What do you think might be holding back Bitcoin's success?

[TheGr33k]

I personally feel Bitcoin is slowly being defeated. From all the allegations made about how bitcoins were used to purchase weapons in aid of the Paris attacks, to money laundering reports. It is slowly becoming some sort of epidemic to me. I am not all that certain how long it'll last to deal with this type of negative impact and overall reputation but I am somewhat holding onto hope. I know the four businesses I'm working with are probably going to be positive influences on the way Bitcoin could really be viewed. I don't know how long the upcoming influence could last though. In fact the founders of Nerdy Knitties and Math-Morale had mentioned quite similar concerns.


The founder of Nerdy Knitties reportedly mentioned Bitcoin to the Etsy community, and soon had her thread filled with scam accusations just for offering to accept bitcoins.

Her response:

"I had mentioned Bitcoin on the Etsy forum just asking them if they knew what Bitcoin was in a thread title. In the OP, I told them I knitted some cool sweaters and slippers with the symbol on them. They immediately attacked my thread saying how they always get somebody like me trying to get bitcoins accepted on Etsy, and that anyone that deals in Bitcoin is probably a scammer because of how anonymous it is, and that if they're not a scammer currently, they will eventually become that. I literally couldn't believe how upset they were just because I said 'bitcoin', and now I won't bother them about it again. I was super nice as I could be so I don't get how they were so scared of me because I mentioned the cryptocurrency".


The founder of Math-Morale took a couple blows as well when discussing Bitcoin to his professor.


"I walked into university today feeling somewhat better than before on my reevaluated proposal to my preferred establishment on adopting effective, efficient and immediate resources to promote Bitcoin through mathematical science. I had my doubts on my first proposal, just because I knew that one of my professors had just commented negatively about Bitcoin after reading an article online that Bitcoin might have probable cause for creating an outlet to purchase weapons secretly in an effort to aid terrorist attacks such as the recent Paris attacks. When I had taken that into consideration, I decided to explain to him how Bitcoin isn't exactly what causes these illegal transactions, but it is moreso the non-regulated and overall ignored standing point Bitcoin has been given that actually does. If we turned to mass adoption tactics, at some point the government would have found some kind of way to keep Bitcoin transactions under close watch of illegal activity. Where there's a will, there is a way. He laughed in my face even after I felt I explained myself to the utmost confidence and importance. At this point, I feel somewhat offended. I deal in bitcoins. Does that automatically mean I use it to purchase drugs and weapons?"

[Drewski]

I think the depends on what you term success.  Do you mean that it will displace the world's existing currency?  Or gain credibility as a form of payment or something else altogether?  I think the bitcoin has already been fairly successful and many places accept it as payment, with more every day.

There will always be ignorant people who fear what they don't understand.  The only way to combat that is education and knowledge.

[vanobe]

The Silk Road damaged bitcoin's reputation, and all the publicity of the Silk Road coin auctions kept reminding people about it. Now the Variety Jones arrest has reminded people about the Silk Road again. After the trial is over people will forget about the Silk Road, and its bad reputation will stop holding bitcoin back. I think bitcoin will become more successful, but it needs to leave the silk Road behind first.

[virtualx]

I think we are early users. It took a while before the world wide web and e-mail took a place in society. People need to get their heads around cryptocurrency, but technology is more accessible than ever so adoption may be quicker.

[calkob]

Bitcoin has received so much bad press since day one and it keeps marching on.  The thing is the bad press is usually related to something else, so for example the pairs attacks,  if cash had been used by the terrorists to purchase weapons would anybody have batted an eyelid regarding that, the answer is no.  people who want to run bitcoin down are always looking to associate bitcoin with negative stories, and are usual ignorant of how bitcoin works and why it is a revolutionary technology that not will, but has changed the internet forever.  The age of the blockchain has only just begun.

The problems bitcoin has are all within its protocol, to me these are the things that will make or break bitcoin over the next number of years.  block size, wallet security, address length, blockchain bloat, to name a few are the things that will need sorted over the next few years before bitcoin will ever go main stream.  And if these things dont get fixed it does not mean that is the end of the technology, it just means that people will use the same tech but it will be called sumthing else.  Bitcoin has the unique advantage of being 1st and having a great name, so hopefully these problems will get sorted, and in the future when bitcoin is used for a criminal act people wont even think twice about it, they will think yeah thats what you would expect them to use.

[TheGr33k]

I think the depends on what you term success.  Do you mean that it will displace the world's existing currency?  Or gain credibility as a form of payment or something else altogether?  I think the bitcoin has already been fairly successful and many places accept it as payment, with more every day.

