Bitcoin Forum

1980: No one will ever have a personal computer it is to complicated to use and serves no purpose.

1990: No one will ever use the internet it's to complicated to use and serves no purpose have you heard of a video recorder.

So true. There are many other examples where people ignored inventions because they could find no use for it. I remember when I bought my first computer everybody said 64MB of RAM was an overkill.
Same thing when CDs started coming out people were saying they are too big and not as handy as the tapes, 10 years later nobody was using tapes anymore.

With all new technologies there is always some thing or application that takes them main stream. The GUI for computers, porn made VHS mainstream instead of betamax, and the walkman made personal music players popular. I think we have yet to see the app or device that does this for bit coin. It will be exciting when it does.

Tapes? Vinyl LPs were all the rage! Tapes were just used to pirate music and being able to listen to your LPs in your car! Hah, the good old times!

Easier to use than email.

Bitcoin is not to complicated for the average person to use... maybe it is just hard to comprehend for the average person.

BTCitcoin is the future.... ;D
It just like when Steve Jobs said "iPhone is the future"

I don't think it's too complicated for the average person to use, I believe it's meant to be integrated in to services, which then extends its features to the average person. Sort of how mail providers manages everything to do with SMTP so you can simple login, compose and send an email within seconds...

the difference between the internet and bitcoin is nobody ever stole 3/4 of a million internets ...

This is what they joe public say about it and gave you examples of other inventions average people believed was to complicated now look at where we are at with that complicated tech.

Bitcoin does have a bright future and the more people wake up from government and bank control the more they will be willing to learn what this awesome tech is and the power it can give you as a person. Roll on the next few years!

TCP/IP is just too complicated for the average person to use.

Yet here we are, with every random computer illiterate happily surfing the web.

Oh and by the way, fiat money and our current monetary system is way, WAY too complicated for the average person to even remotely grasp.

I hardly think the average person has ever heard of TCP/IP but hey, we still managed to get 2+billion people online  :o

i must buy a MD (minidisc) with 64mb .... and now, i have an microSD 64Gb.

storage is awesome, i have all my music library from 20 years in 224kBit very high quality ... in 2 microSD.

but for me, it's just normal.

so, i have all my life economies in Bitcoin now.

the most powered and secured network on the earth ... ;D bankster, go to your office.

IMO, bitcoin is not that complicated for the average person to use. But the problem is that safely storing your coins, protecting them from wallet robberies and hacks is a bit complex and a time consuming process.

Not understanding it means not trusting it. This time it's money not just to learn how to use a searchengine or windows OS.

Bitcoin certainly isn't that complicated to use, but it's quite complicated to obtain/buy.

The main downside to bitcoin is all of the hacks and scamming. It gives bitcoin a bad name. But then again hacking/scamming is unavoidable as credit card details are often stolen as well. Security will always be an issue as long as people are greedy and feel the need to steal from others.

It's quite sad, seeing as the people with the technical know-how of how to hack these systems and remain anonymous would probably be able to start very profitable legitimate business that benefit the world.

Everything's too complicated for the average idiot to understand. The main issue is how to make the average idiot dependent on using crypto.

That's right, Bitcoin is not very hard to use, any internet user can figure it out in minutes but keeping the funds secure might be little difficult for some people as hackers are finding newer ways of breaching in computers.

But people have lot a lot of money through internet scams. If you think about it, bitcoin scams are a part of internet scams as well.

Definitely not. Go to Localbitcoins, and there are multiple options, such as Skrill, Western Union, SWIFT Transfer, M-Pesa.etc to purchase / sell Bitcoins. It is really easy.

It's true at this moment.
If you don't understand what is bitcoin, which is complicate for average people, then you will lost your coin very easy.There are a lot of work should be done to make it easy  and secure to use.

People actually consider technology a specialty. They compare it to other possible studying directions. This is wrong. Technology is part of our daily life.
I honestly believe that in 20-30 years not knowing how to properly use technology will be the equivalent to not knowing how to write.
As far as Bitcoin goes, yes it is complicated. When I say complicated I'm talking about the technology behind it and the way it works.

Using Bitcoin is actually very simple to me.

Uh, no it isn't? I'm a Canadian citizen, but I'm in China right now. I can buy food, or clothes or a laptop or a tv or even a house. But I can't buy bitcoins, because I need all sorts of proofs, phone authentication, etc. I don't have any of the services you mentioned above (except swift through the bank), so I'd have to register for those and then register on local bitcoins, and then find someone who is trustworthy enough, and somehow make them trust me. And even then, the closest people on localbitcoins to where I am now is an hour away. And I'm in one of the largest cities in China. That's not "really easy", lol.

For a normal person, if I can just get cash through an atm or pay with a credit card, why would I bother spending so much time and effort and fees to get bitcoin?

That's very true and highlights the real issues with Bitcoin from end-user perspective.

I don't think Bitcoin is too complicated for the average person to use,Bitcoin wallet just like real wallet and Bitcoin just like money.Once they know what is Bitcoin,I believe they would like it.

Bitcoin isn't too hard for the average user to use.
Bitcoin is too hard for the average joe to aquire!

You need to have BTCitcoin to use BTCitcoin.

Have a look at what just got posted on Reddit's r/Bitcoin http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/31yg78/bitcoin_is_the_future_of_money_is_it/  (http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/31yg78/bitcoin_is_the_future_of_money_is_it/)

I have to agree with you on that... If you live in a 1st world country, you have loads of ATM's and merchants accepting BTC around every corner. Most people I spoke to, when I work on contract basis in 3rd world countries, says "Yes... it's a great technology... BUT... How do we get Bitcoins and where do we spend it?"

The irony is also... In some 1st world countries {USA}... it's even more difficult to acquire Bitcoins through legitimate services, because of all the KYC and AML regulations.

