Whats are the most important things keeping Bitcoin from becoming mainstream?

[Kazu]

What do you think is the biggest barrier to entry to Bitcoin?

1. Too Hard to Buy Bitcoins
Its notoriously difficult to buy bitcoins. Most people haven't sent a bank wire ever before, and it feels shady and unneeded. This gives people second-doubts and reduces interest in bitcoins. Makes it some super-complicated way of doing something super-simple.

2. Too Much Volatility & Uncertainty
Gox goes down. Bitcoin plunges. There is no easy way to get what the price is, and no guarantee that this is where it will be in 2 minutes. This prevents people from holding it, thus reducing its usefulness.

3. Too Long to Wait for Confirmation
Nobody wants to buy groceries then wait 30 minutes for confirmation that they did.

4. Too Complicated to Use
The average joe has no idea what a blockchain is, doesn't like long addresses that look like what CNN likes to show in a green font on a black background before stating the details of Anonymous' latest exploits.

5. Is Not Integrated Enough
Bitcoin needs more integration into already-used internet thingies like Email, facebook, or your normal web-browser.

6. FUD & Past Scares
What if Bitcoin is hacked? What if somebody copies their Bitcoins? Bitcoins are illegal. Bitcoins are worthless! What if I accidentally become a libertarian?

7.

Which is the most pressing issue?

[bootlace]

You forgot the most important reason: it's not in the interest of governments and banks which rule the world.

[UltimateReaper]

http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-ash2/41787_275080769527_5670119_n.jpg

But number 4. The average joe can't comprehend this shit. Blockchains, and bitcoins and data and encryption, and limited supply, etc.

They aren't going to accept or use something they cannot understand (and therefore can't trust), this is the biggest human psychological barrier of all time. Anything that cannot be understood is often shunned, feared, hated, or destroyed.

[MAbtc]

1. The type of people I know who might buy bitcoin are the type of people that jump through hoops to bet sports online or play online poker -- ie not many because of shady payment processors, fly-by-night operators, high difficulty of moving money and possibility of government seizure of funds. All apply here.

But also 4.

[adamstgBit]

But number 4. The average joe can't comprehend this shit. Blockchains, and bitcoins and data and encryption, and limited supply, etc.

They aren't going to accept something they cannot understand, this is the biggest human psychological barrier of all time. Anything that cannot be understood is often shunned, feared, hated, or destroyed.

truth is tho once the infrastructure is their
the avg joe doesn't need to understand very much...

so i pick

5. Is Not Integrated Enough

[Kazu]

Im thinking ease of use. If people lose their coins they arent likely to try it again. So issue 1 will need to be addressed after making sure its hard to mess up a transfer, not before.

[mgio]

You forgot the fact that it is a deflationary currency.

People will always spend fiat before bitcoins because fiat will be worth less tomorrow while bitcoins will be worth more. Therefore people will hoard bitcoins and spend dollars.

This makes it less useful as an actually currency used to buy things.

[mgio]

Number 3 isn't really an issue. You can watch the network for the transaction and see if money is being double spent before the transaction is even written into the blockchain. This is perfectly acceptable for smaller purchases. Only for large transactions do you have to wait.

Think about it. You can go to the grocery store and get a personal check cashed and use that to buy groceries. They are taking a risk that the check won't actually bounce.

If you bounce a check you get blacklisted and that grocery will come after you and won't be able to use checks anymore.

With bitcoins you only have to worry about the rather difficult to execute double spending scam.

[UltimateReaper]

http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-ash2/41787_275080769527_5670119_n.jpg

But number 4. The average joe can't comprehend this shit. Blockchains, and bitcoins and data and encryption, and limited supply, etc.

They aren't going to accept something they cannot understand, this is the biggest human psychological barrier of all time. Anything that cannot be understood is often shunned, feared, hated, or destroyed.

truth is tho once the infrastructure is their
the avg joe doesn't need to understand very much...

so i pick

5. Is Not Integrated Enough

I misread number 4 as "too complicated" I concur with you then.

[Kazu]

You forgot the fact that it is a deflationary currency.

People will always spend fiat before bitcoins because fiat will be worth less tomorrow while bitcoins will be worth more. Therefore people will hoard bitcoins and spend dollars.

