Why Bitcoins?

[redemptor]

Isn't it a lot of hassle,much more than $ or plastic? If it wasn't for the crazy run-up in price and a hope for a lot more or a personal need for the underground economy,why bitcoins? Bitcoins seem to be time consuming to use.Plus the horror stories of wallet rip-offs,key-stroke thieves and other situations with little legal remedies,along with lost passwords.Speculation seems to be the only reason to bother.

[Kennji]

Any currency will have its horror stories.  Fiat or digital.

I am sure there are far more horror stories with fiat currency than digital.

[redemptor]

Bitcoins,as a means of an exchange still seems much more cumbersome than $s.

[Mike Christ]

Bitcoins,as a means of an exchange still seems much more cumbersome than $s.

Sure, why not?  It won't be until you're dicked over that you'll see the benefit of Bitcoin (I hope you've been reading the news lately, btw, or you might not understand what I mean.)

Anyway, give it some time, and it'll be made easy peasy.  Trading gold for bread isn't a simple task, either; difference being, Bitcoin's got a technological and commercial gap it has to cross.  Gold is created from an exploding star and has been around for billions of years before the dawn of man, and I still can't send it to Bill in South Africa in a matter of seconds.

[Kennji]

Bitcoins,as a means of an exchange still seems much more cumbersome than $s.

Sure, why not?  It won't be until you're dicked over that you'll see the benefit of Bitcoin (I hope you've been reading the news lately, btw, or you might not understand what I mean.)

Anyway, give it some time, and it'll be made easy peasy.  Trading gold for bread isn't a simple task, either; difference being, Bitcoin's got a technological and commercial gap it has to cross.  Gold is created from an exploding star and has been around for billions of years before the dawn of man, and I still can't send it to Bill in South Africa in a matter of seconds.

Great post!

[@Zack]

Bitcoins,as a means of an exchange still seems much more cumbersome than $s.

Sure, why not?  It won't be until you're dicked over that you'll see the benefit of Bitcoin (I hope you've been reading the news lately, btw, or you might not understand what I mean.)

Anyway, give it some time, and it'll be made easy peasy.  Trading gold for bread isn't a simple task, either; difference being, Bitcoin's got a technological and commercial gap it has to cross.  Gold is created from an exploding star and has been around for billions of years before the dawn of man, and I still can't send it to Bill in South Africa in a matter of seconds.

Agree with u.

[redemptor]

Bitcoins,as a means of an exchange still seems much more cumbersome than $s.

Sure, why not?  It won't be until you're dicked over that you'll see the benefit of Bitcoin (I hope you've been reading the news lately, btw, or you might not understand what I mean.)

Anyway, give it some time, and it'll be made easy peasy.  Trading gold for bread isn't a simple task, either; difference being, Bitcoin's got a technological and commercial gap it has to cross.  Gold is created from an exploding star and has been around for billions of years before the dawn of man, and I still can't send it to Bill in South Africa in a matter of seconds.

Granted,bitcoins and crypto-currencies have promises and possibly promising futures.But today are most of your transactions based upon it being the best available means to transact or for promotional reasons?

[cryptogoldstandard]

I like the privacy aspect of Bitcoins. It's perfectly untraceable. In this day and age everything we do is watched and monitored, so more privacy is better. You can't even open up a Google email anymore without a phone number. Bitcoin is outside the system and that is what gives it value.

[lukemarshall]

The privacy, the technology factor, and the lack of fees!

[Foxpup]

Consumers can spend bitcoins with no risk of identity theft, a real danger with other electronic payment systems.
Merchants can accept bitcoins with no risk of chargeback fraud, another danger which you don't hear about as much because merchants simply pass the costs on to you, the consumer.
Everybody using bitcoins benefits from extremely low fees as compared to other electronic payment systems.

There are also economic and political reasons for using bitcoins, but they're not as important to most people, who just want something they can use to buy pizza and beer.