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Comment by sammycdubs | Hacker News Reader

I don't want to sound like a narc, but it seems like a really good idea to have some degree of oversight and safeguards on financial transactions of that magnitude.

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I agree, and banks + the government do just that; large transactions, or 'pattern' transactions flag up in fraud and money laundering departments and are investigated.

But, bitcoin is free of oversight or centralized control, which was the exact point of the system.

I had my life savings (all funds in my bank account) frozen, without notice, without explanation, and without recourse for 3 weeks. They literally couldn’t tell me why my account was frozen besides “social security has flagged the account.” This was at one of the largest banks in US. I never committed any crime or suspected of one, or had any weird transactions. When I protested at the branch asking how I’m supposed to pay rent they said “sorry”. After almost 3 weeks they unfroze it without explanation and offered to pay the bounced check fee for my rent.

Yeah I’d rather have bitcoin. Bitcoin removes the need for banks altogether. I don’t want the banks and government in control of my money.

I’d argue that with Bitcoin being volatile enough to have double percentage point swings in a single day, that you’re not in full control of your money with Bitcoin either.

Most people will use stablecoins such as Dai or USDC. Bitcoin is just an example here.

I'd start with two separate accounts, less likely to be frozen simultaneously. After that, I'd try holding some cash in a safe somewhere. Or prepay rent for a free months. Or keep some money in a friend or family account. Bitcoin would be lower on my list.

And obviously the people who invented and developed Bitcoin disagree. "Oversight and safeguards" translates in practice to "mostly ineffectual but otherwise repressive bureaucracy".

There is oversight, with a high degree of certainty only the holder of the corresponding private key to which funds were transferred is able to make transactions with allocated amounts.

The risk of doing that is if an authoritarian regime gains power then they can effectively black list you from the financial system. This is absolutely an issue in certain countries.

That's why rich people under unfriendly governments keep capital in multiple different nations.

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