Why bitcoin?

[allten]

I can't speak for the entire Bitcoin community, but for me it's a tool of freedom and that makes it priceless.
I beleive and strongly desire a goverment based on the original principals of some of the great U.S founders (i.e. Jefferson).
It was called a Republic and the people were at the top of the food chain; however, with the creation of central banks,
and especially the Federal Reserve, it has taken that power from the people. Now power follows the flow of money.
Basically, we went from a republic and turned it into an empire. Bitcoin, a little more inconvient, is
a great tool to carry on commerce and return some of that power back to the people.

[defxor]

But if the primary drive of Bitcoin is to get money to business that paypal, mastercard, or banks won't touch because of legal concerns, the future of Bitcoin is not so bright.

Since I'm curious, are you by any chance american?

Wikileaks have done nothing illegal and are not convicted of any crime, yet VISA, Mastercard and Paypal refuse me if I want to support them. (They have no issues aiding me if I would ever want to support the Ku Klux Klan though). Not only refuse, they froze existing assets as well, seriously disrupting WL business.

It's actually a really good argument for why we need something like Bitcoin.

[faustianover]

But if the primary drive of Bitcoin is to get money to business that paypal, mastercard, or banks won't touch because of legal concerns, the future of Bitcoin is not so bright.

Since I'm curious, are you by any chance american?

Wikileaks have done nothing illegal and are not convicted of any crime, yet VISA, Mastercard and Paypal refuse me if I want to support them. (They have no issues aiding me if I would ever want to support the Ku Klux Klan though). Not only refuse, they froze existing assets as well, seriously disrupting WL business.

It's actually a really good argument for why we need something like Bitcoin.

I am an american.

This is the one and only comment I will make on Wikileaks. I like the idea. I believe that governments should be transparent.

This does not change the fact that Wikileaks is legally questionable at best. To my understanding, if you provide a document that is labeled 'classified' by the department of defense to the public, it is a crime. You could argue the criminal was the person who orginally uploaded the document, but I believe the wording of the law is vague enough to cause doubt as to how Wikileaks is.

I see it the way I would see prohibition- I do not support the law. I think the law could/should change. But that does not change the fact that it's currently Illegal, or helping others commit crimes.

The Klu Klux Klan is despicable, but they are not to my knowledge you could not accuse them of a crimes as an organization.

I support Wikileaks.

I also wholeheartedly understand why Mastercard, Visa, and Paypal won't do business with them. If my business/job was on the line as theirs is, I would not risk it either.

Call me a coward if you want, but I call it pragmatism. Ideals are great things, but I've never bought food with them.

I will not continue this discussion on this thread, which is for asking why the average consumer would benefit from Bitcoins.

[nmat]

So how do you change this?

Honestly, I don't know. Maybe the problem is that the Bitcoin client is not user friendly, or that there isn't an easy fast way to buy bitcoins, or that a lot of websites have been hacked lately, or maybe the problem lies in Bitcoin itself because it isn't appealing to most consumers. I'm still trying to figure it out...

It feels like one of the main reasons people get involved with BTC is as an investment vehicle- Either to start mining, or to play the 'buy low sell high' game (I guess scammers could fall under this too, get money quick schemes). This doesn't support BTC in the long run- A major drop in the exchange rate and people in this category would leave. Already I get the feel that most of the forks are in the same vein- Longing for the days when BTC was much easier to mine, before the peak in prices over the summer.

You are correct. A lot of people are only in it for the profits. And most of the alternative chains were created because people wanted to "get in" early and mine with low difficulty. A few of those alternatives are already succumbing due to poor design decisions and critical bugs in the code.

[defxor]

This does not change the fact that Wikileaks is legally questionable at best. To my understanding, if you provide a document that is labeled 'classified' by the department of defense to the public, it is a crime.

Your understanding has no basis in existing case law. VISA, Mastercard and Paypal do not need to make legal judgements themselves. Either there's a successful criminal case towards Wikileaks, after which they can act, or there is not. What happened is that behind-the-doors political pressure on American companies caused non-Americans significant harm, and it's not an isolated incident.

Ideals are great things

Luckily for the world, throughout history, some people live by them as well. Your "Founding Fathers" would be one example.