Bitcoin's catch-22

[mizerydearia]

With all the scamming and thefts going on, it seems like Bitcoins are only proving why an anonymous currency is a bad idea.

More liek

With all the scamming and thefts going on, it seems like many humans are spreading more awareness how insecure their computer environments are.

[flug]

And if someone print paper money or creat digital currency backed up by gold, there MUST be a central bank in that system. It cannot be guranteed that the "Back up" promise will ever be kept.  You know, Uncle Sam break his words in 1971.

+1

If the currency is centrally controlled, they can ditch the gold standard anytime they want to fund another war, like they always do.

[niemivh]

I can't believe anyone would be leaving their Wallet on a WinXP box or on a Mircosoft OS for more than 5 minutes while it takes to copy it to a few thumb drives and then delete it off your computer.

The vast majority of normal people who just want easy to use digital cash without needing to be a geek?

If they are trying to appeal to this crowd then the client needs to not only encrypt the wallet, but automatically prompt users to enter a thumb drive in order to backup and encrypt that as well.

[hazek]

With all the scamming and thefts going on, it seems like Bitcoins are only proving why an anonymous currency is a bad idea. If transactions are tracked, it kind of defeats the purpose. If they're not, anyone can make a profit from shoddy security and/or gullible users. It seems like the people benefiting the most from Bitcoins are speculators and scammers at the moment. It's an interesting experiment, but I think more people need to treat it as such and not put their life savings into it right off the bat. There are obviously a lot of wrinkles to iron out, and before that happens I think Bitcoins are going to suffer from a lot of negative publicity when people get hundreds or even thousands of dollars stolen from them. I feel that it should have been thought through a bit more before it was opened up to speculation.

What would you have done differently if you'd been the creator behind a new currency and what would you have kept the same?

Only after reading the first sentence I'm 100% sure I agree with this entire post. OH and while we are at it, leaving cash laying on the street and getting it stolen is obviously a problem for cash, so it's best we get rid of that as well, right?   

[flug]

If they are trying to appeal to this crowd then the client needs to not only encrypt the wallet, but automatically prompt users to enter a thumb drive in order to backup and encrypt that as well.

Whatever it takes to make it adequately safe.

[Gregers]

Well, there has been thefts in dollars for values order of magnitude higher than the Bitcoin theft. It just happens that th peress has given a lot of publicity to the Bitcoin one, while it almost never reports the numerous dollar thefts.

So do you think the dollar is a failure? (I do, but for other reasons).

I don't think the dollar is a failure per se. I can see how the inflation of the dollar and the growing US debt is going to be a problem if nothing is done to balance the US trade deficit, which is really the core issue as I see it. However, this is what happens when you decide to stop printing more money and instead cut public expenditure:

https://i.imgur.com/BbR6f.jpg

So you're damned if you do and damned if you don't, so I don't see what a new currency is going to fix if the fiscal policy remains the same.

[flug]

So you're damned if you do and damned if you don't, so I don't see what a new currency is going to fix if the fiscal policy remains the same.

Bitcoin is an internet currency which transcends national borders. It is not in instrument of US fiscal policy, it is a medium of exchange for the people of the world.