Advantage of Bitcoin over Fiat (fees)

[Re3urst]

Allow me to understand the advantage of Bitcoin.

Earlier today, I moved $25,000.00 from my bank's savings account, into a new bank to open a high yielding CD. Transaction was confirmed in 10 minutes. The CD will start accruing interest in ~2 days.

1) Neither bank charged me any fees. If I did the same thing with BTC (move Bitcoin), will I be charged a fee?
2) I didn't have to worry about "protecting" my money in an online or hardware wallet. I have had money in this savings account for 12+ years. I don't worry about moving from exchanges, fees, keeping hardware wallet keys written down and safe, etc. Again, it seems that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is again at a disadvantage.

Please educate me and tell me how Bitcoin is safer, easier, less stressful, and cheaper to own? I am all ears.

[HabBear]

Earlier today, I moved $25,000.00 from my bank's savings account, into a new bank to open a high yielding CD. Transaction was confirmed in 10 minutes. The CD will start accruing interest in ~2 days.

With cryptocurrency that transaction would have arrived in the destination account in a couple hours, max. Often much faster.

You didn't get charged a fee because you agreed to lock your money up in that CD, which likely pays you incredibly low interest. This allows the bank to loan your money out to someone else and earn a great amount of interest. Meanwhile, your fiat money loses spending power as the value of your currency deflates due to the inflation of the money supply.

1) Neither bank charged me any fees. If I did the same thing with BTC (move Bitcoin), will I be charged a fee?

Yes, there is a fee that goes to the miners for confirming your transaction, it's on the order of less than a % point for the balance of your transaction, however for Bitcoin this fee value in fiat is rising as the value of Bitcoin rises related to fiat.

Also, if you're making your transaction to or from an online exchange you may have an additional fee for using their service.

2) I didn't have to worry about "protecting" my money in an online or hardware wallet. I have had money in this savings account for 12+ years. I don't worry about moving from exchanges, fees, keeping hardware wallet keys written down and safe, etc. Again, it seems that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is again at a disadvantage.

You're right, you don't have to operate as your own bank. But over those 12+ years you've had money in this savings account, the spending power of that money has gone down. You can't buy the same car today, with the same amount of money you could have bought 12 years ago. That's shocking, given that it's cheaper to produce a car today than it is 12 years ago. Operations gets more efficient as technology and global distribution gets more sophisticated.

Additionally, there's rarely a time when you can access your money without paying a fee.

Please educate me and tell me how Bitcoin is safer, easier, less stressful, and cheaper to own? I am all ears.

Bitcoin is safer because it's not subject to the irrational or "comprisable" decision making of man. It's easier because you can move money faster, regardless of transaction size. It's cheaper to own because the its finite value nearly ensures it's value will increase over time, rather than decrease.

I'll give you the stress. If you don't want to take more control and responsibility over storage, you will have more stress. But it's not difficult to protect yourself properly.

Good questions. Would love to chat with you more about it.

[prins]

Bascially right now there are some advantages still but when it first started you could send large amounts of money for free and instantly to anyone is the world.

[mafostedu]

You seem to be very confused in there, and you are mixing a lot of issues in there.

The bank hasn't charged any fees because you were probably moving your money to an investment account of them. It means that they will make profit from your investment + a minus fee each month/year (depending on your plan)

and yes, if you moved that money with bitcoin it could probably costed you about $19.

[Re3urst]

Earlier today, I moved $25,000.00 from my bank's savings account, into a new bank to open a high yielding CD. Transaction was confirmed in 10 minutes. The CD will start accruing interest in ~2 days.

With cryptocurrency that transaction would have arrived in the destination account in a couple hours, max. Often much faster.

You didn't get charged a fee because you agreed to lock your money up in that CD, which likely pays you incredibly low interest. This allows the bank to loan your money out to someone else and earn a great amount of interest. Meanwhile, your fiat money loses spending power as the value of your currency deflates due to the inflation of the money supply.

1) Neither bank charged me any fees. If I did the same thing with BTC (move Bitcoin), will I be charged a fee?

Yes, there is a fee that goes to the miners for confirming your transaction, it's on the order of less than a % point for the balance of your transaction, however for Bitcoin this fee value in fiat is rising as the value of Bitcoin rises related to fiat.

