Bitcoin is WAY too confusing for the average person

[jonat3]

Right now it's complicated. That's where new programming comes in tied with new hardware innovations. To make it as easy and accessible as a bank account.

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[whatisthename]

Sorry, I'm really tired.
I essentially meant I think BitCoin will only be widely accepted and grow as long as sites like Mt.Gox and Blockchain exist. (and the sites become even more user friendly)

I know this is a WAY different topic, but hopefully popular sites that support Bitcoin won't be targeted by Governments. (For example like how Turkey has been known to block YouTube sometimes, other countries block other websites, etc etc)

In the long run I suspect some early adopters of Bitcoin are going to want to convert some of their coins into USD. If they initially bought the BitCoins for $10,000....but then today they are worth $1 Million and want to "cash out" of Bitcoin...I suspect they'll have Capital Gains Taxes?

BitCoin only seems to have value (in my mind, at least in the beginning of it) if there is a crappy fiat currency to compare it to (USD, EUR, ETC)

[Vladimir]

If Bitcoin is too confusing for an average person, which it may be. Then, perhaps, an average person shall wait a year or two and come back when 1 BTC worth 10k$. By that time I am sure more polished tools and interfaces and services will be available so that an average person will not be so confused anymore.

[whatisthename]

Hi Gweedo,

I'm just being honest. I don't see BitCoin succeeding unless there are ways of accessing/using it through internet browsers where you have normal logins and passwords/ability to create easy backups (like Blockchain) etc etc.

Heck I think BitCoin is pretty damn cool, I know a LITTLE more about computers then the average person, and even I don't want to deal with Multi-Bit, Electrum, etc etc. You saw earlier in the thread how confused I was (and still kinda am) even with a lot of time looking into it.

The soccer moms and American Idol crowd won't adopt BitCoin unless there is easy web browser access. It might remove a little of the anonymous factor (but it seems like Blockchain keeps your stuff secretive, right?)...but at least it will be a currency that won't/can't have inflation problems. Right?

[whatisthename]

If Bitcoin is too confusing for an average person, which it may be. Then, perhaps, an average person shall wait a year or two and come back when 1 BTC worth 10k$. By that time I am sure more polished tools and interfaces and services will be available so that an average person will not be so confused anymore.

That is a great comment. Makes perfect sense.
(I can't say for sure I know BitCoin well enough to say it's value in USD will go up that much, but it would be very interesting if it happened)

[whatisthename]

Hi Gweedo,

I'm just being honest. I don't see BitCoin succeeding unless there are ways of accessing/using it through internet browsers where you have normal logins and passwords/ability to create easy backups (like Blockchain) etc etc.

Heck I think BitCoin is pretty damn cool, I know a LITTLE more about computers then the average person, and even I don't want to deal with Multi-Bit, Electrum, etc etc. You saw earlier in the thread how confused I was (and still kinda am) even with a lot of time looking into it.

The soccer moms and American Idol crowd won't adopt BitCoin unless there is easy web browser access. It might remove a little of the anonymous factor (but it seems like Blockchain keeps your stuff secretive, right?)...but at least it will be a currency that won't/can't have inflation problems. Right?

You don't understand bitcoin and that is clear, and you shouldn't be talking about why bitcoin will or will not succeed, when you don't have a clear picture. Now what makes bitcoin amazing, put your learning cap on, that is completely decentralized, and pseudo-anonymous. So now you put your wealth on blockchain.info while it is secure, the government takes over it's database and servers your wealth is gone! Now you could back it up and use multibit to recover the wealth, but lets be honest when that non-tech crowd, or even slightly higher skilled in computers don't backup all the time or get lazy. If bitcoin succeeds cause it becomes centralized thru online wallets or light clients, then we are destroying bitcoin and it is succeeding for the wrong reasons. I think it is a great idea that maybe come back in an year or two when it isn't so EXPERIMENTAL or BETA.

I may not know everything about BitCoin, but I know people. I know how lazy they are, or set in their ways with their everyday lives and the spheres they are in. Downloading Multi-Bit, etc etc is too much for people. It's not going to catch on mainstream. It has to be web-browser based(or easy to download apps on your phone...I saw there is one for android I think).

The key is to have services like Mt.Gox or Blockchain that are web based AND heavily promote education of offline backups (which are REALLY easy to do on Blockchain I'm happy to say...user friendly) Then if "the big bad gov't" comes in and turns off Blockchain then you're good to go. Or make it mandatory to have a one time backup file for each bitcoin address sent to your avenue of choice (email, dropbox, etc).

