Will a bank being hacked boost adoption of bitcoin?

[louisLavery]

Isn't it sure to happen, sooner or later, that some country's central bank, or banking system, gets hacked? If that happened it'd shake peoples' confidence in the banking system, which most think is more robust than the likes of the blockchain, simply because banks are centralised systems. I guess some people would then look at the likes of bitcoin, but even it's not invulnerable - or is it?

[LottoBooking]

Isn't it sure to happen, sooner or later, that some country's central bank, or banking system, gets hacked? If that happened it'd shake peoples' confidence in the banking system, which most think is more robust than the likes of the blockchain, simply because banks are centralised systems. I guess some people would then look at the likes of bitcoin, but even it's not invulnerable - or is it?

Probably the liklelihood of getting your BTC Wallet hacked is far higher than getting your Bank account hacked.
When it comes to "traditional" and "revolutional" I'd go with the traditional.

However hypothetically if that would have happened it's probably only that specific bank that would lose its credibility and not the entire banking system nor the financial industry.

[Amph]

some banking are starting to not cover your money anymore, like those in austria, the crisis is really putting a dent on some of them, in those country it may be possible that some naive person will beginning to search for alternative way to store their money and bitcoin could be one of those

but unless this will happen in many country, you would get only the niche aspect of it

[Hazir]

Isn't it sure to happen, sooner or later, that some country's central bank, or banking system, gets hacked? If that happened it'd shake peoples' confidence in the banking system, which most think is more robust than the likes of the blockchain, simply because banks are centralised systems. I guess some people would then look at the likes of bitcoin, but even it's not invulnerable - or is it?

Well, you are quite right. Financial Institutions are vulnerable to hackers. There are plenty of evidence that security measures of the biggest banks on our planet are really lacking hard.

http://www.pymnts.com/news/2015/how-100-banks-got-hacked-and-lost-900-million/ - you can read how easy is for hackers to steal money from banks...

But from the other side people are not gonna turn to bitcoin overnight just because their bank can be hacked. They won't lose theirs money, after all there is something like Bank Guarantee Fund.
Bank which are covering for their customers are rare and you can always choose better option for your money.

[LottoBooking]

but unless this will happen in many country, you would get only the niche aspect of it

That's correct, it's impossible to get a radical change unless if something radical happens.

[AtheistAKASaneBrain]

Everytime someone gets screwed by banks is a potential new Bitcoin user. Look at the Cyprus incident and look at Argentina where they are getting fucked on a daily basis by gov and banks, where the use of Bitcoin is higher than other countries in average.

[mmmaybe]

I highly doubt that,  There was a time when banks were screwing up with high and hidden fees, so prepaid cards came out with little to no fees, people started moving to them.


Bitcoin is going to take a lot longer to adapt due to it being technical. not every one is tech savvy (they should be its 2015) but some still live in the past.

but again bitcoin will take some time to be actually known.

at the moment bitcoin is known by criminals, tech savvy guys/gals and small guys trying to make a quick buck.

[arallmuus]

Isn't it sure to happen, sooner or later, that some country's central bank, or banking system, gets hacked? If that happened it'd shake peoples' confidence in the banking system, which most think is more robust than the likes of the blockchain, simply because banks are centralised systems. I guess some people would then look at the likes of bitcoin, but even it's not invulnerable - or is it?

For some people who understand technology well than it will shaken them ofcourse and could perhaps make them trust more in BTC but for someone that is blind on it then it will create a massive doubt for them, basically because their thoughts is that if such secured banking system could be hacked what would prevent a simple BTC wallet to not be hack
Also that people tend not to trust themselves into securing their own possesion which is why most people trust bank to secure their possesion and it takes them less trouble to secure things by themselves

[sdmathis]

Everytime someone gets screwed by banks is a potential new Bitcoin user. Look at the Cyprus incident and look at Argentina where they are getting fucked on a daily basis by gov and banks, where the use of Bitcoin is higher than other countries in average.

But if a person (especially one who doesn't know a lot about Bitcoin) gets screwed by the bank being hacked, he is more likely to turn to gold rather than Bitcoin. He just got screwed by the bank's computer system. He's not likely to turn to another computer for security.

[jayce]

some banking are starting to not cover your money anymore, like those in austria, the crisis is really putting a dent on some of them, in those country it may be possible that some naive person will beginning to search for alternative way to store their money and bitcoin could be one of those

but unless this will happen in many country, you would get only the niche aspect of it

I'm not sure if Bank want to lost the customers. What's the reason for them to do that? But this news really made bank reputation go down now, and people have no idea to save their money.

[bryant.coleman]

I don't think that if anyone hacks a major bank, we'll see a sharp spike in the number of Bitcoin users. Bank hacks happen extremely rarely. Out of the billions of bank accounts, only a few thousands get hacked every year. And now compare this figure to the hacking of Bitcoin wallets. Out of the 10 million or so Bitcoin wallets, at least 1% gets hacked every year.

[jayce]

I don't think that if anyone hacks a major bank, we'll see a sharp spike in the number of Bitcoin users. Bank hacks happen extremely rarely. Out of the billions of bank accounts, only a few thousands get hacked every year. And now compare this figure to the hacking of Bitcoin wallets. Out of the 10 million or so Bitcoin wallets, at least 1% gets hacked every year.

I think the most important thing is how much amount was be hacked, not how many times it did. If the hacking just happened once, but the account owner lost some millions euro, it would became a big news.

