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> They literally allow an individual to be their own bank.

The main function of banks is issuing debt, not holding cash.

Both are central functions of banks, debt is not the main one.

Saying that bitcoin allows users to act as their own banks is like saying a mattress with your cash under it is your own bank. It's not meaningful in anyway. Debt is the meaningful differentiator.

No, ability to issue a controlled lot of physical currency is the meaningful differentiator, which is why the relation to banks is irrelevant.

I can buy $1 worth of Bitcoin, declare it ErikCoin, acceptable only in my stores at a 1/1,000,000 denomination, and I instantly "minted" $1,000,000 in cryptocurrency, using only the Bitcoin blockchain.

Bitcoin doesn't let people be banks, it let's people be the mint.

How is that different from virtual currency in video games?

- Blizzard can't wipe your balance

- You can't destroy anyone's balance after you've issued them currency

- Balances are publicly verifiable

- Balances can be stored in one's mind

... lots of things. Tons of affordances differ from a game currency.

But you can just choose to stop accepting ErikCoin at any time right?

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