If bitcoin succeeds... what will be the greatest contributing factor?

[notig]

By factor I could mean a group of people using it ... or even just technical detail about how bitcoin itself works.

I think the irreversibility of payment gives it a defining factor that pretty much no other medium of payment has. So that will allow it a permanent place in every market across the world... however large or small that place will be.

[1714134850]

1714134850

[1714134850]

1714134850

[Matthew N. Wright]

By factor I could mean a group of people using it ... or even just technical detail about how bitcoin itself works.

I think the irreversibility of payment gives it a defining factor that pretty much no other medium of payment has. So that will allow it a permanent place in every market across the world... however large or small that place will be.

In modern day society, lacking reversals is a social taboo. I've seen it referred to as "Screw you, got mine" mentality before. I know it's workable on a professional level, but consumers might have a problems swallowing their entire life savings being able to be taken by a simple keylogger.

That said, I use bitcoin professionally and adore it's irreversibility. For the longest time I've considering the greatest contributing factor to be that anyone can make it. That might not be true for long though unfortunately.

[hazek]

   
If bitcoin succeeds...

What do you mean "If"? 

[Bit_Happy]

We need more real ecommerce sites instead of a huge focus on gambling.

[ArticMine]

Very simple. The majority of the world's population cannot get a credit card either because they have lousy credit, are too poor, live in the wrong country or are too young. An even greater majority of the world's population cannot receive credit card payments. When it comes to in person transactions they can, and use cash. But what can they do on-line?

To understand why this is so significant, the next time you see a homeless person begging for cash, ask them if they take Visa, MasterCard or American Express.

[marcus_of_augustus]

Liberty.

[xxjs]

Number one is the distributed blockchain, which is able to guarantee the maximum number of coins issued.

[notig]

Number one is the distributed blockchain, which is able to guarantee the maximum number of coins issued.

u win

[ruggedman_dan]

I agree with the poster who said more e commerce.

There needs to be more diversification in the websites that accept bitcoin as payment. Also, wider brick and mortar acceptance would be a great asset as well.

Sadly, one of bitcoins greatest assets will probably be one its biggest flaws- anonymity. As our economy grows there will be a need for businesses to know their customers more and more. They will need shipping info and they will want to collect as much data on you as possible for marketing purposes. It's just the nature of the beast. I do not see a way our economy can really grow while keeping our anonymity in tact.

Correct me if I am wrong.

[FreeMoney]

I agree with the poster who said more e commerce.

There needs to be more diversification in the websites that accept bitcoin as payment. Also, wider brick and mortar acceptance would be a great asset as well.

Sadly, one of bitcoins greatest assets will probably be one its biggest flaws- anonymity. As our economy grows there will be a need for businesses to know their customers more and more. They will need shipping info and they will want to collect as much data on you as possible for marketing purposes. It's just the nature of the beast. I do not see a way our economy can really grow while keeping our anonymity in tact.

Correct me if I am wrong.

Bitcoin doesn't -make- you anonymous. It allows you to be anonymous if you choose and are careful. The 'security settings' are a superset of your normal choices.

[ruggedman_dan]

Security settings have zero to do with me typing in my personal info on..say..bitcointoystore.com. They STILL need my shipping address, name and will probably require some type of contact info i.e. email or phone number. Logically, they will have to have certain info to complete transactions. And more than likely they will store that info.

Of course Bitcoin does not automatically make you anonymous.

[FreeMoney]

Security settings have zero to do with me typing in my personal info on..say..bitcointoystore.com. They STILL need my shipping address, name and will probably require some type of contact info i.e. email or phone number. Logically, they will have to have certain info to complete transactions. And more than likely they will store that info.

Of course Bitcoin does not automatically make you anonymous.

I don't see how it can be a flaw if it can be like the competition when you need it to and better when you need it to. Having to giving a shipping address in order to have something shipped to you is not a flaw of bitcoin.

[ruggedman_dan]

Security settings have zero to do with me typing in my personal info on..say..bitcointoystore.com. They STILL need my shipping address, name and will probably require some type of contact info i.e. email or phone number. Logically, they will have to have certain info to complete transactions. And more than likely they will store that info.

Of course Bitcoin does not automatically make you anonymous.

I don't see how it can be a flaw if it can be like the competition when you need it to and better when you need it to. Having to giving a shipping address in order to have something shipped to you is not a flaw of bitcoin.

All I am saying is the anonymity is going to slowly fade away. Currently, the Bitcoin economy is very sensitive to the whole culture of anonymity that we have come to embrace. Out of all the services I have used in the BTC world, maybe one has asked for my name, number and d.o.b. But what happens when the economy grows? That means competition grows. At some point businesses are going to get more aggressive competing for the same customers. If infiniti poker starts taking some of seals client base you are going to do something about it, right?

Maybe losing anonymity is not a flaw. Maybe it is. Or maybe it is just a growing pain of overall progress.