Also, if you're making your transaction to or from an online exchange you may have an additional fee for using their service.

2) I didn't have to worry about "protecting" my money in an online or hardware wallet. I have had money in this savings account for 12+ years. I don't worry about moving from exchanges, fees, keeping hardware wallet keys written down and safe, etc. Again, it seems that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is again at a disadvantage.

You're right, you don't have to operate as your own bank. But over those 12+ years you've had money in this savings account, the spending power of that money has gone down. You can't buy the same car today, with the same amount of money you could have bought 12 years ago. That's shocking, given that it's cheaper to produce a car today than it is 12 years ago. Operations gets more efficient as technology and global distribution gets more sophisticated.

Additionally, there's rarely a time when you can access your money without paying a fee.

Please educate me and tell me how Bitcoin is safer, easier, less stressful, and cheaper to own? I am all ears.

Bitcoin is safer because it's not subject to the irrational or "comprisable" decision making of man. It's easier because you can move money faster, regardless of transaction size. It's cheaper to own because the its finite value nearly ensures it's value will increase over time, rather than decrease.

I'll give you the stress. If you don't want to take more control and responsibility over storage, you will have more stress. But it's not difficult to protect yourself properly.

Good questions. Would love to chat with you more about it.

PM me (or how should we chat?)

Sorry I don't know how to do the individual quote thingies. But here are a few thoughts:

1) You are sorta proving my point for me. Bitcoin will never pay a dividend or interest. I invest in income-producing real estate, as 90% of my portfolio. Even paper assets such as stocks or mutual funds I am skeptical of.

2) I agree it sounds like a dumb idea to keep cash in a savings account, earning 0.2% APY. But I am financially independent in my early 30s. I have 7 figures $ in real estate equity, and have ~$5K of passive net income per month through my real estate investments. So the REASON I hold $100-200K in a savings account at all times, is to jump on the 1-2 real estate deals I buy per year. I need LIQUIDITY.

3) I noticed, folks that are professional like myself and have a skill that pays well, have no need for crypto. Every other person on this forum is from the Philippines (a poor country). And I am not hating on the Philippines, I LOVE THAT COUNTRY. I have visited there 3 times and even did a medical mission there. But its a bunch of hopeful, robotic, poor folks in 3rd world countries, dreaming that their 0.1 BTC will turn into a million $.

"Do you want to be a millionaire? If you own 0.01 BTC, you already are." This recent thread ring a bell? Its kind of sad really, but also scary to thing about.

4) I did an experiment. I put $50-100 dollars each into 9 altcoins. My criteria was, and I am not joking, "If the name sounded cool". I think my actual returns are over 300% in a few weeks. Does this even sound reasonable to you?

[Re3urst]

You seem to be very confused in there, and you are mixing a lot of issues in there.

The bank hasn't charged any fees because you were probably moving your money to an investment account of them. It means that they will make profit from your investment + a minus fee each month/year (depending on your plan)

and yes, if you moved that money with bitcoin it could probably costed you about $19.

Here is another example. I have personally sent $25,000 - $100,000 domestic and international wires. The fee was $20 (domestic) and $30 (international). The money got their the same business day if I sent in the morning. How does all that compare with Bitcoin?

Trust me, I do now own any gold, because like Bitcoin, both will NEVER produce any INCOME. Therefore, although BTC its a store of value of sorts, but how will we make it not so volatile?

[Twentyonepaylots]

The most common advantage of bitcoin over fiat is that bitcoin is more easy to use than fiat, because in bitcoin you can buy or pay your bills without falling in line or trying to find some spare change just to pay for anything.

[BrewMaster]

you transferred money between your own accounts, and yes it is free although i am not a ware of different banking systems in different countries but where i live it is free too.

try spending money, like using credit cards,... even if you don't see the fees directly the shops are taking fees into consideration when they are putting a price on their goods so you are paying fees.
try sending money oversees and see how much that will cost you when transferring $25K

i agree that the current fees are unacceptable, but fee is not the only thing a decentralized currency is offering. the privacy is one of the most important features in my opinion.

[Re3urst]

The most common advantage of bitcoin over fiat is that bitcoin is more easy to use than fiat, because in bitcoin you can buy or pay your bills without falling in line or trying to find some spare change just to pay for anything.

