Comment by peterwwillis | Hacker News Reader

Comment by peterwwillis | Hacker News Reader

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Why the fuck would someone keep cash in a central repository if the whole purpose of bitcoin is to be de-centralized? It's like, hey, I have a car so I can get around town any time I want, so let me park it with a bunch of other cars in a dark open lot 2 miles from my house. Sure, I have to take a short bus ride to get to it, and it could be stolen or broken into at any time, but that's the price I pay for convenience, versus just keeping it in my garage where it's much more inconvenient for anyone to steal or damage it. (?????)

A website is not a bank. There are no armed guards or vaults and there is no federal insurance for your bitcoin. You're basically all handing your money to some guy who keeps all the coin on the second floor of a corporate office with a single old dude standing guard at the elevator. It's totes hard to get past that guy, because like, he has a badge and a hat and everything.

In my case, because Coinbase provides a simple, trusted way to sell Bitcoin and deposit the money into my bank account.

I'm not buying Bitcoin because it's decentralized. I'm buying it because there is a market bubble, and I can profit from currency speculation.

Perhaps some of these individuals are using coinbase as a way to purchase bitcoins before they move them to their private wallets.

Isn't this a bit of a mischaracterization?

Coinbase is more like an AC'd storage facility with locks on the doors and people on staff checking IDs than an a "dark open lot 2 miles from my house". Yeah, its not Fort Knox, or even a basic bank vault, but if I think I'm much more likely to lose a thumb drive or have my computer stolen than suffer a catastrophic problem with a storage facility owned by reputable people, how does it not make sense?

That said, I'd probably be thinking about this a lot harder if I had any serious money put away in bitcoin. A storage facility is not an appropriate place to store 5 tons of gold.

>Why the fuck would someone keep cash in a central repository if the whole purpose of bitcoin is to be de-centralized?

Decentralization means the freedom to partially centralize.

>There are no armed guards or vaults and there is no federal insurance for your bitcoin.

You can pay for private insurance, which can cover more money than federal insurances (albeit it's not free). Just like it should be.

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