[JayCoDon]

Credit cards are already being hacked and we don't see people flocking to bitcoin. Maybe that's because they don't know or maybe it's because it isn't convenient. Adoption will come when businesses realize that it is in their best interest to pay bills using bitcoin. That'll decrease fees and allow for more cash to be deployed investing in other projects.

[LottoBooking]

Credit cards are already being hacked and we don't see people flocking to bitcoin. Maybe that's because they don't know or maybe it's because it isn't convenient.

That's a good point.
Bitcoin probably doesn't attract lots of investors due to the high volatility involved with it, and many fluctuations as well.
It could be worth $250 today and $200 tomorrow, and that probably explains why many investors or consumers are not using it on a daily basis.

[Valanor]

The Bank of Canada has issued new statements on bitcoin and digital currencies as part of its annual spring review.

Perhaps most notably, the central bank speculated that the stability of the financial industry could be threatened by bitcoin and its potential risks, should it develop into a widely used means of payment, saying:

    "There could be potential risks to overall financial stability if Bitcoin became a significant means of payment and the Bitcoin system remained unstable."

The comments came as part of wider report on digital currency platforms – such as Amazon Coins, Facebook Credits and World of Warcraft gold – that ultimately found that these financial instruments should monitored by central banks, though they are unlikely to become a more widely used method of payment.

The statements follow earlier comments from the central bank that suggested it believes it is still too early to predict whether decentralized digital currencies like bitcoin will enter the mainstream.

Consumer risk

The Bank of Canada used to the report to reiterate the risk consumers face when using bitcoin due to the ongoing volatility in its price, as well as issues with major bitcoin exchanges:

    "In particular, given that digital currencies such as bitcoin are not regulated and do not have a centralized issuer, users bear all of the risks themselves and have no legal recourse should they wish to reverse a bitcoin transaction."

Potential benefits

The central bank did acknowledge that the bitcoin network has the potential to improve financial services in some key areas, noting that bitcoin offers lower transaction costs than credit cards as it removes traditional financial intermediaries.

Still, it suggested that even in areas like the remittance market – where many experts believe bitcoin could benefit underbanked consumers, the volatility and security issues associated with bitcoin outweigh the potential benefits.

Despite the warnings, however, Canadian entrepreneurs remain undeterred. For more on how Canada is leading the world in the development of bitcoin ATMs, read our most recent report.

[Amph]

some banking are starting to not cover your money anymore, like those in austria, the crisis is really putting a dent on some of them, in those country it may be possible that some naive person will beginning to search for alternative way to store their money and bitcoin could be one of those

but unless this will happen in many country, you would get only the niche aspect of it

I'm not sure if Bank want to lost the customers. What's the reason for them to do that? But this news really made bank reputation go down now, and people have no idea to save their money.

as i said they have high debt, and they can't cover your ass anymore, it's a good opportunity for someone to try bitcoin at  the very least

one should just hope that the future bitcoin banks, will not go in the same way...

[jayce]

some banking are starting to not cover your money anymore, like those in austria, the crisis is really putting a dent on some of them, in those country it may be possible that some naive person will beginning to search for alternative way to store their money and bitcoin could be one of those

but unless this will happen in many country, you would get only the niche aspect of it

I'm not sure if Bank want to lost the customers. What's the reason for them to do that? But this news really made bank reputation go down now, and people have no idea to save their money.

as i said they have high debt, and they can't cover your ass anymore, it's a good opportunity for someone to try bitcoin at  the very least

one should just hope that the future bitcoin banks, will not go in the same way...

And I'm not sure the customer that be aggrieved by bank want to try bitcoin because he doesn't have any idea about that and doesn't want to risking his money anymore.

[ScryptAsic]

No. There is no tie between Bitcoin and fiat. Bank are centralized and Bitcoin is decentralized and sort of stands against what banks stand for.

[GreenStox]

Isn't it sure to happen, sooner or later, that some country's central bank, or banking system, gets hacked? If that happened it'd shake peoples' confidence in the banking system, which most think is more robust than the likes of the blockchain, simply because banks are centralised systems. I guess some people would then look at the likes of bitcoin, but even it's not invulnerable - or is it?

Probably the liklelihood of getting your BTC Wallet hacked is far higher than getting your Bank account hacked.
When it comes to "traditional" and "revolutional" I'd go with the traditional.

However hypothetically if that would have happened it's probably only that specific bank that would lose its credibility and not the entire banking system nor the financial industry.

Actually it's not. The probability of a bank getting hacked is nearly impossible due to security precations but an insider can very well do it.

However in bitcoin there is nothing to hack if the sums are well spread out on different accounts.

Thus since a bank stores extreme sums of money, if it gets hacked then its game over and it will lose all money.

If 1 bitcoin address with 10-20 bitcoin gets hacked, no big deal.

[Febo]

Isn't it sure to happen, sooner or later, that some country's central bank, or banking system, gets hacked? If that happened it'd shake peoples' confidence in the banking system, which most think is more robust than the likes of the blockchain, simply because banks are centralised systems. I guess some people would then look at the likes of bitcoin, but even it's not invulnerable - or is it?

Or a bank robbery?
They, at least they should, be insured against any theft.
The point of bank is that your money there is safe. Once is not no one will put their money to bank. That is their main business. Keep money safe. When they fail in this they can just close down.

Adoption of Bitcoin is inevitable. Reason is security and low costs.