchain transaction on BTC/ETH would cost. This is not even an apple to apple comparison, since in most cases you still need to convert your USDT back to USD to actually use them, incurring more fees in the process.
What ETH does allow you to do which you can't do with Wise and others is sending USDT without censorship. That's probably the best way to bypass US regulations if you want to send USD where the US government doesn't want you to. And some people suggest that this is how things should be, which is an interesting point. Whether you agree or disagree about the morals of it, it'll remain marginal compared with the amounts transferred via centralized entities for reasons listed above. In particular, this is incompatible with your 4.:
> 4) stablecoin on/off-ramps to integration with the traditional financial system must be widely available, and 5) stablecoins in a variety of popular global currencies must be available and liquid.
As soon as you integrate with the traditional financial system, you have the same legal requirements. But as explained above, skirting regulations is actually the only one thing that you could do more easily with Ethereum. Once you've accepted to deal with the law, you're better off using centralized platforms all the way. If I have EUR and want to send you USD legally, why would I go through USDT or whatever blockchain token and pay higher fees?
In this space, there's still very little in terms of products with actual impact, to the point that it's hard to tell what will be left once (if ever) the noise from the blockchain-related scams disappears.
I was debating these points 5 years ago already. The fundamental problems I'm mentioning now were already there (the decentralization of a blockchain-based system breaking at its boundaries with the real-world, the oracle problem). The hype has evolved, but retains the same fundamental flaws.
And store it in a local bank with the economy on the verge of collapse and the government being what it is? You have no idea wtf you're talking about sir.
You're not sending "cash" though, you're most likely sending USDT or some other centralized stablecoin backed by a shady company ("stablecoin" is a very misleading term in this context given the counterparty risk). That's one point about trust being moved instead of removed, you need to trust the issuer to some extent. To this day I still haven't heard of a centralized stablecoin being fully audited, you merely get attestations, meaning that you can't treat them as "cash", you have a big risk just holding them.
Transferring / converting currencies from most countries to most other countries is easy and way cheaper via centralized means, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wise_(company) has been around for 11 years and was probably not first, and the fees are lower than what a blockchain transaction on BTC/ETH would cost. This is not even an apple to apple comparison, since in most cases you still need to convert your USDT back to USD to actually use them, incurring more fees in the process.
What ETH does allow you to do which you can't do with Wise and others is sending USDT without censorship. That's probably the best way to bypass US regulations if you want to send USD where the US government doesn't want you to. And some people suggest that this is how things should be, which is an interesting point. Whether you agree or disagree about the morals of it, it'll remain marginal compared with the amounts transferred via centralized entities for reasons listed above. In particular, this is incompatible with your 4.:
> 4) stablecoin on/off-ramps to integration with the traditional financial system must be widely available, and 5) stablecoins in a variety of popular global currencies must be available and liquid.
As soon as you integrate with the traditional financial system, you have the same legal requirements. But as explained above, skirting regulations is actually the only one thing that you could do more easily with Ethereum. Once you've accepted to deal with the law, you're better off using centralized platforms all the way. If I have EUR and want to send you USD legally, why would I go through USDT or whatever blockchain token and pay higher fees?
In this space, there's still very little in terms of products with actual impact, to the point that it's hard to tell what will be left once (if ever) the noise from the blockchain-related scams disappears.
I was debating these points 5 years ago already. The fundamental problems I'm mentioning now were already there (the decentralization of a blockchain-based system breaking at its boundaries with the real-world, the oracle problem). The hype has evolved, but retains the same fundamental flaws.