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He fails to mention the two biggest weaknesses of Bitcoin (in my uninformed opinion) :- - The stability and security of the various online exchanges - The rel

by damian2000 13y ago

He fails to mention the two biggest weaknesses of Bitcoin (in my uninformed opinion) :- - The stability and security of the various online exchanges - The relative difficulty of converting BC to/from cash

javert 13y ago
> - The stability and security of the various online exchanges The exchanges are not "part of" Bitcoin. Shitty exchanges will go out of business, good exchanges will survive. The only thing that can interrupt that is government regulation. For example, the best US exchange that I know of, CampBX, doesn't have much competition, because nobody wants to spend millions of dollars to get money transmitter licenses in all 50 states. Government regulation could also simply make bitcoin exchanges illegal. So if you replace this point with "government regulation," I would agree. Of course, not all governments will outlaw Bitcoin. Those that don't will have a potential economic advantage. This creates a game theoretical situation where it's in every country's interest to just allow it. (Of course, governments do not act in self-interested ways.) Regardless, it would be hard to outlaw bitcoin everywhere. > - The relative difficulty of converting BC to/from cash Coinbase.com is really good for converting money in your bank account to bitcoin and vice versa. That model is sufficient, in my mind. Credit and debit cards are a good analogy for "using bitcoin for everyday transactions." Nobody has complained that you can't convert cash into money on your debit or credit card.
- etherael 13y ago
  I must admit though, these criticisms are billions of times more valid than the ones in the article. Though you do a good job responding to them.
ferdo 13y ago
Those difficulties aren't Bitcoin's problems. Those are political problems that we have to confront or circumvent. Bitcoin has just a few tasks and it does them very well so far.

javert 13y ago

> - The stability and security of the various online exchanges The exchanges are not "part of" Bitcoin. Shitty exchanges will go out of business, good exchanges will survive. The only thing that can interrupt that is government regulation. For example, the best US exchange that I know of, CampBX, doesn't have much competition, because nobody wants to spend millions of dollars to get money transmitter licenses in all 50 states. Government regulation could also simply make bitcoin exchanges illegal. So if you replace this point with "government regulation," I would agree. Of course, not all governments will outlaw Bitcoin. Those that don't will have a potential economic advantage. This creates a game theoretical situation where it's in every country's interest to just allow it. (Of course, governments do not act in self-interested ways.) Regardless, it would be hard to outlaw bitcoin everywhere. > - The relative difficulty of converting BC to/from cash Coinbase.com is really good for converting money in your bank account to bitcoin and vice versa. That model is sufficient, in my mind. Credit and debit cards are a good analogy for "using bitcoin for everyday transactions." Nobody has complained that you can't convert cash into money on your debit or credit card.

etherael 13y ago
I must admit though, these criticisms are billions of times more valid than the ones in the article. Though you do a good job responding to them.

ferdo 13y ago

Those difficulties aren't Bitcoin's problems. Those are political problems that we have to confront or circumvent. Bitcoin has just a few tasks and it does them very well so far.