Simply: the Bitcoin blockchain only transfers and secures bitcoins. It does not move actual money like Fedwire does.2 In point of fact, all ramps into and out of the Bitcoin network necessarily involves connections and hooks into traditional financial infrastructure. Bitcoin is co-dependent on traditional finance, not the other way around. In other words, Fedwire can (and does) live without Bitcoin but Bitcoin intermediaries cannot live without Fedwire or other RTGS systems.
Atomic Swaps are still an emerging technology that have been widely tested in cryptocurrencies. However on a theoretical level they raise governance issues. If assets are on ledgers ultimately controlled by two different parties, whose has governance over the transaction? It also provides an element of optionality to each party to change their mind about whether to go ahead with the transaction. They could simply not deliver and have their asset returned to them. There are similar problems in the current world. Some counterparties have high rates of settlement failure on securities related trades because of issues in their operational processes or systems. Others at times have financial incentives to allow trades to fail, which had created significant problems in the operation of the Repo market.19 This has resulted in stricter rules and fines in many jurisdictions.
Bitcoin Gold, Replay Attacks, Segwit2x – Live with Ivan on Tech
Some people already live in this reality of earn, spend, and save with #bitcoin They report back that it is freeing and the friction to do it with more convenience is being eroded every day as more people switch over
Eventually, some chord is struck or some dot connected. As the fog begins to lift, there naturally remains the idea that, while bitcoin is possible, it is surely subject to high degrees of chance and more likely to fail than succeed. It is perceived to be inherently fragile and risky. Many believe that bitcoin could vanish as quickly as it appeared on scene. At the beginning of the journey, it seems to live somewhere between an aspiring long-shot and just one unidentified silver bullet away from complete and utter collapse. Bitcoin is novel and it is often thought of as untested and unproven. Launched in 2009, bitcoin seemingly lacks permanence. It is not yet anchored in time. But on the other hand, bitcoin has been around for going on twelve years and has a total purchasing power (or value) of $180 billion. Twelve years of operating history and hundreds of billions in value may still be an upstart, but it is far from untested and unproven. Instead, it is thriving in the wild without any central coordination, and it is the lack of central coordination that gives bitcoin its lifeblood; decentralization not only allows bitcoin to function, but it is also what causes it to gain strength rather than falter when stressed.
Since human beings can agree on the price of bitcoin through social consensus that is enabled for them by the free market, bitcoin has value. Since the speculative holding of bitcoins are given, people store these coins and give it a speculative demand as a value storage that protects produced value from the inherent inflationary effects of fiat currencies. This process is exactly the same as on par with gold, since gold is also bought by others to speculate on its value, implying that the price of gold could rise or counter the potential effects of inflation. (Ammous)
Some users of Bitcoin claim that since Bitcoin is a radically transparent monetary system, the privacy of its users can easily be compromised. They claim this is made possible because of the lack of on-chain privacy present in Bitcoin. For, anyone can follow the transaction of users since the history of those transactions permanently stays visible on the public Bitcoin blockchain. Some of these users and developers have been proposing changes to Bitcoin that make these transactions hidden on the Bitcoin blockchain. These proposals would in theory make the complete movement of bitcoins invisible on the blockchain. Certain technologies already exist that make these potentially possible, but with extreme consequences if the technology is faulty or if their implementation could allow malicious actors to compromise the network. One main issue that on-chain privacy creates is the possibility of hidden inflation. Malicious actors could use methods to print bitcoins out of nowhere to inflate the supply of bitcoins without the network or the users of Bitcoin being aware of. 2ff7e9595c
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