Money over IP a threat to bitcoin

[adpinbr]

I think venmo is the biggest threat to bitcoin. If money over IP becomes prevalent without the need for bitcoin/cryptocurrencies, than the only benefit they really offer is for ideologist/criminals/economic reasons. But a lot of the added utility that we emphasize will disappear. And I ask myself, why don't we have that kiiler app yet?

Maybe we have all been fooled, maybe bitcoin will never go mainstream by the average joe that doesn't own gold and has his money run by a financial manager.
I was an Über-bull, but the realization that i see my friends using venmo, and not even close to understanding bitcoin, just made me extremely bearish

[BitCoiner2012]

I think venmo is the biggest threat to bitcoin. If money over IP becomes prevalent without the need for bitcoin/cryptocurrencies, than the only benefit they really offer is for ideologist/criminals/economic reasons. But a lot of the added utility that we emphasize will disappear. And I ask myself, why don't we have that kiiler app yet?

Maybe we have all been fooled, maybe bitcoin will never go mainstream by the average joe that doesn't own gold and has his money run by a financial manager.
I was an Über-bull, but the realization that i see my friends using venmo, and not even close to understanding bitcoin, just made me extremely bearish

I've never even heard of the service, but here I am on a BTC forum.

[notme]

Never heard of it, but a paypal clone that broadcasts your transactions to all your friends doesn't seem like much of a threat/competitor.

[MoreFun]

Never heard of the service too but after watching video on their site you should probably just start with ABC of Bitcoin.

[MAbtc]

I've been saying this for a while. Venmo is the most viable, but there are many other mobile payment providers coming onto the scene. This should have been expected, though.

Interface is much better than Paypal. It's quite intuitive and fits the "social networking" niche far better than bitcoin could ever dream. Regardless of anything else, laymen will understand and be willing to use Venmo much more easily than bitcoin.

[BitCoiner2012]

I've been saying this for a while. Venmo is the most viable, but there are many other mobile payment providers coming onto the scene. This should have been expected, though.

Interface is much better than Paypal. It's quite intuitive and fits the "social networking" niche far better than bitcoin could ever dream. Regardless of anything else, laymen will understand and be willing to use Venmo much more easily than bitcoin.

Isn't it based on or in fiat? If so, it doesn't change the underlying issue.

[adpinbr]

I've been saying this for a while. Venmo is the most viable, but there are many other mobile payment providers coming onto the scene. This should have been expected, though.

Interface is much better than Paypal. It's quite intuitive and fits the "social networking" niche far better than bitcoin could ever dream. Regardless of anything else, laymen will understand and be willing to use Venmo much more easily than bitcoin.

I was working on a proprietary wallet with eli https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=29109.0
I feel we do need that killer app. and Venmo is not out of bitcoins grasp, but someone needs to step up while we still have the chance, once people get used to venmo they are exponentially less likely to figure out bitcoin, even when the barriers to entry are being reduced

[adpinbr]

I've been saying this for a while. Venmo is the most viable, but there are many other mobile payment providers coming onto the scene. This should have been expected, though.

Interface is much better than Paypal. It's quite intuitive and fits the "social networking" niche far better than bitcoin could ever dream. Regardless of anything else, laymen will understand and be willing to use Venmo much more easily than bitcoin.

Isn't it based on or in fiat? If so, it doesn't change the underlying issue.

The masses don't care about the "underlying issue". they care about Prada, george zimmerman and pictures of their brunch

[notme]

I've been saying this for a while. Venmo is the most viable, but there are many other mobile payment providers coming onto the scene. This should have been expected, though.

Interface is much better than Paypal. It's quite intuitive and fits the "social networking" niche far better than bitcoin could ever dream. Regardless of anything else, laymen will understand and be willing to use Venmo much more easily than bitcoin.

Isn't it based on or in fiat? If so, it doesn't change the underlying issue.

The masses don't care about the "underlying issue". they care about Prada, george zimmerman and pictures of their brunch

And bitcoiners dont' have to care about "the masses".  Even if it remains a niche, it will continue to grow dramatically.  There is plenty of demand for a trustworthy currency.  Other than bitcoin and altcoins, there is no competition.

