Bitcoin Forum

Assuming that they can receive and send their money quickly and conveniently with ecash, I speculate that they will never care about the difference between centralized and decentralized.

Would this not hurt bitcoin as a currency? Would this not only encourage bitcoin to be used as a speculative investment? How about mainstream adoption?

https://i.ibb.co/Jnqw2bX/250213-C9-D460-4-CB0-8-B43-10-F77-E60-F3-EB.png

The governor of the People’s Bank of China praised recent tests of its national digital currency at the Hong Kong Fintech Week conference on Monday.

As reported by Bloomberg, Yi Gang said the pilot program, which has spanned multiple Chinese cities this year, has proven successful.

Over 4 million transactions totaling more than 2 billion yuan ($299 million) have been conducted using the digital yuan, Yi said.

Financial services in remote areas have been bolstered by new technologies, the governor explained, including microloans and risk management, which plays into how the China is looking to spread the digital currency.

Read in full https://www.coindesk.com/pboc-governor-says-successful-digital-yuan-trials-have-transacted-299m

If centralized has the verisimilitude features as decentralized currency, it will not make really much of a difference to any average person. But if they were to value their privacy which will surely not be present with the centralized one, I think that will be the deciding  difference. Personally, I would not care that much as long as it is convenient, efficient and low transaction fee.

I share your view. Most people are not critical of how the monetary system works. Other simply don't bother while the rest have so much to think about on a daily basis that they couldn't care less whether the money they are using is centralized or decentralized. Hell, they probably don't even know what decentralized in the realm of money means. I am certain that, at least in my country, 99% of the population don't know the bases on which money is created.


Bitcoin is already hurt as a currency not only because it has evolved more into a speculative asset over the years but also because of certain factors such as fees and confirmation time. I guess Bitcoin will eventually become a sort of an exclusive currency to those who seriously care about decentralization, financial freedom, and perhaps privacy.

I'm afraid the mainstream adoption that we will see in the future is not that the majority of the people in the world are using Bitcoin but that Bitcoin becomes a widely recognized alternative.

Bitcoin is not private, however.

In any case, that was not the question. I was also speculating that if the government regulators did not charge and imprison people behind centralized coins like Tether, would decentralization matter for our daily digital transactions?

I agree with @bbc.reporter said that they would never care about the difference between centralized and decentralized. It happens to people who use digital money on their mobile phones from third-party apps. Once people feel that what they use can give them comfortable, they will not try to ask why they need to verify their account.

But I still believe that bitcoin can be mainstream if people hear the sound of bitcoin in many places, and they will try to use bitcoin, even for just the investment side and not use for payment systems.

I just wonder when the mainstream adoption will happen globally, especially the bank sounding the contactless banking, and they suggest people use cashless for the transaction.

But perhaps, bitcoin can be used for internet transactions and online investment as we know that the internet grows fast than a few years ago. So that can make people use bitcoin as an investment only.

Centralized systems don't have scaling issues which makes them more convenient for the average person to use. They will not immediately care about decentralization, censorship resistance, or having a store of value until traditional financial systems fail them in some way or another.

People already could spend money quickly and conveniently, central bank coins bring nothing new to the table. The biggest revolution of the recent years was Google Pay, it freed people from the need of carrying their payment cards, risk losing them or forgetting them at home, managing multiple cards, etc. If consumers can already pay instantly with their smartphones, why should they switch to a new method that offers the same, but is not widely adopted?

Central bank coins need to become big enough to be viewed as serious competitors of Bitcoin, until it actually happens it's to early to worry about them.

why speculate when you can look at reality?
if it didn't matter to people then trillions of dollars wouldn't have been transferred between customers and merchants using bitcoin so far.
of course not everyone understands the benefits of a decentralized censorship resistant currency, but we are not talking about every single person. most people do care about it.

True. But isn't it how it is already? Not sure how this ecash think would hurt bitcoin as it's already the case that a lot of people don't care about bitcoin and prefer using PayPal/online banking/etc because they don't care(and might not even know the difference) between centralized and decentralized.

In my country, most people prefer ecash kinds of apps for their daily transaction, I guess in the case of my country, the decentralization did not matter at all. It is testimonial though so it might not hold a weight when a proper study is conducted.

Even here, on bitcointalk forum, most people consider bitcoin just a speculative investment. What they do is consistently speculate on decentralized currency to get profit in centralized. This is the reason they praise PayPal and its pseudoadoption of bitcoin, it allows them to speculate without even touching cryptocurrency. Of course, banks and states encourage such behavior and aren't going to educate people on how to escape the trap. Will mainstream users care about the difference? I'd say they will not know the difference, they will not be allowed to ever find it out.

