[leppr]

Except no, the exact reason I do/did these things with crypto is that I couldn't as easily do it with the existing infrastructure.

Buying at a Bitpay PoS in Japan is just scanning a QR code, instant confirmation (Wechat easy but even foreigners can use it). A P2P sale for a non-insignificant amount of money (~$1.5k): rejected by Paypal, inter-bank transfer would take days to go through. BTC was 5 minutes to wait for a confirmation. Donations through Patreon or other require you to sign-up, go through convoluted systems that sometimes require sending your identity documents, crypto is just copy an address/scan a QR code and confirm in your usual, familiar wallet.

[VBprogrammer]

> inter-bank transfer would take days to go through

In the UK bank transfers are practically instantaneous. It's nuts that the US is so far behind on this.

[flotzam]

Good luck paying an Iranian mail-order shoemaker... It's not hypothetical: https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-iranian-shoe-store-trade-sa...

(EDIT) Sorry for my rude reply. Your point about intra-national transfers stands.

[leppr]

There are fast bank transfers in my country too, but for some reason my buyer's bank application was buggy and would only allow a traditional transfer. And of course, you can't use an alternative, non-buggy, app with your bank account...