Something I wish newcomers to Bitcoin would understand...

[gonnafly]

Bitcoin is NOT like a corporate product with massive marketing campaigns and streamlined distribution. It's obviously easier to use your existing credit cards and bank account.

However, unlike credit cards and banks, Bitcoin works to your benefit.

Bitcoin frees you from nonsense such as:

• Having your account closed without any choice
• Unfair or inappropriate fees
• Unwanted surveillance and tracking from banks (what you do with your money should be only your private business!)
• Comparitively fast and cheap global transactions

And Bitcoin helps promote:

• Healthy, non-inflating currency
• Step towards government spending control to reduce funding for unconstitutional wars and excessive government waste
• Step towards stronger middle class and less poverty
• Power in your hands, not banks or governments

And so, yes, it is often harder and more complicated to use Bitcoin. It's easy to just sit around and complain that Bitcoin is too hard to use. It's too often looked at from a commercial campaign perspective. Bitcoin vs Credit Cards. Bitcoin vs Google Wallet. But using Bitcoin is something that primarily benefits you to figure out. It is not in the best interest of big corporations or government. It is the money of the people.

I wish people would understand what a wonderful free contribution Bitcoin is to the world of finance and economy, and appreciate whatever already does exist for it.

It will get better, but it's going to be a largely grassroots effort. Companies such as Bitpay, Circle, Coinbase, Overstock, and such all help towards things to some extent, but it's core values and benefits only make sense to be pushed by you the actual user of Bitcoin. That's what these companies are responding to. Assuming that you say the benefits are worth it.

And maybe it just sounds like a pipe dream, but I'd like to think that it's always worth the tiny unhindered baby steps towards world peace. How can it not?

[Balls]

However, unlike credit cards and banks, Bitcoin works to your benefit.

Bitcoin frees you from nonsense such as:

• Having your account closed without any choice
• Unfair or inappropriate fees
• Unwanted surveillance and tracking from banks (what you do with your money should be only your private business!)
• Comparitively fast and cheap global transactions

And Bitcoin helps promote:

• Healthy, non-inflating currency
• Step towards government spending control to reduce funding for unconstitutional wars and excessive government waste
• Step towards stronger middle class and less poverty
• Power in your hands, not banks or governments

Sadly most people don't care about these things, just like they don't care about everything else: war, taxes, government etc. They just want to get on with their life with minimal fuss, but their unwillingness to buck the trend and cause a fuss is a big part of the problem. We can see the benefits of bitcoin, but will the mainstream fully? I'm not so sure.

[GTA]

This is what I've been preaching since I took my spacesuit off and put on my thinking cap instead of my Moon Helmet:

This community will be built by the people from the inside, not the companies who accept it, the businesses that sell it, and largely not from some Messiah sent from Cryptoheaven with the "killer app" or "Biggest Merchant"

I'll be using some of my bitcoins with other local bitcoiners here to grab a beer this week. What about you?

[Ruthful]

• cheap global transactions

Not exactly true in it current state.It is still kinda costly to obtain bitcoin and convert it to fiat.The volatility doesn't help either.

• Step towards government spending control to reduce funding for unconstitutional wars and excessive government waste

It still wouldn't stop "popular" wars,though.

• Step towards stronger middle class and less poverty

Doubtful, at best.


The problem is the general public don't really have much problem with  the current system nor do they care about the purported flaws in the fiat system or bitcoins' supposed advantages.Not to mention that bitcoin isn't exactly non-geek friendly nor does it offers any benefit to the common joe for them to delve more.Granted bitcoin is still pretty much in its infancy and many of this  may be improved in the future as the infrastructure matures( more dummy friendly, actual cost saving etc).[/list]

[bambino]

• Healthy, non-inflating currency

Can you explain this one to me? It looks like the money supply is currently inflating at 10% PA. The inflation decreases over time, but it seems it will take a very long time before Bitcoin becomes non-inflating.

[LiteCoinGuy]

Bitcoin is NOT like a corporate product with massive marketing campaigns and streamlined distribution. It's obviously easier to use your existing credit cards and bank account.

