[chromatin]

> There is nothing I'm aware of that I need to do financially which I can do with Bitcoin (or the like) which I'm not better able to do with the regular banking system.

I would suggest that your life experience may not be the best yardstick for every other human.

I will provide an example of a recent situation in which I would have loved to be able to use e.g. Bitcoin. I (US based] did some consulting work for a company in France and they owed me something like $6k. Arranging an incoming international bank wire was a huge pain (if you don’t do this regularly, you’ll have to navigate multiple layers at your bank to find someone who can provide the actual wire details to provide to the counterparty), it took many days to finalize, AND I was charged $25 by my bank for the privilege.

In contrast, I should have been able to provide the French company a BTC address, have had them transmit for pennies or a few dollars at most, and have payment secured and confirmed within the hour.

[thehappypm]

I’m not sure honestly.

Companies are super risk averse. They’d rather use arcane tools with seriously battle tested guard rails. As an example, if someone hacked your email and sent them a fraudulent Bitcoin address, and they sent the BTC, they’d have no recourse. No way to reverse, nobody to even complain to. Corporations would much rather have those arcane layers to protect themselves.

[soultrees]

As someone who has hired creatives from around the world back in the day - I used to love the BTC option to settle any invoices. Back then it wasn’t as well known so it usually took a little explaining but anyone who accepted it received their payment within minutes. It was so much more preferable than dealing with banks internationally.

[verdverm]

Maybe a different bank would have a better experience for international wires? My experience is that this takes less time than you have relayed.

[spiralx]

The fact that Bitcoin is simpler than the US banking system is a testament to how archaic the latter is, not how useful the former is.

[toomuchtodo]

Was wise.com not an option? I use them frequently to receive payments in the US from Europe.