[Cryptography] Digital currencies

[Erik Granger]

I am really only a member of this mailing list because of Bitcoin.

I also happen to live in a very pro-bitcoin area, we have Bitcoin ATM
machines, we have meetup groups for bitcoin users and developers, we
have a large amount of local businesses that accept bitcoin.

Bitcoin is getting there.

Paying for things with bitcoin is almost as easy now as using debit or
credit cards.

A lot of technology and software is developing in the field.

All the features that John has mentioned are relatively new, or
relatively dangerous, advancements in the world of fiat. Central banks
are an economic disaster, causing more problems than they are worth,
and have been repeatedly killed (only to be later resurrected) in the
United States and abroad because of the problems they cause.
Standardized interest rates, as opposed to market interest rates, are
often set too low, leading to price distortion and resource
misallocation. Reversing fraudulent transactions is also relatively
new, and was never a feature built-in to cash.

I suggest, if you're interested in Bitcoin, go buy a bit, maybe 10
dollars worth or something. Try to use it. There's a lot to Bitcoin,
but it's getting to the point where you don't *need* to know *how* it
works in order to use it, which is a major hurdle to overcome if we
want mass-market adoption.