Comments on: Will Draconian Controls Drive Bitcoin Adoption?

By: Anna

Anna — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 00:23:58 +0000

How do you get people to have confidence in Bitcoin? By using the pizza effect.

People's biggest fear is whether Bitcoin can actually buy tangible 'stuff'. However, if I were to buy my colleagues a pizza for lunch using Bitcoin at a fraction of the usual price ….they would see the mouth-watering, tangible benefit right there in front of their eyes.

By: XYZ

XYZ — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 01:47:56 +0000

Very few Americans have any grasp of how bad the world economic situation is. I figure that some people know about Greece but almost no one realizes that the whole EU is in dire straits. In terms of the US, forget about the debt or the deficit numbers. Try this. Ask people how many million in a trillion. I bet less than 10% of people give the correct answer.

I believe that BTC adoption is therefore hindered in the US by a lack of appreciation of a need for it. People still have faith in the USD because of its history. Will this confidence persist as the Fed continues to print money? How long will the faith in the USD last? Will it be a slow loss of confidence over the course of years or decades? Or will it end over the course of a weekend?

I wonder if bitcoin adoption per capita is higher in countries that have lived through severe inflation?

Also, the technical hurdles of bitcoin adoption are still large. What the heck is a hash, a cryptocurrency, a key, mining, a block, a blockchain? The majority of people aren't going to embrace bitcoin if we have to explain the above concepts and they don't really care anyways. Early adopters will though. It is up to the technical saavy to get this currency system ready for the masses so that they don't have to understand the above terms. It's got to be idiot proofed and "Jobs-ified".

Bitcoin needs to be ready when the masses need it. People will flock to Bitcoin not vice versa.

By: matonis

matonis — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 13:51:56 +0000

Nice article, Perry. At a different level, the exclusivity of the global SWIFT network is also used by stronger nations to keep the rogue States in line.

I have really started to dislike the terms "black" market and "gray" market, because they are pejorative terms. It would be more appropriate to call it the "original" market or "primary" market.

By: majamalu

majamalu — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 03:12:14 +0000

"the increasingly restrictive attitude of government might bode poorly for Bitcoin's future anywhere but black/gray markets which I think we all agree would be a terrible shame."

I don't agree. Otherwise, excellent post.

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Thu, 18 Oct 2012 02:13:04 +0000

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