What's stopping people from using bitcoin?

[lolxxxx]

Can't use Bitcoin as USD .
Hard to buy
Not so popular in world ..

[TastyChillySauce00]

Can't use Bitcoin as USD .
Hard to buy
Not so popular in world ..

you can simply use bitcoin debit card as bit-x or xapo have, they'll simply change your bitcoin into USD/EUR when you gonna checkout some stuff on the stores,more likely visa card (it have visa logo)

[lolxxxx]

Can't use Bitcoin as USD .
Hard to buy
Not so popular in world ..

you can simply use bitcoin debit card as bit-x or xapo have, they'll simply change your bitcoin into USD/EUR when you gonna checkout some stuff on the stores,more likely visa card (it have visa logo)

Unfortunately , Bit-x is'nt available in my country that's why its useless for me .

[johnyj]

lacking of knowledge of fiat money is the major reason that people don't use bitcoin. Everyone that understand fiat money scam has already adopted bitcoin

[iram66680]

Based on my experience, here are the reasons :
-snip-
2. It's annoying to wait for a confirmation or more, especially you are in hurry
-snip-
5. Buy/sell bitcoin is too difficult & expensive (many fees)

2. Many stores do not require confirmations unless you are on a digital store. Still the fees are considerably lower than debit card etc.

5. Circle and coinbase etc allows easier buying and selling of Bitcoins at low fees. It isn't too expensive to get a small amount of Bitcoins even at ATMs. A more prominent problem is the lack of ease to buy Bitcoin as opposed to fees.

[Herbert2020]

i think it is partly because of ignorance and partly because of fear.

the ignorance because they don't see the potential of bitcoin and how it can change our lives and the fear because of the unstable market and the big swing arounds.

[Light]

A lack of knowledge about even the existence of Bitcoin keeps a majority of consumers away. For the rest of us - there are some who know but don't bother simply because it's more effort to buy Bitcoins and then spend them than just use your credit card to buy whatever you want to buy. It might cost a bit more in terms of fees - but people are always willing to pay a small premium for convenience.

[SwagGirl]

A lack of knowledge about even the existence of Bitcoin keeps a majority of consumers away. For the rest of us - there are some who know but don't bother simply because it's more effort to buy Bitcoins and then spend them than just use your credit card to buy whatever you want to buy. It might cost a bit more in terms of fees - but people are always willing to pay a small premium for convenience.

This is the answer pure and simple - this is it.  And it is so obvious.

Instead over analyzing and over complicating things we need to talk abut what to do about it.

[Lauda]

Based on my experience, here are the reasons :
1. It's difficult to find any stores which accept bitcoin
2. It's annoying to wait for a confirmation or more, especially you are in hurry
3. There are many scam bitcoin website & newbie don't know it
4. Bitcoin's volatility is too high
5. Buy/sell bitcoin is too difficult & expensive (many fees)

1) Online? No. You can buy pretty much anything that you want with Bitcoin today.
2) I don't see a situation in which you could not wait 10 minutes but had to acquire the goods that you want online?
3) Partially agree
4) No.
5) Expensive not really but I do agree with this point and I wanted to write about it at the moment.

Acquiring Bitcoin needs to be much more easier than it is today. If it was possible to acquire Bitcoin within a few hours that would probably make adoption spike. At the moment it requires you to scan a lot of documents and then wait until they (hopefully) approve you. Also more ATM(s) that do not require any verification are needed.

[TTMNewsMJ]

Majority of the people don't want to be scammed that's why they are not using bitcoin .
But I think "fear" is the best answer to your question.
They are fear because of the rise and fall price of bitcoin.
They are afraid to invest.

[Hellacopter]

So after reading this article and especially the ending:

One thing is for certain: having made Bitcoin less of a security worry, transparency will now be key in attracting users to new models, placing control of funds and fees in an upfront way in their own hands.

I'm wondering what's stopping people from using bitcoin?

And now I'm talking about people who already aware of bitcoin and how it works but still not using it.

The price is now pretty much stable for more then a year, security issues are out of the question - so why we can't see in 2015 more companies switching to it, especially considering the unstable condition of moden economy?

