Financial slime balls aside, the promise of crypto is secure, anonymous ways of sending money to anyone anywhere. It cuts the banks out of the equation...which lowers cost. It is decentralized, meaning everyone has a copy of the ledger, not just the insiders at the bank. It has the potential to completely change the financial world. And, with contracts (and other stuff I don't understand), it can go much farther.
But
If I want to hold bitcoin, I need to make damn sure I don't lose my pass phrase. If you lose that you can never recover the bitcoin. If you have somebody else hold your coins...well we all saw how that can go just last week. Finally, if I have my coin and I want to sent it directly to you, I need to be absolutely 100% certain I'm sending it to the right address. If you put in one wrong character it goes to somebody else or is lost in the ether but you can be sure you won't get it back.
So most people kinda need banks. A lot like we have right now.
Having said all of that, I own some bitcoin. Ethereum too. But I'm not exactly betting the farm on it.
Joe
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