> Speed - 1s vs 10 mins for Bitcoin
This is a clear indicator that you aren't at all familiar with the payments industry, and probably not familiar with Bitcoin either. There is no extant fiat payment system that settles in 1 second. You are the "Casual user" I was talking about who doesn't know how e.g. credit cards work behind the scenes.
If you want any semblance of payment finality in a fiat system, it's going to take days to months. Bitcoin is ~10 minutes on chain, <1s on Lightning.
> Security - Money guaranteed by banks and governments vs do your own security or trust a dodgy exchange
"Guaranteed" is pulling a lot of weight here. What, exactly, do you think "guaranteed" means?
> Private transactions vs public ledger
"Private" transaction visible to any government agency, the bank's data/ad partners, in any of the abundantly available financial data leaks, vs a public ledger with strong pseudonymity or a totally opaque mesh network on Lightning.
> Trust - counter-parties from merchants to banks are known and have a stake in the system
I trust asymmetric key crypto more than I trust HSBC.
> Fees - free instant transfers vs $1-2 per tx
Fiat transfers are neither 'free' nor 'instant', in any meaningful capacity. Do some research on e.g. credit card settlement cycles. "Months" is more accurate. Credit card (along with most other widely used fiat payment gateways) charge usually something like 25 cents + 2.5%. Bitcoin is (on-chain) a few cents + 0%. Lightning is something like 0.01 cents + 0%.
It only looks cheaper because the details of what's actually going on have been (intentionally, for marketing purposes) hidden from casual users.
> The speed you decry as fictitious is there because of trusted counterparties and is very real.
Again, look up how payment settlement cycles work. You are the type of person I was describing who believes in the fiction. I don't blame you; unless you are a "power user" of the fiat system or have done a lot of research, it's not clear why you would notice.