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The point is that most people are never going to adopt Bitcoin if they have to worry about the technical side of securing their own funds. And given that there

The point is that most people are never going to adopt Bitcoin if they have to worry about the technical side of securing their own funds. And given that there are many examples of incompetence and/or fraud within exchanges and other nascent businesses that intend to handle elements of that security on behalf of customers, and no enforced regulations such as you find in the traditional banking sector, you can imagine that this isn't going to change any time soon.

moe 12y ago
The point is that most people are never going to adopt Bitcoin if they have to worry about the technical side of securing their own funds And most people are never going to buy physical gold because they have to worry about the technical side of securing their own funds. Know what? Bitcoin/Gold is not for these people respectively, and nobody ever claimed otherwise.
- shock-value 12y ago
  > Know what? Bitcoin/Gold is not for these people respectively, and nobody ever claimed otherwise. Well, I can assure you that in threads and forums other than this one that plenty of people have claimed Bitcoin is destined to replace traditional currencies worldwide. Though I do recognize that you made no such assertion here. > And most people are never going to buy physical gold because they have to worry about the technical side of securing their own funds. Plenty of people do trade/invest in gold through avenues other than direct physical ownership (ETFs, etc). At the moment it definitely at least "feels like" it's impossible to do that with respect to Bitcoin due to the security issues and general shadiness that seem to plague many Bitcoin-related companies. The supposed Bitcoin ETF that is forever just-around-the-corner could alleviate some of the concerns with respect to accounting issues and negating the "take-the-money-and-run" factor, but I'm not sure there would be reason to trust them to any greater degree with respect to cryptographic security of their holdings of any virtual currency.
  - moe 12y ago
    At the moment it definitely at least "feels like" it's impossible to do that with respect to Bitcoin due to... Yes, and it also "feels like" it's impossible to use a chainsaw as a toothpick. Maybe you should just refrain from doing that then? Only because Bitcoin is a currency doesn't mean it will replace all existing currencies next year, be an amazing investment vehicle or fulfill any other of the wet dreams that people may have about it. Like everything it is better for some purposes and worse for others. Stop blaming the chainsaw for not being a toothpick.
  - martin1975 12y ago
    > I can assure you that in threads and forums other than this one that plenty of people have claimed Bitcoin is destined to replace traditional currencies worldwide At the risk of pissing off numerous Bitcoin fanboys, I think Ripple has a greater chance of world domination than Bitcoin, despite their different purposes/design. Any currency that isn't linked to a power base, IMHO, has little chance for world domination. Then again, what do I know... IANAE (economist :).
- baconmania 12y ago
  Except people who buy physical gold don't have to worry about "the technical side of securing their own funds" because they can put their gold in a safe deposit box... at a bank. The safety of your Bitcoin, on the other hand, depends on some level on your own technical expertise. As long as this is the case, owning Bitcoin will never be as safe as owning gold.
- davidgerard 12y ago
  >and nobody ever claimed otherwise. except lots and lots of bitcoin advocates.
derefr 12y ago
> most people are never going to adopt [cash] if they have to worry about the technical side of securing their own funds It would have been true, too, if gold bars were what we were talking about when we talked about cash. BTC needs the convenience equivalent of keeping greenbacks in a wallet in your pocket. Probably a mobile app with a good UX would do it, maybe one built into the OS at a low level ala Apple Pay.

moe 12y ago

The point is that most people are never going to adopt Bitcoin if they have to worry about the technical side of securing their own funds And most people are never going to buy physical gold because they have to worry about the technical side of securing their own funds. Know what? Bitcoin/Gold is not for these people respectively, and nobody ever claimed otherwise.

shock-value 12y ago
> Know what? Bitcoin/Gold is not for these people respectively, and nobody ever claimed otherwise. Well, I can assure you that in threads and forums other than this one that plenty of people have claimed Bitcoin is destined to replace traditional currencies worldwide. Though I do recognize that you made no such assertion here. > And most people are never going to buy physical gold because they have to worry about the technical side of securing their own funds. Plenty of people do trade/invest in gold through avenues other than direct physical ownership (ETFs, etc). At the moment it definitely at least "feels like" it's impossible to do that with respect to Bitcoin due to the security issues and general shadiness that seem to plague many Bitcoin-related companies. The supposed Bitcoin ETF that is forever just-around-the-corner could alleviate some of the concerns with respect to accounting issues and negating the "take-the-money-and-run" factor, but I'm not sure there would be reason to trust them to any greater degree with respect to cryptographic security of their holdings of any virtual currency.
- moe 12y ago
  At the moment it definitely at least "feels like" it's impossible to do that with respect to Bitcoin due to... Yes, and it also "feels like" it's impossible to use a chainsaw as a toothpick. Maybe you should just refrain from doing that then? Only because Bitcoin is a currency doesn't mean it will replace all existing currencies next year, be an amazing investment vehicle or fulfill any other of the wet dreams that people may have about it. Like everything it is better for some purposes and worse for others. Stop blaming the chainsaw for not being a toothpick.
- martin1975 12y ago
  > I can assure you that in threads and forums other than this one that plenty of people have claimed Bitcoin is destined to replace traditional currencies worldwide At the risk of pissing off numerous Bitcoin fanboys, I think Ripple has a greater chance of world domination than Bitcoin, despite their different purposes/design. Any currency that isn't linked to a power base, IMHO, has little chance for world domination. Then again, what do I know... IANAE (economist :).
baconmania 12y ago
Except people who buy physical gold don't have to worry about "the technical side of securing their own funds" because they can put their gold in a safe deposit box... at a bank. The safety of your Bitcoin, on the other hand, depends on some level on your own technical expertise. As long as this is the case, owning Bitcoin will never be as safe as owning gold.
davidgerard 12y ago
>and nobody ever claimed otherwise. except lots and lots of bitcoin advocates.

derefr 12y ago

> most people are never going to adopt [cash] if they have to worry about the technical side of securing their own funds It would have been true, too, if gold bars were what we were talking about when we talked about cash. BTC needs the convenience equivalent of keeping greenbacks in a wallet in your pocket. Probably a mobile app with a good UX would do it, maybe one built into the OS at a low level ala Apple Pay.