One of the big problems with using bitcoin for something like this is you're not just sending money. Your converting to a different currency, sending money, and converting it back. It would be akin to me wanting to send money to my Dad by converting it to Euro first, sending it, and him converting it back to USD. Neither of us have any interest or use for money in Euro or bitcoin. We both have/need USD.
You also get the volatility of bitcoin. If I send $10 to my Dad in bitcoin, it might be $9 by the time he gets around to converting it to USD. Or $11. Bitcoin could plunge in value (for seemingly no reason that I can tell) and be worth $5. I have no way of knowing what the value of that will be for him when he gets it.
If I want to send my Dad $10 on PayPal, he gets $10. He gets it instantly in his PayPal account as $10. If he transfers it immediately to his bank, it'll be $10. If he transfers it next week, it'll still be $10. It's guaranteed in value.
Also, I don't know if this is still the case but dealing with bitcoin is a pain. If I want to buy bitcoin at Coinbase and I don't have a credit card linked to my account (until recently, you couldn't even use Mastercard), I have to wait a few days for my BTC to arrive, even though they are directly linked to my checking account. I have no idea what the value of my BTC will be when it finally arrives a few days later. I have to send it to my Dad, he has to sell it back to USD (at least at Coinbase, at a lesser rate than buying it). The value could change dramatically at any of those steps.
And if you want to add a card at Coinbase, yeah, that's fun. When I added my card, my bank immediately kicked the attempted authorization out for fraud reasons. 10 minutes later my bank called me about it and I approved it, but the Coinbase told me I couldn't try again for a week. So I had to wait another week before trying to add my Mastercard again.
Bitcoin has a lot of usability issues for non-tech people. And using it for a simple USD->USD money transfer is like using a jackhammer when you need a scalpel.
You are describing the most convoluted way of using Bitcoin. You just don't do USD->USD transfers with BTC. Instead you hold an amount of BTC and you pay with BTC for services that accept BTC. Conversion USD->BTC and BTC->USD is hard simply because banking system is trying to make it hard.
> If I send $10 to my Dad in bitcoin
Have you tried to use BTC to do business with Amish? Or any other made-up situations where you force BTC on people who don't know how it works or have no business using it?
But that's primarily what I use PayPal for: sending money to family and friends. Paying for my share of dinner, or concert tickets in a group buy, that kind of thing. I will occasionally buy things using PayPal (usually eBay stuff), but mostly, it's simply a money transfer mechanism.
For that, PayPal is perfect and BTC is overkill. Parent said "You obviously have never used Bitcoin." I have. For this, it's a pain whereas PayPal is flawless ever time.
> Conversion USD->BTC and BTC->USD is hard simply because banking system is trying to make it hard.
But is it really that much harder than any other currency exchange? Off the top of my head, I don't even know how I would buy, sell or change Euro to USD without physically going to the bank.
> Have you tried to use BTC to do business with Amish? Or any other made-up situations where you force BTC on people who don't know how it works or have no business using it?
See, it's this type of attitude that makes people groan when talking to bitcoin advocates. You're calling a situation that I have personally encountered and provided a detailed accounting of to back up my assertion "made-up" and comparing me and my family to Amish?
> You're calling a situation that I have personally encountered and provided a detailed accounting of to back up my assertion "made-up" and comparing me and my family to Amish?
You've exposed your father to losses without explaining to him that BTC is in fact not USD and USD/BTC is a floating exchange rate. I don't see how this is problem of BTC and not your own personal screw up.
> You've exposed your father to losses without explaining to him that BTC is in fact not USD and USD/BTC is a floating exchange rate.
You are assuming that both of us were not aware of that. We both were and were interested in trying something new. But it is still a reality of using Bitcoin when the entire transaction is not in bitcoin.
Anyway, the larger point remains: there are some transaction that bitcoin is ill suited for and PayPal is great for. Sending money to people is one of the core features of PayPal that works like a breeze whereas buying and selling a different currency just to send money makes little sense.
"Situation is real, but the problem is made up". You did made up that point, after all.
Once again - if you are using other currency, being it BTC, CHF, EUR, RUB or CNY, you are exposing yourself and counterparty to exchange rate fluctuations. Difference is - with BTC you have some extra possibilities.
As for PayPal - yeah, it's a breeze until it's not. I.e. until they've blocked your account because reasons. With BTC I own my money. With PayPal, PayPal owns me.
One of the big problems with using bitcoin for something like this is you're not just sending money. Your converting to a different currency, sending money, and converting it back. It would be akin to me wanting to send money to my Dad by converting it to Euro first, sending it, and him converting it back to USD. Neither of us have any interest or use for money in Euro or bitcoin. We both have/need USD.
You also get the volatility of bitcoin. If I send $10 to my Dad in bitcoin, it might be $9 by the time he gets around to converting it to USD. Or $11. Bitcoin could plunge in value (for seemingly no reason that I can tell) and be worth $5. I have no way of knowing what the value of that will be for him when he gets it.
If I want to send my Dad $10 on PayPal, he gets $10. He gets it instantly in his PayPal account as $10. If he transfers it immediately to his bank, it'll be $10. If he transfers it next week, it'll still be $10. It's guaranteed in value.
Also, I don't know if this is still the case but dealing with bitcoin is a pain. If I want to buy bitcoin at Coinbase and I don't have a credit card linked to my account (until recently, you couldn't even use Mastercard), I have to wait a few days for my BTC to arrive, even though they are directly linked to my checking account. I have no idea what the value of my BTC will be when it finally arrives a few days later. I have to send it to my Dad, he has to sell it back to USD (at least at Coinbase, at a lesser rate than buying it). The value could change dramatically at any of those steps.
And if you want to add a card at Coinbase, yeah, that's fun. When I added my card, my bank immediately kicked the attempted authorization out for fraud reasons. 10 minutes later my bank called me about it and I approved it, but the Coinbase told me I couldn't try again for a week. So I had to wait another week before trying to add my Mastercard again.
Bitcoin has a lot of usability issues for non-tech people. And using it for a simple USD->USD money transfer is like using a jackhammer when you need a scalpel.