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An offhand tech+philosophical reason would be the environmental impact of bitcoin mining.

• MildlySerious 12y ago
  Do you have any reason to assume that the infrastructure of banks is frendlier to the environment than Bitcoin mining is? The required logistics for thousands of buildings to be safely supplied with new fiat, the manual labour, enforcing security etc are probably way more demanding already. Now add the whole high frequency trading thing and all the efforts that surround it on top of that and we are probably good for another few years before Bitcoin mining is even worthy of being mentioned. Until then, I don't see we wouldn't have worked out a better proof of work system that's more friendly to the environment, should this really become a concern.
  • icebraining 12y ago
    Most fiat currency is already digital, and the drawbacks of digital fiat that keep cash around are shared by Bitcoin, so that's a red herring. As for HFT, there are already companies doing it in BTC denominated markets, so that doesn't count either.
  • shit_parade 12y ago
    The air conditioning footprint of bank branches alone is going to be several magnitudes greater in terms of energy consumption than bitcoin mining, add in commuting hours for every bank employee and it isn't even a contest, people just parrot whatever news source they like without thinking, even people on HN, it is really very sad.
    • commandar 12y ago
      Banks serve function far beyond mere transfer and holding of currency. Last I checked, the blockchain infrastructure doesn't e.g., issue mortgages.
• codehalo 12y ago
  Trust is expensive.