Bitcoin Forum

99% of the time that's what I hear from 'average' people:

"Why should I use Bitcoin when I have a credit card and Paypal? Bitcoin is a solution without a problem ... "

I think Bitcoin will catch fire first in the developing countries, especially Africa, where people have few access to banking services and where remittances from family members living outside Africa are so critical. Neither Western Union nor wire transfer is the best service for family members in 1st world countries to send money to third world countries ...

Yes, you're starting to see it remittances in places like Africa and Asia, where the cost of services like a Western Union makes sending money expensive and prohibitive.

Things like Igot:

http://insidebitcoins.com/news/bitcoin-exchange-igot-launches-in-kenya-via-m-pesa-integration/30194

BitPesa:

https://www.bitpesa.co/

Rebit:

https://rebit.ph/

All of these provide a way for a person to use and send money to family overseas in these unbanked countries easily, quickly, and with less fees attached. 

BitPesa aims to allow the existing infrastructure to use Bitcoin from their standard M-Pesa network.   Exciting times!

Thousands have experienced problems with Paypal and credit cards! There are problems.

With competition like Paypal, Bitcoin has a very bright future.

yes I agree, because paypal is very sensitive to the data, my paypal  now can not be opened because of a problem bank book, even though I've verified it, it's almost 1 year unfinished.

but as long as I use bitcoin, never troubled

yes, the problem is not as complex bitcoin paypal and credit card, even bitcoin has no problems so far, bitcoin full freedom and I believe the future will be bright bitcoin :)

yes ... for sure !!! the future of bitcoin is bright with certainty. What remains is to wait to see it.

Bitcoin will catch fire on the opposite side buddy, there is nothing more shiny for rich people than to buy what they dont need because someone else needs it more.
btw i also have paypal for years, but for some reason my country isnt allowed to keep the funds there, theyre sent out to binded bank account every 1st of the month, add paypal fees to the formula, and thats whyi dont like or use paypal anymore.
I need store of value somewhere where i dont need to explain why and how much, and bitcoin is perfect.

cheers

Bitcoin is the separation of Money and State and the end of the fractional reserve banking system.
It does also underlie the greatest mechanism for digital assets ownership that humanity as ever seen.
Bitcoin doesn't allow for manipulative monetary policies that aim at perpetuating the State at the cost of productive people, with inflation.  
Bitcoin, or something very similar, will be the money used by machines in the second age of them.
That is why bitcoin is poised to change the world.

There's a surprising number of people in first world countries who can't get or don't have a bank account. That cuts them off from a huge amount of possibilities.

It honestly boggles my mind that they have grown to where they are now.

Bitcoin has a ton of applications. It doesn't necessarily have to solve a problem. Just make life easier.

"Why should I use PayPal when I have a credit card?

Bitcoin is the solution to fiat, the solution to the problem of trust regarding money in a capitalist system. You can't trust anyone in a capitalist system, so bitcoin removes trust from the equation with mathematics.

One of the best virtues of using observable public math to solve the trust problem is that the old solution, the nation state's solution, is constant systematic theft (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFDe5kUUyT0), and violence (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLCEXtpTNYU) whenever deemed necessary.

Bitcoin carries within it the seed of a much more transparent and less violent world, a world which we may be fortunate enough to see manifest before our eyes in the very near future.

How does it boggle the mind?  Yes, they have high fees but they run a top notch service excluding some questionable account freezing.

Credit cards where never meant for the internet.  You need a push system, not a pull system.  Like bitcoin.

I think the good side certainly outweighes all the negative aspect. Yeah you can say it introduces problems of its own but look at the advantages it bring overall. I think the best part is on the low cost money remittance which not only fast but is able to transfer almost to anywhere. And you don't have accounting freezing problem like paypal

Well the average obviously don't see the problem. They are even fine with NSA.
Unfortunately people have become like that.

