Yes, consumers using credit cards definitely had more protections at that time than they do today with bitcoin. My point is merely that less than 20 years ago people had an almost universal aversion to putting their credit card information into a form on a website. That changed rapidly. I believe that the pieces aren't yet in place to give people the same level of confidence in bitcoin, but I also believe that it's a (short) matter of time until they are. Multi-signature transactions are very interesting in that regard.
I don't believe that bitcoin will destroy fiat or the finance industry as a whole, but I do think it will become a very convenient way of moving money around, especially between national currencies. Much in the same way that sending an email is more convenient than sending a letter internationally. It's not a complete solution; it's a foundation to build services upon, and those services will most likely be offered by the same large financial institutions we have today, along with a few upstarts. Just my 2 μBTC.
I don't believe that bitcoin will destroy fiat or the finance industry as a whole, but I do think it will become a very convenient way of moving money around, especially between national currencies. Much in the same way that sending an email is more convenient than sending a letter internationally. It's not a complete solution; it's a foundation to build services upon, and those services will most likely be offered by the same large financial institutions we have today, along with a few upstarts. Just my 2 μBTC.