The future of Bitcoin as a sustainable currency.

[MeEsH BaCcA]

Bitcoin needs to be traded for goods and services for it to be a viable currency, in the past (and currently to a lesser extent) DNMs and illicit trades were the driver for Bitcoin and cryptos worth, but that is never going to support growth into general use.

 I believe that 2017/18 was the worst thing to happen to Bitcoin and crypto currency in general, it burst into the lives of the majority of the population only for them to get fucked by POS scammers, bullshit Facebook scams and ICOs, the bubble was always going to pop but the level of dishonestly is something the average person isn’t going to forget for a long time. On top of that the instability (and Tx fees during the tulip rush) in prices of the crypto market has seen a lot of the DNM sellers and other illicit uses shut shop meaning the use as a currency is declining. All you have in it’s place are speculators and traders propping up the price, not going to end well for anyone.

As a community this large there must be people with the skills and creativity to come up with a sustainable public facing way of using Bitcoin/crypto as a form of currency, be it a Ebay-esque site to trade legal goods, or even setting up local networks for people to trade between themselves. I understand this stuff costs money, but so does bitcoin failing as a currency. As a community could something like this be crowd sourced between us all? I’d happily commit time and effort into an attempt at creating something that can show crypto isn’t just for buying weed online and laundering money.

Just my thoughts anyway

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[hatshepsut93]

Bitcoin needs to be traded for goods and services for it to be a viable currency, in the past (and currently to a lesser extent) DNMs and illicit trades were the driver for Bitcoin and cryptos worth

Last time I heard, illegal transactions were only 1% of Bitcoin's volume, this is hardly a driver for Bitcoin's price.

I believe that 2017/18 was the worst thing to happen to Bitcoin and crypto currency in general, it burst into the lives of the majority of the population only for them to get fucked by POS scammers, bullshit Facebook scams and ICOs, the bubble was always going to pop but the level of dishonestly is something the average person isn’t going to forget for a long time.

No arguing that ICOs and alts are scams, but the bubble wasn't caused by them, and they didn't pop it, Bitcoin was the culprit because it dictates the prices of all cryptocurrencies, both today and back then.

As a community this large there must be people with the skills and creativity to come up with a sustainable public facing way of using Bitcoin/crypto as a form of currency, be it a Ebay-esque site to trade legal goods, or even setting up local networks for people to trade between themselves.

There's no lack of services that are built around Bitcoin, they just can't take off Bitcoin there's very little interest from the general public. Most people have already heard about Bitcoin and they are not interested.

[mk4]

Bitcoin will be adopted when it's ready to be so. For now, pretty much all we can do is to wait.

About the scams though? While it's definitely unfortunate that a lot of people lost money due to they scams(and possibly are turned away from the cryptocurrency space because of this), there's so little we can do unfortunately. Scams have existed since forever, and will continue to exist for years to come. It's honestly partly their fault, as they just throw their money wherever, without doing any research at all.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Bitcoin will be adopted when it's ready to be so. For now, pretty much all we can do is to wait.

I disagree.

We can push for adoption. Sometimes I feel like a bit of a broken record saying this. People seem keen to just do nothing and wait for a shop, service, facility, person, whatever to accept crypto. If they don't know the demand is there, then they have no reason to adopt it. Ask them to accept crypto. State you want to pay in crypto. Get your friends to do the same, and then support the business in doing so. Obviously you can't do this in big supermarkets, but it is completely possible for smaller and independent retailers, tradespeople, etc. After asking repeatedly over a couple of months at one of my favorite sellers at my local Farmers' Market, he now accepts bitcoin and I pay in bitcoin every time I'm there, and I'm no longer the only one. This would never have happened if I hadn't made the first move. Don't just sit and wait for adoption - go out and help!

[Pab]

I agree with you that Bitcoin must be more in use like a currency globally accepted by merchants
I very much count on Bakkt i see Bakkt developers are putting great effort for Bitcoin mass adoption
Unfortunately Bakkt launch is experiencing delays because of USA shutdown
I have found really good article what is explaining what Bakkt going to be

http://fortune.com/2019/01/14/bakkt-acquisition-consumer-payments/

I think 2019 will be dedicated to build reputable services and from 2020 we will see more adult and legitimate market

[Alone055]

~~

Though I totally agree with what you said, but to be honest, it is not really possible to be done by everyone living in any corner of the world. There are still countries where Bitcoin is not so general among the general public, which doesn't make it possible for even a small retailer to accept it since they won't do it if you are the only customer for them to pay in Bitcoin. It wouldn't be of help that way. Who (possessing Bitcoins) doesn't want to have a place around where they can buy something paying with Bitcoins? But again, it is not yet possible for some people to get this to happen. In my case, since I know that not a lot of people around me know about Bitcoin in general, I feel uncomfortable in asking to pay with Bitcoin, because I know it would be awkward if they don't even know about it.

