The reality of bitcoin

I am a judicious matchmaking expert who writes often. Bitcoin is a payment system based on a proprietary form of digital token. Bitcoin is a barter system that is an alternative to paying with cash, checks, PayPal, or credit cards. Bitcoin provides a private (or perhaps even clandestine) way to pay for things. My guess is that unfortunately some Bitcoin transactions are probably used to buy illegal services or things.

The advantage of Bitcoin is that it preserves your privacy. Bitcoin has many disadvantages, including:

1) Although Bitcoin has its charms, it is proprietary and not part of or endorsed by any government. Only a finite number of Bitcoins have ever been created, which helps make Bitcoins appear more valuable than they really are. By limiting the number of coins made, combined with hype, it has pushed up the price of Bitcoins.

2) Some of the benefits of Bitcoin may be of questionable value. The advertised benefits include being able to email money to your friends, it is related to gold, it offers privacy and stability, etc. The problem is, cash, checks, credit cards, prepaid money cards, money orders, barter for something (eg postage stamps), wire transfers, and PayPal; They seem to cover almost all payment needs.

3) Buying Bitcoins is not cheap. And with the exception of EBay, buying Bitcoins is not simple or easy; and with the exception of (probably) EBay, some of the Bitcoin providers seem a bit weird. For a test, I emailed four Bitcoin exchange providers, including two somewhat close to me, and none of them responded. When you buy Bitcoins, there are no refunds.

4) In my tests, the software to create a Bitcoin “wallet” on your computer seemed slow and buggy. I tried two different bitcoin wallet programs and it seemed like it took them days to finish coordinating things with the network of remote bitcoin servers.

5) I guess because Bitcoins are totally safe and private, and because they can be used to buy anything anywhere, using them could help put you on the government’s radar. Who knows, maybe that person selling unobtainium that you can only buy with Bitcoins, is actually in some police department, looking to catch you.

6) With Bitcoin, the chances of being scammed for purchases are greatly increased, because almost no information from the seller is shared with the buyer, such as their name and address.

I could be wrong; and perhaps the use of Bitcoin will grow, and more Bitcoins will be issued, and it will become a standard on mobile devices, and it will be accepted by almost all conventional stores, for example, Amazon and Apple. Right now, the ways to pay for Amazon purchases with Bitcoins are unstable. Also, when you want to exchange Bitcoins for conventional products, the margins you have to pay make a country exchanging foreign currency at an airport seem low.

I think I’m right, and most people shouldn’t mess around with Bitcoin. If you experiment with it, make sure you don’t spend more than you’re willing to lose. Often when paying with Bitcoins, one cannot guarantee to the seller that anything purchased will be delivered, or that it might one day become illegal, or that the bubble of enthusiasm for Bitcoin will one day burst.