Bitcoin's Biggest Question Isn't Ease of Use, It's 'Why Use it?'

[EndTheFed321]

When asked why bitcoin hasn't taken off as an electronic, online cash, it's become conventional wisdom to blame ease of use as the predominant issue. When compared to other payment methods, most say, digital currency simply isn't as user-friendly.

Do you agree?


http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-question-ease-of-use-segway/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CoinDesk+%28CoinDesk+-+The+Voice+of+Digital+Currency%29

[harrymmmm]

In these days of phone apps, the jump to bitcoin wallet app and use of bitcoin is far less than the jump we had from use of faxes to email. So I argue that bitcoin is user friendly by comparison.
People keep saying it's hard to use, but i'm sure they mean that initial mental hurdle is hard. It's simply hard to get your head around. That was the same with fax to email actually.

The 'why use it' part of your title doesn't seem to be mentioned in your post at all, so I'm just gonna assume it was clickbait.

[WhatTheGox]

When asked why bitcoin hasn't taken off as an electronic, online cash, it's become conventional wisdom to blame ease of use as the predominant issue. When compared to other payment methods, most say, digital currency simply isn't as user-friendly.

Do you agree?


http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-question-ease-of-use-segway/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CoinDesk+%28CoinDesk+-+The+Voice+of+Digital+Currency%29

Why use it?

Maybe the 1st world has more choice but it will become increasing popular to the global economy for 1.  Also even if you do have 1st world choices things like openbazaar will provide a unique service not possible without bitcoin.  Even for selling everydays things its going to be far better choice vs ebay.

[flock123]

bitcoin is currently being popular among business entrepreneurs online, so there's no harm in using it

[gentlemand]

I don't think it's a case of ease of use, or lack thereof. There's simply zero incentive for a person with access to first world financial products to use it in everyday life.

If I sneak up to a guy about to buy something with a debit card and say 'hey, there's this other way of paying. First you have to buy it. That'll add some fees and you'll have to get verified. Then make sure you know how to secure it otherwise you'll never get it back.'

I'm likely to be told to fuck off.

If you want buy drugs, porn or hide some cash it's useful. If you're somewhere in the developing world then it's miraculous. First worlders will probably have it fed back to them by people who have a real need for it.

[aso118]

I don't think it's a case of ease of use, or lack thereof. There's simply zero incentive for a person with access to first world financial products to use it in everyday life.

Over a period of time, merchants will start passing on savings (credit card fees, chargebacks, etc) to consumers who use bitcoin. That will give a real push to Bitcoin. Unfortunately, we will have to wait till that happens.

[salek11]

  Bitcoin innovative payment network and a new kind of money, The reason Bitcoin has managed in open source P2P money is in the payments platform market is because it was designed to be limited in supply. At its essence, the easiest way to lose as a payments platform is to not control supply. Monopoly money works so long as there isn’t another monopoly set in the house whose cash can be accessed.

[tertius993]

I agree actually, though I would phrase it as "lack of advantage" - whilst there are some use cases where Bitcoin (or indeed most any crypto currency) is clearly superior, for probably 99 out of 100 transactions that "most" people conduct I struggle to see any real-world advantage.

[galbros]

I don't think it's a case of ease of use, or lack thereof. There's simply zero incentive for a person with access to first world financial products to use it in everyday life.

If I sneak up to a guy about to buy something with a debit card and say 'hey, there's this other way of paying. First you have to buy it. That'll add some fees and you'll have to get verified. Then make sure you know how to secure it otherwise you'll never get it back.'

I'm likely to be told to fuck off.

If you want buy drugs, porn or hide some cash it's useful. If you're somewhere in the developing world then it's miraculous. First worlders will probably have it fed back to them by people who have a real need for it.

I think this is a great summary.  Bitcoin is still too hard for people to get and is volitile.  It does offer real advantages in no chargebacks and is great for cross border (the cost to convert currency 1-3% is about the same as exchanging bitcoin) transactions but that's all I've really seen.

Your point about developing world is great, bitcoin could really help people in Venezuela for example who suffer from poor monetary policies from their government.

[Dire]

I don't think it's a case of ease of use, or lack thereof. There's simply zero incentive for a person with access to first world financial products to use it in everyday life.

Over a period of time, merchants will start passing on savings (credit card fees, chargebacks, etc) to consumers who use bitcoin. That will give a real push to Bitcoin. Unfortunately, we will have to wait till that happens.

^This^

I think this is the main point. Merchants are supposed to be giving savings with Bitcoin. That's the main incentive for all shoppers, and frankly, Bitcoin should target itself a lot more to women who are the largest demographic of online shoppers.

Without something like a 20-30 percent discount from buying items paid with credit card/paypal there's virtually zero incentive for the average person outside of crypto-idealism to use Bitcoin. Yet, I can't remember the last time - or if ever - where I've seen an item at a discount if paid for with Bitcoin. They always price it equal to the dollar value at the time.

