More Countries, More Security?

[jetspot]

As Bitcoin catches on to more people from more countries, do you think people will come together with more ideas as to how to keep it more secure? If anything keeps Bitcoin from growing as much as it could be, it would be the negative perception that people have of the security aspect of it.

[beatljuice]

I agree that there is a perception that Bitcoin isn't secure, but I don't think it has much to do with how many countries use it.

New things always have a bit of fear involved, but once people get used to using bitcoin they will gain a more accurate perception of the security.

As we know, the Mt Gox bust had little to do with the Bitcoin protocol's security and more to do with inept management. Because even if the thefts from Mt Gox were because of a flaw that was fixed almost 3 years ago that theft should have been recognized and dealt with immediately.

[ThirdRenaissance]

I agree that security is one of the major hurdles for mass adoption. Multisig wallets and similar solutions will hopefully go a long way towards end user security. And having more people on board will means having more smart ideas and man power.

[DooMAD]

I think the best way to give the impression to the rest of the world that Bitcoin is secure is, stop advising new users to use exchanges, web wallets and other third party services.  Make it clear from the start that if they don't control the private keys to the wallet, they don't control the money within that wallet and it could be lost or stolen.  Also make it clear that they need to make multiple offline backups stored in safe places.  People need to be responsible for their money and not rely on others.  The sooner we take this view, the sooner people stop losing their money and the faster the adoption rate will grow.