What's stopping people from using bitcoin?

[ranochigo]

Maybe they want to use bitcoin but to get/earn it is hard.
For example buying in exchange they require lots of personal information and lots of verifications.
And i think that they are a bit afraid to submit government documents through these websites.

For my country, the exchange only require the back and front of my identity card. It differs from country to country though. If you use an ATM, the process will be much more straightforward and fast. Identity theft is a problem hence, the exchanges need to build trust or have a exchange with excellent security.

The security is never 100% because every day hackers hack something somewhere.
Well i have seen bitcoin ATM only in youtube and never in my country.
Do they require identity verification like most of online exchages.

In Singapore, we do not need to do so and honestly, the process is swift. I can't speak for all the countries though. Many of them requires verification but they mostly only need a government issued ID or driver license and it takes ~30minutes-1hour to verify. Enough time for you to buy and drink a beer.

It's a one time thing too.

[danherbias07]

i can see the subject of this thread is a question about what is stopping people from using bitcoin ...
my answer is NOTHING at all ,but the whole thread arises a question in my mind at same time :

why someone may use a diferent curency for ?
i recall in my country Greece around 80's when someone had a medical problem or urgent need to spend money abroad ,
there was a need to find US$ or some other hard currency instead of Drachmas ,so even black-market was alive for that NEED

conclusion > the real question is : what kind of goods,services or whatever we NEED and if something of all that is offered
for bitcoins then its positive to say : " I NEED TO BUY BITCOINS "

offering unique goods or services only for bitcoins can be the way to make Bitcoin better.

Very nice and very positive. Yes that uniqueness could rise the demand of bitcoins. Just thinking about it I got a few ideas in my imagination now.

[Wapinter]

Yesterday I saw a article about bitcoin in local Hindi Newspaper.This is the first time I see anything related to bitcoin in Hindi Newspaper.No need to say many of the readers would be hearing about bitcoin for the first time. I think its a positive sign and will definitely encourage more people to use bitcoin.

[CoinNation]

Yesterday I saw a article about bitcoin in local Hindi Newspaper.This is the first time I see anything related to bitcoin in Hindi Newspaper.No need to say many of the readers would be hearing about bitcoin for the first time. I think its a positive sign and will definitely encourage more people to use bitcoin.

That is another piece of good news for bitcoin. Ordinary people are aware of bitcoin day by day. I hope there will be more adoption as well.

[Raimonn]

Yesterday I saw a article about bitcoin in local Hindi Newspaper.This is the first time I see anything related to bitcoin in Hindi Newspaper.No need to say many of the readers would be hearing about bitcoin for the first time. I think its a positive sign and will definitely encourage more people to use bitcoin.

Thats what wee need, more info for people that didn't know anything about bitcoins, reviews in normal newspapers, articles in magazins and the cover with a bitcoin and blockchain of last number of of "The Economist". If not bitcoin can't be a global payment system.

[Snorek]

There is many problems of bitcoin that scare people away. But the biggest atm is lack lack of direct trading. In other words to be fully capable of using bitcoin you don't have bitcoin alone,
you have to register on an exchanges and other services and buy it for fiat. Also normal services and retailers rarely accept direct bitcoin payments.

[thisismyad]

The government.

For me, that's the best answer.

Somebody says that bitcoin is not popular because only a few shops accept btc. But that's the vicious circle and we should ask question why there are so few of them. I wanted to establish my own business connected with btc. I had (in my opinion good) plan, some money - not very much is necessary. The only thing that scared me off was the very complicated law connected with bitcoin, the fear of becoming illegal (even unintentionally). I think many enterpreneurs as well as huge companies would also use btc instead of fiat. And they would do it with pleasure - it's convenient. But they don't even think of it, they are having so much restrictions on taxes, they must prove their expenses with VAT invoices (thats not so easy when dealing with btc), do other bureaucratic stuff...

Easy law, friendly for enterpreneurs/shops/people dealing with money + removal of absurd income taxes = more shops/people accepting BTC = more users = more stable quotes

The more users the BTC network has, the more stable the quotes will be. That's normal, having few milion users, some of them with 0,1% or even 1% (!) of the whole network, there won't be better stabilisation than it is now - i think it would now take only a few users with altogether 1-2% network shares (50-100 mln $) to strongly destabilise the network for a couple of weeks/months. It won't be a problem when btc will be used by more people and any bigger value deviation will be regulated by free market quickly.

The second thing is the fear, but it is also connected with everything above. For me the capitalisation of the network, about 5 000 000 000 usd, is the sufficient guarantee for it being somewhat safe, but

more users = wider belief in networks safety = more users = more stable quotes = less fear = ...

Do you agree with me?

[RealBitcoin]

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).