My answer is no! Mainstream users will look for convenience  and nothing else! They don't care about the centralized and decentralized and look for convenience and less fees! Personally in my country, the government has developed a technology called UPI and now even street vendors are using mobile wallet. If someday I leave my wallet at home, I can still pay for whatever I need and even withdraw money from ATM - all without any fees! Definitely it has a daily spending limit, but that spending limit is too high for a common human.

So unless I want to do some shady deals that involves black money, there is no good reason for using bitcoin. Apologies for this harsh word! Bitcoin seems good for investment but not for daily expenses!

I get what you're saying, but It's really not as bad as you think it is. I've been using my bitcoin since 2016 to pay for legitimate online services; just because I really dislike PayPal and I'd like to not use their platform as much as possible due to privacy reasons(same with using credit/debit cards).

Also, there's something about knowing that you actually have 100% control over your money. PayPal can lock up my funds, same with my bank, but with bitcoin? Nope. Self-sovereignty is something I don't want to get rid of.

We should welcome any form of competition(even the CBDCs),because with more competition comes improvement.
Having more competition will put some pressure over the Bitcoin Core developers to improve Bitcoin Core and make it even more user-friendly than before.
Mainstream users care only about convenience,not about privacy or decentralization.The majority of them will stick with debit/credit cards.We should raise awareness about the benefits of Bitcoin and try to educate more mainstream users.This is the only thing we could do.

People have demand on something fast, cheap and convenient.

They don't care much about centralization or decentralization. They don't care about risk of hacks if they store money on exchanges. They don't care about 51% attacks (altcoins have faster transaction speed than bitcoin but risk of attacks like Ethereum Classic is higher).

About the cryptocurrency or digitalized currency back by fiat and governments (centralized), I think they don't care of its centraliztion. What most of people care of is profits. Where they can get profit they will go with it. Most of them join crypto market as consequence of opportunities it brings to get profit.

https://www.coindesk.com/ethereum-classic-blockchain-subject-to-yet-another-51-attack

that's true but i wouldn't say it is "most people" because it really isn't specially in the long run. there are times like 2017 when there is a lot of bitcoin price rise and a ton of shitcoin pumps that attracts a large number of this type of people who care about profit making but the market purges itself as soon as the shitcoin dumping season started and bitcoin bubble burst. the remaining people are those who care about the decentralization and security and never touch shitcoins such as ethereum.

Most people in my country that I know don't care about the difference between centralized and decentralized as long as their payment mode is quick and reliable.

Bitcoin has a lot of difference in e-cash, and I think this wouldn't hurt bitcoin. People still adopt it because they will see many opportunities to earn, not like e-cash that only use for transactions only.

For now we are all agree that everybody in mainstream world has no awarness about the urgency of decentralized finance.
But as time goes by i think there is a hugr chance people will do aware about that, the needs of decentralized finance will reach the climax at some point and that is the moment they realized that the centralized finance must be leave away.
I dont know when it is. But the time will surely come.

The problem here is that mainstream people fail to understand that in order to get desirable profit, they don't necessarily have to choose between centralized and decentralized ways of obtaining it.

The former way implies profits in centralized, inflationary currency. This way for those who have a high time preference. They prefer to consume and not to save and are used to instant gratification. Centralized currency is perfect for them because it rewards them for impatience.

The latter way implies profits in decentralized deflationary currency - bitcoin. Where profits mean a slow increase in bitcoin's purchasing power. This way for those who have a low time preference. They prefer to save their wealth and postpone consumption and can easily delay their gratification. These people are hodlers of bitcoin. They get rewarded for patience.

So, in order to get profits, you don't have to choose between two types of currency, you should decide what is more important for you: your present or your future.

For me, Bitcoin will stay. I also wonder why people only care for profits is also because they are thinking or treating Bitcoin as a store of value just like gold or silver, which it is really profitable (as long as they bought on low and sell at high).
I can consider these centralized currencies or cryptocurrency are just altcoins, alternatives of Bitcoin.

I'm pretty sure they wouldn't, one of the reasons bitcoin gained it's success (attention) was the rate at which it was been praised for its fast confirmation. While the banks spends days confirming an intercontinental transaction, bitcoin did so in minutes and it was the go to currency for such service but if this was to turn around as a regards of the new digital fiat been proposed then bitcoin will lose some patronage.

From observation, you can see people careless about the whole decentralized ideology. We have many individuals still patronizing the centralized service providers more than they do to decentralized service providers in the space. We have more centralized exchange etc been used daily which clearly shows majority are just after comfortability than privacy.

People don't care giving our sensitive information in the form of KYC or giving out control over their coins so just for comfortability so why then do we think they'll pick a decentralized service over a centralized faster and more convenient service.

