5 ms·

Yeah, that is the problem. I can buy something from China and pay without any problems. I can send money to my friend using my phone. I can transfer money quic

by cc81 8y ago

Yeah, that is the problem. I can buy something from China and pay without any problems. I can send money to my friend using my phone. I can transfer money quickly to a trading platform and buy some stock. Sending money around and paying for things is easy today and Bitcoin does not make that easier for me. And while I guess a total collapse of the world could happen I feel that it is more likely Bitcoin collapses than Mastercard and my 200 year old bank (that is somewhat backed by my government). I guess the thing Bitcoin has going for it for some people is buying drugs online but even there I've read that there is considerable resources thrown at monitoring the blockchain to identify buyers and sellers.

1001101 8y ago
> (that is somewhat backed by my government) I think you've identified one of the advantages of bitcoin. There's no counterparty risk, ie bail-ins. This is the commodity gold replacement use case where the carry on Bitcoin is lower and paid by others.
- cc81 8y ago
  Yes, but I can loose all my Bitcoin pretty easy if I lack security or if I trust someone else to hold my money and they get hacked or do an exit scam. I feel that that scenario is much more likely than the collapse of my country and bank.
  - 1001101 8y ago
    Depends on where you live, I guess. Bitcoin is popular in Venezuela.
  - al_chemist 8y ago
    > I can loose all my Bitcoin pretty easy if I lack security Those are interesting times. We trust government more than we trust ourselves.
chrisco255 8y ago
Are you kidding me? It can take 7 days or more to transfer large amounts of cash around between accounts. You may be able to buy from China on credit but you can't just move cash around willy nilly. Even debit card transactions take a day or two to clear. But good luck opening a $25K stock trading account (from cash) in less than 7 days.
- 1001101 8y ago
  I remember reading about 147M$ bitcoin transfer (~195k BTC, would be much more today). [1] As the reference says: "On the bitcointalk forums, some users were less interested in the owners’ identity and more impressed by the infrastructure that allowed such an amount to be transferred without any regulatory hindrance, lawyers, or fees (the user paid no transaction fee at all). Even handing over that amount in hard cash would be a logistical challenge." [1] https://www.coindesk.com/194993-btc-transaction-147m-mystery-and-speculation https://www.coindesk.com/194993-btc-transaction-147m-mystery...
  - hiyer 8y ago
    Liu Yiqian paid $170 million on his credit card once [1]. Presumably the transaction was instantaneous. As an added bonus he also got free first class travel for self and family for life because of the points accrued. For those who can afford it BTC is by no means the only way to make such transactions quickly. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/24/billionaire-earns-first-class-travel-for-life-by-putting-modigliani-nude-on-amex https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/24/billionaire-ea...
- cc81 8y ago
  I live in Sweden and it is much quicker. I just transferred some money between my bank and Avanza which is one of the largest stock trading sites in Sweden. You have two options: 1. "Direct deposit", all largest banks in Sweden support it and that means that the money is transferred real time. That service is open between 7am and 11pm at Avanza. 2. Normal bank transfer and that takes one day in Sweden. Source in Swedish but you could translate it: https://www.avanza.se/kundservice.html/281/vad-ar-direktinsattning/ https://www.avanza.se/kundservice.html/281/vad-ar-direktinsa... Avanza does not have a limit on how much money you can transfer but your bank might have, in that case you might have to rise that limit if you want to transfer a lot. I don't know if it takes a day or two or clear (or more) if I buy from China but from my perspective it is usually an incredibly smooth checkout and I will get my stuff x amount of weeks later if I'm cheap with transport costs.

by cc81 8y ago

1001101 8y ago

> (that is somewhat backed by my government) I think you've identified one of the advantages of bitcoin. There's no counterparty risk, ie bail-ins. This is the commodity gold replacement use case where the carry on Bitcoin is lower and paid by others.

cc81 8y ago
Yes, but I can loose all my Bitcoin pretty easy if I lack security or if I trust someone else to hold my money and they get hacked or do an exit scam. I feel that that scenario is much more likely than the collapse of my country and bank.
- 1001101 8y ago
  Depends on where you live, I guess. Bitcoin is popular in Venezuela.
- al_chemist 8y ago
  > I can loose all my Bitcoin pretty easy if I lack security Those are interesting times. We trust government more than we trust ourselves.

chrisco255 8y ago

Are you kidding me? It can take 7 days or more to transfer large amounts of cash around between accounts. You may be able to buy from China on credit but you can't just move cash around willy nilly. Even debit card transactions take a day or two to clear. But good luck opening a $25K stock trading account (from cash) in less than 7 days.

1001101 8y ago
I remember reading about 147M$ bitcoin transfer (~195k BTC, would be much more today). [1] As the reference says: "On the bitcointalk forums, some users were less interested in the owners’ identity and more impressed by the infrastructure that allowed such an amount to be transferred without any regulatory hindrance, lawyers, or fees (the user paid no transaction fee at all). Even handing over that amount in hard cash would be a logistical challenge." [1] https://www.coindesk.com/194993-btc-transaction-147m-mystery-and-speculation https://www.coindesk.com/194993-btc-transaction-147m-mystery...
- hiyer 8y ago
  Liu Yiqian paid $170 million on his credit card once [1]. Presumably the transaction was instantaneous. As an added bonus he also got free first class travel for self and family for life because of the points accrued. For those who can afford it BTC is by no means the only way to make such transactions quickly. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/24/billionaire-earns-first-class-travel-for-life-by-putting-modigliani-nude-on-amex https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/24/billionaire-ea...
cc81 8y ago
I live in Sweden and it is much quicker. I just transferred some money between my bank and Avanza which is one of the largest stock trading sites in Sweden. You have two options: 1. "Direct deposit", all largest banks in Sweden support it and that means that the money is transferred real time. That service is open between 7am and 11pm at Avanza. 2. Normal bank transfer and that takes one day in Sweden. Source in Swedish but you could translate it: https://www.avanza.se/kundservice.html/281/vad-ar-direktinsattning/ https://www.avanza.se/kundservice.html/281/vad-ar-direktinsa... Avanza does not have a limit on how much money you can transfer but your bank might have, in that case you might have to rise that limit if you want to transfer a lot. I don't know if it takes a day or two or clear (or more) if I buy from China but from my perspective it is usually an incredibly smooth checkout and I will get my stuff x amount of weeks later if I'm cheap with transport costs.