I like the idea. If it works and it becomes big, it'll be nice. I am a fan of making multisig really easy so that a bulk of my bitcoin will be secured, easily and safely. But then smaller amounts can be in places like coinbase, circle, or bitpay for transactions. I really think this is a big development for bitcoin. Some legitimate and big businesses getting involved, rather than meeting a dude at a coffee shop and trying to buy bitcoin on your laptop. That just isn't realistic if bitcoin wants to become serious. Right now, bitcoin is a great idea, but the practicality of using it isn't that great. It is slow (my credit card transaction clears in 5 seconds), it is difficult to use (downloading wallets, making cold storage, encryption....), it has confusing technology and terms. Major players like circle can simplify it. They aren't making it centralized, no more than the huge mining pools or the exchanges are centralized already.
I have been following this thread silently but since I saw what jabo38 wrote above it somehow became clear to me.....
This is the only way for Bitcoin to become mainstream and widely accepted.
The only problem I see here is trust......
You see, the way I see it is that, I would rather trust the blockchain rather than a bank.
That said, I live in Cyprus so I am a bit cautious when it comes to banking and stuff.
However, the need for a "bank" type of Bitcoin service is required if Bitcoin is to EVER be FIRST: Understood by the mass, and THEN accepted by the mass.
Now the traditional way might be a bit complicated for the average Joe, but a service that acts like a bank - not necessarily being Circle - could simplify things.
GREAT!!!!!
But do you trust a bank?
Well, no....
BUT......
It's unavoidable!
Let's take Bitcoin away for a second and think.....
how long has the banking "corporations" been around?
Long time huh?
Why you think that is?
IN SHORT....
Because people like to feel "secure".
So they intrust their "money" to a "secure" corporation to look after it for them for a "small" fee.
They even promise to give them interest for intrusting their money to them - but don't tell them that they give out most of their money out as loans and make 10X as much from it.
Now, I will not go down that road of how the banks f*ck you but to get to the point....
A LOT of people know this by now but they don't, or feel powerless to do anything about it so they go a long.
You know why?
Because dealing with a bank OR declaring tax to the gov is unavoidable, UNLESS you run a business on SilkRoad.
(and still how you gonna launder that out?)
So, the question is:
How do we go about it?
Do we fight every single company that "tries" to centralize (if that is even possible) Bitcoin?
OR
Do we embrace innovation?
That being said....
And Circle aside,
I DO believe we need a banking type of service for Bitcoin for it to be widely accepted.
That also being said,
I also think that for ANY banking type corporation to succeed in this they must follow (Bitcoin) protocol.....
And that is decentralization.......
Possible?
?
