[2013-12-11] Bitcoin should not be seen as a currency, warns Ernst & Young

[deed02392]

Bitcoin does not need to replace normal currency in order to have a future, according to an expert on digital currencies from professional services firm Ernst & Young.

Speaking at an event in London, Roger Willis, who has been following bitcoin since its inception in 2009, described myths around the currency, one of which was its position as a replacement for "fiat" money.

"Fiat currency is essentially currency the government decrees to be legal tender," Willis says. "Bitcoin wasn't really developed to be a replacement for fiat currency. You see a lot of people talking about how bitcoin is going to take over, or how bitcoin doesn't have the properties that lend to it being used widely.

"But it was really developed to be used in ecommerce and for micro transactions. It wasn't really to replace our sterling, our us dollars, and our euros."

With that in mind, [...]

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/dec/11/ernst-young-warn-bitcoin-payment-problems

Was it really developed for ecommerce only? That doesn't seem to be the impression one gets from reviewing the original whitepaper.

[kjlimo]

"One of the weaknesses with bitcoin is you generally have to wait for five to six transaction confirmations before you're sure that the money hasn't been 'double spent', and that can take up to 40 or 50 minutes," Willis says.

How many people/businesses check twenty dollar bills, or five dollar bills for counterfeit before allowing the customer to take their sandwich/beer?

[CIYAM]

How many people/businesses check twenty dollar bills, or five dollar bills for counterfeit before allowing the customer to take their sandwich/beer?

I guess it depends where you are - in China every 50 or 100 RMB note (rough equivalent to 10 and 20 dollar bills) is generally checked (if not by a device then by close visual inspection) as there are so many fakes going around.

When selling items of low value 1 confirmation should be fine (you only really need to wait multiple confirmations for very large amounts).

[kjlimo]

How many people/businesses check twenty dollar bills, or five dollar bills for counterfeit before allowing the customer to take their sandwich/beer?

I guess it depends where you are - in China every 50 or 100 RMB note (rough equivalent to 10 and 20 dollar bills) is generally checked (if not by a device then by close visual inspection) as there are so many fakes going around.

When selling items of low value 1 confirmation should be fine (you only really need to wait multiple confirmations for very large amounts).

Yeah, it will be a sad day when the first double spend happens, which to my knowledge hasn't occured yet in the brick & mortar space.