What?! Falling in line? Please explain. All my bills are payed electronically every month from my checking account. I don't spend ANY time on it, AND I don't pay any fees to pay the bills (only the amount of the bill).

[Re3urst]

you transferred money between your own accounts, and yes it is free although i am not a ware of different banking systems in different countries but where i live it is free too.

try spending money, like using credit cards,... even if you don't see the fees directly the shops are taking fees into consideration when they are putting a price on their goods so you are paying fees.
try sending money oversees and see how much that will cost you when transferring $25K

i agree that the current fees are unacceptable, but fee is not the only thing a decentralized currency is offering. the privacy is one of the most important features in my opinion.

I just told you above, I have sent INTERNATIONAL WIRES up to $100,000. The most the wire cost was $35.

I don't do anything illegal, so I am not that worried about privacy.

Even if you could buy real estate property with Bitcoin one day, it won't be anonymous since the WARRANTY DEED will be recorded with the town hall / city records. Your anonymity is *poof* gone regardless 

[jseverson]

Allow me to understand the advantage of Bitcoin.

Earlier today, I moved $25,000.00 from my bank's savings account, into a new bank to open a high yielding CD. Transaction was confirmed in 10 minutes. The CD will start accruing interest in ~2 days.

1) Neither bank charged me any fees. If I did the same thing with BTC (move Bitcoin), will I be charged a fee?
2) I didn't have to worry about "protecting" my money in an online or hardware wallet. I have had money in this savings account for 12+ years. I don't worry about moving from exchanges, fees, keeping hardware wallet keys written down and safe, etc. Again, it seems that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is again at a disadvantage.

Please educate me and tell me how Bitcoin is safer, easier, less stressful, and cheaper to own? I am all ears.

1. You will have to pay a fee.
2. Yep, banks do that for you. That's why they're currently the golden standard.

Bitcoin isn't safer. It's safe, and unlike banks who have to give you approval for you to take back your own money, ypu have full control of your Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is easier if you know what you're doing. There are no limits to online transactions unlike some banks.

I don't know about it being less stressful because that's completely subjective. I've honestly never been stressed with my bank nor with my Bitcoins.

I guess it could be said that it's cheaper to own because you don't typically lose money to inflation. There are also some banks that implement a maintaining balance system of some sorts.

[Yakamoto]

Allow me to understand the advantage of Bitcoin.

Earlier today, I moved $25,000.00 from my bank's savings account, into a new bank to open a high yielding CD. Transaction was confirmed in 10 minutes. The CD will start accruing interest in ~2 days.

1) Neither bank charged me any fees. If I did the same thing with BTC (move Bitcoin), will I be charged a fee?
2) I didn't have to worry about "protecting" my money in an online or hardware wallet. I have had money in this savings account for 12+ years. I don't worry about moving from exchanges, fees, keeping hardware wallet keys written down and safe, etc. Again, it seems that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is again at a disadvantage.

Please educate me and tell me how Bitcoin is safer, easier, less stressful, and cheaper to own? I am all ears.

The bank likely doesn't charge you fees on the transfer because there is nothing to charge you fees on, really. A CD is insured money, they can't really charge you to get something insured by the government. Unsure about this part so striked.

The account makes the bank money anyways, you're losing out on profit in exchange for that account essentially. The interest rates will have a portion siphoned off by the bank and that will be their fee. Typically this is in the form of a maintenance fee or something worked like that, but is usually relatively minor, however it is still a "fee".

Your protection of your money is paid for in account fees, ATM fees, service fees, and every other kind of fee that has been charged to your account by the bank in exchange for keeping your money safe. You also don't even have your money there most of the time since it's being loaned off and they're going to make money off of those loans and take a relatively large portion and give you the remainder.

I'd also put money on them not even having the ability to get your entire account in cash, or equivalent, within a day. They rarely have money there and a bank run can ruin the bank and take your money with it. Not so safe compared to constant security and control.

[Wind_FURY]

Allow me to understand the advantage of Bitcoin.

Earlier today, I moved $25,000.00 from my bank's savings account, into a new bank to open a high yielding CD. Transaction was confirmed in 10 minutes. The CD will start accruing interest in ~2 days.

