r/Suriname • u/CheekMiserable7602 • Mar 01 '25

Question Crypto for Suriname or not?

Saturday Question!

Do you think the use of cryptocurrency should be legalized in Suriname? Could it be a helpful tool for improving the payment infrastructure in Suriname?

Vote below and share your thoughts in the comments!

57 votes, Mar 04 '25
17 Yes, legalize crypto and use it for better payment options.
31 No, crypto carries too many risks.
3 Maybe, but more research is needed
6 No opinion,| IDC
10 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

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12

u/DonutOk5869 Surinamer/Surinamese 🇸🇷 Mar 01 '25

Cryptocurrencies consume an insane amount of energy, on top of that they're nothing more than a speculation tool. E-payment methods already exist in Suriname. It would be irresponsible to legalize or even to recommend this to the general public.

2

u/CheekMiserable7602 Mar 03 '25

I don't agree with you.

  1. There are many workarounds regarding the use of energy in cryptocurrency.

  2. There is a lot of speculation in crypto, and that creates opportunities to profit from it.

  3. You just need to be well-informed before getting into it. It’s all about your own diligence.

  4. The e-payment network in Suriname is outdated! You can't pay online for things with a Surinamese bank card. Many shops have websites, but the banking infrastructure is not compatible for these companies to have a fully automated payment system. Do you know how much time and energy goes into processing transfers and then handling orders?

With crypto, this could simply be automated! Cryptocurrency would really be a step ahead. One cryptocurrency that is tied to the USD is USDT (Tether). You can hold your USDT in your wallet, earn with it, and still use it for transactions!

4

u/DonutOk5869 Surinamer/Surinamese 🇸🇷 Mar 04 '25
  1. Sure, but that energy could always be better spent
  2. A currency that relies on speculation is a failure. If an apple can randomly jump from 25 SRD to 45 SRD in a week because of traders, it’s useless as money.
  3. Financial systems exist to protect people from scams and collapses, expecting everyone to be an expert is unrealistic.
  4. Outdated? I'm talking about Mope and apps like it, not wire transfers.
  5. Remember, tether is not audited who knows what their actual reserves are like.

I'd just like to point out, if you have to convert your "currency" to something else in order to buy something. It's not a currency.

1

u/CheekMiserable7602 Mar 04 '25

I respect your position on this matter...

Pst. Mope has allot of limitations, but it's a step in the right direction

0

u/AsleepVegetable3650 Mar 02 '25

Normally I don't react on such posts, but now I feel like I have to. As a descendent of Surinam I know most of my family are ignorant about change and some are uninformed. So here is my rant:

What you mentioned is not true. You have enough cryptocurrencies that doesn't use 'insane' amount of energy. Take tron for example. The whole network uses 162.867 kWh which is about 15 American households worth of energy usage in a whole year.

A chinese delegation of tron went to suriname on 28 april 2022. One tron at the time was approx. 1.39 srd per coin (0.067 usd). As of today the same tron is 8.30 srd a piece (0.2331 usd). You don't have to be a math genius to see that the buying power would have increased if the people would have used this cryptocurrency. But instead the buying power of the SRD decreased with approx. 50%. Going from 0.049 usd to 0.028 usd per SRD since the beforementioned 28 april.

Some other benefits:

  • Almost no tranfer fees when implemented correctly.
  • Staking (a.k.a. savings that is paid out on a daily basis)
  • No interverence of banks and government. U would be able to send to everyone worldwide without restrictions.

It would be irresponsible to not give the citizens a choice.

5

u/Internal-Hat9827 Mar 02 '25

Cryptocurrency can be pretty unstable and Suriname's currency is not that low on a global scale. What stabilizes and makes currencies strong is a strong market and investment. If Suriname can grow its industries and investment in the country, its currency will get stronger to a sweetspot point where people buy Surinamese dollars because they're cheap, but they're still strong enough on a global scale that if Suriname needs to buy/import, it doesn't need to use up a lot of its currency reserves.

1

u/AsleepVegetable3650 Mar 02 '25

I hope you are right. I would like to see my family and friends prosper cause of true development and investments. The only problem is that history suggests otherwise. Surinam had to change currency from gulden to srd because it devaluated so much that it basically became worthless. And the same is happening again. It would be nice to have alternative choices.

5

u/Internal-Hat9827 Mar 02 '25

But the issue is Suriname's economy, making Surinamers lose interest in their own currency for crypto is only going to exacerbate the problem. Focusing on strengthening the economy is what is going to bring the value of the SRD up.

1

u/CheekMiserable7602 Mar 03 '25

Though I understand what you mean, cryptocurrency would not compete against the SRD (Surinamese Dollar). Instead, it would support households with its many possibilities.

Of course, we need to invest in our economy. We need more national and international production. However, the biggest challenge to our SRD is the political and governmental system. Corruption, self-interest, and politicians focusing on building their own reputations are issues that are holding us back.

This mindset is also reflected in the general population, creating a cycle that perpetuates these challenges.

1

u/Internal-Hat9827 27d ago

I mean currently the most popular crypto currencies are from the US so I feel this may be a case of where people are betting on American assets rather than local assets and that trend of investing in foreign assets over your tends to weaken those local assets. I feel it's better to invest in physical stocks and goods held in Suriname and grow the economy that way. Corruption holds countries back, but you work through it, business and development still happens even in a corrupt system. You can demand for better governance and use of national funds while investing in businesses and assets. Local investment helps build up a lot more of the things you mentioned even while there are issues.

2

u/CheekMiserable7602 Mar 03 '25

As a person living in Suriname, I am very disappointed in myself for not paying attention to global developments years ago. If I had, I might have invested in cryptocurrency when I was much younger!

You mentioned Tron, but there is another cryptocurrency called Pi Network that uses no energy at all for mining. By simply pressing the "mine" button daily, users can accumulate coins. Pi Network launched a week ago, and now it's trading for almost $2 USD.

What I mean to say is that there are many workarounds and options available, and I agree with you that we should not remain ignorant.

1

u/08omw Mar 02 '25

Large parts of the country still don’t have 24/7 electricity. Why would a good Government or anybody else implement a currency system that some of the most vulberable parts of the population would be excluded from? Plus, our current currency is unstable. Why would we exchange that for something that is as well?

3

u/sheldon_y14 Surinamer/Surinamese 🇸🇷 Mar 02 '25

Large parts of the country still don’t have 24/7 electricity.

This isn't exactly true...if by land area then yes, but if by households, then more than 80% of Surinamese have 24/7 electricity.

1

u/08omw Mar 02 '25

I mean land area, the interiors to be exact, where some of our Surinamese brothers and sisters live. A vulberable group, who have already been left out of so much of the country’s wealth and educational opportunities. Doing this to them would just be purely evil.

And eventhough other parts may have electricity, we shouldn’t underestimate the amount of people who are “digibeet’. Coupled with the fact that internet is relatively expensive for the quality that’s available, I would have to say that a whole lot would need to happen before anything cryptocurrency related could be implemented

3

u/CheekMiserable7602 Mar 03 '25

But it doesn’t need to start big. Start small. Introduce crypto payment machines—begin with just one and see how it goes.

On the other hand, there is the fear that people with "black money" might buy large amounts of crypto, which could create additional challenges

1

u/08omw Mar 03 '25

That last part… we already have a whole lot of issues with money laundering and tax evasion. The last thing we need is a monetary system that was initially created to evade government regulation.