I've never had someone on another continent take cash out of my wallet.

Clearly, because you're smart enough not to give someone on another continent your wallet, as per the analogy.

I'd love to say it's because I'm smart, but inaccessible to bad actors on other continents is the default setting for my wallet. Hell, I'm not smart enough to even figure out how to change the setting. :)

It's the default for Bitcoin wallets also, but some users choose to "change that setting".

I've never had a mugger pull a knife on me late at night to take my bitcoins.

I _have_ had someone on another continent charge things to my credit card.

Did you have to pay for the charges to your credit card?

On average, yes.

I've never had someone on another continent take Bitcoin out of my Bitcoin wallet, and it's incredibly trivial to ensure that it stays that way. What's your point?

Other people have apparently had less success employing incredibly trivial security to keep their bitcoins safe.

Maybe because it's a new technology and we are just learning about it? Who told them to jump in anyway? Didn't they know hackers existed? I bet these are the same persons who leave their $3000 cameras or other gear unattended when they visit less lucky countries, and are surprised when they are stolen from them.

You mean that some people choose to not do the incredibly trivial things that are required to keep Bitcoins safe, right?

Perhaps we should meet in Istanbul with a cashed-up wallet and a very long pair of tongs?

How do you exactly expect to convert your current dollars into BTCs without an exchange?

Also, exchanges are natural monopolies. The more people that go to a particular exchange increases the network effect of an exchange. More people == faster trades, faster trades == more fair prices.

Exchanges will centralize because the economics and network effects of exchanges demand centralization.

I bought my Bitcoins at the BXB (Bitcoin Exchange Berlin: http://www.bitcoin-exchange-berlin.com/p/was-ist-die-bxb.htm...) where I met the seller in person for a long enough time so he could not run with my money. You should organize a Bitcoin Exchange in your city.

I am well aware of local exchanges. But you know, there is this thing called "the internet", which ought to allow me to trade BTC with anyone in the world.

With a local exchange, you get the best price for BTC in your city. With an internet-exchange, you automatically get the best price for BTC in the world... INSTANTLY, without having to schedule a meetup.

The more BTC exchanges converge, the better things will be overall. Trades will execute faster, at a lower cost, with maximum convenience with maximum fairness. It is damn near impossible to settle on a price without an exchange.

Its simply a matter of which BTC exchange will be trustworthy enough to hold the title of "defacto exchange of the entire internet".

The exchange market is currently in the process of decentralizing.

Counterintuitive, perhaps, but it's happening.

It sure is, because Mt. Gox messed things up with their customers. Mt. Gox WAS the central exchange for some time, but they have squandered their position.

Anyway, the forces of physics can be resisted: A thrown ball goes against the flow of gravity, and even Airplanes and Birds can fly for extended periods of time. But in the long term... almost everything follows gravity in the long term.

Similarly, centralizing market forces (in particular: the formation of "natural monopolies") are a known and documented phenomenon. But in the long term, the BTC Market gains more benefits from centralizing... than decentralizing.