[mbesto]

Ya, agreed. I think this statement sticks out the most: Of all of those choices, handing 2.5% to banks to move bits around the Internet is the worst possible choice.

Regardless of whether its a bank or a credit card processing company, why is it the "worst possible choice" to give it to them? Who are we to judge who gets $1 when we are the ones who chose to spend the $1 in the first place?

[waterlesscloud]

Currently our choice is to pay the fee to the banks for convenience they provide. If it's possible to provide the same convenience without the banks and with much lower fees, is that not an improvement?

[sliverstorm]

Does bitcoin actually provide those lower fees?

Hold on, I know you are about to say "yes of course!". But what about the cost of mining? Mining is not analogous to transaction fees, but it is a cost of bitcoin.

[foley]

Plus indirect fees due to the exchange rate volatility.

[otterley]

The fee isn't just a "convenience" fee. A significant proportion of the 2.5% overhead is fraud insurance.