However, unlike credit cards and banks, Bitcoin works to your benefit.

Bitcoin frees you from nonsense such as:

• Having your account closed without any choice
• Unfair or inappropriate fees
• Unwanted surveillance and tracking from banks (what you do with your money should be only your private business!)
• Comparitively fast and cheap global transactions

And Bitcoin helps promote:

• Healthy, non-inflating currency
• Step towards government spending control to reduce funding for unconstitutional wars and excessive government waste
• Step towards stronger middle class and less poverty
• Power in your hands, not banks or governments

And so, yes, it is often harder and more complicated to use Bitcoin. It's easy to just sit around and complain that Bitcoin is too hard to use. It's too often looked at from a commercial campaign perspective. Bitcoin vs Credit Cards. Bitcoin vs Google Wallet. But using Bitcoin is something that primarily benefits you to figure out. It is not in the best interest of big corporations or government. It is the money of the people.

I wish people would understand what a wonderful free contribution Bitcoin is to the world of finance and economy, and appreciate whatever already does exist for it.

It will get better, but it's going to be a largely grassroots effort. Companies such as Bitpay, Circle, Coinbase, Overstock, and such all help towards things to some extent, but it's core values and benefits only make sense to be pushed by you the actual user of Bitcoin. That's what these companies are responding to. Assuming that you say the benefits are worth it.

And maybe it just sounds like a pipe dream, but I'd like to think that it's always worth the tiny unhindered baby steps towards world peace. How can it not?

Amen brother 

[Robin_Good]

Very nice write-up. Have a dime for your time.

[Stedsm]

Interesting read thanks, will share around.

[knight22]

However, unlike credit cards and banks, Bitcoin works to your benefit.

Bitcoin frees you from nonsense such as:

• Having your account closed without any choice
• Unfair or inappropriate fees
• Unwanted surveillance and tracking from banks (what you do with your money should be only your private business!)
• Comparitively fast and cheap global transactions

And Bitcoin helps promote:

• Healthy, non-inflating currency
• Step towards government spending control to reduce funding for unconstitutional wars and excessive government waste
• Step towards stronger middle class and less poverty
• Power in your hands, not banks or governments

Sadly most people don't care about these things, just like they don't care about everything else: war, taxes, government etc. They just want to get on with their life with minimal fuss, but their unwillingness to buck the trend and cause a fuss is a big part of the problem. We can see the benefits of bitcoin, but will the mainstream fully? I'm not so sure.

They will. It is just a matter of time. When the flaws will show their real effects, people will care.

[logger]

One of smart person's first reaction to whom I showed bitcoin.org & videos about Bitcoin was "Oh, so small amount of views, screw it - shame on it", and "Oh, this web-site's design & everything on it sucks, so shame on it too".

The worst thing about this person, is that he has capabilities to understand Bitcoin, but he never tries, even though we did pretty intelligent approaches to give him a clue. And most of intelligent people are like that.

And it doesn't matter the quantity of intelligence that people has. Not everybody is mature enough to grasp the ideas behind Bitcoin. The positive thing about it all - is that I'm sharing to everyone I know about Bitcoin for 2 years already and during such small amount of time few of smart people came back & started to ask me more questions, and usually they come back with huge amounts of money ready to invest to Bitcoin industry.

[NotAtOld]

• Having your account closed without any choice

Has never happened to 99 % of the peopel thus they don't care

• Unfair or inappropriate fees

My credit card company offers me 4 % chargeback. I don't get this with bitcoin.

• Unwanted surveillance and tracking from banks (what you do with your money should be only your private business!)

Uhm with bitcoin everybody who I paid with once can now track my entire spending habbits.

• Comparitively fast and cheap global transactions

Fair enough but at the moment not really meaningful given that the other person more often than not can't do anything with the bitcoin in their country.

• Healthy, non-inflating currency

Which is completely nullified by its volatility. Why would I give a fuck about 1 - 3 % inflation when bitcoin can lose this value in an hour? Not to mention that inflation is already nullified by the interest on my bank account.

• Step towards government spending control to reduce funding for unconstitutional wars and excessive government waste

Yeah .... most people are a) not libertarian and b) not keen on commiting a felony.