We talk the talk, but we do not walk the talk.  >:(

Well, for anyone born after 1970, it s definitely not complicate to use BTC. If you refer to our grandparents, then probably yes.
However, people do need to adapt, I still see some people refusing to use credit card cause it s some kind of magic piece of plastic which generates money.

Easiness to use it not an issue. The number of scammers in the industry is.

Only half true.
It was pretty much understood, right from the start, that both technologies were tools with tremendous potential. The user experience was tricky at first, yet people persisted and, as predicted back in the day, the technologies gradually became more and more user friendly.
Email and mobile phones follow a similar pattern.
What is a killer to btc is; losses. There is next to zero forgiveness for human error and no built in or surrounding theft prevention assurances. If you lose your keys, send to wrong address or get caught in a hack your btc are gone forever. Even though precautions are available and with proper knowledge losses can be avoided, it's still too easy for the average user to lose btc, And even a little loss is too much.
None of this is BTC's fault, inherently but any such occurrance leaves a lasting bad impression.
There's also the unregulated nature of the thing. Most people want rules and regulation and see them as protections.
Anarchocapatalism is a bit advanced for most regular joes.

There are hundreds of sellers with good reputation in China. Many of them accept Western Union. Is it that hard to go to the local branch of Western Union, and make the payment?

Yeah, because nothing sounds more legitimate for a non-tech savvy user joining in with Bitcoin for the first time than going to a bank and sending a payment to an anonymous person in China.

You clearly are not getting the point. Are you willing to drive 3 hours, give out all your personal information, wait for confirmation, just so you can buy a more expensive and shady knock-off of an Aero bar?

Is it "that hard"? It obviously depends on what you're trying to do. For that amount of effort, if I could cure cancer, cure old age, and earn a billion dollars, yeah, it's not hard. For a freaking bitcoin? Of course it's complicated!

It's not that hard and will get even easier. Plenty of people willing to sell you bitcoins for cash on local bitcoin or other local listing sites. I don't think bitcoin is difficult to use either though I think it could seem daunting to get into or use at first but it's just getting over that initial hurdle.

The real problem for average people is the safe of bitcoin, even the professional company's money could be stolen, how can expect an average people can keep his coin safe?

definitely not true, it's very easy for anyone to use it, it is only difficult to understand the technical aspects of it

and obtaining bitcoin is easy too, the problem is more related to taxes than anything else

Bitcoin really is just too complicated to aquire. You need to go through a god damn identity verification if you want to buy the coins with your credit card. Its just too much work for the average person, and this fact means that less people will be using bitcoin. And if less people are using bitcoin, then there won't be any point buying them. Its an infinite loop of despair.

You can use localbitcoin or something similar:
For example in Italy we have different sites that sells bitcoin by recharging a prepaid card or you can use Purse or Brawker (obliviously the fee is higher, but it's the price for "anonymity") .

even for fiat you need verification, so this must no be the problem, a real problem could be the security issue, average people are afraid to lose money with bitcoin, then with fiat

you are not really protected with bitcoin compared to fiat

But even with local bitcoin they still need to do a bank transfer to an unknown person and a random bank account. If you walked up to average joe and told him to send money overseas to some random account and you'll get digital numbers that 'works like money' they won't do it. They'll keep using fiat.
Anywhere else requires verification and all sorts of random goobly gop.

The user experience will improve over the time. I saw people over 60 years of age using iphone.

You guys need to stop being bitcoin cultists and look at this objectively. Using bitcoin gives 0 benefit over fiat to the vast majority of people. Instead, they'd have to pay fees to exchange it, and to transfer the bitcoins to their own wallet, then again when they're using it. If I withdraw cash through interac, I don't pay anything. I don't pay anything extra when I'm paying the merchant either. With credit card, I can pay on credit. It's also extremely easy to use.

Why would I spend the effort to obtain bitcoins? The answer is that there is no reason, unless you're a libertarian bitcoin cultist. Seriously. Stop saying "You can obtain bitcoins by doing this, this, this, this, this, this and this". I can obtain fiat without doing all those steps. I get no benefit from doing those steps. Why should I do it?

Again, whether something is complicated or not depends on what that thing is/does. spending 1000 hours working to become an olympic champion is easy. Spending 1000 hours working to buy an Aero bar is extremely stupid.

The problem with comparing this to Bitcoin is that those 'inventions' had no precedent - they were the first and so when they actually became useful they were actively used. Comparatively, Bitcoin has to compete with all major currencies on top of other forms of wealth storage (ie. gold) - without offering enough to move masses of people over.

This discussion isn't about it being technically too hard to use.
It's too hard to acquire an iphone. It isn't too hard for a 60 year old to acquire an iphone.
How easy is it to get fiat and buy an iphone with fiat.
How easy is it to get bitcoin and buy an iphone with bitcoin

Bitcoin isn't meant to be a "get money for free" option. Everybody that think that can be rich without any invest, that guy is really stupid.
My country doesn't allow me to receive neither have USD or any other country currency. What Bitcoin helped me? It helps me to buy products and services without paying an annoying ~7% tax FOR EVERY TRANSACTION. PayPal takes almost 9% from common users, and because of the local law, even with PayPal I'm not allowed to receive payments in USD neither pay anything in USD without an international CC.
So yeah, using CC is really easy, but they are a lot of pain compared to 0.0001BTC per transaction.

Think that's the point of the thread, the average user wont need (nor would be interested) to understand the technical aspects of bitcoin. The actual sending/receiving btc part is just a few mouse clicks and a password, the hardest part from what I see is making sure the wallets are in a secure environment and completely foolproof.

The initial post was obviously not meant to be taken seriously. He/she wanted to point out that all these technologies were considered to be difficult at one time but became more accepted as time passed. I think there are already great and easy wallets readily available :)

There is a big difference between internet and bitcoin:

When using internet, people don't risk too much, they gain a lot of convenience typically. But when using bitcoin, they risk losing large amount of money while their gain is quite uncertain. So far only very experienced investors/speculators have adopted since they have good risk management skill, those who blindly follow will get hurt by volatility and theft

Yes, I agree that's quite a big hurdle to jump if you think about "going Bitcoin". On the other hand, there are few things as tempting as getting rich. And that's one of the things that is driving Bitcoin's adoption since day 1!