I think many companies prefer to use fiat till now because they think it safest and less complicated for users, but most likely they're wrong, because in fact Bitcoin nowadays is secure payment processor and sending money through Bitcoin is faster even than many banking systems online and offline

[cjmoles]

Based on my experience, here are the reasons :
1. It's difficult to find any stores which accept bitcoin
2. It's annoying to wait for a confirmation or more, especially you are in hurry
3. There are many scam bitcoin website & newbie don't know it
4. Bitcoin's volatility is too high
5. Buy/sell bitcoin is too difficult & expensive (many fees)

1) Online? No. You can buy pretty much anything that you want with Bitcoin today.
2) I don't see a situation in which you could not wait 10 minutes but had to acquire the goods that you want online?
3) Partially agree
4) No.
5) Expensive not really but I do agree with this point and I wanted to write about it at the moment.

Acquiring Bitcoin needs to be much more easier than it is today. If it was possible to acquire Bitcoin within a few hours that would probably make adoption spike. At the moment it requires you to scan a lot of documents and then wait until they (hopefully) approve you. Also more ATM(s) that do not require any verification are needed.

1)  Can't buy the things most needed: rent, electricity, gasoline, medical insurance, food.....etc
2)  Online purchases with bitcoin are risky, regardless of confirmation time, because there's no way to insure
     that you'd receive the goods purchased.
3)  Just one of many scams found right here on this site: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1158117.0
4)  It's way more volatile than USD!
5)  It's hard to get because people don't use it enough: one doesn't purchase USD from the bank, they acquire
     it by exchanging goods and services....right?  If bitcoin were more legit, it'd be exchanged P2P more often.

I'm not a bitcoin hater....I love it actually....it just needs help.

[Lauda]

-snip-

1) Invalid. Buying goods != paying for utilities/services (exception of food).
2) Nonsense. If you get scammed then it is on you. If you buy from Newegg you are definitely going to get scammed.  
3) Be smart and ignore the altcoin section.
4) Who cares? I don't.
5) You can acquire Bitcoin the same way if you have the right goods and/or skills required (services section anyone?).

1. There are barely any stores which accept bitcoin in my country, i always spend my bitcoin on online shop
2. It happened to me once, i wanted to buy cheap games on steam flash sale, but i'm out of balance & the sale is almost end, so i have to buy steam wallet & wait for a confirmation which took 30 minutes. I got the games few minutes before the sale end.
3. -
4. No? These days bitcoin volatility isn't too high, just around 1% to 2%, but in past bitcoin volatility was very high, about 4% to 10% & there were barely anyone spend their bitcoin because bitcoin volatility was too high
5. Not too expensive, but there are many fees. From fee for deposit your fiat, trading fee & withdraw fee.

1. I was talking about online stores (there are not enough local ones, I agree).
2. That's on you.
4. It's been around $230 this whole year, pretty stable compared to how it was before.
5. Yes. This is why we need other alternatives.

Update:
Billions of dollars get scammed due to CC fraud.

[Snorek]

You're asking a very complex question. This question can not be answered with a reason or two. There are many factors in play. Maybe Bitcoin is still too complex for some people. Besides, the majority are ignorant and closed-minded (change is hard to accept).

Internet is still very complex and multilayered tool. Yet we have no problem with using it on the basic level without any help.
Same is with bitcoin, deep technical analysis and understanding of bitcoin shouldn't be needed to fully use bitcoin.
We need simplify things, create killer apps with easy to understand design, then masses will flock.

[anthonycamp]

bit coin its digital money not 50% of us people are all digital and do the local communities also the work comes into fiat and the BTC its not for all governements dont acept it much.

[iram66680]

Based on my experience, here are the reasons :
1. It's difficult to find any stores which accept bitcoin
2. It's annoying to wait for a confirmation or more, especially you are in hurry
3. There are many scam bitcoin website & newbie don't know it
4. Bitcoin's volatility is too high
5. Buy/sell bitcoin is too difficult & expensive (many fees)

1) Online? No. You can buy pretty much anything that you want with Bitcoin today.
2) I don't see a situation in which you could not wait 10 minutes but had to acquire the goods that you want online?
3) Partially agree
4) No.
5) Expensive not really but I do agree with this point and I wanted to write about it at the moment.

Acquiring Bitcoin needs to be much more easier than it is today. If it was possible to acquire Bitcoin within a few hours that would probably make adoption spike. At the moment it requires you to scan a lot of documents and then wait until they (hopefully) approve you. Also more ATM(s) that do not require any verification are needed.

