If confirmation takes 10 minutes, how will I buy coffee at Starbucks?

[hilariousandco]

coffee is legal, why the hell would you want to use bitcoins for that

Not everybody uses their bitcoins for illegal purposes. Some people want to use it as a mainstream currency, and you should be able to buy whatever you want with it.

[DeathAndTaxes]

Double spend is a real problem. 10 minutes is intolerable.

It's fairly easy even for non tech-savy people to install 2 clients on different devices and send money during call at the same time.

The one with larger fees will win.

Try it, it doesn't.  The network is far more robust than that. 

[bythesea]

I drink normal coffee not some flavored and such so i wouldnt chose starbucks, but assuming i sit and order coffee at 12:15 and i wanna pay with BTC i would pay as soon as i get my coffee, that way even if the confirmation is longer it wouldnt effect my time....

[findftp]

If bitcoin becomes massive, how will I buy a coffee at Starbucks? Will I have to pay with bitcoins and then wait 10/30 minutes before picking up my coffee?

Drink slowly

[zimmah]

If credit cards take 180 days to be confirmed how will you buy coffee at Starbucks?

 


the truth is just lulz at times.

You misspelled 10 years

[I_bitcoin]

I need a cut and pasteable write up for why confirmation time is barely relevant with good POS implementation.   I see this question so often.

If someone can point me to a good one I will use it otherwise going to try something like the below.


-------------||||-----------------------

Isn't 10 minutes for confirmation too long?   Can't someone hack this and spend the same coins twice?

No, for most purchases simply having the transaction out in the network is sufficient.   Your address can be monitored for further spends (and sufficient funds) by the POS terminal once the initial transaction is made.   If there is no spend within a few seconds your odds of theft are minuscule.

But what if they send a transaction without a fee?   

Same story as above, your transaction can be checked for appropriate transaction fees.  As we move to new transaction fee structures the POS can monitor for what a typical transaction of that size would take to clear and apply to a block.

-------------||||-----------------------

Is this enough or is there something better? 

[guybrushthreepwood]

Don't use Starbucks; find a independent coffeeshop that takes bitcoin and support them instead!

[justusranvier]

I met an actuary at the Las Vegas conference and told him he should apply that to measuring double spend risk and selling insurance to merchants.

[MikeyVeez]

The problem isn't 0 confirmation transactions it's if Bitcoin becomes mainstream for people using it as a source of payment, it will break as it can't handle the transaction load, and will become a clusterfuck of a problem.

[I_bitcoin]

The problem isn't 0 confirmation transactions it's if Bitcoin becomes mainstream for people using it as a source of payment, it will break as it can't handle the transaction load, and will become a clusterfuck of a problem.

There is that potential.   Especially as we seem to be working against a logistic function.   Most people fail to comprehend how fast things can happen.   That said, we seem to have a number of tactics available right away that just require implementation.

Some new heavy hitters coming in for mining as well.  When combined with funding we could see significant improvements happening sooner.   Note Gavin working with Coinbase may give some additional ooomph in development assisted by new capital from VCs.

[stompix]

The problem isn't 0 confirmation transactions it's if Bitcoin becomes mainstream for people using it as a source of payment, it will break as it can't handle the transaction load, and will become a clusterfuck of a problem.

Hasn't this been discussed over and over , and it's clear that the network can hold a great amount of transactions if we tweak it a little bit?

[jongameson]

What about fastcoin?  I understand that one is teh fastest!

[bitcoinpsftp]

As I said on various other posts, things like starbucks will accept 0 verifications.  And if bigger shops work with BTc, either they wait a little, or have insurance that protects from double spending.

[Anon136]

simple answer:

0 confirmation transactions are safer than you think, its still way harder than chargeback on a credit card

starbucks has cameras, if you steal from them than they call the police

[bitcoinpsftp]

simple answer:

0 confirmation transactions are safer than you think, its still way harder than chargeback on a credit card

starbucks has cameras, if you steal from them than they call the police

Yes, another elegant way to put it.  Plus, just because your bitcoins are anonymous to an extent in your wallet, who's to say most companies won't ask for ID before you make your bitcoin payment.  So if you were to double spend, they'd at least have a photo ID scanned to send to the police.  Double spending is also not THAT easy to do.

[Cryptolator]

coffee is legal, why the hell would you want to use bitcoins for that

LOL !!!

[bitcoinpsftp]

coffee is legal, why the hell would you want to use bitcoins for that

LOL !!!

Sadly though, even though it's funny here, many people have a misconception about bitcoins, and that it's used mostly for illegl things.  I here this all the time.  While this is far from the trueth, hopefully there will be some positive marketting coming from the bigger investors some time soon.

[hilariousandco]

coffee is legal, why the hell would you want to use bitcoins for that

LOL !!!

Sadly though, even though it's funny here, many people have a misconception about bitcoins, and that it's used mostly for illegl things.  I here this all the time.  While this is far from the trueth, hopefully there will be some positive marketting coming from the bigger investors some time soon.

Tell them cash is used for many illegal things.

[pand70]

Don't use Starbucks; find a independent coffeeshop that takes bitcoin and support them instead!

If starbucks start accepting bitcoins the price will double in a day.

[hilariousandco]

Don't use Starbucks; find a independent coffeeshop that takes bitcoin and support them instead!

If starbucks start accepting bitcoins the price will double in a day.

I really doubt it double in a day. I'm sure it'll raise the price and profile of BTC, but double it is a bit extreme.