There will always be ignorant people who fear what they don't understand.  The only way to combat that is education and knowledge.

Nobody fears the US dollar, buddy.

[TheGr33k]

The Silk Road damaged bitcoin's reputation, and all the publicity of the Silk Road coin auctions kept reminding people about it. Now the Variety Jones arrest has reminded people about the Silk Road again. After the trial is over people will forget about the Silk Road, and its bad reputation will stop holding bitcoin back. I think bitcoin will become more successful, but it needs to leave the silk Road behind first.

There's several reports about Bitcoin negatively affecting the world though.

[RealBitcoin]

Probably this, althouth I`m not sure:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1251287.0

 

[Bitcoinpro]

Probably this, althouth I`m not sure:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1251287.0

 

hmmm I though it couldn't have been anymore successful

still on track to reach the 20 Trillion capitalization

[Kprawn]

That is pure FUD... you should not be bothered about that. As long as the transaction volumes are increasing and the VC investment supports the technology, it will not die. Just keep asking merchants to accept it,

and stimulate demand. Your function in all of this noise, is to just explain to all the people who have read this garbage, what the actual truth is.. then leave them to make up their own minds.

Some people take it a step further, and they actively promote Bitcoin OR counter this FUD with good stories and projects being done with Bitcoin. Do good and good will follow, 

[hunnaryb]

Bitcoins utility has been largely about speculation. And obviously its done not so well for later adopters in terms of store of wealth.

Still, the protocol and the distributed ledger is under appreciated.

[CjMapope]

Bitcoins utility has been largely about speculation. And obviously its done not so well for later adopters in terms of store of wealth.

Still, the protocol and the distributed ledger is under appreciated.

 the protocol and the distributed ledger is under appreciated.   <<< this. remember people that bitcoin is just the tool on top of the real star. the blockchain technology itself. let them crush "BTC" , the decentralized, p2p idea behind the blockchain allows us to build ANY form of currency (or trustless exchange for that matter). let the come, same as always. all that the "slow adoption" causes is more time to stack us "early adoptiors" end games.

[iv4n]

Well I don`t know how it is in some other countries, even I dont know how it is in some big cities. I live in Nis with population around 400.000. People around me dont trust in things that they cant see or touch. I`m talking with them, showin them interesting things but they are mistrustful about all this.
For me that is all strange, but I think time will tell how wrong they are. Also people watch tv to much, and I think mentioning BTC in comercials, movies, songs is to low now and people trust more in what they see on tv then about something they read on internet.

[NorrisK]

The problem is not bitcoin, it is the escalation of several other things such as the terrorist attacks. People need to find closure and something to blame. They will look for every reason possible to give it a place.
Unforunately for bitcoin, this means that when it is used to buy weapons (lets not mention the other weapons that are bought with fiat), bitcoin gets blamed.
People getting scammed online, they blame something that they think is the reason (bitcoin), instead of the true reason (their own idiocy).

[Mr. Forum]

To me the bitcoin has already been successful. the reason am saying so that there are today very many people who are trading as we talk now on the bitcoin platforms. One thing i think you are trying to put across is the fact that the bitcoins are not being used across the globe the way you see dollars being used in all countries in the world. It is just the matter of time and we will be there. Success is a milestone thing and you get one in a while.

[bitlancr]

It depends on what you believe "success" means. I think we've come a long way from where we started this year. The value of bitcoin has grown this year a lot.
For next year, I hope that more and more people will start to adapt to bitcoin or at least get to know about it.

[btckold24]

dont give up hope yet, this is going to be a huge year when halving comes!!!

[ThunderThomas]

I think the true success of bitcoin lays within the majortity of the people living on this earth. Even though this community seems like it has so many users. There are still people out there in the real world who's got no clue on what bitcoin is or that it even exist.
To see bitcoin at it's full potential, more people would need to be aware of this and adapt to it.

[maokoto]

For me lack of income is a big one that stops Bitcoin from being more successful.

Most people I know are into Bitcoin for the extra income it might provide, but it is not easy to earn it. Buying it is not easy either, requires to renounce anonimity in many cases, and does not offer any extras (you just change your fiat for another kind of money), rather, Bitcoin is less usable than regular fiat.

[italianobitcoin]

I think lack of advertisements around the world is holding back the full potential of bitcoin. We need it to be more known but that's kinda hard to do when the media keeps shading bitcoin with only negative comments.
Saying that it's illegal or only criminals are using it, is not helping out either.