Bitcoin mining is a waste of electricity. Energy is not a free resource.
"Real" money is essentially free. Only cost of producing real money is in materials needed to print a miniscule amount of it.
Vast percentage of money currently in circulation is already virtual - in the form of bits inside computers. Your bank has desks with computers, a server where the actual data is stored and a vault with a mandatory reserve in the form of printed currency.
So, only reasons to prefer Bitcoin are if you want to, for some reason, avoid the banking system or you don't have cash ready.
Either way, Bitcoin is a murky ground to tread on.
- Some countries are undergoing hyperinflation in which the value of their money decreases daily. Authoritative governments implement currency controls which prevent free market exchange for other currencies, and so citizens are forced to hold worthless bills.
- Electronic banking is mass surveilled and your bank and credit card companies are selling your data.
- The yield on a 10 year US treasury note is 1.79%. The interest rate on a Bank of America savings account is 0.01% APY. There is no "risk-free" return for savings in today's world; people are increasingly pushed to take risk just to keep up with inflation.
Everyone living in Western democracies think good times will last forever, that this kind of debt and money creation is sustainable, and that the party will never end.
But Bitcoin is not an answer to western consumerism. Nor will it prevent future debts. On the contrary, imagine what a shitshow it would be if someone started selling "bitcoin credit" to the masses. How would you keep the interest stable?
I can tell you are not a Bitcoiner! It may well be something of a antidote to Western Consumerism. Some things I have experienced in my years:
* Consume less as I see how the time value of my money is preserved
* know that spending now means less in future, so weigh priorities of purchases
* priorities longer term thinking with regard to ownership of assets
* constantly consider the cost of capital and trade offs owning one instrument vs another
There is indeed a working credit market for Bitcoin backed tokens! The largest is aave, and interest rates are driven by liquidity pool usage and incentive programs by the chain devs. There is one level removed from the actual BTC but we are getting close here.
You can borrow WBTC right now, consumer facing defi!
"Real" money is essentially free. Only cost of producing real money is in materials needed to print a miniscule amount of it.
Vast percentage of money currently in circulation is already virtual - in the form of bits inside computers. Your bank has desks with computers, a server where the actual data is stored and a vault with a mandatory reserve in the form of printed currency.
So, only reasons to prefer Bitcoin are if you want to, for some reason, avoid the banking system or you don't have cash ready.
Either way, Bitcoin is a murky ground to tread on.