Great idea, but the problem is the other way around. The problem is to find a way for Grandpa to send me bitcoins, not for me to send him Euro (or such) using my Bitcoins.

It's real. I could even add more truth to it which would even make it unbelievable, but I will skip that part.

I thought basic internet skills like shopping would be enough for him to send me the amount in bitcoin. I really thought such a service existed. Well, it kind of does - but it's to hard to use or there are strict limits for the amount/frequency to be sendt.  

In Norway now there is a wallet "war" going on among regular banks which makes transfers and payment really easy. I find Bitcoin to be behind here.  

I have invested well in Bitcoin and this just shows me the great potential of Bitcoin even more. More to be invested

Really appreciate all the replies and great suggestions!

Thanks a lot to all so far!  

PS! The problem is not that I will not get the money, I will get them one way or another, regular SWIFT/IBAN/SEPA/Cash - but I would really liked to have used bitcoin in an easy way.

Yeah, it usually ends up with cash, which is fine - but I had hope for bitcoin in this case.

>He can also deposit money for free at the same bank and you can withdraw in Norway.

Deposit is the issue. He planned to deposit into my Norwegian bank in Italy from his U.S bank - but that seemed to be to hard for him.

But still, thanks!

Great input guys. So far i think:

* Localbitcoins is to hard. To hard to find a seller, to much work involved etc. Risk.

* Coindesk and Circle could work, but after a lot of testing, explaining etc to old Grandpa. Don't feel save letting Grandpa copy and paste bitcoin addresses, so some QR or other solution should be considered. Not sure if Grandpa will get QR, pluss he can't use his phone (old phone) and no cam on his computer.

* Bitwage was interesting, but to much work in this case.

* Incacoin.com looks promising. I talked to the "chat service" now and it will work for me to send a link to Grandpa with a pre-filled bitcoin address and the amount.

However it is not possible to send much money using this service. Max is 500 USD pr 7 days (after a while). Also extra security that can fail (e.g having his Italian phone number connected to his U.S bank account). According to the their chat service it is because: "you see, we face lots of fraudulent activity here since our verification is really simple"

Is this the very best and simplest solution for "Grandpa to pay in bitcoin" out there? Must be even a better solution for this problem out there.

Way to hard for grandpa. He can meet up and give someone cash, but not finding them on localbitcoins.


Best so far, but must be another way of doing this than the need to find a local seller and meet up. He lives in a small city in Italy.

Hi guys,

Something I struggle with at the moment using bitcoins:

The grandpa challenge:
* I live in Norway. I use bitcoin.
* Grandpa (in-law) is from the U.S. He lives in Italy.
* Grandpa can't speak Italian and it's a LOT of hassle paying me (I prepaid a vacation) from an U.S bank via Italy to a Norwegian bank.
* Grandpa has never used an app and doesn't have the phone for it. Very low understanding of technology, but uses the internet for basic stuff like shopping, email, ..

How can Grandpa pay LCF4EV (me) in bitcoin?  

It must be easy.

Thanks.

Update question:

My parent in-law are from the U.S, but living in Italy. They are going to send me some money (for a vacation I pre-paid for). They will pay in Euro and send  it to me i NOK (Norwegian currency) or BTC.

They are low-tech. What wallet or web service should I suggest to them?

CraigWrightBTC:

Agree, we don't know if it will survive - but it's the best and largest mobile playment solution I have seen. Half or more of the country has a an account now (not sure about the numbers).

But, what they have done by using the contact list on the phone and other things is spot on. Fees and limited transfers is not good enough, also to slow in transfer.

pawel7777: 


I am not trying to down-talk current wallets, sorry if it came out that way but there is sooo much potential her for the right kind of people. I have done several startups myself (and been living off them most of my adult life) and I wish I had the motivation, time and needs to go on with this.

I have sent feedback to other wallets, I do so with a lot of services I use.

Circle is still an BTC app even if you can use it they way you describe. Right away you see "sell or buy bitcoins" icons etc... and it is still to hard to use for most people (people are lazy).

Vipps are atm agaist bitcoins. They closed down the bank account for the local bitcoin union.


When i post ideas here - I am a little surprised that all the replies are against it and views and not one was a spin-off of the original post like "what if we do this instead, or even try xyz..."