[dothebeats]

-snip-

Being proactive helps, and similar to what you have done, my local pub now accepts bitcoin and ETH for the drinks. A few drunken conversations with the owner plus some sober, straightforward exchange of ideas led him to consider integrating bitcoin and ETH payments on his shop. At first he was quite hesitant knowing that there isn't a wide market for cryptocurrencies, but after convincing him that cryptos are not his goods but his drinks and service and crypto is just a payment/investment if he so do wish, he thought about it and QR codes are just at the counter if someone wants to pay for crypto. While services and big companies are on their own when deciding for these kind of things, do remember that it's us, the consumers, who are the primary reasons why they are doing some shits and stuff to their brand.

[o_e_l_e_o]

In my case, since I know that not a lot of people around me know about Bitcoin in general, I feel uncomfortable in asking to pay with Bitcoin, because I know it would be awkward if they don't even know about it.

When I first asked my farmer friend, he had never heard of bitcoin. After I think 3 or 4 weeks of asking him, he said he had read a bit about it but didn't really understand it. Over the following weeks we talked more about it, and I answered some questions he had regarding transactions, wallets, that kind of thing. Then the conversation moved on to whether he should accept it and trade it instantly to fiat, or hold on to it himself.

It took a few months, but he went from having never heard of bitcoin to accepting it as a payment. If we don't talk to people who don't know about bitcoin, then it will never grow.

You could also take dothebeats' advice and get drunk first to get over the uncomfortableness.

[bitvalak]

Actually the application of bitcoin as a payment tool already exists in several online stores. For example, like Fasttech, you can use BTC, ETH to XMR for payment instruments. This shows that there are already those who use it, we as cryptocurrency users will certainly prefer it because it does not need to be complicated to exchange money in virtual forms like paypal and the like.

[Slow death]

Bitcoin needs to be traded for goods and services for it to be a viable currency...

But to do this we need governments to regularize this cryptos market. The lack of regulations are the main obstacle for mass adoption and for us to see bitcoin being used as a means of payment in all countries of the world. Without regulations, it is not possible to use bitcoin as a means of payment worldwide. we must persuade governments to regulate this market

Actually the application of bitcoin as a payment tool already exists in several online stores.

is still very restricted to a small portion of people compared to the number of people in the world

[MeEsH BaCcA]

DNMs might only be 1% of current volume but that is probably a significant percentage of bitcoin being used to buy and sell goods or services rather than being traded online as a stock.

Being proactive seems like the best idea, it’s just hard knowing where to start. I do small bits of work for friends for BTC etc but it feels like I’m pissing into the wind sometimes...

[avikz]

As a community this large there must be people with the skills and creativity to come up with a sustainable public facing way of using Bitcoin/crypto as a form of currency, be it a Ebay-esque site to trade legal goods, or even setting up local networks for people to trade between themselves. I understand this stuff costs money, but so does bitcoin failing as a currency. As a community could something like this be crowd sourced between us all? I’d happily commit time and effort into an attempt at creating something that can show crypto isn’t just for buying weed online and laundering money.

Just my thoughts anyway

Noble thought! Even I am ready to commit my time into marketing such efforts. This community is already executing small trades for purchasing services and collectibles as well. But service and collectibles are not such item which can make great impact to the market.

An website like ebay is certainly a good idea but that platform has to be originated from a crypto friendly country with the capability to ship worldwide. However, the major challenge is the cost. If I want to buy a certain product, it will be be costlier for me if I source it from a foreign country than my local market. That's where the bottleneck is for such platforms. Think about it.

[MeEsH BaCcA]

Public perception needs to change, my thinking is seeing smaller places or any places starting to offer crypto as a payment option would help normalise it, rather than being the thing they spent ages jumping through hoops to buy only to be left with falling in value like a stone with nowhere to spend it.

Obviously there are another technical issues with Bitcoin for example like high TX fees during busy periods but I suppose that’s where either technical improvents come or something else down the line.

There must be others on this site who feel the same way I’m sure.

[kotajikikox]

Bitcoin will be adopted when it's ready to be so. For now, pretty much all we can do is to wait.

About the scams though? While it's definitely unfortunate that a lot of people lost money due to they scams(and possibly are turned away from the cryptocurrency space because of this), there's so little we can do unfortunately. Scams have existed since forever, and will continue to exist for years to come. It's honestly partly their fault, as they just throw their money wherever, without doing any research at all.

Impact 2017 during the price of bitcoin is in the pedestal on top as very expensive currency among other currency people was easily to convince and adopt bitcoin as legal tender no need to worry bitcoin will on top again and mos probably bitcoin is useful not a scamm only people use bitcoin to made scam.

[Indrawan77]

Bitcoin will be adopted when it's ready to be so. For now, pretty much all we can do is to wait.

I disagree.

