Not to get too far off topic, but like many problems transitioning from the physical realm to the digital, we have to recognize that there are logistical challenges associated with carrying, transporting and exchanging cash that simply don’t exist in the digital realm. These logistical challenges essentially force legitimate transactions into the “visible” ledger and off the “private” books for most entities. Here are a few examples.
Drug smuggling cartels are experts in transporting and accounting for cash across long distances and national borders. However even they have an issue with physical storage of cash - to the point where they had too much cash to even store, leading to piles of cash buried underground, getting eaten by rodents etc. this would not be an issue with cryptocurrency.
Cash is still traceable in a crude fashion- unique serial numbers on each bill. This enables some level of oversight while keeping most transactions essentially private. It also enables replacement of damaged currency, something not possible with crypto currencies.
Transacting in cash has a real economic and logistical cost, whereas crypto currencies essentially have none. You have to physically meet to exchange cash- imagine the difference between paying a ransomware in cash versus cryptocurrency from the perspective of the attacker. Same as above, you have a literal physical limitation on the amount of cash you can transact due to weight and volume of the bills themselves. You may also have to enlist (and trust and pay off) intermediaries to transport the cash, representing a real economic cost to transact privately in cash. Not to mention the possibility of surveillance.
Honestly the best yet still flawed analogy I can come up with when thinking about the differences between cryptocurrency and cash is remembering back to why I hated high school physics so much. Who cares about a perfectly spherical cow on a frictionless surface? Cows aren’t perfectly round and there’s friction everywhere. I feel like cryptocurrency solves the spherical cow problem but doesn’t address the real messy world.
Drug smuggling cartels are experts in transporting and accounting for cash across long distances and national borders. However even they have an issue with physical storage of cash - to the point where they had too much cash to even store, leading to piles of cash buried underground, getting eaten by rodents etc. this would not be an issue with cryptocurrency.
Cash is still traceable in a crude fashion- unique serial numbers on each bill. This enables some level of oversight while keeping most transactions essentially private. It also enables replacement of damaged currency, something not possible with crypto currencies.
Transacting in cash has a real economic and logistical cost, whereas crypto currencies essentially have none. You have to physically meet to exchange cash- imagine the difference between paying a ransomware in cash versus cryptocurrency from the perspective of the attacker. Same as above, you have a literal physical limitation on the amount of cash you can transact due to weight and volume of the bills themselves. You may also have to enlist (and trust and pay off) intermediaries to transport the cash, representing a real economic cost to transact privately in cash. Not to mention the possibility of surveillance.
Honestly the best yet still flawed analogy I can come up with when thinking about the differences between cryptocurrency and cash is remembering back to why I hated high school physics so much. Who cares about a perfectly spherical cow on a frictionless surface? Cows aren’t perfectly round and there’s friction everywhere. I feel like cryptocurrency solves the spherical cow problem but doesn’t address the real messy world.