[mintymark]

I think the next big thing is pornography of various types and related service-orientated web sites. Yes its true there is lots of 'free porn' on the internet, but there is also plenty that is not and its that that I am talking about. It exists side by side with the free porn, and there are many reasons for this. Now, if you want to buy you need to use a credit card, and an intermediate processor is normal. Someone like CCbill. This occurs on your credit ccard statement, there in black and white. Of course you may not mind this, afterall, pornography is not in fact illegal and there is a bit of disguise because it may only say ccBill, but there are many reason why a lot of people do not particularly want a historical record of this. I think bitcoins are perfect for this, once issues relating to logins that do not work etc are worked out. After all, if your login for dodgysite.com does not work you can call ccBill and this is part of the value they add. If your Bitcoin purchase gives a 10 day cookie and you (foolishly!) delete your cookies, people need to understand that there is a robust mechanism for re-instating their subscription from their bitcoin paid address. But it seems to me Bitcoin is perfect for this and once they realise, I think it will rapidly spread because a) porn sites have a long history of being innovative and early adopters of new internet technology. and b) there are fewer owners than there are sites: many owners run several sites and deploy the same tech on all of them.

So far as I know, this has not started yet, but I think it will and I think it will this year.

[MPOE-PR]

Very simple. The majority of the world's population cannot get a credit card either because they have lousy credit, are too poor, live in the wrong country or are too young. An even greater majority of the world's population cannot receive credit card payments. When it comes to in person transactions they can, and use cash. But what can they do on-line?

To understand why this is so significant, the next time you see a homeless person begging for cash, ask them if they take Visa, MasterCard or American Express.

An even larger fraction of the world population cannot control its own wealth. I know it's larger, because it's 100%. It's also immensely more important than anything about the poor: these people have money, and having money means you matter.

The largest driver for Bitcoin will forever be the fact that it allows people control of their own. This happens to be the same driver that, for instance, crushed the Soviets.

[Vladimir]

What will be the greatest contributing factor?

By factor I could mean a group of people using it ... or even just technical detail about how bitcoin itself works.

I think the irreversibility of payment gives it a defining factor that pretty much no other medium of payment has. So that will allow it a permanent place in every market across the world... however large or small that place will be.

- many grandmas using Bitcoin
- many teenagers using Bitcoin
- many "migrant workers" using Bitcoin to send money home
- many e-commerce businesses using Bitcoin
- many brick and mortar businesses using Bitcoin
- many banks ditching SWIFT and using bitcoin/ripple instead
- many services built on top of Bitcoin, such as "smart contracts", notarial services, etc...
- removal of "friction" on BTC/fiat exchanges in many countries (which would effectively enable low cost money transfer and currency exchange)
- upcoming viable and successful p2p private currencies using bitcoin as "debt settlement" mechanism
- massive collapse of fiat currencies (USD, EUR, GBP etc.) and massive roll back of large economies to using PM's and p2p currencies (a-la zimbabwe).
- hawala networks using Bitcoin
- I must have forgotten to mention something

Some combination of the above. Pick your own poison.

[Giulio Prisco]

I think the greatest contributing factor will be the ability to pay for a McDonald and a beer in BTC. Why? Because all means to exchange BTC with cash (exchanges, Bitinstant card...) will always be subject to more and more government control, and governments have all the cards and all the guns. A real, strong, parallel black economy in BTC will be unstoppable and uncontrollable.

[mintymark]

I think the greatest contributing factor will be the ability to pay for a McDonald and a beer in BTC. Why? Because all means to exchange BTC with cash (exchanges, Bitinstant card...) will always be subject to more and more government control, and governments have all the cards and all the guns. A real, strong, parallel black economy in BTC will be unstoppable and uncontrollable.

I dont agree. You see buying a beer with cash is one of the places where cash is at its best. The government really isnt much interested in what kind of beer you buy or how many McDonals. Nobody is in fact.
This will be the last place bitcoins will ever be used. There will of course be meetups for enthusiasts where this happens, but normal places taking Bitcoin as a normal thing will be unusual. What I am saying here is that there will be places that do, but it wont be run of the mill for every place untill Bitcoin has truly conquered the world.

Bitcoin has certain properties that make it very very attractive for certain uses - internet, transfer of money over distance, even investment, but buying beer is so easy anyway, that I just dont see the advantage here.

[Giulio Prisco]

buying beer is so easy anyway, that I just dont see the advantage here.

The advantage is that you can use your BTC without having to change them. This is an incentive for normal people to accept BTC for little exchanges.

10$ for a McDonald and a couple of beers is not much, but 10$ a day for a month is 300$ and 10$ a day for a year is 3600$. So you can make a few extra thousands $ a year with side activities, without regulatory hassles and tax free.

[phelix]

If bitcoin succeeds... what will be the greatest contributing factor?

Greedy bankers.

I would even say greed in general.

Just look at this forum. It's hard not to become greedy with bitcoin.