The other day I was talking with my brother, explaining to him what Bitcoin is. After the explanation, he asks me if one can pay using bitcoins the same way that using a debit card. I said “No, because...”, but then I realized I don't know exactly how debit cards work.
When paying in a POS, you hand over your debit card, which then is passed through the device and then takes some amount from your account. This could only work if the debit card has some sort of key, right? If so, then how can I be sure that the key won't be stored in the POS and more money won't be taken without my permission?
People everywhere say that you should protect your Bitcoin private keys very carefully, but if I understand correctly, a debit card key has similar risks. If the POS is indeed very secure and will never store any key, could a “Bitcoin debit card” be developed and used in the same way any other debit card is used?
I wonder if people would back the creation of an extremely efficient person-to-person transfer device, it only seems logical.
Bitcoin is so valuable because it is a superior currency over existing fiat in multiple notable aspects:
-Coercion is not used in order to establish value.
-It is easily divisible.
-Decentralized and no point of failure.
-No arbitrary limits except those imposed by the majority of the miners (e.g. democracy).
-Instantly transferable overseas across the world for almost no cost.
The cons are:
-Demagogism, protection of the masses due to persons uneducated on security, most of the market can be convinced to further impose arbitrary limits (e.g. flaws inherent to humans).
-NO efficient person-to-person means of transfers.
-Risk from the government for adopters.
The first one has already been handled and breakthroughs have been achieved, natural evolution is in progress, the third one is also being tackled by activism and promoting the cryptocurrency. Tragically there is virtually no progress in the second one and USD still has the edge over BTC in that aspect, say I want to pay a dollar for a doughnut, I can simply give the bill to the vendor and be on my way eating the doughnut, a Bitcoin user on the other hand would have to pull out his phone with the official (potentially sabotaged) bitcoin app (which requires a jailbreak on iOS), scan the vendors screen, calculate the the USD value in BTC and send the vendor the BTC all while looking like a complete nerd. You would also have to:
-Have an active internet connection.
-Have a charged smartphone.
-Have the willingness to lose social value in the eyes of peers.
I have got an idea for a device down to the technical details, it would be rechargeable by hand, look very futuristic/stylish and stay fully charged more than a month at the time. I don't think the market is ripe for a Kickstarter campaign yet though