1) Neither bank charged me any fees. If I did the same thing with BTC (move Bitcoin), will I be charged a fee?
2) I didn't have to worry about "protecting" my money in an online or hardware wallet. I have had money in this savings account for 12+ years. I don't worry about moving from exchanges, fees, keeping hardware wallet keys written down and safe, etc. Again, it seems that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is again at a disadvantage.

Please educate me and tell me how Bitcoin is safer, easier, less stressful, and cheaper to own? I am all ears.

No, you sound like you already made your decision. There is no need to convince you to buy and hold Bitcoin. Your money is very safe stored in a bank under the protection of the regulators, and I hope you make a lot from your high yielding CD.

Bitcoin is not "safer", not "easier" and it is very stressful to own because of its high volatility. See you.

[Re3urst]

Allow me to understand the advantage of Bitcoin.

Earlier today, I moved $25,000.00 from my bank's savings account, into a new bank to open a high yielding CD. Transaction was confirmed in 10 minutes. The CD will start accruing interest in ~2 days.

1) Neither bank charged me any fees. If I did the same thing with BTC (move Bitcoin), will I be charged a fee?
2) I didn't have to worry about "protecting" my money in an online or hardware wallet. I have had money in this savings account for 12+ years. I don't worry about moving from exchanges, fees, keeping hardware wallet keys written down and safe, etc. Again, it seems that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is again at a disadvantage.

Please educate me and tell me how Bitcoin is safer, easier, less stressful, and cheaper to own? I am all ears.

The bank likely doesn't charge you fees on the transfer because there is nothing to charge you fees on, really. A CD is insured money, they can't really charge you to get something insured by the government. Unsure about this part so striked.

The account makes the bank money anyways, you're losing out on profit in exchange for that account essentially. The interest rates will have a portion siphoned off by the bank and that will be their fee. Typically this is in the form of a maintenance fee or something worked like that, but is usually relatively minor, however it is still a "fee".

Your protection of your money is paid for in account fees, ATM fees, service fees, and every other kind of fee that has been charged to your account by the bank in exchange for keeping your money safe. You also don't even have your money there most of the time since it's being loaned off and they're going to make money off of those loans and take a relatively large portion and give you the remainder.

I'd also put money on them not even having the ability to get your entire account in cash, or equivalent, within a day. They rarely have money there and a bank run can ruin the bank and take your money with it. Not so safe compared to constant security and control.

Pretty much all of what you said is fairly accurate. I honestly don't have any problems with it, banks holding my money that is. To me, its all digits on a screen, and (truthfully) seeing $1,000 and $500,000 on the computer screen in my bank account, doesn't ellicit a different emotional reaction to me.

My specialty and training allow me to accept a high income for that value I provide, and I really don't mind how I am payed. So it really comes down to convenience. I have converted 0.25% of my investible assets into BTC and altcoins, roughly 50/50 proportion. I have to say, cryptocurrency has been more of a headache to hold, than USD$.

Just being totally upfront on my experience.

I have a bunch of coins on Binance. I have no idea how I will store them. My Ledger Nano S is in the mail, it will arrive on Wednesday.
I have Monero on a separate online wallet. I have electroneum on a separate online wallet. Do you see how cumbersome this is getting? I am a super energetic and positive person, and I see the Dopamine rush of buying cryptos, but holding cryptocurrency seems like a huge hassle, so far.

[Re3urst]

Allow me to understand the advantage of Bitcoin.

Earlier today, I moved $25,000.00 from my bank's savings account, into a new bank to open a high yielding CD. Transaction was confirmed in 10 minutes. The CD will start accruing interest in ~2 days.

1) Neither bank charged me any fees. If I did the same thing with BTC (move Bitcoin), will I be charged a fee?
2) I didn't have to worry about "protecting" my money in an online or hardware wallet. I have had money in this savings account for 12+ years. I don't worry about moving from exchanges, fees, keeping hardware wallet keys written down and safe, etc. Again, it seems that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is again at a disadvantage.

Please educate me and tell me how Bitcoin is safer, easier, less stressful, and cheaper to own? I am all ears.

No, you sound like you already made your decision. There is no need to convince you to buy and hold Bitcoin. Your money is very safe stored in a bank under the protection of the regulators, and I hope you make a lot from your high yielding CD.

