I'm not into it but I'm fascinated by the cryptographic aspect and the legal aspect of it all.

> Outside of that, as an EU/US citizen I don't see why I'd hold stablecoins instead of fiat.

Especially as an EU citizen: in the EU it is illegal, by law, to have stablecoin yield. So for example the HN unicorn Coinbase can give 3.5% yield annualized (or whatever the current yield is), automatically, to anyone in the US that owns USDC. But in the EU the very same Coinbase is forbidden, by law, from giving the same yield on the exact same USDC.

Now I'm not saying the yield on EUR on a EUR bank account is exciting: what I'm saying is holding a currency losing to insane inflation and which doesn't give anything back is wild.

And it's only for stablecoins: for example as an EU citizen on my brokerage account, where I have real USDs, they automatically yield when they're idling.

So it's not that you cannot get yield on currencies in the EU: it's the way they categorized stablecoins.

Now as I understand it there are ways to get yield on stablecoins in "smart contracts" but that's another can of worms for IIUC atm there have been scams upon scams upon hacks upon thefts upon neverending shenanigans.

So yup: stablecoins as an EU citizen, not good.