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by Cushman 4786 days ago
> 1. Bitcoin doesn't need a highly regulated financial institution to securely store your money (but it does require highly secure technology).

Only if you don't consider protection from theft an attribute of secure money storage. If somebody compromises my bank account credentials, it will be annoying and time consuming but I will ultimately get my money back. If somebody steals my bitcoin wallet, I am shit out of luck.
2 comments
jeffasinger 4786 days ago
Bitcoin is like cash. If someone steals a bunch of cash from you, you're likely to be out of luck.

You could build a complicated banking system on top Bitcoin too, that could do things like reverse unauthorized transactions, but that would get rid of the reason some people are really interested in Bitcoin.

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krupan 4786 days ago
Someone could build the banking system for those who would like the warm fuzzies it gives them, and others could still choose not to use it, keeping their bitcoins in their own wallet in their own house. Again, just like cash. The cool thing is that, unlike cash, you can send and receive bitcoin to and from anywhere in the world electronically without that big banking system's help!
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Cushman 4786 days ago
> Bitcoin is like cash.

Right, which is the point. No one same would argue that cash is a secure form of money storage. It's got some selling points, but security is not one of them.

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mkbrody 4785 days ago
What I'm trying to get at is that a bank is only as secure as it's regulators say it is. The Government is what insures all depositors money up to $100,000, as well as theoretically stops it from taking too great of risk and losing your capital.

The other purpose a bank serves is to protect your money; A bank at it's most basic level is physical security: steel vaults doors, security deposit boxes, security processes, guards, etc. All ancillary (and highly profitable) services flow up from providing this primary need for it's depositors.

Because BitCoin relies on technology to secure your money, so long as users could find an acceptable level of security to replicate this with "high"-technology, there wouldn't be a need for traditional banks to store your money.

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