Totally agree with you on that. But let's compare your trust of your bank vs your trust of your mattress or your safe or your brain password that no one but you can produce.
vs home safe - bank wins
and I'm always forgetting passwords!
These are places to store stuff though, not transaction systems, which is what I was driving at. Bitcoin as a transaction system requires me to place trust in a vendor (or potentially an escrow service). I trust my bank's payment systems and chargeback facility more than either of those things.
Bitcoin as a store of money? Well I still prefer the legal protections afforded me in a regulated bank.
Here's one of the risks you have to bear to enable your chargebacks: http://mashable.com/2011/01/28/identity-theft-infographic/ ... worth it? Think how many insecure databases your name and address and credit card # (and sometimes phone number) are stored in across the net...
Also I'm not in the US, I get the impression that I'm much better protected by consumer law here in the UK.
" I still prefer the legal protection afforded me in a regulated bank".
What system can provide legal protection without governmental abuse?