10 years later no one uses CDs anymore.

1990s:  Why would I use a mobile phone, I have a landline phone at home!

2000: Social Media, what the fuck is that?!!

2010s:  Bitcoin?  Virtual Currency, Cryptocurrency?!!  Yea right!  I'll stick to my dollars and Paypal.   8)

Pre Stone Age: No one would want stone tools and weapons. They're to complex. Wood tools and weapons are fine.

Stone Age: No one would want copper tools and weapons. They're to complex. Stone tools and weapons are fine.

Copper Age: No one would want bronze tools and weapons. They're to complex. Copper tools and weapons are fine.

Bronze Age: No one would want iron tools and weapons. They're to complex. Bronze tools and weapons are fine.

3rd Century AD: No one would want a sawmill. They're to complex. Hand saws and axes are fine.

13th Century AD: No one would want a gun. They're to complex. Swords, knives, maces, clubs and polearms are fine.

1684: No one would want a semaphore line (optical telegraphy). They're to complex. Letters are fine.

1698: No one would want a steam-powered machine. They are to complex. Beasts of burden are fine.

1753: No one would want a telegraph machine. They're to complex. Semaphore lines and letters are fine.

1876: No one would want a telephone. They're to complex. Telegraph machines and letters are fine.

1886: No one would want a gas-powered machine. They're to complex. Steam-powered machines are fine.

what is hard about bitcoin exactly? running a client? it's like running every other program..spend them? it's like going in your bank account and do a bank transfer(which far slower, you need to fill all the free fields ecc..)

there is nothing difficult about bitcoin really, they are afraid of losing money, because when you are in control of something, you are more free to do what you want with it but the responsibility will also rise

This is what I am getting at.

Until the average dim wit moron can use Bitcoin and not have them stolen we are going no where.

This is the largest issue facing BTC.

On buying and selling Bitcoin in a western country.

Kijiji.. that is all.

There are so many companies working to make Bitcoin easier to use. It's only a matter of time before everyone can use it ::

I was taken aback by that statement but later realized it's the opposite. Yeah I'm surprised there are people who would rather not bothered at all about bitcoin and their reasons are that it is too hard to learn up. The only difficult part that I see more  challenging is the security and apart from that understanding and using bitcoin is pretty straightforward.

What u dont realize is that using fiat is not 'free'. Sure it seems free on the consumer side, but every person that uses fiat is being stolen from in 2 ways. 1. Devaluation of the fiat currency over time. 2. Higher prices due to merchant / merchant processing fees.
Theres fees/'a price to pay' with either system... ALWAYS, the nice thing about bitcoin is its completely transparent.

I always have to laugh when people compare Bitcoin with the internet.

Why? It is not so far fetched analogy at all. Not laughable at all all imo. It is actually good explanation of what bitcoin is for people who know what internet is and don't know bitcoin. Maybe not so accurate but they will get the gist of bitcoin that way.

Very true and well put, the use of bitcoin isn't complicated at all. Understanding it may be a more complex subject on the other hand.

You shouldn't rule out that Bitcoin could be the modern day betamax...

I think that bitcoin is complicated to understand but there are apps that make it easy to use,we just need more hype between these apps to be expanded in the usual population.

Tamagatchi, Beanie Baby, Microsoft Zune, HD-DVD...I'll take it at this point!

We haven't even gotten out of early Beta to be even considered by the public...

I agree. I think it's actually a valid comparison. Sure they're different things but I can see bitcoin growing like the internet to become something worldwide that is accessible and liberates a lot of people.

I guess this means we are all above average.  ;)

It takes time for people to afford these services/products as I myself owned a computer in 2003 and I took an internet connection in 2005 while I know many people who owned computers in 1990s. Bitcoins are not complicated to use but it needs to get the recognition it deserves. Till it doesn't, I don't see it having a sustainable future.

1900 No one would ever want to drive a car, they are expensive, hard to operate and look funny.
1920 No one would ever fly a plane on a daily basis, they are too dangerous.
1970 No one would ever use these computers at home, they are only good for scientists.
2008 No one would need an OS in their phone, it's hard to use, drains battery, phones are for calling!

Let's also not forget things like:
1990 Why would anybody need a hard disk larger than 100mb?
1996 Why would anybody need a hard disk larger than 1gb?
2008 Why would anybody need a hard disk larger than 1TB?

2015 Why would anybody need a digital currency?  ;)

1. Devaluation of the Fiat currency over time.
BitCoin was worth $1000 a year or so ago. It's worth like $300 now. (AUD) That's the largest devaluation I've seen, and it is within the span of a year and a half.

Bitcoin is in specific (still early) stage of its development - all bitcoins are now in hands of few people compared to the world's population and it has some value already. This two factors combined IMO can lead to high volatility and temporary devaluations.

BTC is not much more complicated to use than for example fiat online wire transfers. You don't have to understand how exactly blockchain works to send or receive some coins. But any cryptocurrency needs some kind of cheap and secure hardware wallet access,  something like credit card - just to take out of your pocket, make an tx and forget. Then, people would more likely use this kind of tender if they don't have to involve their smartphone all the time.

People forget, we needed all this just to get online...

http://bertgarcia.com/images/377.jpg

http://www.vintagecomputing.com/wp-content/images/madmaze/prodigy_login_large.jpg

http://4pt5.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/bbsmenu_large.jpg

http://www.metacars.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/aol5cd.jpg

http://www.pi-soft.com/spoonproxy/aol5-1.gif

http://images.pcworld.com/reviews/graphics/130207-01_NetscapeNavigator_b.jpg

http://toastytech.com/evil/iedesktop.gif

http://broscience.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/nerd1.jpg

this.

the funds secure side, need some killer hardware and app.

