I like to think of BC as simple "printing yourself money in your basement". Normally when you do it you go to jail and there are couple of good reasons for that to happen.
What are the best arguments AGAINST Bitcoin?
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Re: What are the best arguments AGAINST Bitcoin?
#12The challenge of safeguarding your private keys and not falling victim to the many fraudulent schemes to separate the gullible from their bitcoin.
The wealth concentration resulting from emitting the majority all bitcoin that will ever exist in just the first few years. It's designed not as a peer-to-peer currency but a p2p speculative asset. Leaving just a fraction of a percent of all bitcoin to be mined in the last century (2040-2140) of its emission. And relying almost exclusively on transaction fees to provide security after 2040.
Re: What are the best arguments AGAINST Bitcoin?
#13A mild annoyance of mine is how the potential benefits of cryptocurrency (decentralized verification, cloud storage, etc) are often lost among discussions of why Bitcoin is bad, which it is. Many of Bitcoin's flaws (energy usage, easy to lose, slow transactions) have been solved by other cryptocurrencies, many of whom aren't even intended to be used as money, which is good because I don't think cryptocurrency's best application is as a form of money, at least not in the long term. For what it's worth, I am not a right libertarian, or a fan of the gold standard either.
Re: What are the best arguments AGAINST Bitcoin?
#14One argument against Bitcoin is Bettercoin. Why should anyone bother with Bitcoin when there's Bettercoin? And then again, why should I use Bettercoin rather than just launching my own Evenbettercoin? Or maybe just wait until Bestcoin comes out.
Coins are rarely better than bitcoin in all regards. Instead they simply offer trade-offs, making some things better and others worse. They often harm the very thing that justified bitcoin's existence: being decentralized and uncensorable.
Or being able to fully validate the transaction history with limited resources.
Re: What are the best arguments AGAINST Bitcoin?
#15Global warming, for one. Useless as a currency... Electronic Transactions should be faster than credit cards or exchanging cash.
Re: What are the best arguments AGAINST Bitcoin?
#16For me, transaction times and cost. Paying $2 to send $100 over 15 - 30 minutes, feels expensive and slow to me as a buyer. Sellers are used to longer clearance times and higher fees it would be more like our modern system if the seller paid the fee.
Re: What are the best arguments AGAINST Bitcoin?
#17Global warming, for one. Useless as a currency... Electronic Transactions should be faster than credit cards or exchanging cash.
Think of Bitcoin like your savings account, moving the entire account happens within an hour. 2nd layer networks (lightning) work on top of it and have very cheap transaction costs.
The energy spent on securing the network makes it antifragile and eliminates the need for many functions of the finance sector.
Re: What are the best arguments AGAINST Bitcoin?
#18For me, transaction times and cost. Paying $2 to send $100 over 15 - 30 minutes, feels expensive and slow to me as a buyer. Sellers are used to longer clearance times and higher fees it would be more like our modern system if the seller paid the fee.
I've been following crypto since 2012 (I work in the industry on an alternative cryptocurrency). I completely agree that this is the primary issue that Bitcoin and Ethereum have. Lightning and other second layer scaling solutions show promise but just haven't matured at the rate that I was hoping. Most applications just aren't feasible with such high transaction costs. I have a strong feeling that when second-layer solutions finally mature, the conversation will completely change.
Re: What are the best arguments AGAINST Bitcoin?
#19What happens when rewards for mining a block halt or the price of Bitcoin drops to a point where it’s no longer economically viable to pay for electricity and mining rigs?
Re: What are the best arguments AGAINST Bitcoin?
#20What happens when rewards for mining a block halt or the price of Bitcoin drops to a point where it’s no longer economically viable to pay for electricity and mining rigs?
Fewer people buy rigs. Fewer people mine. The remaining people get paid more. It's a self balancing system.