Could the whole world start using Bitcoin tomorrow?

[Interized]

What about if just 1% of the population decided to join BTC?

What would be the outcome? How rapid of growth could we take on?

Wouldn't it have a negative effect on the system? What is a stable growth rate for BTC? Could we really one day replace ALL currency PERIOD?

What about global currencies together vs BTC? If everyone hopped on BTC doesn't it dry up government funds globally?

If people start refusing traditional currency over BTC, would banks just print more money? Or would they give in?

If they can print as much money as they want, then that means they can always be ahead of us anyway, right? Or am I wrong? They could buy any amount of computing power they wanted, and even develop ASICS them self probably better quicker and faster than anyone (not because they are smart or efficient, simply because they can afford literally anything)

Whoa I just had a panic attack.

I love BTC though.  

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Other notes: What about directly privately controlled currency for virtual realities? They hold value, sell/trade for money.. SecondLife, Diablo II, Diablo III, World of Warcraft, etc.

[CIYAM]

The current Bitcoin implementation has a max. block size of 1 MB (and most blocks tend to be less than a quarter of that).

It has been calculated that the theoretical max. # of txs per second at the moment is around 7 - it a pitiful amount when you compare that to any major payment system.

So if the whole world tried to use Bitcoin for making transactions any time soon then the result would most likely be the end of Bitcoin.

These problems are well known and are being worked on - but I would not be expecting any huge improvement for at least a few years.

[BitcoinNews.io]

> Wouldn't it have a negative effect on the system?

it would be damaging to the "system", but amazing for the economy! having some looters pillage wealth from people who produce isn't the way it has to be (and hasn't been in the past). the state is a pest.

> If people start refusing traditional currency over BTC, would banks just print more money? Or would they give in?

they'll likely never give in. but they will likely lose, regardless of how hard they try. it's the nature of asymmetric competition -- bitcoin has an unfair advantage.

 > What would be the outcome? How rapid of growth could we take on?

if the protocol can scale to earth-size then the entire plant. much the same as the internet. in fact, networks gain in value as they get larger: n to the squared, where n is the number of nodes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalfe's_law).

> If they can print as much money as they want, then that means they can always be ahead of us anyway

not if bitcoin has more value. it doesn't how much paper they print. paper is going to return to its intrinsic value. close to zero!

[niothor]

The whole world?
NO.
Could the whole world start using credit cards tomorrow?
NO.

The whole world does not have internet coverage , does not have smartphones or computers , does not have water or electricity.

[Bitcoinpro]

The current Bitcoin implementation has a max. block size of 1 MB (and most blocks tend to be less than a quarter of that).

It has been calculated that the theoretical max. # of txs per second at the moment is around 7 - it a pitiful amount when you compare that to any major payment system.

So if the whole world tried to use Bitcoin for making transactions any time soon then the result would most likely be the end of Bitcoin.

These problems are well known and are being worked on - but I would not be expecting any huge improvement for at least a few years.

the market would solve those problems in a matter of days not years

[CIYAM]

the market would solve those problems in a matter of days not years

I don't think so - the market can't force a git pull request to get merged (only the core devs can do that).

And even if it could - the market can't code C++ (they've already had years to improve the situation and have not managed much improvement from the initial release in this area).

Am hopeful these problems will be fixed but I think your idea that they could be done in days seems to fly in the face of the current reality.

[howzar]

I think Bitcoins wouldn't be adapted to the degree of being used by everyone in the world at least for the next upcoming years. they could become an accepted currency and a payment method for more businesses and websites and maybe the #1 online payment method but not being used by everyone.
currently allot of people/new investors are now using btc's as some kind of trading and long term investment with expected growth but not as actual cash.

[Bitcoinpro]

I think Bitcoins wouldn't be adapted to the degree of being used by everyone in the world at least for the next upcoming years. they could become an accepted currency and a payment method for more businesses and websites and maybe the #1 online payment method but not being used by everyone.
currently allot of people/new investors are now using btc's as some kind of trading and long term investment with expected growth but not as actual cash.

the scope will only be limited to those that have access to the client, developing countries will have to use an eftpos type client to start with

unless one of the big tech companies decides to release a dedicated mobile handset that  holds the blockchain and can be cheap enough for

mass adoption, i can see massive potential here for someone to actually just pick the best priced android handset, mod re-brand and re-release it,

after initial sales are in then funds could be allocated for software upgrades to fix bugs or security patches that need to be implemented