Mainstream Adoption

[tully]

Hey guys,

It's been dawning on me for some time that there is one thing that businesses must hate.. credit card fees. So with this in mind why is mainstream adoption taking so long! We're not saying invalidate fiat currency and only accept BTC or Alt-coin but businesses don't seem to want to touch it?

What do you guys think the real issue is? Education among consumers and businesses? Volatile BTC price?

Tully

[achow101]

Probably has to do with the volatile price. Since the price of Bitcoin is not very stable, businesses are less likely to use Bitcoin because they could lose money with it. They could use service likes BitPay, but they charge fees. Most businesses use services like BitPay to convert the Bitcoin to fiat immediately.

Also, they might not want to be associated with Bitcoin because of all of the negative press that Bitcoin gets. For some reason, people always associate Bitcoin with drugs and illegal stuff when they think of Bitcion.

[unamis76]

Hey guys,

It's been dawning on me for some time that there is one thing that businesses must hate.. credit card fees. So with this in mind why is mainstream adoption taking so long! We're not saying invalidate fiat currency and only accept BTC or Alt-coin but businesses don't seem to want to touch it?

What do you guys think the real issue is? Education among consumers and businesses? Volatile BTC price?

Tully

The really issue is mentality. Most people are a bit like race horses that have visors in their eyes and only look forward... people only look for what they know and what's already established without even considering new things. So yes: education is really needed.

Volatility isn't much of an issue nowadays, especially with services like bitpay...

[Bit_Happy]

Hey guys,

It's been dawning on me for some time that there is one thing that businesses must hate.. credit card fees. So with this in mind why is mainstream adoption taking so long! We're not saying invalidate fiat currency and only accept BTC or Alt-coin but businesses don't seem to want to touch it?

What do you guys think the real issue is? Education among consumers and businesses? Volatile BTC price?

Tully

There has been a stunning increase in Bitcoin adoption the last couple of years. We are still on track for Mainstream Adoption, but no one knows (for certain) how many more months/years it will take.  

[gentlemand]

Hey guys,

It's been dawning on me for some time that there is one thing that businesses must hate.. credit card fees. So with this in mind why is mainstream adoption taking so long! We're not saying invalidate fiat currency and only accept BTC or Alt-coin but businesses don't seem to want to touch it?

What do you guys think the real issue is? Education among consumers and businesses? Volatile BTC price?

Tully

There's zero incentive for a first worlder to use it right now for shopping. Why buy something so you can buy something? You also have the risk of volatility, fees and lack of knowledge.

It's going to be down to the merchants to make it desirable enough for their customers to look into it. Options to be paid in BTC will also make a big difference be that wages, cashback or whatever.

[subSTRATA]

The really issue is mentality. Most people are a bit like race horses that have visors in their eyes and only look forward... people only look for what they know and what's already established without even considering new things. So yes: education is really needed.

Volatility isn't much of an issue nowadays, especially with services like bitpay...

adding onto that, people are scared of what they don't know, and in the mainstream media, all that gets reported about bitcoin is about how its used to buy drugs and guns off silk road. there's not much reported on the benefits (ex greece) that it can bring, and with the general population being uninformed, acceptance by the majority will be slow.

[d4n13]

Hey guys,

It's been dawning on me for some time that there is one thing that businesses must hate.. credit card fees. So with this in mind why is mainstream adoption taking so long! We're not saying invalidate fiat currency and only accept BTC or Alt-coin but businesses don't seem to want to touch it?

What do you guys think the real issue is? Education among consumers and businesses? Volatile BTC price?

Since you asked for opinions, I'll give you mine.

Two things:
(1) Regulation / Fear: I think regulation and fear are the same thing..  I think people are fearful of bitcoin because of silkroad and the like.  Merchants without proper knowledge feel trading goods for BTC would be like trading goods for pot or heroin.  The don't get how on one hand BTC is fungible, but on the other hand it is not.  One of the travesties of silk road is that Ross got charged for using coin that someone else got from nefarious means.  Two hop guilt by association of associates.  Larger companies fear regulation and how BTC fits into it.  In the states, figuring out how to report business revenue is hard enough when reporting it in US dollars.  I think there is much fear from buisness on what new regulation will snap into place at any minute requiring them to do something silly like take a picture of any customer paying with BTC

(2) Volitility: If they pay expenses in $$ but get income in BTC there is always a spread (either good or bad) that they have to account for.  Bitpay and other services that can convert instantly to $$ mitigate some of that risk, but it still causes grief for retailers.  If on the other hand companies could pay thier expenses in BTC, then I think you would see instant adoption globally.  If there was no need to convert to $$ to pay the electric bill or rent, no one in their right mind would.

