AUG 11 2014
Consumer advisory: Virtual currencies and what you should know about them
BY WILL WADE-GERY
You may have heard about virtual currencies like Bitcoin, XRP, and Dogecoin. But what are virtual currencies? What’s this “to the moon!” business on the internet about? And, as a consumer, what risks should you be aware of?
While virtual currencies offer the potential for innovation, a lot of big issues have yet to be resolved – some of which are critical, including:
Virtual currencies are targets for hackers who have been able to breach sophisticated security systems in order to steal funds
Virtual currencies can cost consumers more to use than credit cards or even regular cash once you take exchange rate issues into consideration
Fraudsters are taking advantage of the hype surrounding virtual currencies to cheat people with fake opportunities
If you trust a company to hold your virtual currencies and something goes wrong, that company may not offer you the kind of help you expect from your bank or debit or credit card provider
Check out our consumer advisory for more things that you should think about if you’re considering using virtual currencies and links to other useful resources.
Submit a complaint
You can also submit a complaint if you have a problem with a virtual currency product or service. We’ll forward the complaint, along with any documents you provide, to the relevant company and work to get a response from them.
Complaint data helps us understand what business practices may pose risks to consumers. We’ll use the information to enforce federal consumer financial laws and, if appropriate, take policy steps.
http://www.consumerfinance.gov/blog/consumer-advisory-virtual-currencies-and-what-you-should-know-about-them/How about we all write in and complain that
Money , online money of any sort is a target for hackers- this is a hacker problem not a Bitcoin problem
Ditto for the fraudsters, they are a money problem, most fraud around the world is conducted in fiat
The whole point of BTC is to not trust a third party - so do not , and if you do then it is the third party problem not BTC
As for the exchange rate - yes there is one... yes it moves atm.
As for the fees- there are none or minimal for buying things with BTC- as for buying the actual BTC that depends on how you buy it/earn it/mine it
In short there is cause for complaint , but about the misleading infos.