The biggest problem is lack of awareness. I got this thread where I put forward my suggestions:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1171565.0


But the biggest problem is lack of awareness. I`m not sure if more than 5% of the population are aware of bitcoin at all. Need more advertising guys!

[CoinNation]

We need more media exposure of bitcoin or blockchain technology or anything else related to bitcoin. It is better for the exposure to be positive.

[bitmarket.net]

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?

As it has been said before, the answer is quite complex.

What do you mean by "using bitcoins" ?
Is it speculating with bitcoins, using it as a long-term investment, paying with bitcoins for goods and services or using it for remittances and payments ?

[danherbias07]

Yesterday I saw a article about bitcoin in local Hindi Newspaper.This is the first time I see anything related to bitcoin in Hindi Newspaper.No need to say many of the readers would be hearing about bitcoin for the first time. I think its a positive sign and will definitely encourage more people to use bitcoin.

That is good. But? there will always be a but. Will people trust the newspaper? the media or the government? the government always win. They can control everything. That news writer must be really tough for posting that on newspaper. And he might also have some connections to put that there.

[ranochigo]

Yesterday I saw a article about bitcoin in local Hindi Newspaper.This is the first time I see anything related to bitcoin in Hindi Newspaper.No need to say many of the readers would be hearing about bitcoin for the first time. I think its a positive sign and will definitely encourage more people to use bitcoin.

That is good. But? there will always be a but. Will people trust the newspaper? the media or the government? the government always win. They can control everything. That news writer must be really tough for posting that on newspaper. And he might also have some connections to put that there.

Most countries have restrictions and guidelines that publishers must follow. If it is allowed to go on newspaper, that means the government isn't restricting Bitcoin. Even if it's something bad, people would become interested about the currency and research about it.

[goinmerry]

Yesterday I saw a article about bitcoin in local Hindi Newspaper.This is the first time I see anything related to bitcoin in Hindi Newspaper.No need to say many of the readers would be hearing about bitcoin for the first time. I think its a positive sign and will definitely encourage more people to use bitcoin.

That is good. But? there will always be a but. Will people trust the newspaper? the media or the government? the government always win. They can control everything. That news writer must be really tough for posting that on newspaper. And he might also have some connections to put that there.

That newspaper could be a start for some readers though. I agree that the government is stopping the hike of bitcoin. They say that it is a crime to trust bitcoin. That it is used for criminal acts like ransoms and drugs.

[USB-S]

Yesterday I saw a article about bitcoin in local Hindi Newspaper.This is the first time I see anything related to bitcoin in Hindi Newspaper.No need to say many of the readers would be hearing about bitcoin for the first time. I think its a positive sign and will definitely encourage more people to use bitcoin.

That is good. But? there will always be a but. Will people trust the newspaper? the media or the government? the government always win. They can control everything. That news writer must be really tough for posting that on newspaper. And he might also have some connections to put that there.

That newspaper could be a start for some readers though. I agree that the government is stopping the hike of bitcoin. They say that it is a crime to trust bitcoin. That it is used for criminal acts like ransoms and drugs.

In all honesty I think that at least 70% of the people who read newspapers are too technically illiterate to use bitcoin.

We need to dumb this shit down so that even my granny could use it.

[iqlimasyadiqa]

if there is something better and easier than bitcoin. eventually people will leave bitcoin 

[makcik]

Bitcoins, even though being cashless, wireless and a globally accepted currency, still people have doubt on it's working method. And, that's why maybe some people even though knowing about btc, aren't using it. Some of the reasons are.
(1) Bitcoins are still not famous in their country and has very low attention
(2) Rate of bitcoins in their fiat currency is not ok for them.
(3) They still have doubt on privacy as bitcoins work on a system of bitcoin address and private keys of transaction.

[lihuajkl]

It is just virtual commodity, in one day it can fluctuate 35%, far more than our dominant dollar!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2013/12/10/this-finance-expert-thinks-bitcoin-will-fall-99-percent-by-june/

[goinmerry]

It is not stopping people from using bitcoin it is the ignorance and not knowing that there are this types of currency. Bitcoin needs to be advertised but govrnments are stopping it from happening. With a lot of people uaing bitcoin, every countries currency might go down.

[RealBitcoin]

It is just virtual commodity, in one day it can fluctuate 35%, far more than our dominant dollar!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2013/12/10/this-finance-expert-thinks-bitcoin-will-fall-99-percent-by-june/

So what, its still a small baby compared to the dollar.

Wait a few years, wait a few more millions and then see that the volatility will be smaller and smaller.

After it stabilizes it will be a great money vehicle.

[knowhow]

The volatility of bitcoin is one of the things that atracted the most investors into the crypto world,sure some people may had losted their money,but they still in this kind of game.Dollars moves around 10% and has a good interest into it,bitcoin moves around 20% and above soo its a high risk investment that may turn into a great return.