[hnnewguy]

>The Blockchain provides an audit trail that is considerably more transparent and easy to access than the audit trail a bank uses.

If I send money to someone unintentionally or undeservedly, how does the block-chain rectify that charge?

My bank simply reverses it. That's powerful.

>This second option requires the person in the Philippines to have a bank account

True, but Bitcoin requires a cell phone or consistent internet access, doesn't it? And there's no recourse to having your money stolen or lost? I'm not sure those are appealing scenarios to the poor, either.

Transaction fees aren't high "just because". Otherwise anyone could open a lending facility of some sort and kill it. I mean, it's not like Western Union is making excessive profits. There's a matrix of risk involved with the movement of money. Bitcoin solves some, and creates others.

[celticninja]

Point 1 - there is no way to reverse a transaction in bitcoin. If you make mistake you make a mistake. You can request the funds be returned and these things have happened. But let me ask you how often do you send bank payments to the wrong person. Most people will check the details, be it sort code and account number or bitcoin address. Even getting a transaction reversed with a bank is not a simple process and it is not always possible otherwise carders would not be able to withdraw funds successfully because at some point a bank can stop the outflow of money, the difference is the bank takes the loss not you. However when banks take a loss we all take a loss.

You don't need constant Internet access to use bitcoin. If you have an address for payment you can receive payment to it without being online. Next time you check the address the funds are there.

There is recourse to theft, the same ones available to people now, law enforcement. Yes you cannot guarantee the return of funds at present however insurance and insured wallets will be available and in some cases already are. Also security in the area is improving significantly all the time.

Western union make about $200 million a year in profits. So it is making a good profit. But transaction fees are high because the infrastructure needed to send payments internationally is extremely entice to build. Or it was before bitcoin came along. People forget that bitcoin is as much about the Blockchain technology as it is the currency. It is the Blockchain that makes transaction fees low and it is one of the primary reasons that bitcoin will "kill it" in the end.