To show laziness/unwillingness to try new things:

I work with a Children's Charity, where literally 89% of the money we receive goes to helping children(we're really efficient), yet I literally have to beg people to sponsor a child for a mere 80cents a day in an effort to save his/her life. (in an efficient business way) I also run a business where I can help friends save money on everyday services that they use. Even WHEN I can save them a LOT of money, and they KNOW it would be a favor for them to get their business from me, most never take the time to try something different and help out a friend with a business.

Thanks for reading. Don't think of me as an enemy of Bitcoin. I like Bitcoin. I'm just thinking for mass appeal. It has to have a massive online website based presence for "the masses" to adopt it.

[rm187]

The average person has no idea how fiat money is created,
How the relationship between US treasury, FED, and Banks work,
How the money supply is manipulated,
How currency is controlled by private banks..

If your hoping to get idiots that don't know this stuff into BTC...good luck.

[whatisthename]

Gweedo,

I honestly don't understand how I'm destroying BitCoin's core values. Can you help me with these two questions?

1. Blockchain will never be able to access my wallet, correct? Even if a Gov't wanted Blockchain to give them access to my wallet, they couldn't, correct?

2. (since I'm still learning) I only need to create a backup of my wallet on Blockchain once, right? If I create a backup in January....and then in June I add 50 Bitcoins to that wallet on the Blockchain website....and then a day later Blockchain get's shut down by the Gov't....I still have those 50 BitCoins on my backup from January, right? Then I can import it into another program like Multi-bit, right?

I'm confused as to why I shouldn't like Blockchain  

[gweedo]

1. Blockchain will never be able to access my wallet, correct? Even if a Gov't wanted Blockchain to give them access to my wallet, they couldn't, correct?

If you backup, but the government can shut down their servers and you even said people are lazy so you don't have a backup your done. Also you never know the NSA could have a super compter that can break the encryption, you never know, I don't know the exact way blockchain.info stores but if they get shutdown it isn't good.

2. (since I'm still learning) I only need to create a backup of my wallet on Blockchain once, right? If I create a backup in January....and then in June I add 50 Bitcoins to that wallet on the Blockchain website....and then a day later Blockchain get's shut down by the Gov't....I still have my BitCoins on my backup from January, right? Then I can import it into another program like Multi-bit, right?

Depends if you create a new address and send it there then no. If you just use on address, then your anonymity is affected. I don't think they are deterministic wallet.

I'm confused as to why I shouldn't like Blockchain 

I saying this in general for all online wallets, but it is hurting network health, it is making people open targets on there wealth if not properly backed up. It is holding a lot of funds which are rising in price, and people are using brute force attacks on looking for people who use alias wallet names and attacking there passwords search the forums. 2FA can save you but then if your not backing up your finished.

[DannyHamilton]

1. Blockchain will never be able to access my wallet, correct? Even if a Gov't wanted Blockchain to give them access to my wallet, they couldn't, correct?

If you backup, but the government can shut down their servers and you even said people are lazy so you don't have a backup your done. Also you never know the NSA could have a super compter that can break the encryption, you never know, I don't know the exact way blockchain.info stores but if they get shutdown it isn't good.

Bah. If the NSA can break the encryption, then they can probably break the ECDSA keys and SHA-256 hashes built in to bitcoin.  At that point it no longer matters whether you are using blockchain or not.

2. (since I'm still learning) I only need to create a backup of my wallet on Blockchain once, right? If I create a backup in January....and then in June I add 50 Bitcoins to that wallet on the Blockchain website....and then a day later Blockchain get's shut down by the Gov't....I still have my BitCoins on my backup from January, right? Then I can import it into another program like Multi-bit, right?

Depends if you create a new address and send it there then no. If you just use on address, then your anonymity is affected. I don't think they are deterministic wallet.

Exactly, you can choose.  Re-use addresses for added convenience and loose some anonymity, or use a new address and increase anonymity while loosing some convenience.

I'm confused as to why I shouldn't like Blockchain 

I saying this in general for all online wallets, but it is hurting network health, it is making people open targets on there wealth if not properly backed up. It is holding a lot of funds which are rising in price, and people are using brute force attacks on looking for people who use alias wallet names and attacking there passwords search the forums. 2FA can save you but then if your not backing up your finished.

Most wallets will work fine for the day-to-day use of small amounts of bitcoin.  Think of it as a wallet, not a bank account.  Sure you can loose a wallet with cash in it, or it can be stolen from you.  You'll be upset, but not devastated.  If you are trying to store larger amounts of cash or for longer periods of time, then you need to start thinking about increasing reliability and security.  You probably wouldn't feel comfortable walking around with 1,000 $100 bills stuffed in your pockets.  You'd look for more secure and reliable ways to transport that money.

[gweedo]

1. Blockchain will never be able to access my wallet, correct? Even if a Gov't wanted Blockchain to give them access to my wallet, they couldn't, correct?

