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No consumer protection is why bitcoin simply won't take off as a method of legally spending money online. I have no promise a merchant will deliver me what's p
by JohnTHaller 13y ago
No consumer protection is why bitcoin simply won't take off as a method of legally spending money online. I have no promise a merchant will deliver me what's promised (or anything at all, for that matter). And no recourse if they don't.
Bitcoin needs a solution to address this for it to be a valid way of spending money. And irreversibility, pseudonymity, and no regulation make it impossible.
- M4v3R 13y agoThis is what third party escrow services are for. They can use the Bitcoin as a framework to utilize customer protection if it's implemented right.
- JohnTHaller 13y agoA 3rd party escrow I have to trust. Also without regulation. Likely, consumers wouldn't trust such an entity unless it was rather large, already known, and otherwise regulated. Like a bank. Consumers can trust those. Of course, the bank would want an escrow fee. Probably on par with the standard credit card fees.
- BrokenPipe 13y agoOr much much lower cause you bring worldwide competition with no infrastructure. Disclaimer: I'm with GreenAddress.it
- JohnTHaller 13y agoYeah, see, consumers like infrastructure. Someone they can call with issues. And to know that it's not just a server rack in some random semi-secure data center run by another fly-by-night-hacked-next-week bitcoin startup. And that you have insurance on the whole thing against theft, fire, hacks, etc. And that you're properly following all the government regulations for being a money transmitter.