As I did not find any advantages of cryptocurrencies, I have been asking a few days ago "Cryptocurrencies where are the advantages?"
I got answers, which are not really advantages, like:
- Anonymity
Sorry, but as soon as you buy something, your anonymity gets lost.
To buy things of daily use, the transaction fees are simply too high.
When buying expensive goods, you need proof of purchase. That's usually an invoice on which your name and address has to be written.
If you buy something online, the seller needs your address so that he can write an invoice and knows where to send the goods.
If you meet the seller in person, then you are able to save the transaction fees by paying cash.
If you like to take a wallet from uphold.com you are not anonymous too. uphold.com is even breaking the data protection law from the most countries
- Transaction Speed
The transaction time of Bitcoins can take up to one hour if you have enough funds in your wallet. As soon you need to transfer some funds from your bank account using an exchange service, you can add at least an additional day. If you find an exchange service, which is accepting credit cards, then you are able to speed it up, but you have to pay extra fees. In this case you can save these extra fees by paying with your credit card directly and the transaction time takes only a few seconds.
- Investment - Cryptocurrencies will tend to increase their value on the long run
Sorry, but as soon as some big players in the IT industry, like Google, Mark Zuckerberg or Microsoft, have the idea to create their own international payment system, the value of the existing cryptocurrencies will fall faster than a stone. Also Bitcoin will exist thereafter only as niche currency or will exist only in the memory from some people.
Capital goods have a long lasting or increasing value like precious metals, diamonds and land or something similar. Cryptocurrencies are based purely on ideal values and are not backed up by long lasting values.
- Better security
I don't see any better security. I see even a higher risk with cryptocurrencies. If you are using an online wallet, then the provider can have a data breach. If you have a wallet on your local device, then a trojan or virus can steal your values.
Here is an example about a hack: Monero Malware Warning
Warning Monero users: If you downloaded Monero in the past 24 hours you may have installed malware. Monero's official website served compromised binaries for at least 30 minutes during the past 24 hours. Investigations are ongoing.
Other sites are promoting additional:
- Cutting out the middle-man
You are replacing only the middle-man (your local trusted bank) with a company or service abroad, because you need for transferring amounts from one wallet to another a service. To file a case against your local bank is much cheaper and easier than to file a case against a company abroad.
- Access to everyone in every market
Sorry, but you have to search for someone who is accepting cryptocurrencies on the market. As it is very hard to find any advantages beside speculation is it very hard to convince merchants accepting cryptocurrencies instead of traditional money.
The site Finjan Cybersecurity tells you that there are currently over 1200 unique cryptocurrencies or altcoins in circulation worldwide. That are much more than traditional currencies are getting found at the whole world. Additional you'l find at the site Dead Coins 1818 coins listed, which have already no value.
So where do you like to find any merchant, who is accepting exactly your cryptocurrency?
In summary, I come to the opinion that cryptocurrencies are nothing else than a object of speculation with a very high risk and useless for any other purpose.
Please correct me for the case I'm wrong in my opinion or views.