Cryptocurrency is something people tell lies about in hopes of getting richer

Re:Cryptocurrency is something people tell lies about in hop... by mminer237 on Friday September 24, 2021 @09:42AM (#28642218)

I don't trust the collective anonymous users of Bitcoin more than I trust my bank and the court system though.

If someone hacks into my account, my bank will likely reimburse me for any losses. There are controls in place to stop them from stealing it al. If someone just transferred it to their own account, I could use the courts to get it back. If I use a credit card to pay a scam, I can do a charge-back.

With cryptocurrencies, it's just "bye money". They're not going to fork for you. There's no logic to stop people in Russia transferring my entire account. It's too hard to find criminals to get any relief. It's just your fault for using cryptocurrencies and not having 100% perfect security.

Not to mention, the chance of my bank stealing all my money is nil. They'd be sued and arrested, and the FDIC would reimburse me anyway.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Cryptocurrency is something people tell lies about in hop... by shawnz on Friday September 24, 2021 @10:05AM (#28642508)

> There are controls in place to stop them from stealing it al. If someone just transferred it to their own account, I could use the courts to get it back.

What if it's taken thorough wrongful civil forfeiture? Will you be able to afford to navigate the courts to get your assets back after they've been seized?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Cryptocurrency is something people tell lies about in hop... by WJW on Friday September 24, 2021 @10:15AM (#28642699)

Not always, but wrongful civil forfeiture is just one of many possible ways to steal. In other cases using the court system will be possible. With bitcoin, it is never possible.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Cryptocurrency is something people tell lies about in hop... by shawnz on Friday September 24, 2021 @10:19AM (#28642758)

So if you think the risk of permanently losing your assets via legal channels is, let's say, 99-to-1 compared to the risk of losing your assets to cryptocurrency attacks, then wouldn't it make sense to hold 99% of your assets in the bank and 1% in cryptocurrencies?

Cryptocurrencies don't have to replace all existing financial instruments to be a useful hedge. They can just be one tool of many to diversify your risk profile.

Especially consider that for people living outside the developed world, the risk of having your assets stolen through legal channels is going to be much higher.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Cryptocurrency is something people tell lies about in hop... by WJW on Friday September 24, 2021 @11:03AM (#28643420)

If you think it is indeed 99-to-1, then perhaps. My perception of the trustworthiness of most crypto projects is certainly much lower (see the endless parade of crypto horror stories on https://www.reddit.com/r/SorryForYourLoss/), so personally I would think the odds of a crypto project going under or just simply losing my wallet keys is way higher than the chance my bank or my government will steal my money or my stocks or whatever. Then again, I do live in western Europe so YMMV if you live in Venezuela or someplace like that.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Cryptocurrency is something people tell lies about in hop... by perl4ever on Saturday September 25, 2021 @01:41AM (#28650794)

Many/most people don't worry about having large amounts of cash stolen, whether by authorities or criminals precisely because they trust the banking system to keep track of their money.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Cryptocurrency is something people tell lies about in hop... by shawnz on Saturday September 25, 2021 @01:53AM (#28650842)

The banking system would obviously cooperate with authorities.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Cryptocurrency is something people tell lies about in hop... by gregopet on Sunday September 26, 2021 @03:36AM (#28659109)

Cryptocurrencies are like Swiss bank accounts without Switzerland?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Cryptocurrency is something people tell lies about in hop... by rhn_mk1 on Friday September 24, 2021 @09:51AM (#28642320)

I don't think this is the kind of "trust" that is relevant in the prevention of double-spending.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Cryptocurrency is something people tell lies about in hop... by superflit2 on Friday September 24, 2021 @11:51AM (#28644074)

Well on the 2008 Crash your ""acount"" was robbed and if you live in US you did not get your money back.

You had to cover the "too big to fail" system.

On btc no.

[ Parent | on HN ]