Bitcoin's Weak Points

[salamat700]

We are always talking here the many benefits, advantages and power of Bitcoin, but we know that for every coin there are always two sides. Bitcoin, am sure, also have its own many weak points that may or may not need some good attention or focus.

Please share here some weak points of Bitcoin that you know and feel...let's discuss them one by one and see how solutions can be applied into them.

[Sahyadri]

The weakest point of btc which is causing hindrance in its growth is the scalability issue. For btc to become a currency of the world, scalability needs to tackeled. The other point is that it is hard to understand.  You cant bring everyone to the the cryptos because of that. This limit its use. Also, it isn't really convenient for everyday retail transactions. It is slow and cumbersome in such cases.

[Wysi]

We are always talking here the many benefits, advantages and power of Bitcoin, but we know that for every coin there are always two sides. Bitcoin, am sure, also have its own many weak points that may or may not need some good attention or focus.

Please share here some weak points of Bitcoin that you know and feel...let's discuss them one by one and see how solutions can be applied into them.

There are many limitations about bitcoin as well just like any other product and the but the surprising thing about bitcoin's weakness is those weakness acts as it's strength as well and I would say it's the anonymity which makes bitcoin popular as no one can track you but thia has been taken for  granted as bitcoin is used as most secure extortion method for kidnappings,  terrorism funding and money laundering. Just like anonymity we have volatility issue as well which may be a negative aspect but it does help traders to earn more.

[ChrisPop]

The weakest point of btc which is causing hindrance in its growth is the scalability issue. For btc to become a currency of the world, scalability needs to tackeled. The other point is that it is hard to understand.  You cant bring everyone to the the cryptos because of that. This limit its use. Also, it isn't really convenient for everyday retail transactions. It is slow and cumbersome in such cases.

For the scalability and the speed of transactions problem we have the lightning network. Businesses just need to run a LN or use someone else's and they're good to go. Transactions are instant as far as I know using LN. I agree with you that blockchain technology is hard to understand for the average joe and most of them don't want to put the effort to do it, so I think the solution would be to create user friendly interfaces and ecosystems where the user can use BTC and other cryptocurrencies just like he would be using money - eg. select a name, enter the amount to send and tap on "send" button & vice-versa. QR codes would be useful as well. As a matter of fact I've just given myself an idea. lol

[poptok1]

I would say that the biggest bitcoin or maybe even the entire blockchain tech. problem is irreversibility of transactions.
We live in a world full of imperfect people, this financial system that requires perfection, is naturally being perceived as user unfriendly.
This is of course a "designed flaw" or rather a feature than a bug. Wendell Phillips once have said; "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty", and I must say, this is also very true in the cryptocurrency world. However many, many people won't accept such burden, and so, the adoption will remain rather low. The only solution appears to be the global awakening, to the fraud of Breton-woods system.

[joinfree]

I agree with you that blockchain technology is hard to understand for the average joe and most of them don't want to put the effort to do it, so I think the solution would be to create user friendly interfaces and ecosystems where the user can use BTC and other cryptocurrencies just like he would be using money - eg. select a name, enter the amount to send and tap on "send" button & vice-versa. QR codes would be useful as well. As a matter of fact I've just given myself an idea. lol

That's right, we the world out there might probably not have the interests in learning how to make transactions with the use MEW, ledger of any other cryptocurrency wallet but if made simple with just some few clicks i think that would be great. There is this project (BitCash -https://www.choosebitcash.com/) which have made it possible to send cryptocurrencies by just using the name of the person on Twitter, Twitch, Instagram.
NB: i have not tried it myself but they have a community using it so i guess it's all good to go after you do your own research as well.

[bitbunnny]

Like anything else, Bitcoin is not perfect. But users need to learn how to accept bad sides and benefit the most from the good sides.
Volatility is for some week point but for some is advantage that enables traders to make the profit. So some things also depend point of view.
Similar refers also to scalability, ireversible transactions and other issues.

[bitmover]

I would say that the biggest bitcoin or maybe even the entire blockchain tech. problem is irreversibility of transactions.

If you want reversible transactions, censorship or centralization, just use visa.

Bank system can reverse transactions and even give you a negative balance. This is not something good but something bad.
Would you like to get paid, send your product, then the owner of the centralized network decide to reverse your transaction?

Ethereum transactions were reversed in the past.. but that's not good

[Coin_trader]

The weakest point of bitcoin is that some scoundrels can manipulate it.

Truth as Fck. This is the reality, Disregarding all scalability or whatevs weakpoints of BTC. In reality, You can count in your finger nails those peoples holding huge volume of BTC and any moment. They can dump down to zero the BTC price. This is sucks about BTC. Since the price was already soar high, all early investors and miners can manipulate the price.

[Zeke_23]

The weakest point of bitcoin is that some scoundrels can manipulate it.

Truth as Fck. This is the reality, Disregarding all scalability or whatevs weakpoints of BTC. In reality, You can count in your finger nails those peoples holding huge volume of BTC and any moment. They can dump down to zero the BTC price. This is sucks about BTC. Since the price was already soar high, all early investors and miners can manipulate the price.

That is how the market flows, the more BTC you hold, the more power you have.
We can't call it as a weak point, having more BTC holdings gives you the power, it is your advantage for being early on investing in bitcoin. This is the same as having a fiat currency. If you are rich then you have the power. That's the reality.

[yoseph]

The weakest point of bitcoin is that some scoundrels can manipulate it.

The whales can indeed manipulate the whole thing at a whim and it's the biggest disadvantage with Bitcoin  but even with that it takes other investors as well, A whale decides to sell and everyone starts to panic and starts selling and thus the domino begins.

[gentlemand]

I would say that the biggest bitcoin or maybe even the entire blockchain tech. problem is irreversibility of transactions.

