Bitcoin Forum

every post here is talking how good btc is and how it is superior to other systems.

what are some disadvantages and weaknesses and bad effects bitcoin cause on this world and our society, financially/economically/socially/technically/environmentally/etc, that even the most die hard btc fanatic cannot deny?

Grossly disproportionate rewards to a small community of self selecting early adopters.

So in this case 'self selecting' would not be a bad thing.

Threatening to undermine the status quo and to endanger some species such as bankers and politicians.

Gosh what a horrendous thought!

drugs

Nope, they were here a long time ago.

Bitcoin doesn't do drugs; people do drugs. ;)

Making people sitting up from sleep in the night from time to time, worrying that their wallets protection systems are not meticulous enough, no more the blissful "peace of mind" they had when they used to put their money in the custody of good old trustworthy bankers.

I disagree
It seems like bitcoin took some blow on the white stuff 1-2 weeks ago..  ;D

Chronic nightmares about pizza.

The use of electrical power to secure the network, and an increase in doing so fueled by the greed of miners (I'm one of them).  The calculations completed have no intrinsic value - they're just a means to the end of securing the network.  As time goes on, if bitcoin continues to succeed, power consumption will continue increasing.

Making people angry because they were fooled the whole time.

I would add: Grossly disproportionate punishment of a few trolls who sold all their bitcoin at $12 and still can't get over it. ;D

^^ best comment of 2013  ;D

Wheels subsequent to the first one got easier to make. Had we applied a Bitcoin style model at this point wheels would be so difficult to produce that people would have to lease them off those that already have them.

The electricity used to protect the network is preventing a global mini ice age from happening. If global nuclear war were to break out, bitcoin would keep the planet from freezing.

But, the wheels would have been stronger if all the wheel makers joined a pool.

http://www.coinlink.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/large_yap_stone_money.jpg

Unless a wheel pool had more than 51% of the wheels.

Wheel makers are a smart lot and would never let such a thing happen. They would simply switch pools.

http://c3e308.medialib.glogster.com/media/55/55bcb0cff16195c91f30e9d5e463fb7cff9b18a4bb38a20af8882c3ae4bb644f/moneycarry-jpg.jpg

Making it a lot easier to launder money...

Nice try, Sunshine Press.

Except that for many miners (like me), power usage hit a peak and is now on the way down even with increasing GH as I replace older less efficient miners with ASICS. 

Most valid point among others in this thread. Although people tend to waste more electricity on other useless thing, mining sha256 or scrypt makes up for 0.0000000000000001% of wasted power in the world

Exactly. Think about how much banks and banking infrastructure costs to maintain. Noone is bothered by that.

I can't think of a single example, can you?

Bzzt.


Read my posting history. I cashed out all my Bitcoins and funnelled the money to charitable causes. I was interested in Bitcoin because as a currency, but the whole ethos has been ruined by speculators.

it is enabling criminals/terrorists/pedophiles/drug dealers/scammers/etc to acquire/manage/launder their blood-soaked money much easier and to continue their act, for one.

as for the thread, no one yet has the courage to admit to the truth that bitcoin causes harm as well as benefit.

everything has good side and bad side - bitcoin is no exception.

Bitcoin has several negative aspects.  Most have been mentioned already.  But the important thing to keep in mind is that most of these negative aspects are far *less negative* than the system it replaces.

I remember hearing this argument when bitcoin hit $1.

My quite exhaustive list, for now:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.

I'll add other points if more will come to mind.
Feel free to correct the ones you disagree, thanks.


EDIT: added point 11.

Financial privacy is compromised due to the traceability of the blockchain.

While you can't immediately tell which address belongs to which person/entity, transactions that you participate in allow you to review details of someone else's financial history.

For example, if you receive your salary in Bitcoin then send me that $20 you owe me, I can follow the funds used in that transaction to find your salary.

Another example, if I give you $50 for something, I can then see where you send that coin. If I recognize the addresses (or can look them up elsewhere) I know exactly what you're buying.

So… Bitcoin is hurting our financial privacy.

There are methods to mitigate this somewhat (use more addresses, split up large transactions into multiple smaller ones) but they require special effort. Most people just send/receive.

And the wheel makes it easier to haul cash (and gold and silver) around to someone to trade for other assets.  Tools are neutral.  Likewise, as someone said above, free, voluntary exchange should be free.

Is there any other way to start a cryptocurrency?

http://disanji.net/iOS_Doc/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/Animation_Types_Timing/Art/standardtiming.jpg

Bitcoin uses "EaseOut".

Is better/possible use an "EaseInEaseOut" curve? Any Altcoins tried it yet?

Early adopter are those how were looking/searching for alternative to the fiat currencies, and they took big risk, have vision and strong hands..  This is ok, they have the merit to own what they own.

This is'nt bad, it is in the "good things" list !

Just create a paper wallet and sleep well !