If you backup, but the government can shut down their servers and you even said people are lazy so you don't have a backup your done. Also you never know the NSA could have a super compter that can break the encryption, you never know, I don't know the exact way blockchain.info stores but if they get shutdown it isn't good.

Bah. If the NSA can break the encryption, then they can probably break the ECDSA keys and SHA-256 hashes built in to bitcoin.  At that point it no longer matters whether you are using blockchain or not.

I never said the NSA can break the ECDSA or SHA-256 we know that is currently implausible, but what about how blockchain.info is encrypting the wallet. as I said I don't know specifications of that but is certain plausible. 

Most wallets will work fine for the day-to-day use of small amounts of bitcoin.  Think of it as a wallet, not a bank account.  Sure you can loose a wallet with cash in it, or it can be stolen from you.  You'll be upset, but not devastated.  If you are trying to store larger amounts of cash or for longer periods of time, then you need to start thinking about increasing reliability and security.  You probably wouldn't feel comfortable walking around with 1,000 $100 bills stuffed in your pockets.  You'd look for more secure and reliable ways to transport that money.

You know people will use blockchain.info to hold 100's of coins, it will happen, it is already happening. I remember a post where someone had 40k Coins in a instawallet, LIKE SERIOUSLY COME ON... So don't think people will look for more secure ways.

[Kato]

Bitcoin and the services around it are evolving. Simplicity will improve over time.

[pumawolf]

all i need is the private key to back up my address , do i have to get down my address as well?

[PimpBot5000]

Honestly, this is not an invalid issue. However, I think a lot of this is the demeanor of folks, not the technical issues. Just taking a patient attitude with people who are interested but confused. Occasionally, some ppl in the Bitcoin community can sound like cultists when explaining bitcoin to people, so I think telling people it's a financial opportunity that you can get on the ground floor of, while not trying to say it's going to replace the US dollar (even if it eventually might), is a better way to go about it, for a lot of ppl. You've got to play to the audience your talking to.

I guess I'm rambling here, but not everyone out there is a libertarian, but bitcoin is a currency that ideally should be for everyone, so sometimes you just have to play up the strengths of Bitcoin differently.

[dobatron81]

Agree, if your parents cannot use it, it's too complicated.

So, since my parents are able to use bitcoin, this means is isn't too complicated, right?

My Mom was trying to throw USD at me today to get a buy in on MtGox.  I still have 0 oh wait .0009 NMC=0 lol.  I guess we both are up the BTC creek lol.

Ps my spamming question is

I just set up my new eBayed Mac Pro and put in a 5770 and have Bitminter running @149ish Mh/s.  My question is should I put the old Radeon 1xxx back in slot 2 even though bitMinter wouldn't recognize it?  I've been trying to run DiabloMiner on osX.7.4 to no avail.  Any thoughts would be swell.   PS I just drank the BFL 30Gh/s juice and don't care tee hee.

[TeeBone]

Besides all the problems pointed out in this thread i think general terminology can be quite confusing...ex: just in this thread ive seen 3 ways of using account/publickeys/address. These all mean the same thing, right ? how about more standardized lingo...

[deepceleron]

Since bitcoin.org was made to suck more, I made my site suck less. Please review the sections on "Bitcoin addresses" and "The Wallet" to see if that clarifies some of the terms.

http://we.lovebitco.in/

[hermann1983]

Bitcoin is very dangerous for average person. So many computers are compromised and there is no protection once the coins are transfered. So better for average person stick with fiat and enjoy protection.

[bubblesort]

Bitcoin is very dangerous for average person. So many computers are compromised and there is no protection once the coins are transfered. So better for average person stick with fiat and enjoy protection.

Really?  Traditional currencies never get stolen?

[herzmeister]

I'm not saying there aren't going to be more user-friendly applications someday, but as of now it's just way too confusing. It's even confusing to me and I've spent all day reading about Bitcoin and have slightly higher computer knowledge than most people.

Please look at these statements of mine, THANK YOU!

I've been literally reading ALL DAY and I can't wrap my stupid head around Multi-Bit and how it works. Can someone PLEASE break down these following questions for me?

1. What the heck is a difference between a wallet and a private key in Multi-bit? Is the wallet essentially an unlocked version of the key? (since everytime I start up Multi-bit the wallet just opens)

2. I heard the private key is a code which essentially can get you access to your bitcoins...your bitcoins are stored in that code, right? How do I find that code in the event that the "Wallet.key" file is corrupted? Then, in the case that that .key file is corrupted, what do I do with that long code to get back access to my coins?

Thank you for taking the time to read, and believe me I really have put effort into understanding.

I think we're having the first "victim" of the new bitcoin.org site which promotes the MultiBit client in first place.

oops, just checked again, it doesn't anymore, alright then