Bitcoin is not "safer", not "easier" and it is very stressful to own because of its high volatility. See you.

What regulators? You sound like you read a bunch of conspiracy theories online, and believed them.

Get a valuable skill, provide a useful good or service, and you will be compensated appropriately. Life is mostly fair. All these conspiracy theories are highly exaggerated and mostly don't matter in the real world. So they are printing all this money, I agree. Look at Bitcoin, what is the value based on?

What I want to know is, if USD$/fiat are so bad, how come the massive increase in price of BTC in 2017 is based solely on the injection of this evil, capitalistic money into it. Riddle me that, Batman! 

If you would like to provide some facts or a coherent argument, that is what this forum is for. If you just want to be passive-aggressive, you aren't adding any value to the conversation.

[Carmen01]

Allow me to understand the advantage of Bitcoin.

Earlier today, I moved $25,000.00 from my bank's savings account, into a new bank to open a high yielding CD. Transaction was confirmed in 10 minutes. The CD will start accruing interest in ~2 days.

1) Neither bank charged me any fees. If I did the same thing with BTC (move Bitcoin), will I be charged a fee?
2) I didn't have to worry about "protecting" my money in an online or hardware wallet. I have had money in this savings account for 12+ years. I don't worry about moving from exchanges, fees, keeping hardware wallet keys written down and safe, etc. Again, it seems that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is again at a disadvantage.

Please educate me and tell me how Bitcoin is safer, easier, less stressful, and cheaper to own? I am all ears.

bitcoin advantage than fiat are so many like transaction and to save money so if you already have bitcoin you can buy and sell this thing but in fiat you can't buy and sell that,In bitcoin you can save it in your own place but in fiat you can only save that in bank,In bitcoin if you play gambling you only stay in your house but in fiat you need to find a place to play.Moreover i think save some money in crypto and also in fiat for more secure,Do both because we don't know what will happen in crypto in the future.

[btcjoin14]

Allow me to understand the advantage of Bitcoin.

Earlier today, I moved $25,000.00 from my bank's savings account, into a new bank to open a high yielding CD. Transaction was confirmed in 10 minutes. The CD will start accruing interest in ~2 days.

1) Neither bank charged me any fees. If I did the same thing with BTC (move Bitcoin), will I be charged a fee?
2) I didn't have to worry about "protecting" my money in an online or hardware wallet. I have had money in this savings account for 12+ years. I don't worry about moving from exchanges, fees, keeping hardware wallet keys written down and safe, etc. Again, it seems that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is again at a disadvantage.

Please educate me and tell me how Bitcoin is safer, easier, less stressful, and cheaper to own? I am all ears.

If you moved money to/from your bank account then you have to know wbat the tax regulations are in your country. You will have to pay taxes on that later on.

[khaled0111]

You moved 25.000$ so paying 15 fees in bitcoin won't be a problem.
Banks usually impose fees, I don't know why they didn't the same with you.
You were saving your money in that bank account for more than 12 years, I don't want to imagine what could happen if you only invested 1% of that money
2010 or 2011
Bitcoin network is as secure as banks systems.

[bloodyvio]

the advantage of bitcoin is that you can transfer your bitcoins to other bitcoin users wherever and whenever you want,
without having to go through bank approval.
and also it does not take long transaction time until received by the recipient (from 5 minutes to 1 week depending on the fee you use when transferring).

[ludygiram1011]

Bitcoin is very secure in the network, and the hacker has stolen the password unless you use it properly. In addition, what you mentioned above is ignoring the most important problem. Your money is put in the bank, 25000 dollars for 12 years, maybe 12 years later, it can only buy a car, but 25000 dollars to buy bitcoin, it is very likely that after 12 years, it will be a villa for you.

[Kprawn]

You are missing the point. Real Financial freedom comes with a lot of responsibility and that is what Bitcoin is offering you. If

you have ever been in a situation where Banks simply close their doors and block their ATM's and you are totally cut off from

your investments and your wealth, then you will understand what REAL financial freedom are. This has happened before in

countries like Greece and Cyprus. In some countries Banks even emptied customers Bank accounts. 