A sort of verifiable hardware so you can check for hardcoded backdoors in USBs etc and eay to use software UI that is very hard to crack. This is an integral part.

+1

Expected a dumb comment that misses the point on where we are at today with Bitcoin.
Left satisfied.

PS: This video is how I feel when I try to explain Bitcoin to morons that do not get it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lskpNmUl8yQ

It is actually we have this thread, lets remember it and hopefully we could back here in 10 years to see what people thought back then. I assure you that 'future you' will be amused by the progress bitcoin and general cryptocurrency were through. Do you remember Bitcoin for pizza?

I still do not understand what is the meaning of "+1", please explain to me.

It' shows agreement... an upvote.

Ha that's great. Leave the laggards behind. They'll come round eventually when they realize what an opportunity they've missed. I don't think bitcoin is that difficult to use any way and is only going to get more easier and much more accessible but at least we can say we've been here for the longhaul.

I think Bitcoin can be pretty confusing to a beginner. But it can be learned quickly. Hopefully Bitcoin becomes more simple to use in the future!

That's true computers were thought to be too complicated to be used until companies  like Apple and Microsoft focused more on the user expierience and made computers what they are today. We need companies like Apple and Microsoft that focus on the user experience to make bitcoin usage easier for the average Joe.

Yes, true.
BTC can be complicate for some users right now, but this is not the main reason why there are not many people who use bitcoin.
Bitcoin still didn't not become mainstream and still there are not many places where you can use bitcoin.
When this change, people will become more interesting to learn about bitcoin, how to use it, where etc.
We have spoken before that computers are too complicated for people and today almost all use them.
The same thing will happen with Bitcoin, there is no doubt about it.

I believe  that government, media and international financiers/bankers are working together to keep Bitcoin adoption at a slow rate and to keep the value of bitcoins as low as possible.

Exactly. About a year ago, I remember explaining Bitcoin to my brother and a few of his friends. Only one of this group of people is really technically minded, the rest are a bunch of kids who play music and would likely be categorized as "hippies" had they been born a few decades earlier. Without fail, by the time I was done talking to them, each and every one of them though Bitcoin sounded easier and (their words) "more real" and "more legitimate" than our current fiat banking system where banks have a license to create money out of thin air.

TIL Bitcoin users are above the 'average' person.

Bitcoin is just to complicated for the average person to use.. 

Yes, but bitcoin is just 1000X faster than international bank transfer/wire process speed. BTC costs a few minutes or highest a few hours to confirm, but bank needs at least 2-5 days to process an international bank wire. So complicated use is worth.

Bitcoin is currently for the "at least slightly above average" person.  

Look how long it is taking to convert the average person to the metric system.

You mean, you want to solve the halting problem?

Sure, In the 80s and the early 90s only people slightly above average used computers. All people cannot be trendsetters and innovators or the word would lose its meaning.

No idea how long that is, I've been born to the metric system ;)

Yes.  The only thing worse than Imperial Measurements might be Roman Numerals.

At least our speedometers are not calibrated in furlongs per fortnight.

1 furlong per fortnight = 0.000166309524 m/s
the speed of light is 1.8026×10¹² furlongs/fortnight

I will tell you this, now it is just infancy time for bitcoin or cryptocurrency in general. Imagine internet in mid 90. When the only way to use an internet was to own a modem and pay gigantic phone bills everymonth.
Bitcoin is new and might be eccentric even for some people but will tell you this! "Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric."

Yeah, now even our parents use the internet. Imagine how crazy is that. Even some grandparents know how to send email.
Give it time guys, Bitcoin is a guaranteed success, it just needs a decade.

Explaining digital currencies in a brief conversation is very difficult. There is so much to understand and it is wrapped in vocabulary the general public does not understand: wallet, blockchain, mining, faucets, pools, etc.

As the founder of AppleByte (digital currency supporting artists), I can share the method that has worked very well for us. In almost a year of building a user community of over 57,000 in social media, we have hit on a method of explaining cryptos clearly enough that the everyday user can understand and take the first step to get started. Then over time, we can get more and more technical if the user is interested.

This method certainly works with Bitcoin as well

You can see what we do on in our blog post How do digital currencies work (http://www.applebyte.me/how-do-digital-currencies-like-applebyte-work)

Or for convenience, I reproduced the part that is relevent to Bitcoin below:




As with any new technology, digital currencies like AppleByte can be hard to understand. Lets look at how AppleByte works.

 
How are digital currencies created?

Just like physical currencies, digital currencies (like AppleByte) don't just pop into existence, they have to be made. In physical currencies, paper bills are printed and coins are minted by government agencies, then distributed into the banking system. In the same way digital currencies must be created and distributed to users.

In a digital currency like AppleByte, the currency is created by a software application. This software runs on each computer connected to the AppleByte network. All of the computers connected to the network work together, sharing the complex calculations necessary to create each AppleByte, and a certain number of AppleBytes are created each day. This process is called mining, and is not free, as it costs computer power and electricity. To compensate computer owners for their work, AppleBytes are paid to the software users connected to the network. For more details on mining go here: Mining AppleBytes (http://www.applebyte.me/mining-applebytes)

 

How are balances kept and transactions processed?

Just like at your bank, your account balance and transactions are stored on a server. At your bank, the bank owns the server. But, as a digital currency, AppleByte’s account data resides on a peer-to-peer (computer-to-computer) network that consists of all the computers logged into the network. This allows for additional security as there is no single server that hackers can attack, and each transaction is verified by all the computers on the network. Just like logging into your bank account with your browser, you can see your AppleByte balance and spend them using the AppleByte Wallet App. The wallet gives you all the info you need, just like using your browser for banking transactions. The Wallet App is available in several versions:  Online, MAC, Windows, Android, and IOS....

 

This is a wonderfully easy example. I just emailed it to a couple of family members that understand Bitcoin as 'Magical internet money that somehow does things and don't touch the miner things'
Thank you for this example. Thinking of it in perspective to fiat and the current banking systems makes it understandable.