Well acctually "Bitcoin is a solution to problems that only a small amount of people care to see"

There are loads of people, who do not care or know how much fee's they pay on PayPal / Credit card and bank accounts.... they just pay and continue to run in the little hamster wheel.

Most of them, have never use remittance services, to know how much it would cost them to send fiat to another country.

A small percentage of them have been the victim of credit card fraud or card skimming... or had their accounts being emptied by a hacker with a trojan.

These are the kind of people, that would appreciate the solutions Bitcoins brings to the table... I would know, because I was one of them.  >:( 

the masses are getting numb to face those kind of problems credit card and Paypal bring to them! When innovative technology comes out and revolutionizes the way of doing the same thing, they intuitively choose to resist the changes. As time goes, the average Joe will realize the true and adopt it.

Where do you hear that 99% of the time ? Your place?

I'm an asian and so many problem with credit card, paypal(my account 5 times got limit ::) ), western union(expensive) so bitcoin is solution for my problem.


~iki

There is a problem.
Only governments have the control of all economics.

Only banks hold your money.

Ask them:

https://i.imgur.com/vKZ4wer.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/5bBdWuW.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/UKVY4QA.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/XHVNUXx.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/wpVKpXx.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/di7mzBl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/gd8hpVI.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/TQnYhAB.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/36ovZsl.jpg

Without a problem, you say?  :-\

I never saw it that way, it sure is a great way and has alot less fee

Yes. Bitcoin can also be part of the currencies used by Paypal.

Personally, I think it's just a matter of education for the most part, plus us developers making tools / services that make it easier and more available to the masses.  Year after year, taxes go up, inflation takes a bite, and wages stay stagnant.  People are getting squeezed more and more, and it's unsustainable.  At some point, you're going to begin seeing the balance tip, and people looking for ways to save money.

When this happens, the demand to get paid in bitcoin will increase, because as merchant adoption spreads, people will begin realizing 30%+ of their income can be tax free.

I wanted to order something from Newegg. It was not accepting my credit card due to some vague reason "credit card billing address must be in USA".. WTF??? It was not letting me use my credit card and the other "fiat" options.

Then I noticed that Bitcoin is a payment method..... I made the purchase via that and Bam! no "US billing address" requirement.

On a side note the invoice said "in case of cancellations, it will be returned to your bitcoin" (???)
(and that's misleading. They don't refund in bitcoin but give you store credit. but that's another topic)

Just pointing out that its not entirely a solution without a problem.

This is quite an old video, but it states the main problems to which Bitcoin is a solution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2TIMhCTPfg&feature=youtu.be

What I personally view as a really big problem is payment card fraud. Bitcoin helps eliminate this, which should be an important point for merchants.

Bitcoin is a solution, but it does have problems that need to be solved.
A currency, just isn't a currency if it has volatility.

Sending money is very expensive, the third party risk is big, saving in fiat is horrible when the central bank is printing a lot of fiat ect.

I feel the same way as well but I always thought one of the solution to all these problems can only be if bitcoin has its own enclosed ecosystem. that is.... If I earn my pay in bitcoin, I can spend almost everything I need for my daily necessities also paid in bitcoin. That way, I'll never ever be bother about price conversion, whether it is up, or it is down because I will never have to convert back to fiat to purchase anyway.

A push system makes things like recurring automatic payments difficult, if not impossible, no?

No, the problem is here, it's just at that people aren't exposed to it just yet. But talk to the Greeks and you'll see soon how Bitcoin is a serious solution.

Bitcoin is a good way to travel with values and not have your wealth linked to banks or problems that happens where it is.

The biggest Bitcoin problem is having secure computer for your wallet. Hardware wallets can help here, but not every one. So definitively Bitcoin is not easy solution, but better than freezing part of your ballance because national debts has to be paid somehow, look at Cyprus, or the EU proposals for bank transfer taxes. The debt based currency is just joke, luckily Bitcoin becomes beter and better viable alternative as Bitcoin is more adopted and developed every year

yes bitcoin is not for those in civilized countries or those with good credit and access to low fee banking.  if and after it picks up in developing world in the us people who use reloadable cards like rushcards etc will probably switch to btc.

