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I wasn't specifically giving a btc example, qr code can also be apple pay or anything like that. It's just that in the case of btc, there's no central authorit

I wasn't specifically giving a btc example, qr code can also be apple pay or anything like that. It's just that in the case of btc, there's no central authority to cancel the transaction. You need a court order to force the bar to manually send the money back to you. The bank cannot freeze the funds. Enforcement is crippled. If this is not a reputable business (unlikely for a bar and very unlikely for a small sum like that but bear with me), it's way more likely to lose your money. This is one of the reasons why money transactions are hard and costly. You cannot pretend that a blockchain fixes all that.

stavros 5y ago
Yes but all these things are features to me. I like cash for small purchases, and I like, say, Monero for the same reasons. If I lose 50 € to some unscrupulous merchant, that's worth it to not have to ask the bank for permission for and tell them about every transaction.
- Broken_Hippo 5y ago
  If I lose 50 € to some unscrupulous merchant, that's worth it to not have to ask the bank for permission for and tell them about every transaction. in other words, you aren't poor enough for the loss of 50 € to mean that you are going to have less food this month and won't be late on your rent because of it.
  - stavros 5y ago
    Ah yes, banks, the champions of the poor man.
    - Broken_Hippo 5y ago
      It isn't that banks are looking out for poor people. That should be obvious. But poor people do use banking services and in both countries I've lived in (US and Norway), there are built in consumer protections. They aren't perfect, but they are stronger than you get with crypto. You can often resolve a payment issue, for example. FDIC protection in the US covers most folks (most folks don't save more than whatever the limit is now). And this protection, even if imperfect, helps folks have a little more stability in their lives.
      - stavros 5y ago
        But cryptocurrency is the same as with cash. Yes, we need to teach people that they shouldn't send cryptocurrency to some shady "investment" company, just as they shouldn't give cash to a guy in a van promising them returns, but the risk profile is exactly the same as with cash, which people have been using successfully for centuries.
        danaris 5y ago
        The risk profile is, currently, not the same as with cash, for the reasons some people further up the thread mentioned (no or nebulous ability to freeze/seize assets of bad actors). To the extent that the risk profile is or will become (with expanding regulations) the same as with cash, cryptocurrencies provide no meaningful improvement over cash, but have significant drawbacks. So why should we take all this effort to get to "just like cash, but with extra steps"?
        stavros 5y ago
        Because it's cash you can easily carry with you, even if you have millions, you can send to anyone anywhere in the world instantly, they're much more difficult to steal if you have a cheap hardware wallet, etc etc. They have many more advantages.
- egeozcan 5y ago
  These are all features as long as you live in a world where there is no bad faith, no misunderstandings, no drama of any sorts. In this world however, disputed transactions may even be more than half, depending on the industry. You can't approach something that ignores this as a serious financial tool.
  - stavros 5y ago
    I don't use cryptocurrency as a replacement for a credit card, I use it as a replacement for cash. Banks aren't risk-free either, it's a lower probability of problems for a much more devastating impact. Compare a frozen bank account to a fraudulent transaction you can't revert. Sure, the latter is more frequent, but the former is devastating.
ekianjo 5y ago
> The bank cannot freeze the funds That's a feature, not a bug.

stavros 5y ago

Yes but all these things are features to me. I like cash for small purchases, and I like, say, Monero for the same reasons. If I lose 50 € to some unscrupulous merchant, that's worth it to not have to ask the bank for permission for and tell them about every transaction.

Broken_Hippo 5y ago
If I lose 50 € to some unscrupulous merchant, that's worth it to not have to ask the bank for permission for and tell them about every transaction. in other words, you aren't poor enough for the loss of 50 € to mean that you are going to have less food this month and won't be late on your rent because of it.
- stavros 5y ago
  Ah yes, banks, the champions of the poor man.
  - Broken_Hippo 5y ago
    It isn't that banks are looking out for poor people. That should be obvious. But poor people do use banking services and in both countries I've lived in (US and Norway), there are built in consumer protections. They aren't perfect, but they are stronger than you get with crypto. You can often resolve a payment issue, for example. FDIC protection in the US covers most folks (most folks don't save more than whatever the limit is now). And this protection, even if imperfect, helps folks have a little more stability in their lives.
    - stavros 5y ago
      But cryptocurrency is the same as with cash. Yes, we need to teach people that they shouldn't send cryptocurrency to some shady "investment" company, just as they shouldn't give cash to a guy in a van promising them returns, but the risk profile is exactly the same as with cash, which people have been using successfully for centuries.
      - danaris 5y ago
        The risk profile is, currently, not the same as with cash, for the reasons some people further up the thread mentioned (no or nebulous ability to freeze/seize assets of bad actors). To the extent that the risk profile is or will become (with expanding regulations) the same as with cash, cryptocurrencies provide no meaningful improvement over cash, but have significant drawbacks. So why should we take all this effort to get to "just like cash, but with extra steps"?
        stavros 5y ago
        Because it's cash you can easily carry with you, even if you have millions, you can send to anyone anywhere in the world instantly, they're much more difficult to steal if you have a cheap hardware wallet, etc etc. They have many more advantages.
egeozcan 5y ago
These are all features as long as you live in a world where there is no bad faith, no misunderstandings, no drama of any sorts. In this world however, disputed transactions may even be more than half, depending on the industry. You can't approach something that ignores this as a serious financial tool.
- stavros 5y ago
  I don't use cryptocurrency as a replacement for a credit card, I use it as a replacement for cash. Banks aren't risk-free either, it's a lower probability of problems for a much more devastating impact. Compare a frozen bank account to a fraudulent transaction you can't revert. Sure, the latter is more frequent, but the former is devastating.

ekianjo 5y ago

> The bank cannot freeze the funds That's a feature, not a bug.