Everyone cares about convince and speed, when Bitcoin was defeating the fiat on such areas has passed. We now have faster currencies in the Decentralized world, if China proposes its digital fiat currency and have test ran it, I think bitcoin would lose some interest from the mainstream users. Bitcoin isn't good for daily spending like fiat is. But that wouldn't still affect the usability of Bitcoin as an asset because it is been traded for gain and been held for its future value.

They wouldn't. That was why I changed my mind when I was pushing for the adoption of Bitcoin and overhaul of current fiat, and I now instead opt for coexistence between the two. Centralized digital fiat is basically just there to provide efficiency, or just basically improve qol when it comes to financing. Most people don't even mind that they're expenditures are being tracked/traced by someone else, even if it was incomplete or not.

Bitcoin would mostly be used by those that require what Bitcoin gives, quasi pseudo-anonymity mainly, and as for Centralized digital fiat, convenience, which is most would be used by literally everyone else.

Well, that's for right now tbh. Bitcoins volatility came from the currently increasing supply and imo, after the last coin is mined, wait a few years and you should see it becoming stable once again, and would most likely only move when people need a store of value. Sides, even if they did know crypto, they only know of it as something people can provide profit, they don't know that it could also make someone lose their entire assets.

I have been thnking about this issue (Bitcoin transaction confirmation delay and hike in transaction fee) that it may hurt Bitcoin if the mainstream adoption see a better digital coin which can simply handle thousands of transactions in few minutes.
I believe we need Bitcoin scalability to be improve now that some private and payment company are joining the crypto scheme.

If people only need to transfer and receive money, they will definitely not care about decentralization, or not decentralized, as long as the money goes to their hands. But surely those who want to own cryptocurrencies will care that the coin they are holding is decentralized or not. People come to cryptocurrency because it is decentralized and anonymous, if everyone owns a centralized coin then it is like they are owning fiat currency with a higher level of risk.

Let us face the reality. Majority of people are engaging to cryptos due to the profit that it is giving to them as means of investment. Indeed, it has advantages on its characteristics of being decentralized but since it is not yet widely accepted as a mode of payment to many places, they chose to stick with its other benefit which has something to do with investments and profit. The risk on holding centralized coins I think will be higher than holding cryptos, will only happen if the prices will be more volatile than in crypto. Volatility simply means risk due to the inconsistencies in the market value.

IMO, we are still far away from making people understand what blockchain/decentralized is.
we need to push the adoption of digital money, centralized digital wallet, or mobile payment first.
blockchain and all decentralized things are the advanced versions of those options.
we live in a world where people still think that the internet is only facebook/google.

if they only care for the profit that means they dont also care for decentralization ? and these people will do it too if  its posible on centralize systems . the true users that care the most are the real cryptocoiners that have a broader knowledge on currency and financial systems . centralized coins that you mean are fiat ? because fiats are impossible to fluctuate in the same level as crypto , thats why they are less riskier than on cryptos . care or not about decentralization but as soon as those people get involved on here will that be a big problem ? i guess no

That's right, most people don't pay attention to how cryptocurrencies work and what blockchian technology is. Very few cryptocurrency owners understand how blockchian technology works right now. So they will not care whether a currency is decentralized or not.
However this is completely normal in financial markets, the fact that we use money every day but very few people can understand how it is created and maintained.

The majority does not care about centralized and decentralized as long as they get the job done. In the coming years we must expect centralized players flooding the market including major corporate companies and whether these entries will dilute the market is to be seen.

I am expecting changes and we will sort the scaling issues in the coming years, if you look at the long term BTCitcoin cannot survive solely as a speculative market especially if the price reaches over hundred thousand dollars where everyone is speculating.

Yes, most people come to the crypto market to invest and seek profits, for them profit is more important than a centralized or decentralized currency.
Perhaps bitcoin will need a long time and effort before being recognized as a currency.

Well, we are in a time that people should care about using Bitcoin correctly. Majority of the users should be able to fully own/control their coins and benefits from other Bitcoin important features.
Bitcoin is unique and different from the national dital currency listed in the post.
 If governments decide to create their own digital currencies, I believe they will penalize people who don't follow the rules/principles governing the currencies & its system. So, why should Bitcoin not stick with its own rules too, esp to keep it unique, decentralized and safe for users. This is one of the ways to remain competitive and not trying to be like digital fiat currencies

I think mainstream user doesn't care much about it as long as they could use Bitcoin and since they found out about it on some centralized apps or site.
Most of the new users doesn't really care much about their privacy as long as they could invest and gain profit it is all about profit for them.
I also think that less than half of the crypto users right now care about it.

Well, they might possibly boast but they would not engage too much since they would still do their own things which is focusing on how to gain or earn more. They would be proud and be presented an opportunity to teach others on how they can utilize their time properly using the Cryptocurrency Industry.

They won't care about the difference, but what exactly will be the difference between this centralized crypto and fiat money?