[Possum577]

Hey guys,

It's been dawning on me for some time that there is one thing that businesses must hate.. credit card fees. So with this in mind why is mainstream adoption taking so long! We're not saying invalidate fiat currency and only accept BTC or Alt-coin but businesses don't seem to want to touch it?

What do you guys think the real issue is? Education among consumers and businesses? Volatile BTC price?

Tully

Credit card fees are consistent, Bitcoin price is not consistent. Businesses have a hard time making the business case to get involved because they risk so much with the wild swings of the Bitcoin to Fiat price. That's really the main reason.

[gentlemand]

Credit card fees are consistent, Bitcoin price is not consistent. Businesses have a hard time making the business case to get involved because they risk so much with the wild swings of the Bitcoin to Fiat price. That's really the main reason.

Bitpay and Coinbase take that problem completely out of the equation. The problem remains for their customers though.

[unamis76]

The mainstream knows how to use plastic

The Bitcoin Debit Card - now accepted wherever major credit cards are welcome worldwide

Gone are the days of asking: "do you accept bitcoin?"

Plastic does not solve everything. Plastic is just a bit of sand to everyone's eyes. it's very, very useful, but they still charge fees, and they're quite steep in soem cases... And that's not really using Bitcoin directly

The really issue is mentality. Most people are a bit like race horses that have visors in their eyes and only look forward... people only look for what they know and what's already established without even considering new things. So yes: education is really needed.

Volatility isn't much of an issue nowadays, especially with services like bitpay...

adding onto that, people are scared of what they don't know, and in the mainstream media, all that gets reported about bitcoin is about how its used to buy drugs and guns off silk road. there's not much reported on the benefits (ex greece) that it can bring, and with the general population being uninformed, acceptance by the majority will be slow.

Exactly, thanks for adding that

Credit card fees are consistent, Bitcoin price is not consistent. Businesses have a hard time making the business case to get involved because they risk so much with the wild swings of the Bitcoin to Fiat price. That's really the main reason.

Bitpay and Coinbase take that problem completely out of the equation. The problem remains for their customers though.

Bitpay does eliminate most of the volatility issues!

[gogxmagog]

Hey guys,

It's been dawning on me for some time that there is one thing that businesses must hate.. credit card fees. So with this in mind why is mainstream adoption taking so long! We're not saying invalidate fiat currency and only accept BTC or Alt-coin but businesses don't seem to want to touch it?

What do you guys think the real issue is? Education among consumers and businesses? Volatile BTC price?

Tully

The really issue is mentality. Most people are a bit like race horses that have visors in their eyes and only look forward... people only look for what they know and what's already established without even considering new things. So yes: education is really needed.

Volatility isn't much of an issue nowadays, especially with services like bitpay...

this 100%
btc is too mysterious for most, even today. It takes a lot of time and energy to learn all about it, and that learning is peppered with countless stories of loss, so it will be a while before businesses jump on board. fortunately there are a few big companies who are leading the way, the rest will follow eventually.

once people learn abouyt btc and understand it sufficiently, it doesnt make any sense to continue the fiat game.

[pooya87]

Hey guys,

It's been dawning on me for some time that there is one thing that businesses must hate.. credit card fees. So with this in mind why is mainstream adoption taking so long! We're not saying invalidate fiat currency and only accept BTC or Alt-coin but businesses don't seem to want to touch it?

What do you guys think the real issue is? Education among consumers and businesses? Volatile BTC price?

Tully

IMO it can have a couple of reasons:

the most important one is the volatility, nobody wants to spend something that can worth a lot more tomorrow. and nobody feels right accepting something that can worth a lot less tomorrow.
the solution for this is dumping bitcoin for fiat as soon as received, but this is an extra step while they can accept cash in the first place.

the other thing is that bitcoin is not mass adopted by users. so even if a business starts accepting bitcoin there aren't many people who know about it let alone willing to use bitcoin.

[redsn0w]

Hey guys,

It's been dawning on me for some time that there is one thing that businesses must hate.. credit card fees. So with this in mind why is mainstream adoption taking so long! We're not saying invalidate fiat currency and only accept BTC or Alt-coin but businesses don't seem to want to touch it?

