When things like this happen, I try to explain to the skeptics why I will always have faith in Bitcoin.
Suppose you make a Bitcoin service where they print your keys onto pieces of paper and store them in a big vault. When people want to withdraw coins, they must visit the vault location and take money out, where the transaction is verified by a physically present person. The owner of the vault could also release an API to allow trusted third parties to conduct transactions on behalf of the people who deposited Bitcoins in the vault.
We wouldn't need to worry about hackers, and if the vault is strong enough we wouldn't need to worry about thieves.
But we would have to worry about the banker. The owner of the vault can devise ways to increase the apparent value of his vault, through financial mechanisms like derivatives and credit default swaps. To prevent this from happening, we could get a big organization with lots of guns and power to regulate the actions of the banker.
But then again, the banker controls all your Bitcoins, so he can just use your money to pay off the people with all the guns and power. Nowadays, everything is for sale, everything can be stolen, and nothing is what it seems.
That's why I have a lot of faith in Bitcoin. Even though we haven't figured out how to make a good vault, there's no real place for crooked bankers and powerful organizations.
Suppose you make a Bitcoin service where they print your keys onto pieces of paper and store them in a big vault. When people want to withdraw coins, they must visit the vault location and take money out, where the transaction is verified by a physically present person. The owner of the vault could also release an API to allow trusted third parties to conduct transactions on behalf of the people who deposited Bitcoins in the vault.
We wouldn't need to worry about hackers, and if the vault is strong enough we wouldn't need to worry about thieves.
But we would have to worry about the banker. The owner of the vault can devise ways to increase the apparent value of his vault, through financial mechanisms like derivatives and credit default swaps. To prevent this from happening, we could get a big organization with lots of guns and power to regulate the actions of the banker.
But then again, the banker controls all your Bitcoins, so he can just use your money to pay off the people with all the guns and power. Nowadays, everything is for sale, everything can be stolen, and nothing is what it seems.
That's why I have a lot of faith in Bitcoin. Even though we haven't figured out how to make a good vault, there's no real place for crooked bankers and powerful organizations.