Why consumers are not adopting BTC

[iheartubuntu]

blah blah blah

I might be interested in buying your car for BTC, if you are going to Inside Bitcoins LV, I could meet you there for the transaction. You must have used your BTC for SR purposes because you keep mentioning it over and over and over, yet you have never mentioned 70% of BTC movement thats happening over in China.

As Ive stated elsewhere, since we live in first world countries, maybe we dont see the true value of BTC yet as others might see in Africa, Romania, Ukraine or other emerging economies. * As an example I am sending relatives in Ukraine bitcoin so they can barter and get the goods they need. The Hryvna is losing value and bitcoin is a premium there since its easy to transfer from person to person, especially when banks there are many times closed, bombed out, etc.

Ive sat on several private calls with banks and large accounting firms and they have all said bitcoin will rise because it is so disruptive to the status quo. I can send $10 million within minutes, anonymously, paying what... 12 cents? You dont see any value in that??? Come on.

A friend of mine purchased a small place outside of Florence, IT earlier this year all with BTC. No government, etc saw that transaction. Theres no way he could have moved gold bars on a plane or used a credit card. Credit cards are total shit. BTC is already better. Whenever I go to Brooks Brothers to buy a new suit or pick up a Canali suit at Nordstrom my credit card gets put on hold and we have to spend the next 10 minutes talking to my card company making sure Im the guy making the purchase and I KNOW the people working in the stores. I have a high income, I have an almost perfect FICO credit score, I own a large home and there is two decades worth of my historical footprint of my credit card purchases at high end places like Rolex and Panerai stores in Beverly Hills, and yet I still have problems making purchases with my credit card.

Lets be honest, we all know you are trying to get BTC sub $300 so you can pour more money in. And so will I.

[iheartubuntu]

What do you mean you are doing $500+ trades? You pay $500 for a bitcoin while you can buy it for $360? Or you know idiots that are paying $500 for something that worths 360? What part of it is healthy?

YEP. Investment firms are doing this all day long. Buy at $400, sell at $500. You cant get BTC on LocalBitcoins for spot price either.

[Ruthful]

It seems to me all this talk of "value" is just speculative investment talk.This drive for bubble and crash isn't really healthy for mainstream acceptance.

[iheartubuntu]

I believe that the next widespread use of Bitcoin will be for sports betting on the internet.  That will produce a broader user base, more press coverage, and a higher price.

The sports betting is already taking place.  The speed, lower cost, and relative anonymity of using Bitcoins for it will be made obvious soon.  Like SR, only with even more appeal to the public.

THIS. Ive made some decent BTC with roulette, blackjack and sports betting.

Not to mention the 'provably fair' aspect of BTC gaming. That alone will change the entire online gambling community and thus the adoption of bitcoins in the process.

[practicaldreamer]

My wages are paid directly into (for eg) Circle - Amazon, Tesco, Ebay and my local BP garage (petrol/derv) start accepting BTC.

These aren't huge leaps.

And when (not if) this occurs, then the writing is on the wall for fiat. The question would very quickly become - why transact in fiat ?



Its so close I could almost reach out and touch it  

[fathur01]

Silk road was never more than a tiny fraction of the bitcoin economy. And it is still in operation, so I don't understand this argument.

It was actually a major fraction in terms of dollar equivalent used through the site back then.

[Ruthful]

The question would very quickly become - why transact in fiat ?

The exact same reason why ordinary people aren't interested in adopting bitcoin, despite the merchant acceptance.

[Stedsm]

The question would very quickly become - why transact in fiat ?

The exact same reason why ordinary people aren't interested in adopting bitcoin, despite the merchant acceptance.

merchant acceptance is still quite low. It can grow ten fold easily.

[practicaldreamer]

Oh - and as well as mobile payments, Circle issues a debit card.

Why use £/$ ?

Cos you want to show loyalty to the Fed/Bank of England ? To show your appreciation of credit fuelled recessions ? I dunno 

[Ruthful]

merchant acceptance is still quite low. It can grow ten fold easily.

I would argue consumer acceptance is more important and that is still very weak and will continue to be weak unless the current issues are resolved.

[Ruthful]

Oh - and as well as mobile payments, Circle issues a debit card.

Why use £/$ ?

I'm still unclear on Circle.Do they solve the whole bitcoin being more expensive than fiat part?

If yes, then one issue solved.If not, well....