1)  Can't buy the things most needed: rent, electricity, gasoline, medical insurance, food.....etc
2)  Online purchases with bitcoin are risky, regardless of confirmation time, because there's no way to insure
     that you'd receive the goods purchased.
3)  Just one of many scams found right here on this site: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1158117.0
4)  It's way more volatile than USD!
5)  It's hard to get because people don't use it enough: one doesn't purchase USD from the bank, they acquire
     it by exchanging goods and services....right?  If bitcoin were more legit, it'd be exchanged P2P more often.

I'm not a bitcoin hater....I love it actually....it just needs help.

1) You can certainly buy food with Bitcoin but paying for utility bills can be harder but it does not justify how we can't use it for daily transactions.
2) Use a middleman such as an escrow or buy from a reputable site. Reputable sites would allow users to file a complain.
3) Thats in the altcoin section. Completely different from Bitcoin itself. Furthermore, aren't there online scams on fiats?
4) It is not backed by anything, hence it is natural to be volatile.
5) You can always do that. Bitcoin is definitely more legit than fiat, they have a limited market cap.

[cjmoles]

1)  Can't buy the things most needed: rent, electricity, gasoline, medical insurance, food.....etc
2)  Online purchases with bitcoin are risky, regardless of confirmation time, because there's no way to insure
     that you'd receive the goods purchased.
3)  Just one of many scams found right here on this site: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1158117.0
4)  It's way more volatile than USD!
5)  It's hard to get because people don't use it enough: one doesn't purchase USD from the bank, they acquire
     it by exchanging goods and services....right?  If bitcoin were more legit, it'd be exchanged P2P more often.

I'm not a bitcoin hater....I love it actually....it just needs help.

1) Invalid. Buying goods != paying for utilities/services (exception of food).
2) Nonsense. If you get scammed then it is on you. If you buy from Newegg you are definitely going to get scammed. 
3) Be smart and ignore the altcoin section.
4) Who cares? I don't.
5) You can acquire Bitcoin the same way if you have the right goods and/or skills required (services section anyone?).

I was directing my responses to the context of the thread question: "What's stopping people from using bitcoin?"  I agree with you that there's a lot of digital goods and services that can be purchased with bitcoin; however, if it's going to be more widely adopted, it will have to address the points I enumerated above.  It's easy to say "if you gets scammed it's your fault," but it's easier for most to say, "I'd rather use a credit card then take the chance of getting scammed."  

[NorrisK]

Of You only buy grom reputable sellers or webshops, the chance of getting scammed is very low.

It is just a matter of common sense, not whether You use a credit card or bitcoin.

[cjmoles]

Of You only buy grom reputable sellers or webshops, the chance of getting scammed is very low.

It is just a matter of common sense, not whether You use a credit card or bitcoin.

The problem with finding reputable bitcoin sites is that there are more non-reputable sites than reputable ones.  If I use a bank card, I wouldn't even have to worry about it.  For example:  If I ordered some t-shirts from a website with bitcoin but never received the t-shirts I purchased, I have no way of getting my money back; however,  if I use my credit card, or debit card, to purchase the t-shirts, all I have to do is file a complaint with my bank and my money is returned to me.  And, I don't have to do any kind of deep web research to figure out how reputable the vendors are when I use my bank card. 

[Lauda]

The problem with finding reputable bitcoin sites is that there are more non-reputable sites than reputable ones.  If I use a bank card, I wouldn't even have to worry about it.  For example:  If I ordered some t-shirts from a website with bitcoin but never received the t-shirts I purchased, I have no way of getting my money back; however,  if I use my credit card, or debit card, to purchase the t-shirts, all I have to do is file a complaint with my bank and my money is returned to me.  And, I don't have to do any kind of deep web research to figure out how reputable the vendors are when I use my bank card. 

What is the cost for that? No monetary sovereignty. Yeah, I'd rather stick to Bitcoin and use common sense. I've been around for 3 years and was never scammed by anyone or any merchant. Also, you do not order from random websites using your CC. That would be a very stupid move.

I was directing my responses to the context of the thread question: "What's stopping people from using bitcoin?"  I agree with you that there's a lot of digital goods and services that can be purchased with bitcoin; however, if it's going to be more widely adopted, it will have to address the points I enumerated above. 

Understood.