Hi,
I agree with most of what you said here... however, the original premise
for BTC was that everyone was tired of the "banks" controlling the
money... and charging fees to do so. I just really don't see how that
has changed much... I currently have 4 or 5 bank accounts, all at
different banks... and I control all of them from my computer. I can
send/receive/wire/transfer money in and out of any of them at my own will.
Also, how is sending BTC from wallet to wallet not free? I have sent BTC
to other people without being charged a fee... I was doing it from my
own wallet on a computer, not using a service.
For me it just doesn't make sense... I can have a totally free bank
account with an ATM/VISA card that I can use anywhere and not have to
worry about getting hit with fees or the value of my "money" changing
every 5 seconds... and it's insured and if there is an issue (fraud,
etc) the bank covers it. I get none of those features with BTC, and I
have to pay a much higher "fee" to use it.
The current state of BTC is not how it was envisioned when it was first
created. It has become commercialized and everyone is after their 1.5%
fee. :(
Travis
On 11/17/2017 12:28 PM, Chris Wright wrote:
Many of the negative things you say here about BTC are questions I had when I
was still learning. Let me clear some things up.
Coinbase charges for when you want to buy BTC with fiat (USD). They have a
business to run. Everyone here knows that processing debit/ACH payments is NOT
free. Onboarding your US dollars to crypto currency will require a gateway, and
every gate requires a gatekeeper, and every gatekeeper has mouths to feed.
Sending BTC from wallet to wallet is not free. Current transaction fees on
Bitcoin are ~$10 USD at the time I'm writing this. Other crypto currencies like
Ethereum are more robust in this area (~$0.30 currently). Every transaction
needs to be written to the blockchain, which requires mining time, electricity,
and processing.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are doing what the banks have been doing for years... it's an
electronic ledger. What's a bank statement worth? It's only a piece of printed paper or numbers on
a screen that show how much currency to which one is entitled. It has no value in and of itself. A
US dollar bill is simply paper; its value is whatever we all agree it is. The *big* thing
cryptocurrencies bring to the table is that your "bank account" is no longer controlled
by one central building. Your account, or "digital wallet" is controlled by thousands of
computers, each checking themselves against the other.
The only way someone can hijack the blockchain would be if they controlled more
than 50% of the compute power in the mining world. Think about how many vectors
of attack from which our traditional banks are vulnerable.
This video answered even more questions I didn't even think to ask... I highly
recommend giving it your time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBC-nXj3Ng4
Chris Wright
Network Administrator
-----Original Message-----
From: Af [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Travis Johnson
Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2017 1:42 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [AFMUG] BTC
Hi,
The entire idea and goal of bitcoin was to take away the financial institutions from
having "control" and charging fees to handle money. In exchange for no fees
(sending or receiving BTC is free), you also have no security. Once it's sent, it's gone.
However, now the banks have just been replaced with places like Coinbase... bitcoin
"exchanges" that charge roughly 1.5% for every buy/sell transaction... and they
take 7-10 business days to convert btc to cash or visa versa.
I don't see how this is a long term thing? Once all the "mining" is being done
by huge datacenters (for another 3-4 years is all), then I don't see it becoming the new
money standard like everyone thinks. You will still have to pay fees, and someone else is
still in control of your money. :(
Travis
