http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2hpfim/lets_face_it_theres_currently_no_demand_for_all/Some highlights:First, about some of the disadvantages of Bitcoin:
Higher fees for the consumer, usually incurred when purchasing the bitcoin in the first place.
Higher risk of permanent loss through theft (If my debit card is stolen I am not liable for anything). Also, zero fraud protection.
Uncertain laws and regulations surrounding bitcoin that make financial planning difficult.
Wild swings in value changing the purchasing power of your coins.
Bitcoin is difficult to spend compared to cash and credit/debit cards. You need to own a smartphone with internet access to do so in person, and the vendors who actually accept the coin are extremely limited. Using fiat, to convert to bitcoins, to convert to gift cards, is retarded so don't bother using that excuse.
Most current credit/debit cards offer cashback or rewards, bitcoin doesn't.
You can use credit cards as short term loans if you need the money, bitcoin doesn't offer this.
Using credit cards and loans builds your credit history/rating which makes borrowing money at good interest rates easy when you want to take out a home loan, using bitcoin does nothing for you.
The elephant in the room: consumers have almost no incentive to use bitcoin than other sources of payment.
Let me elaborate. The common talking points are:
Low fees - The consumers pay no fees while using a credit card. They actually get rewards points back.
Privacy - As evidenced by a recent post, bitcoin offers little privacy out of the box. You need to go through hoops to achieve privacy. People who care enough to go through these hoops have better alternatives (like cash!), which are more foolproof.
Being your own bank - Few people want to take the risks associated with being a bank. It is more of a headache than a plus.
No consumer protection - No need to elaborate.
Distrust of the monetary policy - The volatility of bitcoin makes it useless as a store of value, and there are better and more reliable options to store your wealth. Few people buy into the tinfoil-hattery that the USD is about to crash.
There is simply no pragmatic answer to "Why should I buy bitcoin?"
let me tell you the number one objection to bitcoin wealthy investors have:
Bitcoin is MLM
and yes, to a 40-something financial or legal professional who considers himself moderately clued in to society, bitcoin is MLM.
the way it comes off is, a bunch of people bought up a large proportion of bitcoins for cheap. and the only reason new people buy bitcoins today is because they think new waves of more people will buy bitcoins in the future
then you try to compare bitcoin to a stock, oh it's ok that early adopters get rich because that happens in stocks too. except bitcoin isn't a stock. there is no product with bitcoin. there are no dividends. you don't have voting rights either unless you're an allstar developer.
my point is, if you look at bitcoin objectively, it's MLM. the only reason 99% of people buy bitcoin is because they think bigger waves of people will buy bitcoin in the future.
this is important because so many of you are forgetting this objection and then you go beg wall street types to get into the system. they're not buying MLM. when has wall st ever bought MLM? never.
instead you should be appealing to the common man in understandable ways. openbazaar and silk road are the clearest examples of how to do that. you would have far more success selling bitcoin to people by putting up posters in the city advertising "buy dank ganja online anonymously - visit howtosilkroad.com". that's going to teach the common person to value bitcoin in a tangible way
that's a clear demonstrable vector for commercial demand.
everyone in 2014 was dreaming that wall street would pitch in and be the new big wave of recruits to buying bitcoin, so the old recruits would all be fabulously wealthy. shit, wall street wouldn't prop up a MLM scheme they didn't control from the top even if the entire financial system was collapsing all around them
There is simply no pragmatic answer to "Why should I buy bitcoin?"
No, the pragmatic answer is "because I think more people will buy it in the future". and that, my friends is MLM.
What good are superior monetary properties if it's difficult to obtain coins in the first place? Worse, it's still difficult to use bitcoin, and to store it properly. Here's a perfect case in point:
With PayPal, I can make a $1000 purchase with an online merchant, even though I do not have $1000 in my PayPal account. If I only have $50 in my PayPal account, PayPal automatically and instantly debits the remaining amount from my connected checking account.
Why then does this not work with Coinbase, or any other provider?? With Coinbase, you can't purchase anything instantly with bitcoin, unless you already have the bitcoin in the first place. And in order to get that bitcoin in the first place, you have to wait 3-5 business days for your purchase to actually get you spendable bitcoins. Worse, Coinbase is notorious for cancelling bitcoin purchases, especially if the price is rising. And should they cancel or there be any problems, Coinbase has NO CUSTOMER SERVICE - no email contact, no online chat help, no phone number, nada.
If this is the best bitcoin has (Coinbase), Bitcoin is in real trouble.
The reason the price is falling so fast, is there are plenty of exit doors, either through instantaneous selling, or through wider merchant spending options, but very little or no ENTRY doors.
If the Bitcoin space doesn't address and fix this elephant in the room, bitcoin will be marginalized at best, or outright doomed.
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