Cheers!

Bitcoin is doomed and Satochi is cashing out. Be quick.

I concur!  Add your obituary for Bitcoin here:

http://bitcoinobituaries.com/

Anyone have Satoshi's wallet address?  Gots to trace that 1mill BTC dumping on the exchanges...

Sayonara BTC, you've had a good 6 year ride!   :'(

Just be the devils advocate for a moment. A lot is made of Satoshi's supposed millions, but no one really knows if he has any. It makes sense to me that he does have at least some. But the early wallet addresses have never moved and may have even been discarded during testing.

For example here we see block #2

https://blockchain.info/block/000000006a625f06636b8bb6ac7b960a8d03705d1ace08b1a19da3fdcc99ddbd

It was likely mined by Satoshi, but has never been touched.
So, Who knows?
   

It doesn't matter if bitcoin is better,cheaper or faster  the average Joe grew up with banks and bank accounts, his grandpa had a bank account, his father had a bank account and his son will have a bank account. People grew up with banks and not with bitcoin, we are the generation that will grow with both. We will be the ones that will choose over bitcoin than banks.

Bitcoin wasn't , isn't and will never be doomed, it's decentralised after all and there will always be a demand and supply that will make a price for bitcoin. And Satoshi could have already dumped the coins and we don't know it yet, these are all speculations though.

Didn't someone steal 100 million internets from Sony a few months ago?

It's nothing complicated with bitcoin. I heard a few person saying that is complicate to use, but I can't understand why. I think everybody can use Bitcoint since everybody knows how use a smartphone or a computer.

I personally don't think that Bitcoin is too complicated for the average Joe.

A factor that many overlook is the fact that most people are up to their eyes in debt which means little or no disposable income. You can look up the stats for almost every country and you will find that anything from 60 to 80% of their consumers are deep in debt.

If you live from paycheck to paycheck the last thing you are thinking of is 'investing' in a non tangible currency which you cannot use anywhere. Yes I know, you can already use Bitcoin in thousands of places but most of these places are not [yet] your daily 'bread & milk' shops and thus not the kind of places where these highly indebted consumers are spending their money at this stage. Also, Bitcoin is 'made' for the third world, meaning its the ideal place for it due to the large numbers of 'unbanked' people yet this is also the very areas where large numbers of the population lives under the breadline.

Most of the people I've spoken to understand the concept and think that it's all just fine and well and great but they just do not have money to throw around and or into something for which they have little use and or little incentive to use.

I personally believe that we will only see large adoption once there is a 'true' incentive for consumers to make use of Bitcoin like for example retailers/shops offering discounts on payments made with Bitcoin. Like what Starbucks did in [I think it was] Hong Kong where they gave 20% discount on bills paid with Bitcoin. Adoption levels will increase quite sharply, I think, once we see more of this as most consumers will then have a reason and incentive to use Bitcoin.

Just my 2 cents

There really is no historical precedent for digital currencies. For that reason it'll take a long time to digest.

Bitcoin is not complicated at all for the average persons to start using it but it is just lack of awareness and Bitcoin still is too young.An average person still doesn't understand but by the passage of time Bitcoin and BlockChain related technology will as used as internet and PCs these days.

Not everyone is tech savvy. If you see people not understanding Bitcoin, or how it works, then explain it to them. Something that is easy for you, might be hard to figure out for others. We're here to help our fellow Bitcoiners.  :)

The internet is also just to complicated for the average person to use. Which is why the internet never really caught on.
 ;)

It's kinda complicated for people around the planet that doesn't like thinking and barely knows how to use their cellphones or computers.
As far as I know, almost 70% of the people around the world just use internet for social networking and gaming bull games (losing valuable time).
If Bitcoin wants to get mainstream, it needs to be super simple and intuitive so it can be understandable and easy to manage.

but but but but but but.. that's exactly what my first post says....

Currently BTC IS currently to complicated for the average person that doesn't understand how to make a .txt file.  There is a key word in that sentence.

I started bitcoin not long ago, and my friends do not understand anything about bitcoin at all. I've tried explaining to them, but they still think its too complicated. Just like computer and internet, it takes time and market acceptance for people to understand. News things always needs time to go big and for people to understand. I'm sure more and more people will go into cryptocurrency
 :)

Oh I was not arguing. I think we both would agree that it will get easier for normal people to use as time goes on and tools are developed.

I agree that Bitcoin is too complicated at the moment. Thats one of the reasons I somewhat resent those who are pushing for mass adoption. Sure it helps the value of the currency, but the stakes are higher than just your Bitcoin's value. Cryptocurrencies as a whole are a new concept. The distributed consensus model could be the solution to so many issues with the internet in general. All it would take is pushing one large company to use Bitcoin prematurely before foolproof and easy safety measures are in place, and Cyptocurrencies as a whole are sunk.

We get one chance at this. If Bitcoin is pushed down the public's throat before people are ready to try it on their own terms, one catastrophic security flaw, and there wont be another chance at adoption for anything Cryptocurrency. I think we are moving in the right direction, but it has to be just as easy to secure your Bitcoins as you can your cash or assets before everyone is ready to give it a try.

I don't think it's too complicated. I think bitcoin is actually pretty simple to use especially with a blockchain.info app which is just like paypal app in my opinion. I think bitcoin will only get easier to use over time too. I do think that maybe the public or most merchants aren't ready for it yet or have no real desire or need to use it over conventional means but it will take a 2-3 years to get them on board so it will be a slow progress any way and by that time maybe wallets will be even more user friendly.

Literally a quote from my 55 year old cousin back in the early 90's: This internet thing will never take off. Nobody will trust buying stuff from the internet without seeing what you are buying in real life and without knowing whom are you dealing with, you are literally insane to put any money into this thing.