"Why should I use Email when I have the postal service and UPS? Email is a solution without a problem."

The stupid, it hurts.

Last fall I had a contractor re-excavate a silted-in pond on my property for a cost of $18,000. He was an old codger and wouldn't take bitcoin, so I had to pay him the old fashioned way. On the 23rd of the month he finished up and mentioned having to make some payments on the first of the following month, so in good faith I told him I'd do my best to get him his funds by then; he'd done a good job so it was the least I could do.

So I spent the extra $50 for expedited processing as I sold some stock and had funds wired to my checking account; soon as they arrived I mailed him the check and called him to let him know it was coming. The cost? $147 in fees on my end. And despite my effort, we missed the deadline. It took 11 days for my "expedited" payment to reach his bank account.

$147 and 11 days, versus $0.03 and 30 minutes with bitcoin. Tell me again how bitcoin is a solution without a problem?

What so it's useless without a US Billing Address :(

And you just describe one of the comparative advantage of bitcoin.

Most of the average people misunderstood the concept behind bitcoin. Maybe they're just accustomed to paying high transaction fees with their credit cards and banks. Bitcoin is a solution to many problems, to be honest. One of it was the high transaction fees being implemented by banks and other credit unions.

Totally being overlooked upon by people. The expenses when using bitcoin vs credit cards is totally noticeable. Low transaction fees of bitcoin makes it a better option compared to any other credit cards out there. I mean, come on. Why would I continue using things that has an insane added value if I can use another one for less expenses?

You have fees to get bitcoins if you don't work for bitcoins though.

I imagine if the payment is made in bitcoin all things would have done settled on the spot without dragging for so long. Sometimes it's really stupid to wait for the bank processing to go through only to know that finally when it arrives you have to add additional fee for the delay even though it is none of your fault and the delay is at their end, not yours.

Strategies haha. They will delay and delay their services so that in the end, you will shoulder the expenses. Not good.Not good at all.

Well, you can get bitcoin with zero fees at Coinbase for another month or so. Others have been cutting rates (I think Bitstamp announced a cut yesterday IIRC), and there's a site offering conversion of your wages into BTC for free during a beta period. Bitwage.co

If my investments had been in a BTC-denominated market such as Bitshares and others are trying to do, I suppose I'd also have an exchange fee to have sold that investment. In which case a better comparison would be $147/11 days to $0.05 and 60 minutes. Still pretty one-sided. It may be clumsy to buy coffee with BTC at Starbucks, but for many financial purposes cryptocurrency beats the competition by a huge margin.

Problems bitcoin has solved for me:

1. Price. I should not have to give up a bunch of my money to move my money. Now I don't!

2. Security. I could give you my login credentials for overstock.com and you would not be able to steal anything. If I gave you my Amazon login, my credit would be toast. With bitcoin I can buy without revealing my identity because the seller does not need it.

3. Geography. With dinosaur fiat currencies I was forever trading one money for another as I travel. (I travel a lot). I could not shop craigslist Madrid or buy a recipe from a cook in Indonesia. These things are easy now.

4. Economic freedom. Because no one has control over bitcoin I can compete in a fair market now. No one can manipulate the market via production or restrict my ability to use BTC. Unlike dollars, these are mine alone and I can use them as I wish.

I could go on, but I gota get back to work.  

That's why they're called "sheeple", they are completely unaware of worldwide finance fraud, and seems like most of them are even uncapable of understaning it.

Remittances, delays and security regarding overseas payments, inflation, the average person's understand of what money really constitutes. Decentralized consensus mining.

There are tons of problems to be solved, and many applications to be developed. Keep asking these kinds of questions, they're the ones that will make you rich.