Bitcoin Cannot Succeed (heres why)

[Monnt]

Bitcoin will succeed if the community stays strong and more people believe in it.

True. We also need more awareness for the scammers.

[chaoman]

Someone should collect all these poorly reasoned "why bitcoin will fail" threads with the best rebuttals  to each. Then whenever someone regurgitates them we can just point them to the rebuttal FAQ and otherwise ignore the trolling.

If bitcoin goes to the moon it won't happen in a day. The exchanges, over the long run, stand more to gain by being honest then by stealing a limited amount at any one point. The really big winners will be the dominant bitcoin exchanges that have earned their trust, much as large banks today earn more profits than criminals that rob people or businesses of fiat. And that ignores the wild possibility that some people will resist temptation and will behave ethically, passing on the opportunity to run off with your money.

tell that to mtgox

[SargeR33]

I don't agree with OP but there is a reason I don't trade Bitcoin much via exchanges and that is because of the bad luck so far. It just takes 1 rotten apple to spoil the bowl. If I need to sell bitcoin, I do it locally and privately.

The problem with OP is that, based on his post, he would like to steer towards a centralized system backed by a reputable source(ie a bank handling these exchanges). Would this take away from what Bitcoin is? Well I don't think so. These exchanges need just as much information from you before you can use their services. They charge fees. Some give small amounts of interest. But when you wake up the next day, your local bank will be there, your online exchange might not be.

This alone is NOT a reason as to bitcoin cannot succeed.

You make it seem bitcoin is only for investors. Its not. Fiat is not only for investors. Its an exchange tool. Its worth something and can be exchanged for goods. I love buying things with my bitcoins, especially what I've mined.

[Bagatell]

This is the problem of bitcoin. People steal.

That is a problem with people, a problem of trust which is precisely what bitcoin was designed to avoid. Trust third parties at your peril.

[Exther2]

First of all I would like to start this off by stating that I am a believer in the possibility of the success of Bitcoin. This may seem like a contradiction with the title of the thread but it is not. This is because the possibility of success is very low due to the reasons which I am going to describe. At the moment bitcoin is 250$ and has been there for quite a while. Exchanges such as cryptsy, poloniex, btc-e, ect. exist to exchange btc to usd and btc to other alt coins. Circle and coinbase exchange btc to usd and are currently common way to receive USD from BTC. That is a brief summary of the current ecosystem.

Now let us imagine that bitcoin reaches "the moon" as is often wished for in the Bitcoin community. Let us imagine that one BTC is worth 1 million dollars. It is commonly accepted that these exchanges, cryptsy, poloniex, btc-e, circle, coinbase, ect. are for profit. They are not running their businesses out of altruism, but for profit. If one bitcoin is worth one million dollars, how is it remotely imaginable that these exchanges will not just run off with the coins? Even more if I have one btc at one million dollars, I will have to go through some sort of intermediary to receive my USD. This intermediary will run off with the coin because of its massive value.

The issue is a facet of human nature, greed. One bitcoin would not even have to reach 1 million usd for the above scenario to become a reality. How high does btc have to go? The 1k mark was enough for mt gox, 2k...would there still be trust? Would they all run off with the BTC? Ok how about 40k?

This is the problem of bitcoin. People steal. Especially when it is irreversible.

There will be no need for exchanges if BTC ever hits that imaginary value (1 million or more).
Also, about stealing, there are solutions as cold wallets stored offline and used only when needed.
Just better security can fix this.

I don't want to comment about Gox or others, as it's not about stealing. Not about greed.
Making BTC better secured will fix it and there is nothing else to be done.
Security at the first place, that's it.

[Monnt]

Bitcoins scammed are mostly from people with great stupidity to use the service at the first place...

[Brooker]

There will be no need for exchanges if BTC ever hits that imaginary value (1 million or more).
Also, about stealing, there are solutions as cold wallets stored offline and used only when needed.
Just better security can fix this.

I don't understand the logic. What does the bitcoin price have to do with not needing exchanges? There will always be exchanges regardless of whether the price becomes 1 million or not (and why that specific magic number?). What we need to move away from are centralized exchanges and towards decentralized ones and that will give faith and confidence to people who don't have to worry about the safety of trusting someone else with your coins.