Now people have a choice to use centralized fiat money for payments or Bitcoin and Bitcoin is functioning well, with its value growing every year.

Will the introduction of a new centralized crypto be in any way a danger to Bitcoin when there already are centralized and fast cryptocurrencies like XRP that nobody uses?

That is because most of the time, people already know the uses of Centralized money and Cryptocurrency. Mainstream users will usually choose the fiat as main transactions require it especially those microtransactions we do, but we might not know, they are also holding crypto which then they use for trading, payments to overseas, crypto-related works, and services.

That will just mean that mainstream users will really care about the difference. Both fiat and crypto have their own practicalities. The only thing we should always think is to respect their decision on how they see these fits.

it won't matter. what matters is if they can spend it to buy something and can be kept like fiat, it's good. they are not conscious about these things even if they are going to be educated about it decentralization and privacy. but the number of people who care about these is growing though.

i dont think centralised crypto will pose as a danger to bitcoin. most people wont care if they are using a centralised or not, as long as they are convenient to use, like they can use it anywhere at any time they want to. btc already has the strong ground built in the crypto market. and people just need to uncover its difference between using btc and the centralized one. once they learned the benefits of using btc vs the centralised coin, i guess they will use both accordingly. and if i may correct, XRP has been used by many shops already, not that nobody uses it [ https://cryptwerk.com/pay-with/xrp/ ]. also, recently it is gaining popularity to be used as transfer purposes like doge because of its economical fee and relatively fast transaction.

If we are talking about a specific centralized cryptocurrency, then, of course, the authorities will offer any advantages if this cryptocurrency is used, if in general, then the cryptocurrency should not be subject to centralization, since this is a transference to all its principles

I don't think that will hurt bitcoin because people will choose what can give them a comfortable paying system. They will be curious about a new service that bitcoin can provide besides still use the previous system. Bitcoin will be with us, no matter if people like it or not, but if they can use bitcoin or learn about bitcoin, they will have more options to make a payment or transaction, or even for just using bitcoin for the investment.

The absence of intermediaries between payers and payees is one of the main attributes and also what makes cryptocurrencies interesting in the first place. The use of cryptography and blockchain technology allows for trustless minting, immutable transaction recording, absolute transparency, unchangeable monetary policy. That is a decentralized system governed by consensus rules, upon which all the participants in the network agreed. If the rules of any given system are not the law and subject to changes by the minority of rulers, then it is not a cryptocurrency, it is just another form of fiat. It will have the same advantages and disadvantages as government-issued money.

I think cryptocurrencies (https://www.mintme.com) mainstream adoption will be a hard thing to accomplish because of the "difficulties" of having to control by yourself your decentralized money and wallet. But time is the only one who will say if it will become even bigger than it is now or not. There are regulations coming, so that may be also a changing factor in the future... we shall see.

Mainstream users might be considering to jump in to Cryptocurrency. They care how they can get their funds grow. Knowing that large companies have adopted Bitcoin like PayPal whch i has very large population, it will surely gain even more popularity and people to invest in. Thus, anyone who has good offer for money, they will choose the side where they can earn more.

Despite the small success of high transaction demand in China, it is actually very difficult to approve Bitcoin.

As Yi Gang said, this is just the beginning of a demo implementation using cryptocurrencies and their legal framework remains their biggest hurdle. It is really difficult to accept cryptocurrencies because if they cannot manage it well, money laundering will happen soon. And that will certainly affect the general economy in the future a lot.
So we should only be happy that China is showing a positive signal about Crypto, but the announcement of its widespread use has to wait a very long time :D

As the TV show suggests, even though they'd be fine with ecash, it gives certain new opportunities of improving the world that with using fiat. I think most people won't care much, but they wouldn't mind fellow admirers of decentralized coins using their cryptos. And for now, I don't see any successful centralization cases that worked out, while Bitcoin is doing pretty great. The thing is, unlike in Mr. Robot, we don't have such a monopolist that would also be in bed with the governments, and thus even big companies face opposition in the forms of harsh regulations when they attempt to create a powerful centralized cryptocurrency (I'm thinking of Libra now). So maybe they won't become a trend after all.

I’m still believing that Bitcoin will have the upper hand in a fight with the CBDC, unless the government themselves will start fighting against Bitcoin by declaring it illegal and punishing those are making use of Bitcoin to cause fear among them. If not that way, then Bitcoin will continue to be at the top.

From what I have read once, CBDC is quite different because it’s backed by the currency of the country that issues and it can only be used in that country and you can’t send it out like you can send Bitcoin to anyone around the globe. So Bitcoin is still winning, and these CBDC is unnecessary, I will even choose to make use of PayPal than the CBDC, at least PayPal will allow me send money to anyone anywhere.