[bingbong123]

>To begin with, the "banking system" includes an enormous amount of services that Bitcoin doesn't provide (loans, mortgages, securities), and retail banks are part of that as well.

This may be a lack of imagination on your part....Many companies already offer loans/mortgages using Bitcoin as collateral (at much lower interest rates than traditional banks). Not having thousands of idle bank employees sitting around in brick and mortar banks makes the financial system a lot more efficient...

[dralley]

I'm not sure you understood the point I was making, which is that you can't get a loan/mortgage from "bitcoin", you have to go to a separate entity that can offer you a loan/mortgage using bitcoin to mediate the transaction. A "bitcoin bank", if you will. The labor requirements are going to be similar either way.