I'm not very into BitCoin, so I have a question: To me, it seemed like everyone were saying that one should use an online bank a year ago. Why? What do you gain by having them in a bank?
Can you please point me to someone who was saying you should use an online wallet (i.e., "bank") a year ago?
Among every Bitcoiner I've ever known, we'll all stressed the importance of not using any type of online wallet, unless it's a special one like blockchain.info that lets you maintain control over your coins.
You do gain some convenience by storing your Bitcoins in an online wallet, since you can use them then from any device. But you make a very tempting target for unethical people. Plus, you get all the convenience of an online wallet with blockchain.info, and yet you still maintain control over your money.
That said, even a system like blockchain.info is not appropriate for storage of large amounts of Bitcoins, like your savings. For that, only a system like paper wallets or Electrum or Armory deterministic wallets -- created on a secure, offline computer -- are appropriate.
Nothing really. People who use online wallets are either uneducated or think they can generate money by trading, flexcoin wasn't really a trading platform though.
This highlights that bitcoin (not CamelCased) simply isn't a consumer reality yet. Having a wallet on your computer means you have to secure it. Offline wallets aren't very practical and not trivial to generate. Easy to use hardware devices have been promised but not delivered yet.
