> I can send money to anyone I want to, I have no expectation of censorship or interference.
Except for donations to WikiLeaks. Or if you want to buy weed in one of the many states where it's legal. Or if the recipient's Paypal account has been frozen.
> The fees are low to zero depending on the exact method
Chase bank charged me $25 to send a wire transfer recently. Credit cards and Paypal charge me 3% to 5% when I sell something online.
> and I don't have to jump through hoops
When I sent that wire, I was required to answer slew of questions from a Chase representative including "What is this transaction for?" and "Do you plan to transact with this company again?"
> I have protections, insurance and various forms of reversibility
Perhaps as a buyer, but as a merchant, chargebacks are a nightmare.
> For most people, not really.
Huh. Most people I know detest banks and don't like the idea of handing over complete control of their money to someone else.
There just haven't been any alternatives until now.
> We live in societies with rules, with laws that we have agreed upon, and are, for the most part, fair.
Please review the highlights of the last ~150 years of American history. If you need a very long list of examples that contradict your statement, I'd be happy to oblige.
It's a global immutable ledger that allows for the irreversible transfer of funds without needing to trust a 3rd party with the control of those funds.
Additionally, there's a cap on the total units of account that can exist.
Many people find a lot of value in all that, especially when compared to the slowness, surveillance, and inflation of traditional electronic monetary systems.
> There are very few legitimate reasons to go out of your way to conceal the source of your income, so in doing so you're already behaving suspiciously.
Privacy in an increasingly surveillant world seems like a pretty legitimate reason to me.
TLDR
Author thinks Bitcoin is mostly worthless because there is no single organization deciding how Bitcoin should work or enforcing its rules.
And ironically, most Bitcoiners believe this is exactly what gives Bitcoin its worth.
Sidenote: I also find it ironic that the author, a Faculty Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute, is enamored with governance when it was governance that forced Alan Turing to be chemically castrated.
* private transactions: your identity need not be associated with donating to wikileaks or buying a sex toy
* irreversible: no chargebacks or transaction reversals
* unseizable: protection against civil forfeiture, IRS account seizures for "structuring", etc
* remittance: send any amount of funds anywhere in the world with minimum fees with no 3rd party ever having access to funds
* exit from corrupt monetary policies: see Argentina, Venezuela
But apparently these don't apply to you personally so it may be best to continue swiping your Mastercard™.