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You give convincing arguments in favor of BTC for folks living abroad in less-than-stable states. But these very arguments for which it is acclaimed have clear
by pen2l 5y ago
You give convincing arguments in favor of BTC for folks living abroad in less-than-stable states. But these very arguments for which it is acclaimed have clear flip-sides that should be worrisome for those very same folks you claim it's suited for.
Safeguarding hard physical cash is something most everyone, old and young, technically literate or technically illiterate, poor or rich, intrinsically knows how to do. And when it is stolen or lost, there are viable approaches to pursue with favorable probabilities of a happy resolution: tell a police cop to see if they can catch the thief using detective work, you could try looking around if you think you might have misplaced it, etc.
With BTC on the other hand, ensuring your wallet isn't had by committed and technically proficient bad-actors or that your wealth isn't all erased in the blink of an eye with a hdd crash or a distressed acquaintance wiping your data away, you can't expect normal people to be up to the task of combatting all of this. And retrieving stolen BTCs from bad-actors living a continent away is a task that police cops are not up to doing or even the slightest bit capable of. You are a really smart guy kragen, I'm sure you won't forget your computer's password one day or have your wallet compromised, but someone like my mom or grandma would, and the thought that simple mistakes and viruses and computer illiteracy could and probably would be the thing that leaves someone's wealth irretrievably erased without much avenue of recourse saddens me, and makes me wish that people in our profession who understand this would stop encouraging its usage.
I come from a nation that ranks lower than Argentina in stability. My family went through this very dance of receiving money from abroad and having to go to WU to get it. The risk of a bad accident happening is infinitesimally small in that than with BTC.
- kragen 5y agoI agree, Bitcoin isn't zero risk. But compared to my experiences with banks and WU the risk is manageably low. I have to give someone my passport and home address in order to receive money via WU, so I'm exposed to the risk that buddies of the WU employees will rob my house later. I've had to pay a collection agency thousands for fees charged on a bank account that was empty and that I thought was closed. I've had my bank ATM card cloned by a skimmer on an ATM while I was traveling overseas, and I've had my bank credit card stolen out of my pocket on the bus. I've had WU give me ridiculously unfavorable exchange rates, and there was nothing I could do about it. In none of these cases are the police of any help; they exist to help the rich, not normal people. With either banks or Bitcoin, you can hedge your risks by converting to fiat currencies. But with fiat currencies, you can hedge your risk by converting (partly) to Bitcoin. So maybe you should buy your grandma a Trezor. What country does she live in?
- pen2l 5y ago> I'm exposed to the risk that buddies of the WU employees will rob my house later In comparison to getting your wallet compromised by viruses searching for it (and they will probably become more aggressive and adept as BTC usage increases), the chance of this happening I feel is exceedingly low. And avenues of recourse exist: there are clear leads to follow on for an investigative team. > I've had my bank ATM card cloned by a skimmer on an ATM while I was traveling overseas I know that my credit card covers me for this and I would get my money back if such a thing were to happen to me. > I've had WU give me ridiculously unfavorable exchange rates, and there was nothing I could do about it And BTC transaction fees are ever-increasing. And so is its environmental cost. My grandma lives in .pk. I fear she would not be capable of understanding the concept of BTC or Trezor as she can barely understand how a TV remote works. She does very much grok the concept of cash money though, and is quite fond of exercising her freedom with it.
- marcusae313 5y agoWhen I first explained bitcoin to my mom and her friends, they didn't get it. The second time, I explained it, they didn't get it. The third time, I sat them down, and made them learn how to run full nodes, run a few commands on the command line, and use bitcoin. Western Union is certainly not guaranteed, nor tyranny proof. If the governments of Argentina or Pakistan need the USD bad enough, they will every dollar Western Union is holding for recipients. To keep the story quiet and the money flowing in, they may imprison the recipients and their families. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
- UncleMeat 5y agoCommand lines? My grandmother doesn’t even understand that when she minimizes her browser, she hasn’t deleted all of her emails.
- dingaling 5y ago> I know that my credit card covers me for this and I would get my money back if such a thing were to happen to me. But that money isn't free, you may for it through higher merchant fees and lower bank interest rates.