[themagician]

Honestly, I don't really see this. Small personal transactions happen via Cash, Venmo, PayPal, Zelle, etc. without much issue or friction. As far as the general consumer is concerned it is instant.

Large business transactions generally (not always, obviously) do not have the sense of urgency that would require fast settlement. There's some market maker stuff that benefits from fast settlement, but that's not exactly a reason to push whole new system out to everyone.

The biggest "benefits" of crypto are not benefits to the average consumer going about their daily life. Instead of dealing with fraud you'd have to deal with customer service issues for actual customers who forgot/lost their keys. And, honestly, you'd probably have to deal with more fraud. Your phone gets hacked, your keys get stolen, and then what… all your money is irreversibly gone?

[datadata]

You are imagining a false dichotomy where things like fast and final settlement, or self custody are forced onto every user, and pointing out the obvious problems with that scenario. They are not good defaults, but they are great to have as options to protect customers against a fraudulent or over leveraged system. It is a bit like any protected right-- you don't have to directly make use of it for it to be valuable, the real value is in the optionality you have to be able to use it, and the risk that optionality poses to those who would exploit the absence of the right.

[themagician]

Not really. Fast (immutable) settlement is terrible for humans. Self custody is more or less incompatible with our modern world. And despite that, there are ways to do both without crypto—hand someone stacks of cash and keep gold in a safe under the floorboard. Both of these options exist.

[datadata]

You are repeating the same false dichotomy by stating again that final settlement and self custody are bad defaults for the entire world. That isn't want I'm saying, I am saying a choice is better than no choice at all. I'm also not saying anything about crypto. Gold and cash are also useful instruments that should be financial instruments for everyone also.