IMO, Bitcoin use far less, order of magnitude less power than banks paiement system / network / servers

I bet diiff can go to several billions and Bitcoin will still uses a lot less power than the actual fiat/credit system/network

90%+ of the criminals/terrorists/pedophiles/drug dealers/scammers/etc are still using fiat.. to convert from fiat to BTC, it leaves trace.. all those criminals/terrorists/pedophiles/drug dealers/scammers/etc using BTC would be much more tracable than now, as they tend to use fiat/gold, wich is less efficient, but less tracable..  IMO, BTC is'nt a free ride for those criminals/terrorists/pedophiles/drug dealers/scammers/etc

Bitcoins make babies cry.

In all seriousness, its current value attracts wallet snatchers and scammers. No surprises there i guess.  :-X

Less focus should be on price, want to be an early adopter ? Buy Litecoin....Not interested ? People will buy Bitcoin when the price is much much higher who wouldn't have touched it as an "early adopter" what on earth is Bitcoin?, what am I going to do with that? It's stupid? Etc. etc. etc. NO the focus should be on its utility it's strength as a peer to peer payment system, got a small online business ? Start accepting Bitcoin for your goods and services unsure about price volatility ? Use bit pay and convert to fiat straight away.

Who's an early adopter? If Bitcoin expands further and continues to gain momentum then early adopter could be being added for the next 5-10 years.

Many early adopters are the very ones that are not concerned about price, they were building services and infrastructure just as they continue to do now even when the price fell from $30- $2.00

You sold your bitcoins a while ago and gave the proceeds to charity, I can imagine your frustrated for those charities in that you could have donated more had you sold today? Why not focus your energies towards Bitcoin related charities etc. or try and get some of your local charities to accept Bitcoin, you sold your bitcoins but your still here on the forum, I'm sure the Bitcoin community welcomes all whether a person has 1000btc or 0.0001 btc

Look to me Bitcoin use an EaseinEaseOut

This issue will be solved in time when banks start offering insured bitcoin savings accounts. That way, people who are worried by the prospect of having to secure their own assets can offload this responsibility to the bank. Others will secure their bitcoins themselves as they have always done.

What big risk?


Running the Bitcoin client software on computers they already owned?

Oh yeah, Satoshi should really have started an IPO and sold Bitcoins at an initial price of $45/BTC, like what Twitter just did, he shouldn't have allowed the early adopters to get them nearly for free, right.

Well, it will be at several billion some time next year, and it will continue growing after that with no sign of stopping if the price keeps up.  We'll just have to see what happens - many things are possible.  It is a consideration and a downside (that the electricity is just wasted), but not a major one.

There are no disadvantages, weaknesses, or bad effects. IMO.

https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/245x217q90/208/t9nk.jpg

With 5 exchanges with vast amounts of this coin, and which buy and sell for a FIXED price. If people want to buy/sell outside of those exchanges for different price it's their right to do so.

Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes... The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!

Real wrath of God type stuff.  A disaster of biblical proportions.

Seriously if you don't like Bitcoin - don't use it. :)

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Controlled_supply
https://en.bitcoin.it/w/images/en/e/e3/Total_bitcoins_over_time_graph.png

Bitcoin is making me fat from all the fine Dinning BTC has paid for.  ;)

Unfortunately , this is not the case for kidnappers and extortionist , and in case of bribery.

1) Kidnapping , most of them demand money (cash) , and thus they make themselves vulnerable while getting the amount and while holding the money (can be marked , can be traced).
With bitcoin they can ask for those money to be transferred online , and even if they are caught , how can you prove that somebody is the owner of the address?
It this case you have to admit it bitcoin simplifies a lot the ransom demands.

2) lets assume another FUD scenario
You came home late , a black car pulls over , some people take you to a deserted building , hit you a few times with a hammers over your fingers till they are turned to mincemeat and demand your private keys.
Even the sha1024 won't help you. And in this case they will get ALL your money. (this theory is for people dropping fiat money and using only bitcoin).
Now , you go to the police and....you have to prove that they took your money and that those addresses were yours , and the police will have to prove that the thief got your money.
With current systems , is a bit troublesome to get all the money somebody owns in a a few seconds , banks got limits , cards got limits etc. bitcoin doesn't have those

3) Bribery
As my country is leading the UE in this field..
A politician (i'm not saying a corrupt one , in my country all of them take bribes :)) , will not have to ask for money , goods or anything traceable. When they talk about the bribery he will just have to drop a piece of paper with a bitcoin address. Now.... prove to me that he is the owner of it , and that he got the bribe.
Plus , in most of the cases , the money used in the undercover mission will be lost forever :)))

And there are mixing services and there are localbitcoins , not even talking about the projects like darkwallet.

not quite. if you give 'me' $50 for something, you can then see where 'the recipient' sends that coin.

it may be the case that the address i give you for sending the $50, is directly owned by a 3rd party

e.g.

A owes B $50.
C purchases something from A for $50, but A simply gives him B's receiving address.



