Post
Topic
Board Economics
Re: Loans in BTC
by
odolvlobo
on 14/07/2014, 05:12:23 UTC
Say BTC does become the currency that people rely on.  How would a loan system work?  I would imagine people would still need to take out loans for large purchases, such as cars and houses.
Without a credit system how does something like that play out?  Would credit cards in BTC exist, and you still received a credit score that allowed you to take out money for a house?  The fluctuation of the BTC price definitely makes it difficult for that model to work. 

If Bitcoin becomes the currency that people depend on, then a credit industry will appear. It is probably safe to assume that Bitcoin cannot become mainstream with one.

What bitcoin brings to the table is a algorithmic check and balance which prevents fractional reserve banking.  You can't lend $10 for every $1 deposited.  You could lend 5 BTC for every 5 BTC saved and the incentive to do so would be an interest rate commensurate with the risk of the borrower defaulting.  If our banking system had run on a one-to-one ratio of depositors to borrowers, and proper credit checks, there wouldn't have been a problem.

There is no reason why fractional reserve banking could not be done with bitcoins. After all, it existed when the U.S. was on the Gold Standard.