[neoneros]

There will be no need for exchanges if BTC ever hits that imaginary value (1 million or more).
Also, about stealing, there are solutions as cold wallets stored offline and used only when needed.
Just better security can fix this.

I don't understand the logic. What does the bitcoin price have to do with not needing exchanges? There will always be exchanges regardless of whether the price becomes 1 million or not (and why that specific magic number?). What we need to move away from are centralized exchanges and towards decentralized ones and that will give faith and confidence to people who don't have to worry about the safety of trusting someone else with your coins.

Money and the economic system as we know it will disappear, the free market will be a fairytale from the past, technology is taking over. By the time BTC hits that 1 mil mark who knows how the world will work. Exchanges are only needed if we still believe in the banks and old currencies. They are only needed for those who want to exchange one virtual good for another just for the sheer value and the personal greed that feeds most of us. The future will make fluctuating values obsolete, bitcoin can contribute to that due to its finity. By that time it might be worth $ 1.000.000 but who cares.

[Buffer Overflow]

Bitcoin could very well fail, but it won't be for OP's reason.

[Denker]

Bitcoin could very well fail, but it won't be for OP's reason.

Sure.But on the other hand it also can be next big thing after the internet & Co.!

[franky1]

in short
the OP is wrong, bitcoin will succeed.

the reason
bitcoin is not an exchange made of PHP code and SQL databases. so even if al of these exchanges run by basement dwellers do go belly up, bitcoin will continue.

after all even if these basement dwellers do run off with a handfull of bitcoins and then sell out secretly, those bitcoins will return to circulation. thus no problem long term.

i think people need to stop thinking of exchanges as 'bitcoin' and start thinking of them as 'the crap basement dwellers make'. then people wont care as much about exchanges and realise what bitcoin is truly all about.

as for anything thinking about the price/value of bitcoin, well again your only thinking of the FIAT concepts and potential. which if the FIAT value matters to you so much, then goodluck and farewell when you return back to FIAT

[Brooker]

in short
the OP is wrong, bitcoin will succeed.

the reason
bitcoin is not an exchange made of PHP code and SQL databases. so even if al of these exchanges run by basement dwellers do go belly up, bitcoin will continue.

But something better could come along which could kill bitcoin off pretty quickly. I also think it merchants don't get on board and the currency is always crashing or losing value I think many will get tired of it as a currency and ditch it.

[Q7]

in short
the OP is wrong, bitcoin will succeed.

the reason
bitcoin is not an exchange made of PHP code and SQL databases. so even if al of these exchanges run by basement dwellers do go belly up, bitcoin will continue.

But something better could come along which could kill bitcoin off pretty quickly. I also think it merchants don't get on board and the currency is always crashing or losing value I think many will get tired of it as a currency and ditch it.

If the price gets lower there will be more who will hop on board. I've been telling my friends to buy the coin and at current price it's a good opportunity to own a bitcoin. Merchants basically don't get exposed to too much of the risk if they use payment processor to handle bitcoin.

[franky1]

in short
the OP is wrong, bitcoin will succeed.

the reason
bitcoin is not an exchange made of PHP code and SQL databases. so even if al of these exchanges run by basement dwellers do go belly up, bitcoin will continue.

But something better could come along which could kill bitcoin off pretty quickly. I also think it merchants don't get on board and the currency is always crashing or losing value I think many will get tired of it as a currency and ditch it.

bitcoin is code.. if some new code came along that was better.. it only takes a copy and paste to incorporate it into bitcoin.
for instance:
its possible to change bitcoin to instead of being 25btc ~10minutes, to be 12.5~5 minutes or 2.5~minute... without ruining the 21mill limit.
its possible to change the hashing protocol
its possible to change theblock size limits.

anything is possible and bitcoin CAN adapt.

as for people addicted to the bitcoin price.. well when the price drops. weak investors give up and strong investers see it as a nice discount to buy more.
either way the price vs bitcoins protocol mean different things.. the price can even be $1 a btc and merchants instantly converting to fiat wont know or care about it.

and for all those that do get tired. this helps fresh new people buy in

[gentlemand]

Given the level of strategic thinking on show, I do hope for the OP's sake that it hasn't put any actual money into BTC.

