Seun Kayode
Why do I need Bitcoin?
A friend
asked me a question last night when I told him I was a Bitcoin consultant. His question
rephrased and expanded was “I have credit cards, debit cards, cash, PayPal, and
a bank account, why do I need Bitcoin?
I gave him two advantages of Bitcoin over other
conventional forms of payment, but as I drove home, I felt I didn’t provide him with enough reasons to embrace the use of Bitcoin and made a mental note to send
him some articles on Bitcoin sometime later.
While reading a blog on Bitcoin later that night, I observed
from the comments on the blog that many people were asking similar questions as
my friend, they didn’t quite understand the concept of Bitcoin and were looking for someone to explain Bitcoin to them in plain language or to explain it with examples
they could relate to.
So, I decided to write about Bitcoin, focusing on
the benefits and risks of Bitcoin in comparison to other forms of money. This
is a two-part article, where the first part talks about the benefits of Bitcoin
and the second part highlights the risks.
Benefits of Bitcoin
- You can transfer bitcoins easily. Transfer of bitcoins to your friends, family or business partners can be done very quickly. The transfer usually takes about ten minutes, no matter where the person is in the world. Although they would need to use the services of a Bitcoin exchange and a bank to convert the bitcoins to cash, they could spend the bitcoins online or with traders that accept bitcoins without going through a bank. Additionally, the fees you pay when you transfer bitcoins are usually lower than the fees banks or money exchanges charge you when you transfer funds through them.
- Your bitcoins store cannot be stolen easily. Unlike credit or debit cards, when you make an online purchase with bitcoins, you are not required to provide any details that could be stolen later by a hacker. Your bitcoins are as safe as you keep your Bitcoin wallet, which is a software that controls your bitcoins. If you don’t keep your Bitcoin wallet on a computer or mobile phone that has access to the Internet, the chances of your bitcoins been stolen are very slim.
- Your bitcoins cannot be taken by the government or the bank. The government cannot freeze your bitcoins as they cannot gain access to it. Similarly, the banks cannot freeze your bitcoins or charge you any kind of fees as your bitcoin transaction do not pass through their system.
- Your bitcoins do not reveal your personal details. Bitcoin transactions are carried out through a code generated by your Bitcoin wallet. This code is called an address and is not linked to your personal details like name, phone number or physical address. Although the details of all Bitcoin transactions are available online to everybody, your Bitcoin transactions cannot be traced to you if you use a different address for each Bitcoin transaction.
- You can hold or transport very large amounts of bitcoins. Your Bitcoin wallet can hold access to millions of dollars’ worth of bitcoins, which you can store on a USB stick and carry around without attracting attention or notifying anybody.
These are just some of the many reasons you would want to
use Bitcoin. In the next article, we will look at the risks and issues associated
with the use of Bitcoin.
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