The exact same reason why ordinary people aren't interested in adopting bitcoin, despite the merchant acceptance.

[RodeoX]

Silk road was never more than a tiny fraction of the bitcoin economy. And it is still in operation, so I don't understand this argument.

I'm not so sure. I think it was a massive part in how bitcoin gained some traction and a genuine use. Bitcoin's use on the darknet is also massive. Whatever happens it will likely continue to be used there.

It certainly did capture the public's imagination. I remember when it broke in the media a lot of new accounts streamed in. But someone here tried to study the scale of SR in the bitcoin economy and came up with about 1%. I don't know how good their methodology was, but that was their finding.

Then when the FBI took down Ross and the first SR site, the price exploded up.  
I know I have never used their services and I have spent a lot of bitcoins over the years.

[brian_23452]

Trolling or not the OP does raise some valid points about retail consumer adoption.

Currently they is no tangible benefit  for retail consumers to adopt bitcoin. Not cost benefit(bitcoin isn't really cheaper), time saving( transaction confirmation ) time nor is it hassle free( still not quite user friendly).

This ^.

For ordinary, every day transactions, there is obviously a benefit to the merchant, and no real downside (since they typically don't actually get exposed to bitcoin even if they accept it).  For a consumer though, there is no benefit, and a number of downsides, so why do it?

[DeboraMeeks]

Silk road was never more than a tiny fraction of the bitcoin economy. And it is still in operation, so I don't understand this argument.

I'm not so sure. I think it was a massive part in how bitcoin gained some traction and a genuine use. Bitcoin's use on the darknet is also massive. Whatever happens it will likely continue to be used there.

It certainly did capture the public's imagination. I remember when it broke in the media a lot of new accounts streamed in. But someone here tried to study the scale of SR in the bitcoin economy and came up with about 1%. I don't know how good their methodology was, but that was their finding.

Then when the FBI took down Ross and the first SR site, the price exploded up.  
I know I have never used their services and I have spent a lot of bitcoins over the years.

The price exploded down actually. And some weeks later went up to $1000.

[Ayers]

because the price is not stable enough, look at the recent dump, bitcoin still need many years to become mainstream, probably after two-tree halving of the block reward

[RodeoX]

Trolling or not the OP does raise some valid points about retail consumer adoption.

Currently they is no tangible benefit  for retail consumers to adopt bitcoin. Not cost benefit(bitcoin isn't really cheaper), time saving( transaction confirmation ) time nor is it hassle free( still not quite user friendly).

This ^.

For ordinary, every day transactions, there is obviously a benefit to the merchant, and no real downside (since they typically don't actually get exposed to bitcoin even if they accept it).  For a consumer though, there is no benefit, and a number of downsides, so why do it?

No, Not this ^.
It may not be user friendly yet, but it is the fastest, cheapest, and safest way to buy online. You may think that your credit card is faster and cheaper, but it is not. It takes 2-5 days to process that transaction and determine if the sale was legit. The seller does not receive money until this happens. Once it does the seller pays fees of about 3%, which is passed on to you. And that may be the tip of the fee iceburg. You may pay all manor of fees, hidden or not.
Thinking a card is free is like believing your getting a "free phone" with your cellular service. You will actually be buying that phone at full price over and over again.  
lastly, it has become unsafe to use credit cards. I am replacing my debit card for the second time this year due to data breaches. I have no idea who now has my banking information. With bitcoin I can post my overstock.com password and account name without worry. Since there is no card info and no route back to my bitcoins, the best an attacker could do is see my earlier purchases.

For me these reasons are compelling enough that I no longer use anything except bitcoin online.

The price exploded down actually. And some weeks later went up to $1000.

It may have taken a few weeks. But I helped someone to buy $100K worth just after the closing of SR. They did not want to own any while the darknet stuff was in the news. I know a lot of people were glad to see it go.

[Ilan123]

Not enough confidence and still too volatile, people need to feel safe and secure with their hard earned Currency

[itsAj]

The technology is far to complicated for some to adapt. Also the basic understand of why they should convert hard earned fiat to a generally unknown system.

[Ilan123]

The technology is far to complicated for some to adapt. Also the basic understand of why they should convert hard earned fiat to a generally unknown system.

Very true!

[johnyj]

It is not mainly for spending, but saving. Merchant acceptance is making a fundamental improvement for its usage (actually it only needs a couple of bitpay-like companies to achieve it), so that people can be more confident to save for the long term