What is holding Bitcoin back?

[ransomer]

i think you can agree that trust is the real reason that its holding bitcoin back, if it was more regulated in some country and exchange weren't so easily to rob, you can be assured that many more people will join this awesome crypto, another thing might be the ease with which you can use bitcoin, i know that many average joe think that bitcoin isn't easy to use and to do a strong backup, they lose themselves easily between passphrase, right wallet to choose and all these think there should be a core light version, better than multibit(maybe it is multibit 3d?) that could help newbies to spend bitcoin and keep them safe in the easiest way possible

Yes, trust and security (the one I mentioned as pont 2) is really crucial.

As long as the only ways to stay really safe are nerd-solutions and cold storage etc... it will never really break out of the nerd community.

[nextgencoin]

People have got it all wrong about Bitcoin. The benefits of Bitcoin are for anyone NOW, you don't need mass uptake to make Bitcoin a success, I can move wealth over borders and protect my wealth from fiat destruction right now, today.

The problem at the moment is a Bitcoin solves a problem that very few people recognise they have. Most people think they can pay instantly with credit card so why the hell do they need to learn a new technology?


I think it will take a massive currency collapse for people to understand Bitcoin and luckily enough I think we will soon get one, the biggest the world has ever seen.

I have tried to kick start the conversion that IF you want the masses to use Bitcoin you need something that looks and smells like a Traditional bank, but has Bitcoin backing it. People want to use dollars and cents and have a nice person on the phone that will help them if they ever fuck up or lose a password etc. They want to use Visa cards etc. I hope someone in the a Bitcoin community with enough money starts one before a major banks does....

[BADecker]

The thing that is holding Bitcoin back is government regulation of companies and products and services that could be paid for with Bitcoin. Many who would be willing to accept Bitcoin for products or services they sell are not willing to go the extra paperwork step for converting bitcoins into $fiat so that they can report properly on their income tax forms.

Bitcoin is a great step. Now we have to get rid of government regulation of everything else, and taxation as well.

[ransomer]

My grandmother and the neighbors next door would not use botcoin even if it was accepted everywhere. As long as dollars is also accepted they will not bother with bitcoin because of the perceived nerdiness needed to keep them secure. No normal person is likely to transfer wealth into a currency that they alone are supposed to find ways to keep safe on their own computers. That is just far too risky a proposition for most people. And the solution to that issue will be when the real breakthrough of bitcoin can happen.

[GingerAle]

My grandmother and the neighbors next door would not use botcoin even if it was accepted everywhere. As long as dollars is also accepted they will not bother with bitcoin because of the perceived nerdiness needed to keep them secure. No normal person is likely to transfer wealth into a currency that they alone are supposed to find ways to keep safe on their own computers. That is just far too risky a proposition for most people. And the solution to that issue will be when the real breakthrough of bitcoin can happen.

Which is, of course, one of the reasons bitcoin exists - so you can be your own bank.

I don't know what you mean by "holding bitcoin back". Bitcoin is doing fine. 6 years strong.

[Amph]

My grandmother and the neighbors next door would not use botcoin even if it was accepted everywhere. As long as dollars is also accepted they will not bother with bitcoin because of the perceived nerdiness needed to keep them secure. No normal person is likely to transfer wealth into a currency that they alone are supposed to find ways to keep safe on their own computers. That is just far too risky a proposition for most people. And the solution to that issue will be when the real breakthrough of bitcoin can happen.

online wallet like xapo exist for a reason in the future those website will become more and more like online banks that we have today for fiat, they only need more regulation, this for those that can't trust their pc, for securing their coins

[Herbert2020]

My grandmother and the neighbors next door would not use botcoin even if it was accepted everywhere. As long as dollars is also accepted they will not bother with bitcoin because of the perceived nerdiness needed to keep them secure. No normal person is likely to transfer wealth into a currency that they alone are supposed to find ways to keep safe on their own computers. That is just far too risky a proposition for most people. And the solution to that issue will be when the real breakthrough of bitcoin can happen.

old generation are usually resistant to accepting and using new technologies. they say we are too old to learn new stuff. My old neighbor might not even know what a smart phone is, but that doesn't mean that they are not going to be popular

[ransomer]

My grandmother and the neighbors next door would not use botcoin even if it was accepted everywhere. As long as dollars is also accepted they will not bother with bitcoin because of the perceived nerdiness needed to keep them secure. No normal person is likely to transfer wealth into a currency that they alone are supposed to find ways to keep safe on their own computers. That is just far too risky a proposition for most people. And the solution to that issue will be when the real breakthrough of bitcoin can happen.

Which is, of course, one of the reasons bitcoin exists - so you can be your own bank.

I don't know what you mean by "holding bitcoin back". Bitcoin is doing fine. 6 years strong.

Holding it back from taking over from FIAT or at least being a serious alternative. We are really far far far from this.

So far Bitcoin is a geek currency. Let's be honest. If we want bitcoin to really take off it of course needs to break into the general population too.

[GingerAle]

My grandmother and the neighbors next door would not use botcoin even if it was accepted everywhere. As long as dollars is also accepted they will not bother with bitcoin because of the perceived nerdiness needed to keep them secure. No normal person is likely to transfer wealth into a currency that they alone are supposed to find ways to keep safe on their own computers. That is just far too risky a proposition for most people. And the solution to that issue will be when the real breakthrough of bitcoin can happen.

Which is, of course, one of the reasons bitcoin exists - so you can be your own bank.

I don't know what you mean by "holding bitcoin back". Bitcoin is doing fine. 6 years strong.

Holding it back from taking over from FIAT or at least being a serious alternative. We are really far far far from this.

