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by pbhjpbhj 3119 days ago
>To cash out //

Isn't the problem that an exchange can [pretend to] credit your account to the tune of $n million, use your bitcoin to sell for that amount, then keep/use the proceeds of the sale.

This is what traditional banks do with fractional reserve banking, except here the fraction of your bitcoin held is zero ;0).

Also, if bitcoin plummets you're probably not going to be happy when the exchange says "oopsies, our bad, that transaction failed, here's your bitcoins back".