4 ms·

Ask HN: What do you wish bitcoin facilitated, but doesn't currently?

10 points by scotthtaylor 13y ago

yoshokatana 13y ago
I wish there was a service similar to Square Cash where I could send arbitrary amounts of money around the world without dealing with bank transfers / Western Union / etc. It would basically have to transparently convert from whatever currency you give it to bitcoin, send the bitcoin to an address, then convert it to the receiver's currency and deposit it in their bank. The legal and regulatory hurdles involved in this make it a non-trivial business to set up, but I think it plays on a great strength of bitcoin.
lifeisstillgood 13y ago
A "fair" distribution of bitcoins. I understand what you are asking, but the expected distribution patterns of bitcoins is unlikely to meet any definition of fair according to the majority of people currently using any other currency, and its never going to get there. My basic problem with cryptocurrency is that they seem to think money is created through work, whereas it seems its created through debt. But then I have not read around the subject enough
- thomaszander 13y ago
  Given that in the USA 98% of the worth is owned by 1% of the people, I'm not sure what you are thinking of when you talk about "fair". In bitcoin we long passed the point where money is created. The only way to own bitcoins now is to get them from others by giving them something else in return. Dollars, or a painting etc. I'm not sure what you mean with "money is created through debt".
  - sjg007 13y ago
    Banks make multiple $ loans per single backing $.
  - lifeisstillgood 13y ago
    But not 98% of the currency. Maybe thats the part I dont understand. And 98% of wealth is owned by 1%? Globally maybe but in the US? Home ownership is very widespread - something like 80m homes, with trillions of asset value.
    - dragonwriter 13y ago
      > Home ownership is very widespread - something like 80m homes, with trillions of asset value. Yes, and so are home mortgages, with trillions of dollars of mortgage liabilities... You can't assess the distribution of wealth by looking at asseta without looking at liabilities. That's even more true of looking at one single class of asset, that commonly is tied to a liability of a significant share of its value, when not looking even at that tied liability.
Jd 13y ago
(1) Security for end consumer. Might seem weird that I highlight this first and foremost, but I think that security from a tech savvy standpoint is the inverse of that from a consumer standpoint. What? My Bitcoins just disappear? Someone can hack my computer and all my money is gone forever? (2) Usability. Classic problem from Linux standpoint, hard to take something w/ current design to something that is both incredibly usable and secure for grandma to use. (3) Stable long term demand. Right now we don't have that. If there is major adoption of Bitcoin (including merchants actually holding Bitcoin) in the developing world we may see that (watch Kenya this year, for example). (4) Programability. This is what Ethereum (and, to a lesser extent, Mastercoin) are working on. (5) Less transparency. Actually I don't want people to know how much money I have and what I spend it on. (6) Price stability. I don't know how you get here with Bitcoin. (7) Instant clearing time. (8) Zero fees. I guess this exists in some alt coins (i.e. Doge) because there's a presumed lack of possibility of a double spend.
cableshaft 13y ago
The big thing I want to be able to do is be able to pay my bills in Bitcoin (rent, credit cards, student and car loans). If I can do that without (personally) having to convert to fiat and pay them in fiat, I'll be quite happy, and would probably try to find a job that would pay in bitcoin at that point. So, someone figure out a service to facilitate that, please :)

10 points by scotthtaylor 13y ago

I wish there was a service similar to Square Cash where I could send arbitrary amounts of money around the world without dealing with bank transfers / Western Union / etc. It would basically have to transparently convert from whatever currency you give it to bitcoin, send the bitcoin to an address, then convert it to the receiver's currency and deposit it in their bank. The legal and regulatory hurdles involved in this make it a non-trivial business to set up, but I think it plays on a great strength of bitcoin.

lifeisstillgood 13y ago

A "fair" distribution of bitcoins. I understand what you are asking, but the expected distribution patterns of bitcoins is unlikely to meet any definition of fair according to the majority of people currently using any other currency, and its never going to get there. My basic problem with cryptocurrency is that they seem to think money is created through work, whereas it seems its created through debt. But then I have not read around the subject enough

thomaszander 13y ago
Given that in the USA 98% of the worth is owned by 1% of the people, I'm not sure what you are thinking of when you talk about "fair". In bitcoin we long passed the point where money is created. The only way to own bitcoins now is to get them from others by giving them something else in return. Dollars, or a painting etc. I'm not sure what you mean with "money is created through debt".
- sjg007 13y ago
  Banks make multiple $ loans per single backing $.
- lifeisstillgood 13y ago
  But not 98% of the currency. Maybe thats the part I dont understand. And 98% of wealth is owned by 1%? Globally maybe but in the US? Home ownership is very widespread - something like 80m homes, with trillions of asset value.
  - dragonwriter 13y ago
    > Home ownership is very widespread - something like 80m homes, with trillions of asset value. Yes, and so are home mortgages, with trillions of dollars of mortgage liabilities... You can't assess the distribution of wealth by looking at asseta without looking at liabilities. That's even more true of looking at one single class of asset, that commonly is tied to a liability of a significant share of its value, when not looking even at that tied liability.

Jd 13y ago

(1) Security for end consumer. Might seem weird that I highlight this first and foremost, but I think that security from a tech savvy standpoint is the inverse of that from a consumer standpoint. What? My Bitcoins just disappear? Someone can hack my computer and all my money is gone forever? (2) Usability. Classic problem from Linux standpoint, hard to take something w/ current design to something that is both incredibly usable and secure for grandma to use. (3) Stable long term demand. Right now we don't have that. If there is major adoption of Bitcoin (including merchants actually holding Bitcoin) in the developing world we may see that (watch Kenya this year, for example). (4) Programability. This is what Ethereum (and, to a lesser extent, Mastercoin) are working on. (5) Less transparency. Actually I don't want people to know how much money I have and what I spend it on. (6) Price stability. I don't know how you get here with Bitcoin. (7) Instant clearing time. (8) Zero fees. I guess this exists in some alt coins (i.e. Doge) because there's a presumed lack of possibility of a double spend.

cableshaft 13y ago

The big thing I want to be able to do is be able to pay my bills in Bitcoin (rent, credit cards, student and car loans). If I can do that without (personally) having to convert to fiat and pay them in fiat, I'll be quite happy, and would probably try to find a job that would pay in bitcoin at that point. So, someone figure out a service to facilitate that, please :)