Stripe: Bitcoin

That may be a problem with the current implementation, but it doesn't have to be. There's no reason your credit card couldn't be e.g. loaded onto your phone, using NFC to talk to a reader, and then it could be updated instantly if need be.

> I had to re-set up all the bills I had set up to be automatically paid with the previous card to now be paid by the new card, etc.

The only reason this isn't a problem for Bitcoin is that you can't set up bill payments in Bitcoin at all.

> Still, some fraud scenarios are completely eliminated with Bitcoin. I pay a fraudulent restaurant with a CC that gets skimmed, I get to deal with the hassles of having to have the card replaced, potentially having my credit score damaged, etc. I pay a fraudulent restaurant with bitcoins, I know the restaurant can do nothing to steal the bitcoins remaining in my wallet.

It works for a restaurant but that's a very special case - you pay after you already know that what you got was right. More often you're buying something where you won't realise if it's broken until you get it home, in which case much more serious fraud is possible with bitcoin than with credit cards. And even the restaurant case is not a compelling advantage for bitcoin - if your credit card gets skimmed the worst case is really not very bad.

> Private keys can be very well protected and almost impossible to steal

Sure. But the kind of person who gets their credit card PIN stolen (which is what we were comparing to) isn't going to have a well-protected private key.

> Every day, millions of Americans use financial instruments that are not FDIC insured

Sure. But almost everyone gets an FDIC-insured account as a backstop before getting any of those other instruments. And it's convenient to have all your accounts in the same currency.

> That may be a problem with the current implementation, but it doesn't have to be

I agree. But I highlighted this to show you that credit cards have kinks, as currently implemented, yet are reasonably successful/useful. Therefore for the same reason Bitcoin doesn't have to be perfect to be reasonably successful/useful.

> The only reason this isn't a problem for Bitcoin is that you can't set up bill payments in Bitcoin at all.

Yes it is possible. Some hosted wallets let you set up recurring payments. This is awesome because unlike credit cards, you don't have to give the merchant authorization to debit your money, but you give this authorization only to the wallet hoster. This gives the merchant zero chances to screw you up (eg. continuing to debit your card when you want it to stop, or setting up a recurring payment disclosed in the fine print when you think you are authorizing a one-time payment.)

> It works for a restaurant but that's a very special case

This scenario covers literally ALL in-person transactions. Hardly a "very special case".

> But the kind of person who gets their credit card PIN stolen (which is what we were comparing to) isn't going to have a well-protected private key.

No we were comparing typical users. A security conscious credit card user can STILL get his number stolen and money stolen (eg. a merchant gets hacked). Whereas a security conscious Bitcoin user using a hardware wallet is virtually impervious to being attacked (only highly sophisticated hacks like stealing the hardware wallet and decaping the secure chip to steal the private keys without knowing the PIN).

Some users are so bad with security and detecting scams that they will always get their money stolen (regardless if they use credit cards or bitcoins).