So far Bitcoin is a geek currency. Let's be honest. If we want bitcoin to really take off it of course needs to break into the general population too.

yes but by your logic the way to achieve adoption would be to create entities that keep your bitcoin safe (otherwise known as banks). And once you have organized central concentration of bitcoin (i.e., the banks hold your private keys), you can use fractional reserve to increase the money supply.

So all you've really done is transferred monetary control from one entity (a federal reserve of some kind) to these bitcoin banks.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2wnspl/psa_youre_using_coinbase_circle_etc_wrong/

The first bitcoin bank to offer loans will be a milestone.

[bitcoinmasterlord]

1. the problem with adoption is that all the geeks that want to tell their friends about it, fail.
this is because their friends dont need to know what sha256 is, they dont need to know what  petahash is. they dont care about mining or exchanges..

*lol* Your'e right on that point. It's so hard to explain bitcoin and i often end up explaining things that are too hard to understand. Simply because there is no good way to avoid this since the questions lead to that direction at one point in the conversation.

[ShamrockHannah]

Although a lot of people are now accustomed to using credit cards. There are people (young and old) who are so used to money being a physical entity that they just can't seem to grasp the idea of currency being an entirely digital entity.

A few more years and they will get used to it though.

[Gronthaing]

So - I can certainly understand if the man on the street would have an easier time swallowing bitcoin if there was not the added confusion and issue of all these other currencies.

The man on the street barely knows about bitcoin. Altcoins get very little attention compared to it. So I don't see the money in alts would otherwise go to bitcoins if they didn't exist. For now it's mostly just people diversifying their portfolio. And as others said altcoins can help drive innovation too.

[ransomer]

Although a lot of people are now accustomed to using credit cards. There are people (young and old) who are so used to money being a physical entity that they just can't seem to grasp the idea of currency being an entirely digital entity.

A few more years and they will get used to it though.

There is frankly no reason for us/them to spread the word much wider.

As the word get's spread to less IT savy people the issues with cold/warm storage, paper wallets etc.. become overwhelmingly huge and will only damage the whole endeavor more than help it.

We need security innovations to take place before it can and should get much wider adoption in the general population.

[Beefcake]

Another problem is the unstable price.

This is exactly what I was thinking.  The price fluctuates way too much for it to be widely adopted.  But interestingly enough, wide adoption would cause a price spike, so I guess you just can't win.

[cellard]

Another problem is the unstable price.

This is exactly what I was thinking.  The price fluctuates way too much for it to be widely adopted.  But interestingly enough, wide adoption would cause a price spike, so I guess you just can't win.

Volatility can also make you win tons of money, which is an attractive "feature" at least during the development process. Of course, this will only attract people that enjoy risk, which is why, still to this day, the rest of Bitcoin users are still somewhat tech-crypto-mathhead related people.

[Gronthaing]

Another problem is the unstable price.

This is exactly what I was thinking.  The price fluctuates way too much for it to be widely adopted.  But interestingly enough, wide adoption would cause a price spike, so I guess you just can't win.

We can win with a steady and slow price increase. That also gives time to improve security and features that appeal to the wider public.

Volatility can also make you win tons of money, which is an attractive "feature" at least during the development process. Of course, this will only attract people that enjoy risk, which is why, still to this day, the rest of Bitcoin users are still somewhat tech-crypto-mathhead related people.

In other words, whales, day traders and day trader wannabes. That's not attractive for most people. At least if they want to store their money there for some amount of time and not use it instantly and get rid of it.

[Chavez]

Merchant adoption and volatility is holding bitcoin back. There's just no real reason for most people to use bitcoin yet unfortunately. I fear it may always be a niche thing. Hope I'm wrong, though.

[Amph]

Merchant adoption and volatility. There's just no real reason for most people to use bitcoin yet unfortunately. I fear it may always be a niche thing. Hope I'm wrong, though.

volatility can be negated only with adoption, great adoption, so the issue is only one, adoption, and always will be unless 1B(or around that) people start use bitcoin

bitcoin can also work as a niche thing imho, i don't see the problem with that, maybe not forever because miners need an incentive in the future to keep mining with a smaller reward...

[ransomer]

Merchant adoption and volatility. There's just no real reason for most people to use bitcoin yet unfortunately. I fear it may always be a niche thing. Hope I'm wrong, though.

volatility can be negated only with adoption, great adoption, so the issue is only one, adoption, and always will be unless 1B(or around that) people start use bitcoin

bitcoin can also work as a niche thing imho, i don't see the problem with that, maybe not forever because miners need an incentive in the future to keep mining with a smaller reward...

Imo. Volatility and adoption are not the current issues of concern.

Security is.

If we try to get wider adoption into the joe average population before we solve the cold/warm wallets etc issues of trying to keep slightly safe then it will end bad once many people loose their Btc that they were supposed to keep safe themselves with their insufficient computer skills. Getting wide adoption too early before the security issues are solves could destroy bitcoin. We have seen other good inventions that dies forever because they were out too early.

Volatility is only really an issue as adoption increases and Btc is used for everyday purposes by everyday people. Then we need more stability. Right now investors and early adopters don't mind some volatility to make money off of it.

So until security issues are solved, adoption and volatility are not really pressing issues.

[aso118]

bitcoin can also work as a niche thing imho, i don't see the problem with that, maybe not forever because miners need an incentive in the future to keep mining with a smaller reward...

Bitcoin is too great an idea to have just niche applications. It is still very young, but has got the imagination of millions of people. If you compare it with technologies like telephones or internet, adoption has been much faster. I am sure you will see adoption increase quickly with time.