[sidhujag]

I've been saying this for a while. Venmo is the most viable, but there are many other mobile payment providers coming onto the scene. This should have been expected, though.

Interface is much better than Paypal. It's quite intuitive and fits the "social networking" niche far better than bitcoin could ever dream. Regardless of anything else, laymen will understand and be willing to use Venmo much more easily than bitcoin.

Isn't it based on or in fiat? If so, it doesn't change the underlying issue.

The masses don't care about the "underlying issue". they care about Prada, george zimmerman and pictures of their brunch

In other words it will never be worth anything because there is no smart money.

[millsdmb]

I think venmo is the biggest threat to bitcoin. If money over IP becomes prevalent without the need for bitcoin/cryptocurrencies, than the only benefit they really offer is for ideologist/criminals/economic reasons. But a lot of the added utility that we emphasize will disappear. And I ask myself, why don't we have that kiiler app yet?

Maybe we have all been fooled, maybe bitcoin will never go mainstream by the average joe that doesn't own gold and has his money run by a financial manager.
I was an Über-bull, but the realization that i see my friends using venmo, and not even close to understanding bitcoin, just made me extremely bearish

ehh, venmo aint nothing special. I tried using it for roomates to pay utils. They just gave me checks instead.

[adpinbr]

I've been saying this for a while. Venmo is the most viable, but there are many other mobile payment providers coming onto the scene. This should have been expected, though.

Interface is much better than Paypal. It's quite intuitive and fits the "social networking" niche far better than bitcoin could ever dream. Regardless of anything else, laymen will understand and be willing to use Venmo much more easily than bitcoin.

Isn't it based on or in fiat? If so, it doesn't change the underlying issue.

The masses don't care about the "underlying issue". they care about Prada, george zimmerman and pictures of their brunch

And bitcoiners dont' have to care about "the masses".  Even if it remains a niche, it will continue to grow dramatically.

If we don't care about the masses then the value of bitcoin stems from one of 2 things IMHO.
a. Financial safe haven- this will require some sort of "mass" recognition, even if its just from a fraction of the financial industry
b. greater fool theory- there is nothing here, and you are just ridding the bubble up cause you are a relative early adopter

[MAbtc]

I've been saying this for a while. Venmo is the most viable, but there are many other mobile payment providers coming onto the scene. This should have been expected, though.

Interface is much better than Paypal. It's quite intuitive and fits the "social networking" niche far better than bitcoin could ever dream. Regardless of anything else, laymen will understand and be willing to use Venmo much more easily than bitcoin.

Isn't it based on or in fiat? If so, it doesn't change the underlying issue.

The underlying issue here for the vast majority of people is not fiat currency. If we want bitcoin to be adopted as a payment system, it needs to compete on that basis.

[notme]

I've been saying this for a while. Venmo is the most viable, but there are many other mobile payment providers coming onto the scene. This should have been expected, though.

Interface is much better than Paypal. It's quite intuitive and fits the "social networking" niche far better than bitcoin could ever dream. Regardless of anything else, laymen will understand and be willing to use Venmo much more easily than bitcoin.

Isn't it based on or in fiat? If so, it doesn't change the underlying issue.

The masses don't care about the "underlying issue". they care about Prada, george zimmerman and pictures of their brunch

And bitcoiners dont' have to care about "the masses".  Even if it remains a niche, it will continue to grow dramatically.

If we don't care about the masses then the value of bitcoin stems from one of 2 things IMHO.
a. Financial safe haven- this will require some sort of "mass" recognition, even if its just from a fraction of the financial industry
b. greater fool theory- there is nothing here, and you are just ridding the bubble up cause you are a relative early adopter

The answer is a.  And no, it doesn't require the masses.  Just as precious metal investors are a niche.

The other answer is remittances and international settlements.  Venmo is US only.  What about the other 95.6% of the world population?

[BitChick]

I've been saying this for a while. Venmo is the most viable, but there are many other mobile payment providers coming onto the scene. This should have been expected, though.

Interface is much better than Paypal. It's quite intuitive and fits the "social networking" niche far better than bitcoin could ever dream. Regardless of anything else, laymen will understand and be willing to use Venmo much more easily than bitcoin.

Isn't it based on or in fiat? If so, it doesn't change the underlying issue.

