Comment by kragen | Hacker News Reader

Comment by kragen | Hacker News Reader

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I agree, Bitcoin isn't zero risk. But compared to my experiences with banks and WU the risk is manageably low. I have to give someone my passport and home address in order to receive money via WU, so I'm exposed to the risk that buddies of the WU employees will rob my house later. I've had to pay a collection agency thousands for fees charged on a bank account that was empty and that I thought was closed. I've had my bank ATM card cloned by a skimmer on an ATM while I was traveling overseas, and I've had my bank credit card stolen out of my pocket on the bus. I've had WU give me ridiculously unfavorable exchange rates, and there was nothing I could do about it. In none of these cases are the police of any help; they exist to help the rich, not normal people.

With either banks or Bitcoin, you can hedge your risks by converting to fiat currencies. But with fiat currencies, you can hedge your risk by converting (partly) to Bitcoin.

So maybe you should buy your grandma a Trezor. What country does she live in?

> I'm exposed to the risk that buddies of the WU employees will rob my house later

In comparison to getting your wallet compromised by viruses searching for it (and they will probably become more aggressive and adept as BTC usage increases), the chance of this happening I feel is exceedingly low. And avenues of recourse exist: there are clear leads to follow on for an investigative team.

> I've had my bank ATM card cloned by a skimmer on an ATM while I was traveling overseas

I know that my credit card covers me for this and I would get my money back if such a thing were to happen to me.

> I've had WU give me ridiculously unfavorable exchange rates, and there was nothing I could do about it

And BTC transaction fees are ever-increasing. And so is its environmental cost.

My grandma lives in .pk. I fear she would not be capable of understanding the concept of BTC or Trezor as she can barely understand how a TV remote works. She does very much grok the concept of cash money though, and is quite fond of exercising her freedom with it.

When I first explained bitcoin to my mom and her friends, they didn't get it.

The second time, I explained it, they didn't get it. The third time, I sat them down, and made them learn how to run full nodes, run a few commands on the command line, and use bitcoin. Western Union is certainly not guaranteed, nor tyranny proof. If the governments of Argentina or Pakistan need the USD bad enough, they will every dollar Western Union is holding for recipients. To keep the story quiet and the money flowing in, they may imprison the recipients and their families. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Command lines? My grandmother doesn’t even understand that when she minimizes her browser, she hasn’t deleted all of her emails.

> I know that my credit card covers me for this and I would get my money back if such a thing were to happen to me.

But that money isn't free, you may for it through higher merchant fees and lower bank interest rates.

True, but for most transactions the credit card fee (~%2) compares favorably with the Bitcoin transaction fee (~$8).

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