It can't work any other way.

The ability to reverse means someone somewhere has enough control to respond to your appeal to their authority and meddle with a transaction that has already gone through. That means centralisation. If it happens once it'll be attempted a billion more times.

Lack of centralisation is the prime factor that gives BTC its value and future but many people refuse to wrap their heads around that.

[lionheart78]

While most of us  see decentralization as one of the strongest points of Bitcoin, it is also one of the weakest point of Bitcoin.  Bitcoin's decentralization would have been a great thing if there is no central authority that governs each of us.  It is also one of the biggest hindrance of Bitcoin adoption since government frown upon something that they  cannot control.  And for Bitcoin to go mainstream, it needs the government approval whether we like it or not.

[gentlemand]

While most of us  see decentralization as one of the strongest points of Bitcoin, it is also one of the weakest point of Bitcoin.

Bitcoin can't exist without it. It has absolutely no reason to exist without it. I cannae believe this is even up for debate.

The elements that people whine about are in place because they're needed to keep decentralisation. It's not slick and it's not sexy. It's onerous and expensive and risky. It's necessary because the whole thing is utterly worthless without it.

It's a good job enough people can be arsed to fight for it. If it were up to the bone idle pinhead majority it would've been toast years ago.

[DabsPoorVersion]

The weakest point of bitcoin is that some scoundrels can manipulate it.

The whales can indeed manipulate the whole thing at a whim and it's the biggest disadvantage with Bitcoin  but even with that it takes other investors as well, A whale decides to sell and everyone starts to panic and starts selling and thus the domino begins.

They can easily manipulate the market whenever they want, it's their biggest advantage since they hold more bitcoin than any regular holder of bitcoin.
This is the biggest weak point of bitcoin, the more you hold bitcoin, the more capability you have to control the market price. We can't do anything with that reason because they have enough money to buy more bitcoin, it is their advantage.

[Carlton Banks]

Bitcoin's decentralization would have been a great thing if there is no central authority that governs each of us.  It is also one of the biggest hindrance of Bitcoin adoption since government frown upon something that they  cannot control.  And for Bitcoin to go mainstream, it needs the government approval whether we like it or not.

simple experiment: watch people at a busy crosswalk


alot of people wait for the walk light, afraid of being spotted and fined for jaywalking.

But it only takes 1 snowflake to start an avalanche: 1 person crossing when the light says don't walk will embolden 3, 4, 5 then almost everyone waiting to just step out onto the empty road. A handful of extremely risk averse people remain, and they're in a very small minority.


Seriously, watch crosswalks and this exact pattern takes place over and over again.

[Astvile]

The number one weak point I can think of is stability, volatility is the one who is stopping people to use and adopt bitcoin volatility is the one killing our hope even though it is the most exciting feature of bitcoin but also the most hated feature of bitcoin. The second will be the irreversible transactions of bitcoin, bitcoins once sent can't be retreive of reflected back to the wallet no matter what is the reason behind it, no matter if you got scammed or wrong sent you just basically gave away money.

[Kyraishi]

We are always talking here the many benefits, advantages and power of Bitcoin, but we know that for every coin there are always two sides. Bitcoin, am sure, also have its own many weak points that may or may not need some good attention or focus.

Please share here some weak points of Bitcoin that you know and feel...let's discuss them one by one and see how solutions can be applied into them.

I think there's a weak point and positive point to this - which is bitcoin's decentralized aspects which almost make it what it is known for.

For example, Bitcoin's decentralization is why stablecoins have been accepted and have progressed in front of Bitcoin, even though they aren't as popular, but they are controllable and that makes it a good public crypto-currency.

The other side of the coin, it's decentralization is what makes it popular and it's the reason why it was adopted by so many people, but now it feels like a handicap due to big companies and countries...

[Fappanu]

While most of us  see decentralization as one of the strongest points of Bitcoin, it is also one of the weakest point of Bitcoin.  Bitcoin's decentralization would have been a great thing if there is no central authority that governs each of us.  It is also one of the biggest hindrance of Bitcoin adoption since government frown upon something that they  cannot control.  And for Bitcoin to go mainstream, it needs the government approval whether we like it or not.

This was also my first thought.
The government is Bitcoin's biggest enemy. This is the weak point of bitcoin, as it will stop the use and hold of bitcoin and we can be considered criminals if we do what the government prohibits.

[CryptoBry]

The weakest point of btc which is causing hindrance in its growth is the scalability issue. For btc to become a currency of the world, scalability needs to tackeled. The other point is that it is hard to understand.  You cant bring everyone to the the cryptos because of that. This limit its use. Also, it isn't really convenient for everyday retail transactions. It is slow and cumbersome in such cases.

This has been an issue actually not just of Bitcoin but also with other top alts like Ethereum. Now, this is actually one of the birth pains that a growing infrastructure or platform has to face, had there been no good growth this scalability will not be an issue. Now, I think there are already many solutions offered for this problem and soon we can Lightning Network really get so popular with merchants who will be happy with faster transactions at a better cost. One thing that amazed me with Bitcoin is that one thing that some consider to be a strength can be viewed by another group of people as a weakness. Just for example: the limited supply of Bitcoin this is good because of its deflationary nature and not inflationary like the fiat money but there are some economists who think that this is not actually good if ever Bitcoin can be utilized as a global currency and they got points to support their claim. Another thing is its irreversible nature so once the Bitcoin is sent then there is nothing we can do to reverse the transaction except if the receiver will send it back, this can be bad if you made a mistake or if you are fooled by a scammer but good if you are on the other side of the table. As they say, there is no perfect thing in this imperfect world and in view Bitcoin is also like that but at least it is much better and a great innovation.