It seems he didn't learn the lesson and is treating Bitcoin is something not serious lol

services like Circle exist to 'dumb down' bitcoin for the Average Joe

Thats why people that are glad the price is low and stable are on the right train of thought. We can benefit from it while we are early adopters and we can get away with crazy shit like hard forks while we are still an underground economy. Once we go mainstream, a hard fork is just something we have to avoid at all costs, while now we can experiment (even tho a big security flaw would be catastrophic at this point already)

I completely agree with you. I tried to explain to some of my friends. They were with me on the same page until I came onto paper wallet system. They just got completely confused.

That is correct and same goes hand in hand when it comes to adoption and the acceptance of the bitcoin as a currency as people are not used to it and many of them have never heard about it so it is really difficult to expect that they would start using bitcoin as a mode of payment.

Maybe you are referring to a minority niche group of techy people at the time? The larger majority of the people didn't know much at all about computers.


1980: I do not remember anyone saying computers were too complicated, most people did not have a computer. Most of us had no real idea what a computer was or how a person might use it, or for what reason. computers cost too much, there was students paying $2500-3000 for a computer for their college courses, and that was out of the reach of the common person, there was the sense that becoming computer literate might mean the difference between the 'haves and the have-nots', although no one really knew why that might be, but they had tv shows that had mysterious ways of explaining it

1990: Maybe in some small niche techie groups, they might have said things like that? But Ronald Reagan was president from 1981-1989 and I remember him speaking about the Information Superhighway, and he was really very upbeat about it, so the message to the larger population was upbeat and optimistic about the Information Superhighway( which is the internet). The teachers were saying that people who got computer training would earn good money after they finished college.

there is nothing complicated about "using" bitcoin. every one can easily set up a wallet in (for example) coinbase and then buy bitcoin and start using it. i know that it is not the best option and the safest thing is to create a cold wallet, buy as fat as using bitcoin it is easy.

Well, before answering this question, we should agree who is the average person?
Is it an American teenager who practically lives in the virtual world every day, and never separate from computers and smartphones.
Is that a pensioner from Brazil, poor and without electricity, who had never seen a computer in his life.
Is it a single mother from Africa, who lives in a tent.
Maybe we are talking about a middle-aged Russian from Siberia who has no confidence in anything that comes from the west.
Or  we are simply talking about a middle-aged American who use the Internet just to read e-mail and watch Facebook, but always prefer to see the money in his wallet rather than have some virtual money or use the credit card.
So, I would say that Bitcoin is not to complicate for average person to use but much more important question is who is average person today in the world and how many people in the world really have necessary foundation, habits and life style to even start to think about using bitcoin.

Of course there is no 'average' person and the definition will differ from country to country, but I think the average person in the Western world can use it. I'd consider myself average and have no problem working my wallet or using bitcoin. I don't think my parents would have much difficulty either.

not really, it just depends how you explain it to non tech people.
I just describe like this: a bitcoin wallet is like a digital cash account. Your public key is an account number you give out to receive money, the private key is the pin number used to spend it. Probably not the best explanation in the world but whenever I've mentioned the distributed ledgers etc peoples eyes glaze over lol.

By saying that learning and understanding what Bitcoin is is overkill for your average person. By that I'm assuming you meant the average person that does not necessarily need to understand what it is, but who remains fearful to dabble in it because of the lack of understanding, but being the problem. I would have to say that the exercise of trying to wrap your brain around the concept of cryptocurrency, with Bitcoin in particularly in mind was an eye-opening reminder that our Fiat system has become increasingly flawed and corrupted. This reminder alone was worth the effort.

There is no complications using bitcoin for an average person . We should the way on how to explain bitcoin to them . If they interested it is not hard for them to understand .

Bitcoin for those who do not understand is complicated, because transactions occur peer to peer, and there is no intervention from anywhere. So independent price / value bitcoin because of the ups and downs determined by buying and selling factors, is not complicated at all ... But it becomes complicated because it is mixed with political problems, financial sentiment, stability of a country is also an issue that can complicate bitcoin.

think bitcoin is too complicated and only fools find it complicated
and I don't think that Bitcoin is too complicated for me and most fools don't know what bitcoin is and in detail
and if after they know what Bitcoin is, I'm sure they will like it very much.

In think it is not complicated to average people. Its depends who describe bitcoin for average people. If you can use internet i think you can also use bitcoin. You can advise new people who use bitcoin. Bitcoin wallet is your money store, keep safe place your password.

Yes its too complicated for average people. Especially for those who do not have any idea about bitcoin, they need to have enough knowledge so they can clearly understand the things they need to do in investing in bitcoin. We can help them by giving them proper information about bitcoin, or by sharing our experience with bitcoin.

Its a normal scenario. Younger people are often more advantageous in terms of the use of technology compared to older one. Progress does not wait for those who can't caught up that is why continuous gaining of knowledge is important so that he will be not left behind.

very good examples led by the author! all the time and once bitcoin will become a means of calculation, etc.

I guess this depends in the individual that we are talking about. There are still a lot of erderly that is not stopping to learn a lot of things. They are not satisfied to wjat they know so they seek more of it by travelling to other countries or make some experiments about it. I am also an average person but I can use Bitcoin, it is not that complicated unless we are talking about the blockchain or how it works.

Most human are tuned to repel changes and new innovations. It's like a block of skepticism.
It would take a while for bitcoin and cryptocurrencies to break through and go mainstream, with mass adoption.

for me the information is only complicated for other people because they do not know how to make the bitcoin or what they want to buy. as much as a bitcoin question that you should only be able to use if it is good to use for me as long as you have a personal computer and internet ok that's a bitcoin and your time is not complicated everyday

The technology here isn’t Bitcoin, it’s digital currency. And with any emerging technology, the first few attempts are gonna have some problems. Now, you cannot deny that hundreds of millions of dollars have disappeared for various reasons with Bitcoin users. Therefore, anything is also difficult at the beginning, and no more.

