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> I guess you missed the "it just doesn't enjoy widespread adoption outside the digital world yet" part Nah, I didn't miss it, I just don't think it matters. It's like saying "my solar powered car is as real as it gets, just yesterday I drove it down the block, it just doesn't enjoy more than a 10 mile range". Well ok... then it's not as real as it gets, it's a toy and not very practical since it can't be used to get to work, school, hospital etc. > That has nothing to do with Bitcoin, but with the user habits and possibly his operating system choice. In practice it has everything to do with bitcoin since permanent loss of funds is only a risk with bitcoin. Those behaviors you describe are not analogous to the problems of bitcoin. Just storing money as bitcoin puts it at risk of permanent loss. If you take out 100 credit cards and never check your balance you are still covered for every conceivable fraud scenario (and in many situations the bank will tell you that you've been a victim before you even realize it). With bitcoin you are never covered regardless of your vigilance or best practices. You can be an expert user and simply make a typo and send your money to the wrong address and then you're screwed. The general public doesn't have the time, patience, or technical skills to decide which OS is the most secure for storing money, especially when bitcoin itself doesn't actually provide any novel benefits for most people. > It's a trade off, sure, but when it comes to my money I rather trust myself to keep sane habits than trust the payment processing website, the bank AND the gov. not to screw me. That's your right and I'm glad bitcoin exists for you, but it's simply wrong to suggest that bitcoin is safer, it's not. If you trust yourself to keep your bitcoin secure, more power to you, but statistically speaking your money is still less safe as bitcoin than as a bank balance. It's like saying that driving your motorcycle cross country is safer than flying because you trust yourself not to crash. I'm happy that you can be your own bank and I think that it's cool as hell that this is possible because of an emergent econony based on open source software, but bitcoin is not practical, useful, and least of all safe for most people. |