Bitcoin might not be as good as the UK, but you have to understand that the consumer US financial system remains stuck in the 1980s.

You can do it from home for a negligible fee ($0-$3) if you're ok with ACH instead.

(Same-day ACH has a max of $100k, though it used to be $25k. Next-day ACH is something like $100M, though your bank likely has a lower limit.)

There are title deeds and tax rolls. In many jurisdictions you have obligations like building codes that need to be inspected and an owner needs to be held to account. If you need privacy, you have to set up shell companies to act as the legal owner, not hide the payment from your bank or government.

Speaking of showing the source of the money, if you bought my house from me with bitcoin, I would have to speak to a lawyer about not running afoul of money-laundering regulations. And no, I won’t take the internet’s word for it that somehow, those laws only pertain to fiat currency.

Something tells me that the cost of fighting my government in court would far exceed the value of my home regardless of whether I was technically in the right not to fill out all those same forms.

Big issues, big risks, but maybe you have big balls too... I personally don't feel so self assured about myself.

Maybe by "international" you mean something else, but at least in the EU(and EEA and UK) transfers can be incredibly quick.

Even if it's less useful than, say, access to SEPA, it'd have to be 14x less valuable to break even (again, presuming internet access available to everyone, which isn't a thing yet).

People think that's a feature until they don't.

Not in the EU they don't. A SEPA transfer takes max 1 business day and is usually free. More info: https://www.gbm.hsbc.com/solutions/global-liquidity-and-cash...

Well, almost -- they do always feature cool progress bars as the money is transferred.

The idea that somehow they'll let you buy something with Bitcoin without requiring the same level of disclosure is a complete fantasy.

I'm sure it's possible, although almost certainly very much not really liked by your solicitor!

I must point out I know a couple people who did that in Hungary in the last ten years, just because it seemed absolutely insane to me (cheques don't exist here, either..).

I am reasonably sure this isn't that common though, and the government still tracks the transaction :)

"I don't want them to know." is therefore a valid reason.