I think bitcoin is just complexibility  for people who don't search on Bitcoin. Nowadays, with developed technology, it is not difficult for us to learn anything. Thus, really understanding before we start in Bitcoin is so necessary even not the average people.

I do not see bitcoin as been complicated for an average person. Its very easy to learn if you give it the time it deserves. No one is a fountain of knowledge in this context. Everyone can learn

Well everything always starts with doubt, and it is healthy because we know we still use reason, logic and skepticism to further search for answers in the future. When trying to learn something new, we tend to give up easily when we can not get the hang of it. Bitcoin is not as hard and complicated as it looks, in fact it makes things a lot more easier than ever before, so trying to invest some time in learning it will eventually give us opportunities to have a better future.

These illustrations are very apt to the faith most people are keeping up with that despite how bashed cryptocurrency has undergone by some government idiots or how complex the man in the streets think it is, bitcoin will eventually become mainstream.

Going to the topic, I think what makes bitcoin seem difficult is the technicalities involved with the blockchain phenomenon. Non science inclined minds and programmers (including yours truly) always find it slightly hard to understand the workings of the bitcoin because of the manner of innovation involved. Soon, the whole blockchain tech will be easily understood just like how the computer and Internet are today clearly understood.

Usually that is the first reaction of most people when confronted with new technological advances. I clearly remember that the same thing happened when cellular telephony began to be known by the masses, and most people thought that it was something inaccessible, reserved only for millionaires and that its use was going to be very complicated.

Now we see it as something simple and an essential part of our day to day, even when the current smartphones are much more complex than the first movil phones, so within a few years, when the use of cryptos is something natural and ordinary, many will wonder why we had not used them before.

if I personally do not feel complicated in plunging into bitcoin, on the contrary I like and love, because plunging into bitcoin can find out the development of finance in the world. the problem also includes the knowledge we get from this forum.

 :) :) but here we are chasing after it here and there. Although it wasn't easy on the start but it value and worth will compel you to learn it such is life now we are in a new world full of technology.

Initially the meaning of technology's limited to tangible objects such as equipment or machinery. However, as time goes by, the meaning of technology's increasingly experiencing expansion, it's not only limited to tangible objects but also intangible objects, such as software including bitcoin, learning methods, business methods, agriculture and so on.

Technology is the development and application of various equipment or systems to solve problems faced by humans in daily life. Not to complicate humanity, technology is a whole method that rationally leads and has characteristics of efficiency in every human activity. For example, bitcoin, by using bitcoin as a payment method, one does not need to leave the house when he wants to buy something.

Because people are afraid of change. The concept of change is always a different world for us, so most people are trying to avoid it. Like they already had set in a certain way of living and these new ideas that come and go can shatter their worldview. The world is trying to change, but the people are too afraid of these changes.

I don't think that it is too complicated for the average users. If you give them some information and knowledge on how to use bitcoin I am pretty sure that they can use bitcoin.

I believe everything can be learn if they will be given enough knowledge and information about bitcoin and blockchain technology.It may take time but i'm sure they will learn how to use bitcoin after a long time of studying and learning at the sane time.

Those mentality are just for pessimists who intends to always be negative upon hearing such other's negative impression and prediction. It is the sickness of anyone that never built trust onto something even if others have proofs to show. Bitcoin will still be indeed a complicated topic to others, yet they will soon understand it hence we must be patient.

there is no such thins as an average person as the bitcoin is not that complicated ad it is presented. its just that most people do not know how to communicate some information to other people and they end up making the whole thing seem complicated. it someone who is properly informed on the bitcoin and the blockchain technology is approached for explanation, i believe there will not be need to one to think or have double thoughts about it

yes, being affected only by negative issues proves that if someone is easy to despair and does not want to study harder, if they can find an accurate source and recognize deeper about bitcoin, then I'm sure he will try to use it and will be interested more deeply after that.

There is an old saying that says,

"Whoever you are
Wherever you are
You have to know one thing
You can learn everything."

So I guess bitcoin is not complicated to average people only if they are just willing to learn. Because as what I have said, everything can be learned if you have the willpower to do so.

2009-the evolution of money has come, the Fiat money will be replaced by digital currency
2019-the digital currency has become a cryptocurrency, killing the banking system.

Right.As long as you have the enthusiam and motivation to learn,then learning bitcoin and the rest of crypto coins would be easy.Everyone are free to learn,provided that they will study it first and learn from all their mistakes.

As older we become it's harder to embrace and learn new things, especially from technological area. It is logical and people will decide to just pass by, not to spend any energy on something that is so 'complicated' to understand.

Some other people are really thinks about negativity of new technology that keep their mind in doubt to participate even behind from anyone succeesful career. In investing bitcoin we should be positive always for us to gain positive output besides of complicated situation of the market trend.

Bitcoin may seems to be of no use for average people because to them life is already too complicated that to add another complicated gadget or system to deal with, they want faster and easier way, its too hard for them to fully comprehend and understand it all, they want something that will help them assist to find things in life that is more convenient for them.

Everything can be learned, it takes time, patience and focus to know something. And we are now in digital age, we can teach the older generation to use the computers and internet. It's possible that they can also learn how to handle bitcoin business.

The reason for this is that the current penetration rate of Bitcoin is not high. If Bitcoin develops into a payment medium one day, it is no longer complicated for ordinary people because they only need to know how to use bitcoin for trading or paying (just like the fiat currency currently used). As for the related bitcoin technology, they don’t care, and they don’t feel complicated.

Bitcoin is really a hard concepts. In my opinion,  bitcoin or aother coins or cryptocurrency is difficult for average people particularly the people who are not familiar to the technology and devices. However it can learned the problem is that it takes time to learn it and know the every details of it. As time goes by, eventually it will become ordinary for all.

It is not complicated for average person if he/she is willing to  understand and  learn bitcoin. If we keep think that it is complicated we tend to procratinate to give to learn it. Then we think lots of reasons why it is complicated for us not to do it.  We only have to be open minded for new ideas and knowledge.

