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Bitcoin isn't a bank, it's a currency. You can't do that with the USD either, and you could build a banking platform on top of bitcoin to allow for chargebacks

Bitcoin isn't a bank, it's a currency. You can't do that with the USD either, and you could build a banking platform on top of bitcoin to allow for chargebacks and credit lines. The benefit of BTC is that when your bank mismanages their assets a la 2008, resulting in a bank run, you know your assets are safe instead of having to rely on the Fed to bail out your bank. Your money is in your control, not in the control of someone else. If you don't want that, it's easy -- just don't buy bitcoin. But don't discredit it by comparing it to a credit card which it is not trying to be. The strawman is disingenuous and shows how little you understand the topic.

Nursie 6y ago
> Bitcoin isn't a bank, it's a currency. You can't do that with the USD either, and you could build a banking platform on top of bitcoin to allow for chargebacks and credit lines. The point is when we're looking at comparative energy use, you can't just point at the whole banking system and compare it to Bitcoin, as if it's an apples to apples comparison, because the banking system provides an embarassment of services that Bitcoin does not. > The strawman is disingenuous and shows how little you understand the topic. There's no strawman here and if anything this shows how little you understood the thread you're replying to. (Edit: fixed a copy/paste screwup)
- viklove 6y ago
  > Escrow accounts and merchant layers are in development. Sorry, this does not make BTC a bank. As they continue to add more features, we will see what BTC will become and how it may be useful. But comparing it to a bank is silly.
  - Nursie 6y ago
    Ergh, sorry, that's a mis-paste from another thread I was talking on, not an assertion of mine. I agree, Bitcoin is not a bank, that makes comparing its energy footprint to the banking system totally pointless.
    - viklove 6y ago
      For the record, I'm not trying to defend BTC's energy footprint. It's a black-eye on the tech and a problem that needs to be solved. Proof-of-stake over proof-of-work is an interesting solution, and part of the reason I hold a lot more ETH than BTC. That's why I'm so interested by cryptos though -- BTC just opened the door and the derivatives are where the real innovation will happen in my opinion.
- shanusmagnus 6y ago
  People often critique btc by saying that it is slowly re-creating the existing banking system. That's largely true, but what makes it interesting is what this re-creation is built on top of. Or perhaps: what it's _not_ built on top of. Nic Carter does a nice job of discussing this [1]. [1] https://www.coindesk.com/what-bloomberg-gets-wrong-about-bitcoins-climate-footprint https://www.coindesk.com/what-bloomberg-gets-wrong-about-bit...
- tor11 6y ago
  > The point is when we're looking at comparative energy use, you can't just point at the whole banking system and compare it to Bitcoin, as if it's an apples to apples comparison, because the banking system provides an embarassment of services that Bitcoin does not. this is true. bitcoin should be compared with everything required to run or "back" USD. which is a lot more energy use than most states on this planet
  - Nursie 6y ago
    Even if that were the case, the US dollar serves orders of magnitudes more people.
leshow 6y ago
> The benefit of BTC is that when your bank mismanages their assets a la 2008, resulting in a bank run, you know your assets are safe instead of having to rely on the Fed to bail out your bank. Your money is in your control, not in the control of someone else. I don't think that's true. Most companies providing services on top of bitcoin control the private keys, so they could do the same thing. You give up absolute control of your money to get access to a service, except now creating the money is terrible for the environment and consumes as much power as a small European nation.

Nursie 6y ago

> Bitcoin isn't a bank, it's a currency. You can't do that with the USD either, and you could build a banking platform on top of bitcoin to allow for chargebacks and credit lines. The point is when we're looking at comparative energy use, you can't just point at the whole banking system and compare it to Bitcoin, as if it's an apples to apples comparison, because the banking system provides an embarassment of services that Bitcoin does not. > The strawman is disingenuous and shows how little you understand the topic. There's no strawman here and if anything this shows how little you understood the thread you're replying to. (Edit: fixed a copy/paste screwup)

viklove 6y ago
> Escrow accounts and merchant layers are in development. Sorry, this does not make BTC a bank. As they continue to add more features, we will see what BTC will become and how it may be useful. But comparing it to a bank is silly.
- Nursie 6y ago
  Ergh, sorry, that's a mis-paste from another thread I was talking on, not an assertion of mine. I agree, Bitcoin is not a bank, that makes comparing its energy footprint to the banking system totally pointless.
  - viklove 6y ago
    For the record, I'm not trying to defend BTC's energy footprint. It's a black-eye on the tech and a problem that needs to be solved. Proof-of-stake over proof-of-work is an interesting solution, and part of the reason I hold a lot more ETH than BTC. That's why I'm so interested by cryptos though -- BTC just opened the door and the derivatives are where the real innovation will happen in my opinion.
shanusmagnus 6y ago
People often critique btc by saying that it is slowly re-creating the existing banking system. That's largely true, but what makes it interesting is what this re-creation is built on top of. Or perhaps: what it's _not_ built on top of. Nic Carter does a nice job of discussing this [1]. [1] https://www.coindesk.com/what-bloomberg-gets-wrong-about-bitcoins-climate-footprint https://www.coindesk.com/what-bloomberg-gets-wrong-about-bit...
tor11 6y ago
> The point is when we're looking at comparative energy use, you can't just point at the whole banking system and compare it to Bitcoin, as if it's an apples to apples comparison, because the banking system provides an embarassment of services that Bitcoin does not. this is true. bitcoin should be compared with everything required to run or "back" USD. which is a lot more energy use than most states on this planet
- Nursie 6y ago
  Even if that were the case, the US dollar serves orders of magnitudes more people.

leshow 6y ago

> The benefit of BTC is that when your bank mismanages their assets a la 2008, resulting in a bank run, you know your assets are safe instead of having to rely on the Fed to bail out your bank. Your money is in your control, not in the control of someone else. I don't think that's true. Most companies providing services on top of bitcoin control the private keys, so they could do the same thing. You give up absolute control of your money to get access to a service, except now creating the money is terrible for the environment and consumes as much power as a small European nation.