Why Cryptocurrency Is Better Than Banks

3 min readApr 17, 2018

The world is changing. Peer-to-peer technology, once a tech that is known for downloading films illegally, is now a powerful tool that places power and transparency in the hands of the user. Cryptocurrency’s big killer feature is decentralization, which is the act of creating copies of one ledger (where your personal details and stuff are) into different interconnecting nodes to ensure that said ledger is immutable.

So now it has come to a point where the old-school method of keeping money in banks may need to upgrade its ways. Why? Because the decentralized system of keeping your cryptocurrency has many advantages over keeping fiat money.

1.You Get 24/7 Access

During a holiday in the US, local banks closed down, failing to provide financial services to individuals and businesses that could be in urgent need of financial settlement services to process payments.

Non-custodial cryptocurrency wallets enable users to remain in full control over their funds, by only allowing users to gain access to their private keys and no other centralized entity or platform. Because of this, certain cryptocurrency wallets cannot refund transactions or recover user accounts once the private key is lost. Just keep that in mind, so that you are financially aware and responsible.

2.There Are No Spending Limits

Banks operate through fractional reserve banking. This means that not everyone can access their money at the same time. Banks need to limit purchases and withdrawals with a daily spending limit.

With cryptocurrency, you don’t have any spending limits, which means you can spend as much money as you need. But do spend responsibly though; just because you don’t have a limit doesn’t mean you should test it for the sake of testing it.

3.Your Account Is Not Levied

If you want to apply for a bank and credit card account, you can; but your application is at the mercy of bank and credit card companies. Some people are even rejected from opening an account.

Opening a bank account or applying for a credit card requires filling out long forms and signing contracts that never work in your favour. Bitcoin is free to use and accessible to anyone without limitations.

4.You Are Charged Lower Fees Than Usual

Cryptocurrency is the best way to send international transactions on the cheap.

For context, here are the stats from other payment methods, be it offline or online:

International bank wire: The charges rate between $22-$50 (1–3 days)
PayPal: The rates for PayPal are 2.9% plus $0.30, 2.5% foreign exchange fees (takes 3–5 days to deposit into account)
Remittances: These range between 9–13% (usually takes 5 minutes).
Credit cards: Where to begin? You get charged 3–5% for merchants. For consumers, there are annual fees ranging from $0-$200, with 2.5% foreign currency conversion. And that is if you pay your bills on time. There will be many additional fees and interest charges for late payment.
Other e-wallets: There are many different e-wallets out there, but transactions can range from 2–4% on foreign exchange fees, a % or fixed fee for sending and receiving payments and 1–5% for deposits/withdrawals into your bank.

5.Cryptocurrencies Are Not IOUs

Money in most bank accounts are credits that represent a promise from someone to pay. We won’t go as far as to say that today’s banking systems resemble a ponzi scheme, but we will say that the global system of paying interests for old debt to create new debt can lead to a never-ending cycle that supposedly solves problems in the short term.

Your cryptocurrency is locked on a public ledger. Each coin represents an actual unit of value and not just a promise to pay value at a future date. There is a possibility that true debt settlement can be achieved if the majority of people are open to the idea of cryptocurrencies.

Find out how Bountie can help gamers with this newfound way of getting people paid for their passion.

Originally published at bountie.io on April 17, 2018.