3
Hypothetically...
A uses a desktop bitcoin client, who would like an overdraft facility.
B has lots of bitcoins and would like to offer that overdraft and charge interest on the overdrawn amount.
Can A just go into a negative balance with B's backing? If not, what would A and B need to change to achieve an overdraft or an aproximation of an overdraft?
(Note, an overdraft is different from a loan, but a loan might be used to approximate an overdraft if its automatic.)
2note that an overdraft is /exactly/ like a loan, inasmuch as you get another person/entity to loan you money for a period of time. – nanotube – 2012-01-22T05:14:08.410
When you overdraft with a bank, you usually see a fee -- regardless of whether or not the bank honors that draft. With Bitcoin, either the transaction is valid and gets propogated to each of the peers or it is invalid (funds already spent) and gets ignored. – Stephen Gornick – 2012-02-05T00:32:28.457