It's all about "why" do I need Bitcoins

[deadgiveaway]

Most have never found a reason to need it. Those that did see it's utility, have given it's present day value against other monetary instruments. People that don't understand that, have in the past and are still presently incorrectly thinking it's a "bubble" or "hype"

I'll make a list of reasons that I know, why Bitcoin is needed by certain people.

1) Recreational drug users NEED it to anonymously purchase drugs in a relatively safe way. Therefore they understand Bitcoins.

2) U.S. online poker players NEED Bitcoin because most online Poker sites have banned U.S. registrants in order to retrieve their .com domains back from U.S. authorities who placed a federal ban on it.

Continue the list if you want, or just discuss..

Something I want to say though is, how is it conceivable that a law abiding average person would ever find Bitcoins useful in their life? For most, the switch is not worth the effort. Sure, they may vaguely understand that in theory it is better, but they are TOO LAZY to give a crap. They'd rather stick with the traditional system. What does this mean for Bitcoin? Will it die because humans are too lazy to utilize the use of this new technology? That on top of bad press, I really find it hard to imagine Bitcoin will progress on a natural course, when unnatural forces wage war against it.

[Aswan]

People who want financial privacy need it

[Birdy]

Everytime I read about the next country in Europe having big financal problems, I am glad to have some Bitcoins.

[sublime5447]

No one "needs" bitcoin the world will go right on spining with or without it. It is over valued for the size of the market and the amount of coins IMO.

[odolvlobo]

Bitcoin is unbeatable for sending money across borders.

[Birdy]

No one "needs" bitcoin the world will go right on spining with or without it. It is over valued for the size of the market and the amount of coins IMO.

The world will keep spinning, with or without us.

How exactly do you draw your conclusion that Bitcoin is overvalued from this?

[franky1]

if this is suppose to be a thread to cause people to think bitcoin is useless..

i personally think bitcoin does not have one sole purpose but many, many micro purposes, that can fit the needs of many people for many different reasons

for example

why do you need shares in companies like apple? - to make profits
why do people need google news when a physical newspaper already exists? - because there is a limit to how much you can hold onto in one go with paper
why do people need to send SMS instead of posting a stamped envelope? - because travelling distances takes time compared to instant communication

now
why invest in bitcoins - to make profit
why use digital currency over paper FIAT - because there is a limit to how much you can hold onto in one go with paper
why dont you just send paper FIAT by post - because travelling distances takes time compared to instant communication

now lets add onto this list of real life things that exist which compare to the benefits of bitcoin.

[sublime5447]

I get that it is over valued because on one knows what it is and even fewer people care... the silkroad is the only thing that keeps btc afloat that and f!@#ing dice for some reason every idiot in the btc community likes to shooting dice like hood rats under a bridge or out back behind the liquor store.

[deadgiveaway]

I get that it is over valued because on one knows what it is and even fewer people care... the silkroad is the only thing that keeps btc afloat that and f!@#ing dice for some reason every idiot in the btc community likes to shooting dice like hood rats under a bridge or out back behind the liquor store.

Yeah I don't understand the obsession with playing a game with odds against you.

[franky1]

I get that it is over valued because on one knows what it is and even fewer people care... the silkroad is the only thing that keeps btc afloat that and f!@#ing dice for some reason every idiot in the btc community likes to shooting dice like hood rats under a bridge or out back behind the liquor store.

i guess you ignored the 20k+ LEGITIMATE businesses that have found bitcoins cheaper then accepting credit cards

i guess you ignored the many more legitimate bitmit independant traders selling t-shirts, GPU's finding bitcoins irreversibilty a benefit, compared to ebay chargeback scams when listing items

i guess you ignored the fact that i went on vacation and found getting foreign currency from a localbitcoin trader, easier and faster then transfering FIAT to a travel currency exchange shop.

what i do find strange is.. i find ants and bugs useless to my life.. yet i do not sign up to a insect forum posting hundreds of posts saying how useless they are........ but you are here???

if its so useless to your life, why make it part of your life to become emotional about it enough to write these messages?

[skull88]

For the average person:

- It's easier and faster to pay someone on the other side of the globe than a bank wire transfer. So if you need to pay someone and you can't wait days till he has it, you need Bitcoin
- No chargebacks possible like with Paypal, so if you need to get paid and want to be completely sure the payment can never be reversed, by anybody, you need Bitcoin
- If you don't convert to fiat, no tax got to be paid on the money you earn. So if you would prefer not to give 60% of your wage away, you need Bitcoin.
- No inflation, I constantly hear people about how expensive everything has become. If you want a currency with no inflation, you need Bitcoin.
- Everybody knows, you can wake up one day and suddenly you don't have access to your own money anymore! So if you need to be sure to have always access to some digital money, you need Bitcoin.
- Most people here hate banks, billions of tax money have been pumped in the banks to safe them. Tens of billions is a lot for a country that has 11 million residents. If you don't want to use banks, you need Bitcoin.