This makes it less useful as an actually currency used to buy things.

If people hoard bitcoims that means they at least vaguely know what they are. That counts as "use".

[TomUnderSea]

You forgot the fact that it is a deflationary currency.

People will always spend fiat before bitcoins because fiat will be worth less tomorrow while bitcoins will be worth more. Therefore people will hoard bitcoins and spend dollars.

This makes it less useful as an actually currency used to buy things.

Actually being a deflationary currency increases it's appeal.

Currently I'm setting up the ability to keep (a portion) of my cash reserve in bitcoin rather than a 3 month or 6 month Certificate of Deposit (CD).  With a CD in fiat currency I have to make sure that the promixed interest rate can keep up with the expected inflation during the same time.

With BTC, I don't have to put the coin in a CD (or any other financial instrument) in order to be (reasonably) sure that it will not lose purchasing power over time.

Yes, right now I need to be attentive to the stock market aspects of BTC to fiat conversion rates but in terms of risk that is similar to "penalty for early withdrawal" that goes along with any CD offered on the market.

If I want my currency to retain purchasing power over time, BTC is the right path.


I'm curious to see what financial instruments are offered in the BTC world.  What will a bank offer you in return for the privilege of holding your BTC?

[mp420]

Other: Lack of scalability.

The scalability might improve in the years to come, but as of now we're locked in a situation where Bitcoin's use growing hundredfold would render it almost unusable.

[drawingthesun]

1. Too Hard to Buy Bitcoins
Its notoriously difficult to buy bitcoins. Most people haven't sent a bank wire ever before, and it feels shady and unneeded. This gives people second-doubts and reduces interest in bitcoins. Makes it some super-complicated way of doing something super-simple.

Yeah this is a problem, here in Australia all I have to do is a "pay anybody" transaction which is easy enough because everyone in Australia knows how to do a "pay anybody". But I can understand how concerning a wire transfer would be if that was the only option.

(Oh and the middle man that I pay to get to Gox takes 4%, which is off putting)

2. Too Much Volatility & Uncertainty
Gox goes down. Bitcoin plunges. There is no easy way to get what the price is, and no guarantee that this is where it will be in 2 minutes. This prevents people from holding it, thus reducing its usefulness.

To hold Bitcoins at this time you need to be a strong hand. So we need more people using Bitcoin instead of holding. Most of the things people buy with Bitcoins can be bought with fiat, so some type of discount by the merchant is needed to get things rolling. Incentives people!

3. Too Long to Wait for Confirmation
Nobody wants to buy groceries then wait 30 minutes for confirmation that they did.

There will have to be a service layer like BitPay to make buying things with Bitcoin viable (even if it was Bitcoin to Bitcoin, not just Bitcoin to Fiat like BitPay does now)
The thing this service will provide is instant transactions and they would take the risk of a double spend. For a Bitcoin to Bitcoin version of BitPay there would hardly ever be a risk)

This needs to happen because no one will ever wait even a minute to transfer cash at a shop. I used to work in retail. Ignore this one at your peril!

4. Too Complicated to Use
The average joe has no idea what a blockchain is, doesn't like long addresses that look like what CNN likes to show in a green font on a black background before stating the details of Anonymous' latest exploits.

They need to be educated that a Bitcoin is a limited unit that you have responsibility for and its not stored at a bank. Most people don't actually know how the banking system, VISA, paypal actually work either. Don't worry too much about it being too complicated.

5. Is Not Integrated Enough
Bitcoin needs more integration into already-used internet thingies like Email, facebook, or your normal web-browser.

This would certainly help.

6. FUD & Past Scares
What if Bitcoin is hacked? What if somebody copies their Bitcoins? Bitcoins are illegal. Bitcoins are worthless! What if I accidentally become a libertarian?

This will always be a battle, spreading the truth is the only counter. Never stop spreading the truth. We will have to counter FUD for all times especially with Bitcoin.

7.

Getting people used to protecting their Bitcoins is a important concept, if too many newbies loss massive amounts of wealth due to lost coins and such, then this will create FUD in itself and may become a stigma that will never leave. Education!