In the future I believe people who say bitcoin is complicated to be used by many people, because there are many instances of cases like Hanphone that used to be used only to receive calls and contact someone, now it can be used for various useful things.
I think while it has many benefits in its field, it will continue to grow as well as bitcoin, it will be accepted by all groups of people.

The complexity is why it will take a few more year before bitcoin can go mainstream. It's the younger generation that will embrace crypto so we have to wait until they start buying before bitcoin goes parabolic. 2020 will be my best guess

The reason you often hear about the birth of a computer is to serve the needs of the people. After several years, computers were popularized in universities, government agencies, banks and insurance companies. And Bitcoin also same, the world of electronic money, that grows to serve the needs of people and is growing in all countries around the world.

This is the right thing to say about reality. Like the SD card we use. When it was invented, a few megabytes of memory was more than enough, but nowadays, there are still a lot of people using memory cards with a lot of TB memory.
When an invention is not yet popular, people will not believe it will have a practical application, but the development of technology requires modern things, which inevitably play an important role before. anticipate

Almost everyone when they hear bitcoin then they say that. Crypto currency will process like the internet and computers, I just see some functions of crypto currency that are impossible not to be used by everyone in the next few years. They said crypto currency like the internet and computer at the beginning was made because the technological process had not developed so that it underestimated, but after the development of technology it continued to advance so they realized the need to use crypto currency and the internet and this would happen to crypto currency.

If you want to start a thing then first you have the ability to understand because here in crypto if you are average in other things you can expert in crypto so some time average people do better than any other things it is not complicated for every one.

2017-2018: No one will ever use bitcoin, since this is a useless and unnecessary coin. And after a while everyone will try to earn bitcoin

Perhaps this is difficult. But I'm sure that if you want, you can learn everything. It seems to me that now people are too lazy, it is laziness that prevents us from learning something new

LMAO so true ;D ;D ;D
Bitcoin is complicated for some of the people especially those people that have less knowledge about technology it will be pretty hard and frustrating to them to understand this kind of technology but for people that are aware of technology especially those millennials, this kind of technology and innovation will be easier for them to understand. Bitcoin, Crypto currencies and its blockchain technology are among the best things that ever happened to the internet and I'm hoping that most of the people will gain interest in this innovation that "Satoshi Nakamoto" has created for everyone. :)

bitcon can be tricky for those who don't understand it! but that's possible for some people! now there are many people who already understand bitcoin, especially when there are so many new coins!

Certainly you cannot judge this people as wrong because they are correct. During those time computers where hard to use because many are not yet into it. And the device doesn't have much application in the real world. But as time moves on everything changes, some difficulties had been addressed that it would be easier now to use it. And computers had become a daily use. The early computers don't have mouse but keyboard only which makes it difficult to use other than just typing. Now we have touchpads, screens and pens that can make it very easy. So in relation to bitcoin, many still have so many problems using it until maybe when people will use it in everything they would do to buy things and related activities. When it will become widely used it will become how the computers have evolved.

The technical side of bitcoin can also be the reason for a cashless society to be unlikely to happen. How can these people (not only the average but including below average) use bitcoin or the alternate coins if they even lack the know-how of using computers? We can't deny that there are people who are IT illeterate and can't even afford to buy gadgets?

Technical am sure new things are very difficult for human beings, we will get to a stage where bitcoin will not be complicated to every one, all its will take is time, we will get there

I got your point actually. The so-called complication of usage for bitcoin is a rampant and prevalent idea that seems to kill the end goal of having the general public accept bitcoin and all its offerings. Adapting to bitcoin will then look impossible since usage remains to be complicated in the perception of the majority.

Yet, time proves that people does adopt automatically with every passing innovative & revolutionary technology that sounds so complicated at first. And as much as such technology does not hold any imperative purpose, its growing popularity is able to push people to embrace it despite the hurdles in usage.

So i guess we are set to witness in the near future how easy it would be for the people to use bitcoin like 1-2-3.

Excellent examples. The dynamics of development is obvious. Do not see the man's desire for new opportunities based on the development of technology is simply ridiculous.

bitcoin is not necessarily for individuals with super brains or for special groups of people. It is purposely for individuals for are ready to face the future irrespective of the changes that comes with it and are ready to make something good out of it. The keyword here is u have to be devoted.

I think so because you need to have at least knowledge in crypto on how to use it, trade it, invest on it and most of all how to earn money out from it. That's also one of the concerns to consider when we talk about mass adoption of crypto and the so-called cashless society in the future if crypto itself is too complicated to be useful to average people.

Bitcoin is little complicated the person who is used with internet payment system can use easily rest will find a bit difficult in accessing bitcoin

I do not see any difficulty in using bitcoin. If a person is illiterate and is afraid of everything new, this does not mean that bitcoin is complicated. This means that a person does not want to develop.

This is so true and it is the mother of ignorance. Some people are afraid of trying new  things  which normally limit them in every aspect of live. Life is full of risks and those try taking risks most of the times are more successful. Bitcoin and blockchain came out about a decade ago and yet something that is novel as   blockchain is what some people are saying it is not easy to comprehend. The main reason why this is happening is that people are not reading, we are so lazy when it comes to reading books. The worst that happens is that when you read you may not understand all you have read but you can ask questions to another person who is better and he will explain to make it clear for you.

If you are not so very familiar with bitcoin on the first , it should be better that before you join the organization you must be familiar of what is this all about and the concept of bitcoin, because you will encountered difficulty if you are first time of bitcoin technology.

From this we can understand that average people is getting smarter... i remember an aunt who wasn't able to play a cassette, she always ask us (the young boys) to put some music.  and i always think, how hard can be this shit? open the machine, put the cassette inside, push play. And while more i try to teach her, was harder for her. The fun fact here is no days that same Pearson uses Facebook on her PC, and Whatsapp on her phone.

So, technology is something really cool, who will make people learn about it just because that will drive them to a better life.