alt Hacker NewsOK, how do I know that gold is pure and real? What if you live on the other side of the world and I want to buy that gold from you?
And there isn't any "hope" involved in bitcoin transactions. Connecting to the peer to peer network is super simple (way, way easier than creating a brokerage or bank account, and no ID or approval is required). Miners will pick up your transaction (and yes fees will help speed that up, as with any financial transaction) and it will be included in a block. Bitcoin has been doing this non-stop, flawlessly since 2009.
Bitcoin doesn't really solve the trust issue, because it covers half the transaction. If I send you a bunch of bitcoin in exchange for oil, how do I ensure the oil shows up?
There are fixes to that problem, of course, but it's not bitcoin itself that's the solution.