...also, put me in the money-laundering-is-not-inherently-bad camp:

actually, I love Bitcoin trading and all, but sitting here thinking, Im trying to think of why it is "actually" better/ (or has any advantadges) over just investing in any some other public market...? 

But then again, think about (I know this is extreme) but Madhoff with that Ponzi scheme, and he was doing that "supposedley" through NASDAQ or NYSE I think, (correct me if Im wrong)  and there are people today in their 90's who have to go to work because they are broke because of that scum.  To be honest, I'm glad his kid killed himself, and I would never say that, but the number of lives he ruined, makes Bitcoin traders not look soooo bad

Given that ASIC development will lead to the point where electricity consumption is essentially the only cost of mining and if Bitcoin gets to the point where it's a (or the) major global currency, then mining will have to use a significant
fraction (up to half) of the world's energy output. Using any less will open it up to a 51% attack.

Use shared send on blockchain.info and nobody will ever know your main addresses.

Why do people always talk about dollars when we discuss bitcoin?
Why on earth would you convert back and forth to fiat? To be excluded from the blockchain?

Because not everything can be buyed with Bitcoin now. Or it is more cheap/convenient to buy with fiat

I mean in his example, he says that somebody owes him $20 bucks and that it is traceable in the blockchain. I do not understand.
Blockchain doesn't have anything to do with dollars.

Just say 0,003 BTC then...

I forgot about how it could make it easier for kidnappers to collect ransom.
It is possible though to have a scheme where coins are held in a trust or
escrow where transactions can be reversed if not re-validated within a
given time period.  This of course requires protocol layer(s) above and beyond
the bitcoin protocol itself.

The Kidnapping has apparently already begun, its just your files for now, children will take a bit longer.

http://www.coindesk.com/cryptolocker-malware-demands-bitcoin-ransom/

On a side note I would say that anything that makes people believe in Austrian economic nonsense is bad but that's a bit indirect as it's actually the implementation of Austrian economic practices that are damaging to the economy not people beliefs in them.

I wonder where do people get this shit? I've stopped using a serious antivirus software years ago, visit a lot of horrible places on the web daily, and yet I'm clean.

Best thing you can do is to store your important stuff offline I guess.

Yeah, the wheel was like that too. See how that turned out  ::)

Bitcoin enables trade. Voluntary trade.

Off the top of my head I cannot come up with an evil as the result of voluntary trade.

The worst use of Bitcoin that is happening today is sell of arms & ammunitions. There were (maybe are) some sellers on Silk Road that dealed in this

I like this. But even more I liked inspired by a few posts before:


A: It's unfair that Bitcoin rewards early adapters disproportionately.
 (http://A: It's unfair that Bitcoin rewards early adapters disproportionately.)
B: Pssst... There is a new coin, Litecoin. You can still be an early adopter!

A: It is too expensive. I want lots of coins cheaply!
 (http://A: It is too expensive. I want lots of coins cheaply!)
B: Feathercoin has been trading a while and you can just buy as many as you want.

A: Wtf is that...
 (http://A: Wtf is that...)
B: The software is open source. Make your own coin and just select how many you want.

A: Too much hassle; I would invest my time and even money for something that has no guarantee of ever succeeding.
 (http://A: Too much hassle; I would invest my time and even money for something that has no guarantee of ever succeeding.)
B: There you have the unfair and disproportionate bitcoiners...

Three of the big "bad things" brought up in this thread are buying drugs, buying guns and laundering your own money.  None of these things are actually crimes, because they have no victims.  Voluntary exchange between willing parties is not criminal behavior.

They would have to do it under the radar, as Silk Road banned arms trade.

And people being able to effectively defend themselves, despite pro-criminal safety government infringements of the most important human right, is not the worst use of bitcoin.

I would also say one of the potentially bad things is how easily they can be lost, forever.  One missed digit in a recipient's wallet, one lost paper wallet, one bad apple stealing from an exchange, etc., and they can never be recovered. 

Makes me wonder, at a price of over $300 per BTC, is it time for the market to develop a bitcoin moderation/investigation/dispute resolution service?  A third party which private companies/customers can hire to investigate and opine on claims of wrongdoing between parties utilizing BTC as their medium of exchange?

I believe one missed digit or other small errors won't do anything, due to checksums.

One mispasted address, though...but the same is true with email. You think you Ctrl+C'd your girlfriend's address and then paste it into the recipient line, but you actually still had your boss's address on the clipboard. Then you proceed to send your boss a raunchy email, with cock pics, and/or talking about what a jerk he is. Alternatively you send that to an address that rebroadcasts to the whole company. Possible jail time.

Email isn't ready for the mainstream!

As a few people mentioned above, Bitcoin does have downsides, but they are tiny compared to the benefits. Access to running water also has downsides. It "wastes" power, costs resources and labor to maintain, makes people less creative, needs to be drained, etc.

Say what? I smell hypocrisy. No guns but tons of heroin? Drugs kill as good as guns do. I could never imagine that silkroad would ban something, lol. Proves that I know nothing.