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> Easily available in any country without a bank as an intermediary > because again no banks are involved which might also go bankrupt > Highest liquidity I'

by cosmie 9y ago

> Easily available in any country without a bank as an intermediary > because again no banks are involved which might also go bankrupt > Highest liquidity I'm not sure what you mean by this. Banks certainly are involved, and provide the liquidity you mention by facilitating transactions for exchanges between crypto and traditional currencies. A disruption to this process either with a beneficiary bank or as an intermediary bank[1][2][3] ripples through the ecosystem. While yes, it's possible to interact with Bitcoin without involving a bank if you mine it yourself, the moment you involve an exchange and want to liquidate your bitcoin for more commonly accepted currency (or the other way around), you indirectly involve traditional banks. And if exchanges can't provide liquidity, then the value of bitcoin can and will drop precipitously. [1] https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-exchanges-victim-banking-problems/ https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-exchanges-victim-banking-pr... [2] https://medium.com/@whalecalls/taiwan-aml-reforms-usd-crypto-drama-15417cbcdf7b https://medium.com/@whalecalls/taiwan-aml-reforms-usd-crypto... [3] The above articles mention the issue was related to new regulations. But insolvency of intermediary banks (or even beneficiary banks) could cause similar issues in the future as well.

waytogo 9y ago
> The moment you [...] want to liquidate your bitcoin [...] you indirectly involve traditional banks Not necessarily, you could liquidate f2f with another person providing you cash. Just think of the worse case, stock crash, bank crash, etc. Then, it's good to have BTC in your wallet. They are accepted and easily transferred, without any bank).
- tolle 9y ago
  Well an actual worst case scenario also brings down your internet connection. Without banks various internet providers wouldn't be able to pay each other for connections. I mean they could theoretically let each other communicate for free. But we're talking ISPs and such.
  - waytogo 9y ago
    > Well an actual worst case scenario also brings down your internet connection. Not sure if we talk about the same: The last worst case scenario was 2008 (stock crash, banks went bankrupt) but the Internet was still fine.
- deadmetheny 9y ago
  Do Bitcoin nerds really think people are going to liquidate 5 figures of Dunning-Krugerrands in person? Get real.
  - waytogo 9y ago
    It's not about liquidation in person—it's about that you could and this would keep BTC's value stable in times when stock/banks/currencies crash (in a worst case scenario).

by cosmie 9y ago

waytogo 9y ago

> The moment you [...] want to liquidate your bitcoin [...] you indirectly involve traditional banks Not necessarily, you could liquidate f2f with another person providing you cash. Just think of the worse case, stock crash, bank crash, etc. Then, it's good to have BTC in your wallet. They are accepted and easily transferred, without any bank).

tolle 9y ago
Well an actual worst case scenario also brings down your internet connection. Without banks various internet providers wouldn't be able to pay each other for connections. I mean they could theoretically let each other communicate for free. But we're talking ISPs and such.
- waytogo 9y ago
  > Well an actual worst case scenario also brings down your internet connection. Not sure if we talk about the same: The last worst case scenario was 2008 (stock crash, banks went bankrupt) but the Internet was still fine.
deadmetheny 9y ago
Do Bitcoin nerds really think people are going to liquidate 5 figures of Dunning-Krugerrands in person? Get real.
- waytogo 9y ago
  It's not about liquidation in person—it's about that you could and this would keep BTC's value stable in times when stock/banks/currencies crash (in a worst case scenario).