> "But I can just write a check or hand someone cash, why would I need to send money over the internet?"
But today, I can just use my credit card to pay for anything instantly, anywhere in the world... who the fuck still uses checks??
Why would I want to use crypto and lose all the protections I have from my card company, while having to wait minutes for transactions to be confirmed instead of milli-seconds?? And with the risk of my "wallet" being hacked in an instant and losing everything, without a chance for appealing to anyone for the funds to be returned?? Do you seriously consider that an attractive option to anyone, in the way that the Internet or Amazon (actually, online shops in general!) were?? Seems completely delusional to me.
That quote was from the perspective of someone learning about the internet in the 90s. My point is it's hard for people to imagine the implications of a technology.
> Why would I want to use crypto and lose all the protections I have from my card company
The current system is kinda crazy if you think about it. We give out our credit card numbers all the time and don't think twice about it. These protections you speak of are mostly a bandaid on a flawed system.
Additionally, we give all the power to a central authority which is ok until it isn't. My buddy does freelance work and has gotten screwed because these "protections" were used by shitty clients to get their money back after he handed over the project.
Finally, crypto has other protections like smart wallets that implement a sort of password recovery feature. The difference is you have control over how you want to use it.
> while having to wait minutes for transactions to be confirmed instead of milli-seconds
Crypto transactions appear almost instantly. Do you really need to wait minutes to fully confirm a taco bell transaction? Besides, Ethereum Layer 2 will help out with this quite a bit by boosting performance. Blockchain scaling is still in its infancy.
> And with the risk of my "wallet" being hacked in an instant and losing everything
Then use a savings wallet and a checking wallet. Or have 100 wallets. It's up to you how you want to structure it. Also people get hacked all the time due to poor passwords. How is this any different than, say, someone finding your bank account password? Or a phishing email?
I imagine over time services will crop up from trusted providers that will smooth over the UX here. For example, walking you through setting up your wallet.
Also smart wallets like I mentioned above.
> without a chance for appealing to anyone for the funds to be returned
If that really worries you then there will be centralized services for you to use with systems in place to prevent this. Wallets are just a lego brick that you can use to build many different kinds of services and systems.
> Do you seriously consider that an attractive option to anyone, in the way that the Internet or Amazon
Yes. We are just starting to see the implications of the technology and it's inspiring IMO.
> How is this any different than, say, someone finding your bank account password? Or a phishing email?
It's different because you have recourse to your bank when someone steals your credit card/bank account info (credit card and ACH transactions can be reversed), and because banks have processes in place to protect their clients (locking accounts, additional scrutiny on large transactions, etc.)
> If that really worries you then there will be centralized services for you to use with systems in place to prevent this.
Those services are called banks, and they already exist for regular money. So why do I need or want crypto again?
But today, I can just use my credit card to pay for anything instantly, anywhere in the world... who the fuck still uses checks??
Why would I want to use crypto and lose all the protections I have from my card company, while having to wait minutes for transactions to be confirmed instead of milli-seconds?? And with the risk of my "wallet" being hacked in an instant and losing everything, without a chance for appealing to anyone for the funds to be returned?? Do you seriously consider that an attractive option to anyone, in the way that the Internet or Amazon (actually, online shops in general!) were?? Seems completely delusional to me.