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Comment by javert | Hacker News Reader

Here are some features that make it appealing.

(1) Fixed total supply, so it can't be manipulated by central banks.

(2) Fast online transactions (e.g. Paypal, without the problems of Paypal); ease of developing all kind of Web services around this.

(3) Anonymous transactions are possible, which can be beneficial in many ways (for example, not getting taxed...)

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(1) is only a selling point to people well outside the mainstream. Most people would consider this a huge negative.

(2) meanwhile I can buy things with one click using dollars.

(3) tax evasion, drug dealing and money laundering are not things that society generally wants to facilitate

Well, I just listed some of the features that many people who like Bitcoin like about it. That other people may not care about those features is kind of irrelevant.

Until they shut it down.

millions of honest people around the world that have lost their savings when a fiat currency changed its valuation for political reasons. you do not need to be a zealot to appreciate any attempt to create a free currency; you simply need to have a small sense of history and the world around you.

Money isn't for saving long term, it's for spending; if you want to save, buy assets. Inflation is only a problem for those who wrongly mistake money for an asset. The purpose of money is to facilitate trade, not store value.

(1) is only a selling point to people well outside the mainstream.

Yes, the handful of people who understand how our banking and currency system works but aren't in a position to suckle at its teat.

(2) meanwhile I can buy things with one click using dollars.

But try transferring dollars electronically, or even just from one of your own accounts to another in a different bank.

(3) tax evasion, drug dealing and money laundering are not things that society generally wants to facilitate

Neither does society generally want to facilitate government's abuse and debasement of its currency in attempt to cover up its willful blindness to widespread financial fraud and malfeasance. Pick your poison.

> But try transferring dollars electronically, or even just from one of your own accounts to another in a different bank.

In my Wells Fargo account, I can transfer to another bank's account in three clicks and about two minutes. All I had to do was set it up and prove that I own the other end. Deposits usually clear that day.

with bitcoin, transfers clear within ten minutes. The fees are dramatically cheaper (domestic wire transfers are at least $10, international are more like $30) and there's no need to 'prove' anything.

With bitcoin, you can also do all this at anytime, not just within the 9-5 Mon-Friday, no holiday bank schedules.

That wasn't the point that I was responding to (which is that it's difficult to move money around in traditional banks), but since you brought it up:

> The fees are dramatically cheaper (domestic wire transfers are at least $10, international are more like $30)

I pay no fee for the service I described. Not a penny.

> and there's no need to 'prove' anything.

This took a few hours, and was quite low-effort. Not a problem I'm looking to solve in my life, since I only did it once.

> With bitcoin, you can also do all this at anytime, not just within the 9-5 Mon-Friday, no holiday bank schedules.

As can I.

For (1) you don't need fixed supply, just lack of central bank interference.

You can design bitcoin with a slowly increasing bounty each year, as long as the protocol is there, no central institution can control it.

(as a matter a fact, if the 50 BTC bounty were to continue indefinitely, the rate of money expansion would decrease over time)

To me personally, the point is the fixed supply, and the lack of central bank interference is just part of the means to that. I would like to be able to park money somewhere without having it lose value, and possibly even gain in value.

Anyway, as you said, someone certainly could fork bitcoin to make a system where the money supply is expanded indefinitely. I don't think it would catch on, though... at least unless bitcoin has already become "accepted."

>(3) Anonymous transactions are possible, which can be beneficial in many ways (for example, not getting taxed...) //

Certainly where I am you'd still be taxed you're just avoiding paying the tax by hiding your identity. Tax here (UK) is still due if you choose to barter for goods/services so I can't imagine using an unofficial currency would make the slightest difference.

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