I might be way off of course - but I believe in 5-10 years it will be here - the universal payment app for _all_ currencies. In-app possibilities for trading, car loans, house loans, credit solutions, savings etc...   A wechat for the financial world - using blockchain tech.

pawel7777:

* Agree, the Circle app is going in this direction but it's not easy enough to adapt for the masses. You still need to know about a bit about bitcoin - it's just not simple or easy to use enough.

* My point. For someone to use a bitcoin wallet today, you really need to know what bitcoin is all about. There should be no need to know about that other than bitcoin is a currency. Private keys etc should not be a part of the need-to-know to use bitcoin. No bank will ever tell you about private keys etc...

* I will give up privacy compared to ease of use and if it makes my life easier and so will a lot of people. This may go against part of the Bitcoin view, but I believe it will serve the people much and good changes to the world if it is done right.

unamis76:

1. QR codes does this to some degree but not enough. The perfect wallet should make payments as easy as sending an email or sms - to anyone around the world. Using Bitcoin as more of a protocol can make this work.

2. Agree. Yes it does create privacy problems. But I believe true privacy is in our heads, not to stay hidden from others. If privacy is part of freedom - I remember one guy said "The freest people I know are those who has nothing to hide".

3. I don't belive it is unfeasible at all. E.g it's doable to start your own regular bank (if you have the money).

4. I you were to charge me for some money you should be able to open "The Wallet", send some money to "lcf4ev" and since i did not have an account at "The Wallet" I would receive and SMS or email that asked me to pay the amount via paypal, typing inn my VISA details in an integrated service, or such (with stripe i was referring to stripe.com as an example)


I'm sure we will see this app in the next 5-10 years. Such a think is just too good not to be made. And within the 100 years I think we will see the world more and more uniting around a few currencies as storage and transfer of fiat and crypto currencies will be very easy. The decentralization part will remain but indirectly controlled just like the the internet is today. The early 90s internet had very much the same spirit to it as bitcoin has today. If I would compare the internet with bitcoin I would say it is at the same stage the internet was in 1991-92 (btw I am in my late 30s). In -95 it hit the masses for several reasons but I think mostly because of the "interface" to the internet got simplified (e.g with mosaic browser)

I've tried the wallets mention here - and they are still to complicated. If you know bitcoin, sure they are simple - but you don't see "moms and grandmas" using this, you don't see kids asking their parents for money via these wallets. Why is that?

I love bitcoin and the concept, but this is still very much an engineer world. It reminds me of Linux in 1995. Great technology but hard to wrap your head around if one was not semi-tech.

I think the next generation of wallets should be:

1. Somehow add a layer to get rid of the ridiculous address 17dSwWs.... style. Yes compromises needs to be made.

2. Connect the bitcoin address to phone numbers / contact list on the phone. In that way I do not need to know or get their address send or receive money from people.

3. By default send money from and to fiat currencies and to/from bank accounts. Option to use bitocin etc money for "advanced users"

4. Integrate Stripe or such service for people that do not have the wallet installed to pay me via visa etc, or in some countries via the phone bill. This will not create the need to make the wallet "viral"

Hi,

I have been away form the crypto world for a while and I can see that wallets have come a great way and I have tried a lot of them, but non of them are good for day-to-day usage. Not one. Relatively seen some are of course greater than others, but from a user/UX perspective they are not. They are way to complicated for common users and just not simple enough.

A big bank in Norway launched in 2015 an app called Vipps - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vipps that became, and still is very very popular.

It is so simple that everyone can use it, and A LOT of people do. From friends, to school unions, small parties, big companies, donations, cookie sales, even beggars.

Please look into this and make it for bitcoin/cryptos. There will be no need to know about bitcoin etc and people would not need to know about it.

To break it down (it must be experienced):
1. I download the app
2. I add my debit/credit card (...and bitcoins etc in the future?)
3. I give the app access to my contact list

I am ready to send and receive money to others that have the app. Soccer teams, food stands etc can just display their ID so I can also send money to them too.

Pros
* Dead simple and very convenient
...

Cons
* Lack of privacy but it's time to let that go for the masses for this kind of app
...

I want this app for bitcoin!!

Let me know if you do or know about someone - I might invest.