20 years ago, if you would ask the average person if he needed a cellphone, he would probably say "no". Ask the same question now and you will get a "yes". It's not because they don't know they need it, that they don't need it. Just make clear to them, they really need it.  

[shawshankinmate37927]

- no more bounced checks
- no more ATM withdrawal fees
- no more credit card fraud/identity theft

[sublime5447]

It is not that I think it is worthless, just over valued the technology is what I am interested in not bitcoin itself... people here think it is about bitcoin it is not. It is about the technology, shaw 256 hashing. I dont care about bitcoin. I care about P2P currency of any type. I want individuals to have the money power not institutions.

[franky1]

i dont think its over valued.

put it this way. even though theres 7 billion people in the world. lets bring those numbers down to something more along the lines of minimal users right now.

lets say there are 1 million users.

we know theres many people (winkle twins) that invested millions into it. but lets keep things simple. lets say that every one of those 1 million people on average just invest 1 months wage... yep thats right, not their whole life savings. just one month wage..

1million x £$1000 = £$1billion

so even with this small amount of userbase and the small amount of average investment.. i think the valuation is not over valued at all..

if you did not mean financial value but feature and usability value. i can name you many gimmicks/items that only have one function that people value more then their pets, children and relationships.

[crumbs]

- no more bounced checks
   *stop writing checks -- problem solved!
- no more ATM withdrawal fees
   *no more ATMs -- duh.
- no more credit card fraud/identity theft
   *no more credit cards -> no more credit
   *cancel credit cards ->problem solved!

[BittBurger]

I own an online store.

I am anally raped by Visa and Mastercard every month to the tune of $4,000 just for transaction fees.

Bitcoin would save my business nearly $50,000 a year, and I am a very small mom & pop sized shop.

Large businesses like Amazon.com would easily save hundreds of millions in fees.

I believe that it is merchants who will ultimately power the propogation of bitcoin to the masses.

You are correct.   Human beings are lazy, and in general, not very smart.  But they do like "fun stuff".  

And they like privacy.  Even if they're not breaking the law.

Being able to pay for something with their cell phone, even if its just a cup of coffee, without the NSA knowing about it, will be a big sell for many...
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=30346

Don't forget, customers also pay transaction fees, interest, late payment fees, and if they miss a payment?  Their credit is screwed for 7 years.  Think of all the ways that their credit card companies anally rape them, too...

-Burger-

[odolvlobo]

First, a little story:

When the PC first came out, it was advertised as something a person could use to balance their checkbook and to store recipes on. I thought, "why would anyone buy a $2000 computer to balance their checkbook and store recipes?" I was convinced that the PC would fail as a consumer product. Obviously, I was wrong.

Many years later, I thought "you can use the internet to do online stock trading, and send email, and look up stuff, but the internet is not going to be useful to the average person." Again, I was horribly wrong.

The lesson here is that the fact that you can't see the value in something doesn't mean that there is no value. Please learn from my mistakes.

[crumbs]

...
Being able to pay for something with their cell phone, even if its just a cup of coffee, without the NSA knowing about it, will be a big sell for many...
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=30346
...-Burger-

You'll never guess how i buy my coffee without NSA knowing about it!  Give up?  Ok, but don't tell anyone else -- this is seeecrit, just for spies like us:  I reach into my front pocket, and pull out some cash.  I leave a tip that the waitress can spend.

[BittBurger]

You'll never guess how i buy my coffee without NSA knowing about it!  Give up?  Ok, but don't tell anyone else -- this is seeecrit, just for spies like us:  I reach into my front pocket, and pull out some cash.  I leave a tip that the waitress can spend.

Obviously. 
I was comparing bitcoin to credit cards.  From the merchant perspective, and from the consumer perspective. 
I wasn't forgetting that cash exists.
You'll never guess how you could have figured that out on your own. 
Give up? 
Ok, but don't tell anyone else ... this is seeecrit, just for spies like us: 
Its called "context".

-Burger

[crumbs]

You'll never guess how i buy my coffee without NSA knowing about it!  Give up?  Ok, but don't tell anyone else -- this is seeecrit, just for spies like us:  I reach into my front pocket, and pull out some cash.  I leave a tip that the waitress can spend.

Obviously. 
I was comparing bitcoin to credit cards.  From the merchant perspective, and from the consumer perspective. 
I wasn't forgetting that cash exists.
You'll never guess how you could have figured that out on your own. 
Give up? 
Ok, but don't tell anyone else ... this is seeecrit, just for spies like us: 
Its called "context".

-Burger

You pay for a cup of coffee with plastic?  Do you add the tip on the card, too?