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I really, really don't want to re-hash old arguments. But with all of the wailing and gnashing of teeth by newbies in this thread, I feel like I have to say something.
Keep in mind that I'm not saying this as someone who is against Bitcoin Store, or who wants to see it fail to meet its goal. I'm saying this as someone who owns Bitcoins, who is in the market for some electronics, and who has spent almost an hour browsing their offerings. I'm saying this as someone who wants to see every Bitcoin enterprise succeed, and for Bitcoin to grow and prosper.
But I'm also saying this as someone who has argued here, time and time again, against this obsession that some people seem to have, with promoting Bitcoin as a payment service instead of as an actual currency.
Bitcoin is a crappy payment service.
Unless you are spending Bitcoins that you already own with a producer who also wants Bitcoins, adding Bitcoin to the transaction makes absolutely zero sense to the participants, and provides very little benefit to the overall Bitcoin economy. We all know the one place where this has been worthwhile. And that's only due to the special requirements and ridiculous profit margins involved.
We are operating, competing really, in an environment in which the velocity of traditional paper money is lower than it has almost ever been. The idea of beating fiat currencies, and existing payment processors even, by adding Bitcoin and a handful of middle-men to transactions between people who aren't even all that interested in Bitcoin, should be obviously self-defeating.
And yet a handful of Bitcoin early adopters continue to push this vision of Bitcoin. Why?
In my opinion, the failure of Bitcoin Store to push Bitcoin into the mainstream as a payment service, with such an ostentatious goal of having such a large percentage of the entire Bitcoin economy spent on electronics in a single month, will have absolutely zero effect on Bitcoin's real growth, as a currency. Because that's what Bitcoin really is. That's how Bitcoin derives its value, from the bottom-up, from the interaction between producers and consumers and investors, from Bitcoin users coming together to mutually economize the time and effort spent producing things that they all consume. Not from these schemes to try to attract new users to Bitcoin, and to try to pressure existing vendors into using Bitcoin as a payment service.
Keep in mind that I'm not saying this as someone who is against Bitcoin Store, or who wants to see it fail to meet its goal. I'm saying this as someone who owns Bitcoins, who is in the market for some electronics, and who has spent almost an hour browsing their offerings. I'm saying this as someone who wants to see every Bitcoin enterprise succeed, and for Bitcoin to grow and prosper.
But I'm also saying this as someone who has argued here, time and time again, against this obsession that some people seem to have, with promoting Bitcoin as a payment service instead of as an actual currency.
Bitcoin is a crappy payment service.
Unless you are spending Bitcoins that you already own with a producer who also wants Bitcoins, adding Bitcoin to the transaction makes absolutely zero sense to the participants, and provides very little benefit to the overall Bitcoin economy. We all know the one place where this has been worthwhile. And that's only due to the special requirements and ridiculous profit margins involved.
We are operating, competing really, in an environment in which the velocity of traditional paper money is lower than it has almost ever been. The idea of beating fiat currencies, and existing payment processors even, by adding Bitcoin and a handful of middle-men to transactions between people who aren't even all that interested in Bitcoin, should be obviously self-defeating.
And yet a handful of Bitcoin early adopters continue to push this vision of Bitcoin. Why?
In my opinion, the failure of Bitcoin Store to push Bitcoin into the mainstream as a payment service, with such an ostentatious goal of having such a large percentage of the entire Bitcoin economy spent on electronics in a single month, will have absolutely zero effect on Bitcoin's real growth, as a currency. Because that's what Bitcoin really is. That's how Bitcoin derives its value, from the bottom-up, from the interaction between producers and consumers and investors, from Bitcoin users coming together to mutually economize the time and effort spent producing things that they all consume. Not from these schemes to try to attract new users to Bitcoin, and to try to pressure existing vendors into using Bitcoin as a payment service.
As much as I agree with you, Im sure your not saying that bitcoin is at a point where hardware manifacturers or wholesale companies would be accepting bitcoin. In my opinnion this is the path there, not some blue eyed idealism where major buisnesses just choose to accept bitcoin because because we write polite e-mails. Sure I'd love to live in a world where the restauran who sells me a burger accepts bitcoins, uses them directly to pay foe their expenses and their producers and manufactures do the same. But it's not going to happen by word-of mouth / grassroot activism. I repeat this is the path, the goal atlest seems mutural.
I'd donate u right now for starting a good thread.
