Some counterpoints: > Untraceable theft from your wallet Blockchain analysis is a flourishing field. Vanilla bitcoin is far from untraceable, in fact it is LE

Some counterpoints: > Untraceable theft from your wallet Blockchain analysis is a flourishing field. Vanilla bitcoin is far from untraceable, in fact it is LE’s wet dream. > Unregulated merchants who aren't incentivized to play by the rules There are two distinct sets of rules here. The ones merchants have to legally abide by (government imposed) and the ones that fit PayPal’s agenda. The latter is usually the problem (c.f. WikiLeaks blockade) because it is entirely based on the whims of a private company. > No third-party intermediary in the event you get ripped off. I often see this argument. Schneier also mentions it as a drawback. Note that reversible transactions can be built on top of bitcoin, if it is desirable. The opposite is not true. At least bitcoin gives you the option to do irreversible transactions if you wish. > Ability for weed shops and porn sites to accept digital payments (This depends on your stance on these issues. Not everyone feels the same as you). People need to be able to break the law and operate gray markets to move society forward. See Moxie’s excellent essay on the subject [0] > If you buy something on ebay, ebay and the credit card company have a record of your purchase. If you buy something from a bitcoin merchant, they will have a record of your purchase. How is that different? The reason eBay needs your real name is to combat chargeback fraud and tax evasion (for merchants). The former is irrelevant with irreversible transactions, the latter remains valid in that particular case. But what about Joe-random-SaaS? Why does {Spotify|Shopify|Expensify} need my real name besides payment? [0] https://moxie.org/blog/we-should-all-have-something-to-hide/ https://moxie.org/blog/we-should-all-have-something-to-hide/