tl;dr
pros: decentralized, judgement resistant store of value cons: unconnected to any economic fundamentals, therefore without any analytical way to determine price.
pros: decentralized, judgement resistant store of value cons: unconnected to any economic fundamentals, therefore without any analytical way to determine price.
The case of H. Beatty Chadwick is also worth keeping in mind (spent 14 years in jail in contempt of court because he claimed that he had lost all his money right before a divorce and the court didn't believe him.)
If you're storing coins on an exchange, they're not your coins. The point of BTC is you don't need to do that.
The case of H. Beatty Chadwick is also worth keeping in mind (spent 14 years in jail in contempt of court because he claimed that he had lost all his money right before a divorce and the court didn't believe him.)
A solid point, but two counterarguments: There's safety in numbers – if everyone were to do this, courts probably wouldn't jail more than a dozen or so – and at the end of your jail term, you'd still have your wealth.
As I mentioned, there's nothing specific to bitcoin about this strategy. You can do it with buried gold coins or with cash as HBC did. Or a dozen other ways. If "everyone" wanted to do it, they would have already.
But ...
> and at the end of your jail term, you'd still have your wealth.
How much is 14 years of your life worth?
This is what I would call "direct utility". There is also "indirect utility" - mindset of bystanders who are willing to transact BC because they know that others will provide liquidity.