[DiamondCardz]

First of all I would like to start this off by stating that I am a believer in the possibility of the success of Bitcoin. This may seem like a contradiction with the title of the thread but it is not. This is because the possibility of success is very low due to the reasons which I am going to describe. At the moment bitcoin is 250$ and has been there for quite a while. Exchanges such as cryptsy, poloniex, btc-e, ect. exist to exchange btc to usd and btc to other alt coins. Circle and coinbase exchange btc to usd and are currently common way to receive USD from BTC. That is a brief summary of the current ecosystem.

Now let us imagine that bitcoin reaches "the moon" as is often wished for in the Bitcoin community. Let us imagine that one BTC is worth 1 million dollars. It is commonly accepted that these exchanges, cryptsy, poloniex, btc-e, circle, coinbase, ect. are for profit. They are not running their businesses out of altruism, but for profit. If one bitcoin is worth one million dollars, how is it remotely imaginable that these exchanges will not just run off with the coins? Even more if I have one btc at one million dollars, I will have to go through some sort of intermediary to receive my USD. This intermediary will run off with the coin because of its massive value.

The issue is a facet of human nature, greed. One bitcoin would not even have to reach 1 million usd for the above scenario to become a reality. How high does btc have to go? The 1k mark was enough for mt gox, 2k...would there still be trust? Would they all run off with the BTC? Ok how about 40k?

This is the problem of bitcoin. People steal. Especially when it is irreversible.

I'm sure Billionaires and extremely large MNCs (Multi-National Corporations) make transactions in the millions of USD quite often, however you don't see them constantly getting scammed. There are precautions that would be taken by any sane person if they had such a large sum of money.

[Brad Pitt]

I'm sure Billionaires and extremely large MNCs (Multi-National Corporations) make transactions in the millions of USD quite often, however you don't see them constantly getting scammed. There are precautions that would be taken by any sane person if they had such a large sum of money.

When they do though they'll have insurance or get refunded. That's one thing that likely wont happen with bitcoin. If you lose your coins they're gone.

[DiamondCardz]

I'm sure Billionaires and extremely large MNCs (Multi-National Corporations) make transactions in the millions of USD quite often, however you don't see them constantly getting scammed. There are precautions that would be taken by any sane person if they had such a large sum of money.

When they do though they'll have insurance or get refunded. That's one thing that likely wont happen with bitcoin. If you lose your coins they're gone.

Then use exchanges that are credible and you KNOW have all the required paperwork and go the extra mile. An exchange with very solid roots is unlikely to be able to pull off a large scam.

[AtheistAKASaneBrain]

First of all I would like to start this off by stating that I am a believer in the possibility of the success of Bitcoin. This may seem like a contradiction with the title of the thread but it is not. This is because the possibility of success is very low due to the reasons which I am going to describe. At the moment bitcoin is 250$ and has been there for quite a while. Exchanges such as cryptsy, poloniex, btc-e, ect. exist to exchange btc to usd and btc to other alt coins. Circle and coinbase exchange btc to usd and are currently common way to receive USD from BTC. That is a brief summary of the current ecosystem.

Now let us imagine that bitcoin reaches "the moon" as is often wished for in the Bitcoin community. Let us imagine that one BTC is worth 1 million dollars. It is commonly accepted that these exchanges, cryptsy, poloniex, btc-e, circle, coinbase, ect. are for profit. They are not running their businesses out of altruism, but for profit. If one bitcoin is worth one million dollars, how is it remotely imaginable that these exchanges will not just run off with the coins? Even more if I have one btc at one million dollars, I will have to go through some sort of intermediary to receive my USD. This intermediary will run off with the coin because of its massive value.

The issue is a facet of human nature, greed. One bitcoin would not even have to reach 1 million usd for the above scenario to become a reality. How high does btc have to go? The 1k mark was enough for mt gox, 2k...would there still be trust? Would they all run off with the BTC? Ok how about 40k?

This is the problem of bitcoin. People steal. Especially when it is irreversible.

By the time Bitcoin is 1 million per coin the exchanges that are centralized will be extremely trustable and with famous faces behind it (Winklevoss with the Gemini one is the start) and not autists like Karpeles.

Also 1 million per coin is not a problem, again, bitcoin being divisible by a shitton etc.

[koelen3]

That's not the problem with btc but everything
People always steal , no matter what it is