We can push for adoption. Sometimes I feel like a bit of a broken record saying this. People seem keen to just do nothing and wait for a shop, service, facility, person, whatever to accept crypto. If they don't know the demand is there, then they have no reason to adopt it. Ask them to accept crypto. State you want to pay in crypto. Get your friends to do the same, and then support the business in doing so. Obviously you can't do this in big supermarkets, but it is completely possible for smaller and independent retailers, tradespeople, etc. After asking repeatedly over a couple of months at one of my favorite sellers at my local Farmers' Market, he now accepts bitcoin and I pay in bitcoin every time I'm there, and I'm no longer the only one. This would never have happened if I hadn't made the first move. Don't just sit and wait for adoption - go out and help!

Yeah we need more helping hand, if everyone keep on waiting then we can't achieve anything, the popularity of bitcoin is quite high, but most of people didn't know that bitcoin supposed to be a currency, most of them treated bitcoin as form of investment, we need to give them proper acknowledgement, in my country bitcoin still in grey area, it is illegal to make a purchase using bitcoin, but we still can educate people about bitcoin through seminar and other activity

[mk4]

*snip*

The thing though is that it's really debatable if bitcoin is ready enough for your mom & pop store transactions, as I'm pretty sure a lot of non tech-savvy people wouldn't want to go through the hassle of properly backing up private keys and such, and they definitely wouldn't want their earnings dropping in price due to volatility. But that's what services like BitPay are for I guess?

Anyway, I somewhat agree. No matter how low the chances of convincing them to actually accept bitcoin, it definitely still helps adoption. Something something strength in numbers.

[pooya87]

Bitcoin needs to be traded for goods and services for it to be a viable currency,

that is true.
and that is happening. which is why the price has been going up solidly and staying up. why do you think a decentralized digital currency is worth more than three thousand dollars?

in the past (and currently to a lesser extent) DNMs and illicit trades were the driver for Bitcoin and cryptos worth, but that is never going to support growth into general use.

lesser extent in this context means a percentage so negligible that is is not even worth talking about. specially since you are talking about bitcoin (a non-anon coin) not some anon coin like monero. so i don't even know why you brought this up here!

I believe that 2017/18 was the worst thing to happen to Bitcoin and crypto currency in general,

no it was not. both years were good years with 2017 being one of the best and not because of price but because of the adoption growth that we had. you seem to have forgotten the fact that we took at least 10 big steps in adoption whereas normally 1, 1.5 step per year is taken.
need i remind you of countries such as Japan and their adoption of bitcoin as a legal way of payment?

it burst into the lives of the majority of the population only for them to get fucked by POS scammers, bullshit Facebook scams and ICOs,

so you just explained the thing that has been going on from day on and is still going on!
watch the altcoin market and you will see the bullshit coins every day!

a lot of the DNM sellers and other illicit uses shut shop meaning the use as a currency is declining.

again you are repeating the same thing. they are still accepting anon coins such as monero in dark net, just like before. bitcoin's usage is still the same tiny negligible amount also by those who haven't yet figured out bitcoin is not anonymous.

As a community this large there must be people with the skills and creativity to come up with a sustainable public facing way of using Bitcoin/crypto as a form of currency, be it a Ebay-esque site to trade legal goods, or even setting up local networks for people to trade between themselves.

that is already happening, you just have to stop hanging out in dark net markets and start hanging out in real world where legal infrastructure has been built and has been working for a long time

[o_e_l_e_o]

The thing though is that it's really debatable if bitcoin is ready enough for your mom & pop store transactions

Agreed, especially if we are going to be moving towards lightning network. I've only dabbled with lightning so far, and I understand it's effectively in a pre-alpha stage and a long way from general use, but it seems significantly more complex to set up than a standard transaction. There's definitely a big hurdle in terms of ease of use to get over before widespread adoption.

My next targets are my gym and the coffee shop next to work - both are independent, single location businesses.

[mk4]

*snip*

Definitely. There's definitely some more complications concerning lightning when talking about non tech-savvy people. But of course, technology moves forward along with ease-of-use. It will be ready in time.

Anyway, best of luck with your publicizing of bitcoin. +1

[MeEsH BaCcA]

-Snip-

I think you’ve miss understood what I were getting at with this thread, I was thinking of ways to improve the optics of crypto in general. 99.999% of the general population couldn’t give 2 shiny fucks about anonymity as social media is a testeament to.

I’m aware of the limitations of Bitcoin, I’m also aware of the sentiment of the majority of people in real life I have noticed with regards to Bitcoin or crypto in general. Bitcoin is headliner for them and I’m fairly certain wouldn’t be able to name another coin.

I’m thinking long term, and maybe I should have used crypto currency in the title instead of Bitcoin I thought it might have been a good thread to generate conversation on crypto as a whole.

Edit: That  un-ironic big in Japan