Both is the answer, there really isn't a better IMO.  They have different utilities.   If you have two safety deposit boxes, one with 25kg of PAMP bars and another with the equivalent in bitcoins, which would be around 95 btc at present (say on a flash drive), which would you leave for your children or grandchildren?  

btc: You could be leaving them hundreds of millions of $ in bitcoin OR ZERO depending on dozens of factors ranging from tech to politics to economics...  
gold: You are likely leaving them 1 to 1.5 million of $ in gold that will be in the exact same form 30 years down the road.

Both for me.  Nice to compare these two things.  Old school and new school.  Heavy and weightless.   One difficult to move (especially through airports), the other can be zapped across the world and back in a few seconds.   One has always been readily convertible to fiat, cannot be hacked, the other might be compromised by software or legislation.   One has little or not growth potential but is completely stable... the other might grow another 10000x.  
 

The one major question mark is what happens if Washington says, any bank in the world transacting with bitcoin exchanges will be subject to penalties (FATCA style).  That's the only reason why I continue to hold bitcoins but also regularly take out profits and change them to traditional currency.   Skimming the cream off the top so to speak.     

It's still in its infancy.   There are maybe 5 million unique users by some accounts... the market is at least as big as the sum of all internet users who transact financially through the internet.   300 million - 500 million users?

You can probably assume that the US IRS is trying to figure out a FATCA type move for bitcoin.   That won't destroy bitcoin of course, but it can certainly shake the market and the way people cash out their bitcoin.   A good number of people look at bitcoin as something that they will one day cash out into fiat currency, but if banks stop dealing with bitcoin exchanges in the same way FATCA has put a serious damper on Americans who have their cash stashed overseas in foreign banks... bitcoiners are going to have to come up with some pivots.

Because of FATCA, many Americans have been incorporating private offshore vaults into their portfolios.   Zero growth because these are essentially secure shoeboxes, but as long as you pick stable countries and any of the dozens of 50-80+ year old companies that have been in this business for a long time, IMO whatever you want to keep in these shoeboxes is pretty safe.   

Safe would be relative to one's occupation.   I own a bit of real estate and a few homes, but considering I spend much of my time travelling, I prefer that most of my capital is liquid, and that means cash in a variety of offshore banks.   It's the 'pool' of banks (as in multicurrency current and fixed accounts in a 6-7 major currencies in multiple countries) that in my opinion makes this the safest way to hold capital.   Your country risk, market risk, and institutional risk are better spread out that way.   You lose out to inflation, but that's a relative issue when compared to the general population of Earth who are not net savers anyway.  

It's just another currency to me.   Certainly not one I would put a majority of my savings in, but I do add to it and it hasn't failed yet to grow incredibly.     

With anything I put my money into, early on (assuming it's a positive investment), I pull my original capital out, so whatever gains or losses from then on out are much more palatable.   

Wavecrest is pulling support (your cards will no longer work) for NON-EU residents as of October 15.   Was informed by bulkmail from Xapo and Cryptopay this past week.

Anyone know of non-Wavecrest issued btc debit cards?

I already have Bitpay, which works great, but I'd prefer not routing my funds through a US bank.

A lot of those seem to be issued by Wavecrest (Adv, Payeer, Wirex, Bitwala, Spectro, etc. etc.).... what are some that are not by Wavecrest?   Have been happy with my Payeer and Advcash cards... but my concern is that since it's the same financial institution, I'd prefer to have the risk spread out a bit and also use other bank issued cards.   

I also have Bitpay, which has worked great so far.   The debit card that comes from Bitstamp has been fine as well.   Was using Anx quite a bit but they pulled support to one of the countries I spend a lot of time in, so I don't use them as much now.   

It hardly has to be a contest.  I have always tended to choose both or several when given options.   Would you like your fixed deposits to be denominated in US$, Euros, or Australian dollars?   All three please.   SG$ as well please.   

Same for btc, it's a great tool, some I hold long term, some I quickly convert to cash. 

*bump*

This is a question for anyone who has actually used a bitcoin atm for btc TO cash conversion.   I see some listed on Coinradar but am curious as to how long it actually takes.   Many notes online say that some kind of ID verification before cash withdrawals can be made?    Would appreciate a first hand field report about how this actually works and how long it takes.   

While on that topic, does anyone know of any real world casinos (anywhere in the world, but preferably not in the US) that accept btc?   As in, the casino allows deposits to one's casino account IN bitcoin (allowing for as many confirmations as they require of course) and then allowing conversion to chips and or cash?   

not helpful for those doing IT in developing countries (because it's often necessary).... but for personal funds, one always needs to factor in country risk.    I'm earning great interest in a few Mongolian bank accounts, but no way would I put most of my funds there.   The bulk of my funds are in Singapore and Monaco... and I would quickly move them somewhere else if there were signals that things were going t*ts up.   

yeah, have to say I'm happy so far.   

thanks for the reply.   Any issues with withdrawals to UOB, DBS, etc. ?    Time for processing (deposits, withdrawals) in your experience?

thanks again!

*bump*

What is the current preferred (or highest reputation) Bitcoin exchange for Singapore (preferably with withdrawal capability to SG banks)?    Reputation wise... on the same or near level as say circle.com or coinbase.com in the USA.   

thanks!

They are most definitely hosting offshore (outside of the US anyway).   However .org domains all fall under the jurisdiction (or at least 'management' of) of the Public Internet Registry, which is in Reston, Virginia (in the good ol' US of A).   Anyway, just an academic curiousity with perhaps future implications if I ever need to run websites that might get shutdown or have their domains seized. 

 

Redirecting URL's cannot be seized?     Maybe a policy at Public Internet Registry?

Made a donation via BTC recently to The Pirate Bay, as many have noticed they have been changing domains a lot recently because of domain seizures.   

Curiously, do any of the more web savvy folks here know why their .org domain doesn't get seized or shut down?   

I've done business with my friends from school (of Indian descent) for quite some time.   There have been zero fee transfers to India for years, so Bitcoin wouldn't be taking away marketshare by being 'cheaper.'   Faster, sure... but then it's slightly more in the fee area, not the mention the current lack of liquidity of converting BTC to INR.   India also has some serious anti money laundering barriers that Bitcoin would have to hurdle (in terms of setting up exchanges, regular people receiving incoming wire transfers from exchanges, etc.).       

Most of the major Indian banks: HDFC, SBI, Cosmos, etc. all have zero fee transfer systems to India.  There are a handful of private companies as well like Remit2India.   They make money from the float (invested interest returns from funds held during the 'delay' or 'processing time'), the same way Paypal makes a lot of its income.   It takes about 4-5 days to use these services to pretty much send funds for free from the US to India for example.   For an awful lot of Indians, because of the culture, a slow and free service is better than a fast and inexpensive service.

IMO the pharmaceutical route is one of the key vectors to India.  JCM Pharma, The Swiss Pharmacy, etc. are just the first wave.  It's one of the few payment methods that can't be shut down, and the demand for prescription drugs is as endless as the demand for narcotics.  People need their meds and will find a way to workaround the system.