What do you guys think the real issue is? Education among consumers and businesses? Volatile BTC price?

Tully

IMO it can have a couple of reasons:

the most important one is the volatility, nobody wants to spend something that can worth a lot more tomorrow. and nobody feels right accepting something that can worth a lot less tomorrow.
the solution for this is dumping bitcoin for fiat as soon as received, but this is an extra step while they can accept cash in the first place.

the other thing is that bitcoin is not mass adopted by users. so even if a business starts accepting bitcoin there aren't many people who know about it let alone willing to use bitcoin.

At the end it is only about knowledge, there are some people that have never used a (debit, credit, prepaid...) card ... and most important they do not know how to use a computer and/or surf internet. So before start to think "bitcoin mainstream" we should teach those people how to use a computer and explain to them why bitcoin is better than the actual economic system (based on the FIAT currencies).

[newb4now]

Hey guys,

It's been dawning on me for some time that there is one thing that businesses must hate.. credit card fees. So with this in mind why is mainstream adoption taking so long! We're not saying invalidate fiat currency and only accept BTC or Alt-coin but businesses don't seem to want to touch it?

What do you guys think the real issue is? Education among consumers and businesses? Volatile BTC price?

Tully

IMO it can have a couple of reasons:

the most important one is the volatility, nobody wants to spend something that can worth a lot more tomorrow. and nobody feels right accepting something that can worth a lot less tomorrow.
the solution for this is dumping bitcoin for fiat as soon as received, but this is an extra step while they can accept cash in the first place.

the other thing is that bitcoin is not mass adopted by users. so even if a business starts accepting bitcoin there aren't many people who know about it let alone willing to use bitcoin.

At the end it is only about knowledge, there are some people that have never used a (debit, credit, prepaid...) card ... and most important they do not know how to use a computer and/or surf internet. So before start to think "bitcoin mainstream" we should teach those people how to use a computer and explain to them why bitcoin is better than the actual economic system (based on the FIAT currencies).

I saw an adoption survey somewhere that had things broken down by demographic. Very few bitcoin owners (as a percentage of the total) are over 60. Most are 40 and under.

Most people over 80 have never owned a cell phone and never will. For bitcoin I would say there is also a maximum penetration for certain demographics but it is hard to determine with great accuracy

[LiteCoinGuy]

Hey guys,

It's been dawning on me for some time that there is one thing that businesses must hate.. credit card fees. So with this in mind why is mainstream adoption taking so long! We're not saying invalidate fiat currency and only accept BTC or Alt-coin but businesses don't seem to want to touch it?

What do you guys think the real issue is? Education among consumers and businesses? Volatile BTC price?

Tully

in my view bitcoin is moving pretty fast.

people overestimate what will happen within 1 year and underestimate what will happen within 10 years.

[albert11]

I think remittance market is where bitcoin will take off.

Abra for example could go viral like uber did. Most people are unaware of this app and are still paying a hefty western union fee. That's why PR is as important as the service itself, if no one knows about it no one uses it.

[helloeverybody]

I sell various items on ebay and id love to be able to accept my payments as btc but last time i tried ebay took it down it

[tully]

Looking at the responses I think one of the key issues is education. BTC is tarnished in the sense that the media consistently pump out stories involving drugs, crime and how it is used with the dark web in general. At the same time I think organisations need to look at BTC and figure out "how does it benefit us?", which at the moment the spot for processing payments looks like a ripe opportunity for BTC startups.

I'm no expert but the process of sending and receiving BTC opposed to sending currency through central authorities has so many extended benefits (processing fees, speed) but at the same time lacks the same type of security banks offer but obviously there services such as escrow.

As stated before I don't think there a huge array of benefits for your every day customer wanting payment options but does have its pros (Greece).

[LFC_Bitcoin]

We're 10 years away from absolute worldwide, mainstream adoption imo. The simple reality is that people don't like change. They stick to what they know, what they trust even if it costs more.

It's going to be a gradual process but mainstream adoption will arrive, we may just have to wait a long time for it. Make sure you prepare for that day & stock up on coins because with only 21 million coins to be mined to even have 10 bitcoin should make you fairly wealthy.

[nextgencoin]

I've tried many times to tell the a Bitcoin purists that this app is going to take crypto mainstream but still they resist. It has a Bitcoin wallet integrated and you can send btc like a text message. The Bitcoin community should be getting 100% behind this app. IMO

https://mobile.twitter.com/getgemsorg?lang=en-gb