[Dapper]

You cannot carry fiat over amounts ranging from US$10,000 to $20,000 through most airports in the world without declaring it.   Btc makes that a complete non issue.

[Jaya912]

I dont really catch and care to anothers advantages of bitcoin. The only one of it that make me love and believe in bitcoin is bitcoin can give me really big profit. I dont said it is 100% safe but with bitcoin i have chance to grow money into double.

[Re3urst]

I dont really catch and care to anothers advantages of bitcoin. The only one of it that make me love and believe in bitcoin is bitcoin can give me really big profit. I dont said it is 100% safe but with bitcoin i have chance to grow money into double.

Bingo! Thanks for your honesty. I think this is the big elephant in the room that people don't want to admit. When I was honest with myself, I realized the reason I bought Bitcoin was greed, and little else.

[jeanpadel14]

One advantage of bitcoin over fiat is security.Bitcoins are digital in nature, so they can be backed up and saved to other servers, computers, protected by multi-sig, passcodes, paper wallets, offline vaults, cold storage, brain wallets, etc. The security options are only limited by your imagination.

[Wind_FURY]

Allow me to understand the advantage of Bitcoin.

Earlier today, I moved $25,000.00 from my bank's savings account, into a new bank to open a high yielding CD. Transaction was confirmed in 10 minutes. The CD will start accruing interest in ~2 days.

1) Neither bank charged me any fees. If I did the same thing with BTC (move Bitcoin), will I be charged a fee?
2) I didn't have to worry about "protecting" my money in an online or hardware wallet. I have had money in this savings account for 12+ years. I don't worry about moving from exchanges, fees, keeping hardware wallet keys written down and safe, etc. Again, it seems that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is again at a disadvantage.

Please educate me and tell me how Bitcoin is safer, easier, less stressful, and cheaper to own? I am all ears.

No, you sound like you already made your decision. There is no need to convince you to buy and hold Bitcoin. Your money is very safe stored in a bank under the protection of the regulators, and I hope you make a lot from your high yielding CD.

Bitcoin is not "safer", not "easier" and it is very stressful to own because of its high volatility. See you.

What regulators? You sound like you read a bunch of conspiracy theories online, and believed them.

Hahaha. What? Do you know what "regulator" means? You should look it up. If you think the SEC is just a "conspiracy theory" then there is no point talking to you.

Get a valuable skill, provide a useful good or service, and you will be compensated appropriately. Life is mostly fair. All these conspiracy theories are highly exaggerated and mostly don't matter in the real world. So they are printing all this money, I agree. Look at Bitcoin, what is the value based on?

Law of supply and demand. If the market says that Bitcoin's price is $16,000 then it is $16,000. Who am I to say no?

What I want to know is, if USD$/fiat are so bad, how come the massive increase in price of BTC in 2017 is based solely on the injection of this evil, capitalistic money into it. Riddle me that, Batman!  

It is not bad. It is really good! But you should stay away from Bitcoin, it is bad. There are many bad men using it.

If you would like to provide some facts or a coherent argument, that is what this forum is for. If you just want to be passive-aggressive, you aren't adding any value to the conversation.

Okay and you need to look up the word "regulator".

[Pleione527]

I think transaction fees will depend on your online wallet like for me the wallet I use is the one supported by our banks that's why I don't incurred transaction fees when transferring mg bitcoin to my bank account, but when I use an online wallet from other countries like block chain I pay transaction fee and it really sucks. I guess at some point bitcoin will have to incurred transaction fees because it has no regulatory bodies controlling it.

[ufaiz50]

bitcoin fee is not cheap anymore if you transact using small funds but it is good enough if the funds you send is $ 25k usd. security and privacy because you are holding it yourself than a bank that may be lent to someone else for something.
I want to say that now bitcoin is more a profitable investment place than to transact.
I read a lot of conversations here and they've answered the benefits of what is in bitcoin and there is also an argument here but it is quite fun because I learned a lot.

[MisterPrada]

Bitcoin’s Appreciation Beats Dollar’s Inflation. Prices in the government’s CPI index base this on 25 items that they change conveniently to fit the numbers the want to show. If meat prices are rising 10% a year, it is simply removed and replaced with something that doesn’t reflect the actual higher rate of inflation. A good way to game the system, and keep you ignorant.