Merchants should be doing this, they save money and the customer saves money. It's a no brainer, surely. The other reason savings need to be offered is because who wants to part with something that may be worth double next week? It's a trade off, or at least should be.

For some reason this penny/Satoshi hasn't dropped for merchants yet.

[BrianM]

When asked why bitcoin hasn't taken off as an electronic, online cash, it's become conventional wisdom to blame ease of use as the predominant issue. When compared to other payment methods, most say, digital currency simply isn't as user-friendly.

Do you agree?


http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-question-ease-of-use-segway/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CoinDesk+%28CoinDesk+-+The+Voice+of+Digital+Currency%29

Yes I agree. Keep in mind that bitcoin is still in its prototype stage. The front end payment system is not fully developed. The real question is if the world economy collaps, then does people have no choice than to learn how to use crypto currency no matter how well developed since there will be no alternatives. I bid the day of the dollar/euro/yuan collapse welcome

[Dire]

When asked why bitcoin hasn't taken off as an electronic, online cash, it's become conventional wisdom to blame ease of use as the predominant issue. When compared to other payment methods, most say, digital currency simply isn't as user-friendly.

Do you agree?


http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-question-ease-of-use-segway/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CoinDesk+%28CoinDesk+-+The+Voice+of+Digital+Currency%29

Yes I agree. Keep in mind that bitcoin is still in its prototype stage. The front end payment system is not fully developed. The real question is if the world economy collaps, then does people have no choice than to learn how to use crypto currency no matter how well developed since there will be no alternatives. I bid the day of the dollar/euro/yuan collapse welcome

I'll bet you a Bitcoin that they'll come a lot quicker when the slogan is 'Use Bitcoin and get up to 30% off of ALL your online purchases!'

You'll see your Bitcoin's value rise like a rocket, it won't be the moon, it'll be Mars or Jupiter.

[gentlemand]

Without something like a 20-30 percent discount from buying items paid with credit card/paypal there's virtually zero incentive for the average person outside of crypto-idealism to use Bitcoin. Yet, I can't remember the last time - or if ever - where I've seen an item at a discount if paid for with Bitcoin. They always price it equal to the dollar value at the time.

Where on earth is a retailer going to find a 20-30% discount? If they could they'd already be offering it.

Newegg did offer some heavy discounts for a while but it's not sustainable for them. Perhaps if cost savings spread throughout the supply chain there might be a cumulative discount that's enough to turn customers on. That's going to take time.

[ImI]

Incentive lays on the merchants side, they are the ones who save $s.

[ShamrockHannah]

Everyone's got their own reason for using our not using bitcoin. If we really want the masses to adopt it then we need to give them the "why", then they will use BTC themselves.

Just like anything else in life really. People only do something when they've got a reason to.  I don't mean to state the obvious but you know what I'm saying.

[Sumerian]

When asked why bitcoin hasn't taken off as an electronic, online cash, it's become conventional wisdom to blame ease of use as the predominant issue. When compared to other payment methods, most say, digital currency simply isn't as user-friendly.

Do you agree?


http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-question-ease-of-use-segway/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CoinDesk+%28CoinDesk+-+The+Voice+of+Digital+Currency%29

Why use it?

Maybe the 1st world has more choice but it will become increasing popular to the global economy for 1.  Also even if you do have 1st world choices things like openbazaar will provide a unique service not possible without bitcoin.  Even for selling everydays things its going to be far better choice vs ebay.

I agree, more choice is always better, the best will come out on top anyways. Just like with foods, you could eat potatoes everyday but we have the luxury to eat something else everyday and people use that luxury. For this reason, I think Bitcoin will never reach zero again.

[Mickeyb]

Bitcoin is not hard to use, to download a wallet to your Android and to simply send transactions is extremely easy and user friendly with mycelium for example. But to secure your bitcoins and to understand the basics and how bitcoin works in order to secure it properly is currently very hard.

We need to make this simple, because believe me, you will lose each new user whose wallet or computer gets hacked, that's for sure. Nobody will bear with losing money.

[aso118]

Without something like a 20-30 percent discount from buying items paid with credit card/paypal there's virtually zero incentive for the average person outside of crypto-idealism to use Bitcoin. Yet, I can't remember the last time - or if ever - where I've seen an item at a discount if paid for with Bitcoin. They always price it equal to the dollar value at the time.

Where on earth is a retailer going to find a 20-30% discount? If they could they'd already be offering it.

Newegg did offer some heavy discounts for a while but it's not sustainable for them. Perhaps if cost savings spread throughout the supply chain there might be a cumulative discount that's enough to turn customers on. That's going to take time.

Forget 20-30% discount. A 3% discount on all items purchased using bitcoins will make people flock to it. I am not talking about the deep discounts you get on some items during clearance sales.