A few things I'd argue against bitcoin...
Bitcoin doesn't really bring anything new to the vast majority of people - People can already transfer money between banks and countries and buy stuff anywhere on the planet. Unless you're a drug dealer or serious money launderer there's nothing much in the way of increased functionality.
I disagree. You are missing one HUGE difference between bitcoin and fiat currency, credit, etc. Bitcoin is 100% independent of governments and financial institutions.
In this age of institutional corruption and governments screwing up their own economies and the top 1% dictating the terms and conditions of your money and credit and interest rates etc etc... the benefit of having a 100% independent currency cannot be overstated.
The entire global market nearly tanked a decade ago, US debt is soaring into the stratosphere, credit card companies and financial institutions are *bleeping* all of their customers with fine print and ridiculous balloon type interest rates and fees... So it is "not" the same. There is a fundamental and crucial difference. And this difference has the actual "potential" to revolutionize money and currency as we know it.
Bitcoin isn't safe - if someone robs a bank and my money was in the bank...nothing happens to me. I can still get my money. One of the reasons credit cards have taken off is the buyer protections built in to them - unless you do something pretty stupid you're covered if your card gets stolen and the bank issues you a new one. If you get robbed of bitcoin - "tough luck buddy" is all you'll hear - it's not underwritten by anyone.
Actually, there is an opposite argument that you might not be aware of unless you are a retailer (and double if you are an online retailer).
When it comes to credit cards, it is the merchant who isn't all that safe. When you are an online merchant and you accept a purchase online, all that is required for your money to be stolen is for the person who bought your goods or services to "deny" that they used their credit card. They simply say, "Hey, someone stole my credit card and/or I never authorized that charge". And "poof" just like that the financial institution takes the money right out of your account. You go to arbitration if you like, but most of the time you lose. The burden of proof required by online merchants is insane.
Bitcoin is as safe as you want to make it. All that is required is for you to be vigilant and smart with your password. That's it. I will admit, it is a nice safety feature of banks that if my bank gets robbed my money is insured. however, banks use that logic to charge you fees for everything. Then they use that logic to "hold" your money for no good reason. You go to cash a check, banks will often "hold" the money for days at a time for no real reason (especially in this age of instant verification). Same thing with credit cards. You reverse a charge on your credit card instead of it happening instantly some banks take up to a week to get the money back to you.
Bitcoins transfer instantly. But to be fair, I do realize there is a fee for transfering/converting them to fiat currency.
But back to your point about Bitcoins not being safe. I will concede that don't have the "insurance" protection that banks have. But in a way, your bitcoins are safer because they are in the cloud locked behind an impenetrable blockchain
The surge in bitcoin price doesn't make any sense - it's not like the US dollar went up because of underlying reasons in the economy - people are pushing the price up because they hope someone else will be willing to pay more for the same thing, and so on and so on - that's a recipe for disaster.
I thought the surge in price had to do with certain countries rejecting or accepting the use of bitcoin, i.e. passing laws making it legal or illegal to use them. I will concede that bitcoin value is very turbulent right now and imo would need a decade or so to stabilize. FWIW, "if" bitcoins catch on as a worldwide regular currency then the value will go up.
No-one knows the actual price - people are reporting large >10% variances in the price of bitcoin depending on which site they visit. Imagine if your shares did that..
Yes, I will concede this but it is still fresh and new when you consider the whole of history and currency. Give it time it will stabilize
Bitcoin also has a fatal flaw - if you want to cash out, it actually takes quite a long time. People are already reporting huge wait times to cash out through places like coinbase. There hasn't been a large number of people cashing out yet, so the various traders are (mostly) coping, but if a run ever starts on bitcoin and tens of thousands of people try to all cash out at once - it's going to become very chaotic very quickly..
THis is far from a "fatal flaw". There are plenty of investments and/or things of value that are not readily made liquid. Yes, if there were a stampede to "cash out" then the value of bitcoins would plummet just like the value of ANYTHING would plummet. What would happen if all homeowners all at once tried to sell their homes??? What about stock owners? What about *insert thing of value here*. Just sayin, this isn't a fatal flaw nor is it actually that much of a flaw or difference from most other things.
I will concede that Bitcoins aren't as liquid as I'd like. But they are semi-liquid, much better than something like real estate or bonds.
Lots of people support bitcoin because it's free of the regulation and management of banks and governments. Yet they forget that a lot of that "overhead" (for want of a better word) is actually for the protection of consumers to stop them getting ripped off.
I'm not so sure about this. I do agree, there are consumer protections. However, what about consumers being deceived and flat out robbed by these so-called institutions??? I feel that most of us are sheeple and slaves of these financial institutions without even knowing that we are sheeple and slaves. They jerk us around with fine print and we don't even bat an eye. THey "hold" our money for 5-7 business days all the time when there is absolutely no reason for them to given this day and age of instant verification. The entire system is arguably corrupt and rigged and quite recently almost destroyed the entire world economy.
To me, because of all of the above there is tremendous "opportunity" for something like Bitcoin and we've reached a point in our technological development where it is feasible. Sure, there may be some problems and kinks to work out... but there is serious potential here. Maybe it won't be Bitcoin per say, but it will be SOME form of cryptocurrency. I'd bet the farm on that.
Or put another way, what is the next evolution of currency and money that integrates with social media and this brave new era of the Information Age? I would argue that if you can only see the "old way" of doing things then you are missing a huge opportunity to take advantage of the future. Because the future is not going to be the past or present way of doing things...