• Step towards stronger middle class and less poverty

What? The wealth inequality within bitcoin is much worse than anything in real world.

• Power in your hands, not banks or governments

See points above.

Sorry but you are writting this from a very biased position.

[GreekBitcoin]

Can you add that bitcoin is not just its price too?

[cccarnation]

You seem to say that bitcoin will take the power back to the people, bring a libertarian paradise, bring world peace, and solve world hunger.
First, if the US government wanted to control bitcoin, wouldn't it be trivial for them to start mining to get a 51% share (would cost at most a few billion dollars, which is pocket change for the government). Then don't they pretty much control the ledger?

Second, since all the transactions are on a public ledger, data mining the ledger to track spending habits will be a very lucrative thing. Bye, bye privacy, then.

[littlebeetle]

• Unwanted surveillance and tracking from banks (what you do with your money should be only your private business!)

Not true. All bitcoin transactions are public and data mining the blockchain will one day be very profitable. Another problem is that the fungibility of bitcoin is at risk with a public ledger. For example the threat posed by "coin validation".

• Healthy, non-inflating currency

Bitcoin is very inflationary. The supply of the currency increases by 3600 btc a day which is 9%+ per year at this point in time.

[zimmah]

I completely agree.

Many people don't see or care about the advantages of bitcoin, and don't look into it.

I also think many people don't realize the flaws of fiat. Maybe because they are not hurt enough by it, or do not realize most of their financial trouble is caused by fiat itself.

This realization needs to spread.

[zimmah]

• Unwanted surveillance and tracking from banks (what you do with your money should be only your private business!)

Not true. All bitcoin transactions are public and data mining the blockchain will one day be very profitable. Another problem is that the fungibility of bitcoin is at risk with a public ledger. For example the threat posed by "coin validation".

• Healthy, non-inflating currency

Bitcoin is very inflationary. The supply of the currency increases by 3600 btc a day which is 9%+ per year at this point in time.

Luckily so, if it wasn't inflationary at the start, it would mean the creator of bitcoin would own 100% of them! and it would be worthless. Satoshi gave us the chance to mine some of our own the first couple of years of bitcoin. And of course there's going to be inflation. But unlike the dollar and other fiat, the inflation in bitcoin will end. In fiat, inflation worsens over time, in bitcoin it lessens over time.

[Febo]

• Unwanted surveillance and tracking from banks (what you do with your money should be only your private business!)

Not true. All bitcoin transactions are public and data mining the blockchain will one day be very profitable. Another problem is that the fungibility of bitcoin is at risk with a public ledger. For example the threat posed by "coin validation".

• Healthy, non-inflating currency

Bitcoin is very inflationary. The supply of the currency increases by 3600 btc a day which is 9%+ per year at this point in time.

There is difference among price inflation or issue inflation. What you talk about is issue inflation and i dont think is high right now at all.
What OP says is price inflation, that right now when price is not stable is quite hard to measure. But eventually there wil be deflation.

[exocytosis]

• Unwanted surveillance and tracking from banks (what you do with your money should be only your private business!)

One of the main selling points of Bitcoin is its open ledger, where anyone can see every transaction that's ever been made. It might be pseudonymous to a certain extent, but it's more transparent than the fiat banking system.

[commandrix]

We should all keep in mind that cryptocurrencies are tools. Even the scamcoins were "tools" in the hands of their creators (I hesitate to say developers because we all know that they were just Bitcoin clones) designed to make them rich. By itself, Bitcoin can't solve all of Earth's problems because it's just an application of our technological capability. What I like about it is that I could make a pseudo-anonymous donation to a charity that accepts Bitcoin right now and interested parties would have to do a ton of digging that could well cost them more than the donation is worth to figure out that Greenpeace or Wikileaks or whoever I decide to send it to is half a Bitcoin richer because of me. The half Bitcoin doesn't decide to send itself because it can't. So always keep in mind that even a really neat technology is only as good as the people who use it.

[AaronCraig]

Very well said. It frustrates me to read these "what's in it for me" posts by people who either have no interest in or are oblivious to the big picture.