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If you actually dig into all of the services that banking provides, grandiose statements like this fall apart pretty quickly. One of the biggest problems that

If you actually dig into all of the services that banking provides, grandiose statements like this fall apart pretty quickly. One of the biggest problems that crypto hasn't figured that banking is great at is transaction reversal and fraud-prevention. The banking system uses wire transfers that can be reversed if necessary, bitcoin has nothing like this. If an attacker gets your bitcoin wallet ID and key, say goodbye to your coin. That's it, you have no recourse, and frankly, placing all of the responsibility on consumers to safeguard their digital assets without any sort of recourse is pretty ridiculous. The crypto community loves to talk a bunch of trash about financial regulation, and some of it is true, but a fair amount of regulation actually benefits consumers in ways that crypto just isn't capable of at this time.

trixie_ 5y ago
That’s true, but I think people overall are pretty happy with crypto. You can move more money, faster, cheaper and with way less hassle than a wire transfer. In addition crypto exchanges and services have proven pretty reliable. It really is night and day vs traditional banking.
- thr0wawayf00 5y ago
  > You can move more money, faster, cheaper and with way less hassle than a wire transfer. My point is that the speed and cheapness a crypto system comes at a pretty significant risk. Another major benefit to the banking system is that all solid banks are insured by the FDIC, meaning that if the bank fails, the FDIC guarantees all accounts held by the bank for up to $250k. In order to do this, banks have to meet capital liquidity requirements set out by auditors and meet certain benchmarks. Again, another thing that doesn't exist in crypto but should. When everything goes smoothly, crypto works great. But if the day ever comes that a big company like Coinbase gets hacked and crypto is exfiltrated, it'll be a real test for the community because these are problems that have been solved for decades. > In addition crypto exchanges and services have proven pretty reliable. Look at the mt gox hack, millions upon millions in crypto was stolen in that hack, and there was no recourse for any of those folks. Who knows what is going to happen with Tether? You don't have look that hard to find the kind of financial criminality banking is so often accused of persisting in the crypto community as well.
  - trixie_ 5y ago
    Mt gox happened 8 years ago, and Tether just survived a pretty big test. These things actually build confidence in crypto. FDIC is only possible because the government can print money which underscores the how prone dollars are to inflation. As with everything - diversify, hold both.
panarky 5y ago
That's why it's either-or and not both-and. You want reversibility and fraud prevention? Use an intermediary. You want irrevocable finality and no intermediaries? You can do that too. You're free to choose, nobody is forcing you to use one or the other.
- thr0wawayf00 5y ago
  Even with an intermediary, you still have to trust them with your credentials and it's not foolproof. MT Gox was the biggest exchange in the world when it was hacked in 2014 and billions in bitcoin was stolen, it's account holders were totally left to dry. The freedom of choice is nonsense in an immutable, decentralized system where stuff like this can happen. If someone gets your private key from you directly or through a hosted exchange, that's it.

trixie_ 5y ago

That’s true, but I think people overall are pretty happy with crypto. You can move more money, faster, cheaper and with way less hassle than a wire transfer. In addition crypto exchanges and services have proven pretty reliable. It really is night and day vs traditional banking.

thr0wawayf00 5y ago
> You can move more money, faster, cheaper and with way less hassle than a wire transfer. My point is that the speed and cheapness a crypto system comes at a pretty significant risk. Another major benefit to the banking system is that all solid banks are insured by the FDIC, meaning that if the bank fails, the FDIC guarantees all accounts held by the bank for up to $250k. In order to do this, banks have to meet capital liquidity requirements set out by auditors and meet certain benchmarks. Again, another thing that doesn't exist in crypto but should. When everything goes smoothly, crypto works great. But if the day ever comes that a big company like Coinbase gets hacked and crypto is exfiltrated, it'll be a real test for the community because these are problems that have been solved for decades. > In addition crypto exchanges and services have proven pretty reliable. Look at the mt gox hack, millions upon millions in crypto was stolen in that hack, and there was no recourse for any of those folks. Who knows what is going to happen with Tether? You don't have look that hard to find the kind of financial criminality banking is so often accused of persisting in the crypto community as well.
- trixie_ 5y ago
  Mt gox happened 8 years ago, and Tether just survived a pretty big test. These things actually build confidence in crypto. FDIC is only possible because the government can print money which underscores the how prone dollars are to inflation. As with everything - diversify, hold both.

panarky 5y ago

That's why it's either-or and not both-and. You want reversibility and fraud prevention? Use an intermediary. You want irrevocable finality and no intermediaries? You can do that too. You're free to choose, nobody is forcing you to use one or the other.

thr0wawayf00 5y ago
Even with an intermediary, you still have to trust them with your credentials and it's not foolproof. MT Gox was the biggest exchange in the world when it was hacked in 2014 and billions in bitcoin was stolen, it's account holders were totally left to dry. The freedom of choice is nonsense in an immutable, decentralized system where stuff like this can happen. If someone gets your private key from you directly or through a hosted exchange, that's it.