You haven't really thought your own question through very far, have you? You pay your internet and utility bills with cash? That's a problem in the U.S. In other countries many businesses are cashless, often even public transit is increasingly cashless.

Update: I'm even thinking of landlords of multitenant buildings, there's just no way they're going to take e.g. $100,000 in cash from everyone each month. It's really not workable. The apartment I had in NYC a few years ago was conventional check only. No cash possible, no credit card, no EFT.

Here in Brazil, ISP and other bills usually come in the form of a Boleto Bancário (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boleto_Banc%C3%A1rio), which you can pay with cash at the bank (or at lottery stores). Utility bills use a similar system. From the point of view of the bill issuer, it's cashless.

I don't know how it works on other countries, but I'd expect similar systems.

Similar in most of Europe as far as I know, though many use online banking now. Haven't seen a check in 20 years.

I thought you lived in a country with high inflation, like Argentina.

No, I'm thinking of the landlord making that size deposit. I know of no one walking around with $3000 cash to go pay rent let alone the landlord walking even two blocks to a bank to deposit that from everyone in the building.

It's not really a viable option for anyone. You're exposing yourself to huge risk of theft/destruction/confiscation, and you're losing out to inflation every year. Much safer to keep your money in an FDIC-insured bank account. If you have more than the maximum, then open up several bank accounts.

Any event catastrophic enough to wipe out money in FDIC-insured bank accounts would also affect your paper currency. If you're really worried about that eventuality, best to hoard gold.

EDIT: Let me clarify, I suppose it is a viable option if you are living paycheck to paycheck, but if you have accumulated wealth of any significance, it is not.

Losing money in bank is not theoretical. I have to pay income tax, just because I receive money through bank account.

Using bank means paying

- income tax and insurance

- debt collectors

- fines

Any mistake can result in astronomical fines and wipe all savings.

If I earn less than minimum wage, I have to pay 100% tax or more. That's because there is minimum monthly social benefits contribution.

With cash and bitcoin they never know if I have money.

Maybe foreign bonds and offshore accounts are good solution for storing money.

>I have to pay income tax, just because I receive money through bank account.

No, you have to pay income tax regardless of how you receive money. Bitcoin just makes it easier for you to avoid the law and be a leech on society by not paying taxes.

Ah, got it, so you're one of those people, one who heard the news about the Panama Papers, and rather than being outraged, thought "Oh that's a good idea!"

I don't know where you live, but here in the US the IRS simply has to ask you if you have a foreign (or crypto) bank account and you'd smart not to lie to them.

If they can't get the money because they don't have he private key they can simply put you in prison.

So you're trying to evade taxes and not pay for your share of social benefits? You will feel at home in the Bitcoin community.

Any recent event which wipes out FDIC accounts is going to devalue all that gold a surprising amount too.

This is true, but you still have something you can trade for bread.

So what's better in that case -- ammo?

i pay my rent and bills with wire transfer, same goes for 99% of my purchases ( mostly on amazon ) ... my paycheck is sent me as wire transfer as well ... how am I supposed to live just on cash? :) I only use cash to buy cigarettes basically ... using only cash would make my life very, VERY, hard.

Aren't wire transfers incredibly expensive? (Something like upwards of $20 for the sender and the recipient?)

That may just be an American thing though, countries with first world banking systems may have that sorted :)

Here in Switzerland the entire financial system is arranged via wire transfers.

I get a bill. At the bottom of the bill is a red pay-in slip with a magic number on it. I log in to my bank, enter the number, tell it how much I want to transfer, done.

There's a not-used-enough automatic system where one of my creditors can send their bills directly to my bank. Now, I log into my bank, get told there's a pending e-bill, at which point I select it, press 'pay', done.

No fees anywhere.

I'm from the UK, which is just starting to do this, but it's nothing like as polished; small traders and tradesmen still prefer cheques, and regular payments are typically done via direct debit, where you authorise them to debit money directly out of your bank account (with a whole pile of banking guarantees). Switzerland seems to do this much less frequently; most people just pay the invoices monthly.

Wow, I would love it if things worked that way in the US. Even without the "automatic system," that's pretty awesome.

This is identical to how's it done in Sweden

And Australia.

Plus transfers are free... and appear same day in the other account.

The US is a different kettle of fish.

With wire-transfers you mean international wire-transfers? I think it might be just an american thing, mexican banks usually don't charge you anything for wire-transfers inside the country (in their "use your credit/debit card at least once each month plans") and well, it's Mexico. Though I think "first world"-something is quite the phrase just to describe consumer comfort: not advanced, not better (or worse), just "it's ok, I don't mind".

---EDIT---

Wire-transfers between national banks are free if you wait a day; there's a small fixed fee if you want them immediately. Transfers between different clients in the same bank are free and immediate. And it's becoming very common to be able to pay a quite assorted list of services through your e-bank account (from utilities to departmental store accounts) without fees.

Transfers in the UK are free and instant.

not where I live