The masses don't care about the "underlying issue". they care about Prada, george zimmerman and pictures of their brunch

In other words it will never be worth anything because there is no smart money.

I was just thinking about this today.  There will probably be some mobile payment providers that will be quite successful before Bitcoin takes off.  It will just pave the way for Bitcoin though so I would not be concerned.  It will still be hard to transfer large amounts of money securely and it has the same issue of being fiat and will lose value.

Eventually some stories about how people have made millions from bitcoin, or smart investors that realize the potential convince less smart people to invest in BTC will be what helps it to grow.  

[BitCoiner2012]

I've been saying this for a while. Venmo is the most viable, but there are many other mobile payment providers coming onto the scene. This should have been expected, though.

Interface is much better than Paypal. It's quite intuitive and fits the "social networking" niche far better than bitcoin could ever dream. Regardless of anything else, laymen will understand and be willing to use Venmo much more easily than bitcoin.

Isn't it based on or in fiat? If so, it doesn't change the underlying issue.

The masses don't care about the "underlying issue". they care about Prada, george zimmerman and pictures of their brunch

And bitcoiners dont' have to care about "the masses".  Even if it remains a niche, it will continue to grow dramatically.

If we don't care about the masses then the value of bitcoin stems from one of 2 things IMHO.
a. Financial safe haven- this will require some sort of "mass" recognition, even if its just from a fraction of the financial industry
b. greater fool theory- there is nothing here, and you are just ridding the bubble up cause you are a relative early adopter

The masses are happy holding depreciating IOU notes, do you see them fleeing to safe havens? Wealth will flow to BTC as the market comes to understand BTC is the neo safe haven amongst else.

[hacknoid]

WHAT BANKS WORK WITH VENMO?
Your Venmo account works with all the major banks in the United States.

WHAT COUNTRIES CAN I USE VENMO IN?
Venmo can only be used in the U.S.

Well that eliminates what, 96% of the world from using it?

It looks no better than Paypal - just with a nicer, social interface.

[Kluge]

Only thing they appear to have over Dwolla is that they take plastic (with roughly the same fee as Paypal), which makes it irrelevant since Paypal is generally used in conjunction with Dwolla, instead of Dwolla being the only choice. For mobile payments, at least in the US, this is taken care of with direct billing on cell charges (though most [all?] app stores have their own payment processor, too] - so I can't think of a market they're filling there. Unlike Bitcoin, Venmo has many direct competitors they don't offer something significant over. Dwolla's obscure -- why will Venmo be any different?

[adpinbr]

Only thing they appear to have over Dwolla is that they take plastic (with roughly the same fee as Paypal), which makes it irrelevant since Paypal is generally used in conjunction with Dwolla, instead of Dwolla being the only choice. For mobile payments, at least in the US, this is taken care of with direct billing on cell charges (though most [all?] app stores have their own payment processor, too] - so I can't think of a market they're filling there. Unlike Bitcoin, Venmo has many direct competitors they don't offer something significant over. Dwolla's obscure -- why will Venmo be any different?

taking plastic is a huge advantage for adoption rates cause its simple to set up, Facebook didn't have any clear cut advantage over friendster/myspace from a functional point of view. but it had a great UI and it was cool and it caught on. Same thing i happening now, you can chef the adoption rates, venmo is out for a shorter period and has more users than dwolla, and the trend will continue

[Kluge]

Only thing they appear to have over Dwolla is that they take plastic (with roughly the same fee as Paypal), which makes it irrelevant since Paypal is generally used in conjunction with Dwolla, instead of Dwolla being the only choice. For mobile payments, at least in the US, this is taken care of with direct billing on cell charges (though most [all?] app stores have their own payment processor, too] - so I can't think of a market they're filling there. Unlike Bitcoin, Venmo has many direct competitors they don't offer something significant over. Dwolla's obscure -- why will Venmo be any different?

taking plastic is a huge advantage for adoption rates cause its simple to set up, Facebook didn't have any clear cut advantage over friendster/myspace from a functional point of view. but it had a great UI and it was cool and it caught on. Same thing i happening now, you can chef the adoption rates, venmo is out for a shorter period and has more users than dwolla, and the trend will continue

How do I check the adoption rates?