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Comment by wollsmoth | Hacker News Reader

I'm not a big crypto person. But I do think that it does one thing well, it enables the transmission of value digitally. The same way I can transmit a file to you over the internet, I can now transmit a crypto coin of value.

Now, personally I don't have a lot of issues with the prevailing system, venmo and similar apps. I don't have any issues buying what I need online since credit cards work and are widely available.

I suppose crypto could be useful for industries that are legal, but banks do not like engaging with. Like adult entertainment.

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The thing is, crypto coins tend to be terrible ways to transmit value. They usually have massive overhead compared to pretty much every other system and are often quite slow.

Anybody who has tried to pay for something directly with Bitcoin will see the problem instantly. The mining fee is a significant percentage of your transfer unless you're sending literally thousands of dollars worth of Bitcoin and it typically takes 4-24 hours for the transaction to clear unless you're willing to increase the transaction fee significantly.

Crypto currencies are so bad at this that PayPal is a better way to transfer money. Let that sink in.

I have been using Bitcoin for various online purchases for many years. For me it always works fluently. In fact I have had more cumbersome experiences with fiat payments.

Not that I have much problems with any payment methods. I just prefer to hold Bitcoin and use it as my primary currency. I'm willing to willing to spend some extra effort to pay with it, but if it gets too difficult I'll resort to fiat.

Comparing a Bitcoin transaction to a PayPal transactions is comparing Apples to Elephants. They have different value proposition. A more fair comparison is comparing a PayPal transaction to a Coinbase one. In which case they are the same (haven't used PayPal for a while, so not sure if they are charging fees for P2P transfers).

I can Paypal and Apple Pay and ACH you already. For likely much cheaper.

Crypto adds nothing.

But then how am I supposed to commit crimes!?

There are other ways to do crimes with USD.

At least with USD, when you gotta do it, you can do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HrmD_vIMIk

Not sure about "likely much cheaper". Those methods are either funded by VC money (for the case of early startups) or in the case of bigger companies, their other products that monetize you in other ways.

BTC is expensive to transfer, but other options like LTC are not. It takes a small fraction of a penny (in USD value).

what value are you talking about? currency themselves have no inherent value and are only backed by the confidence that people have of the issuer.

The value is whatever you may exchange the crypto for. Much in the same way that the value of a dollar is what it buys you.

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