Topic: Bitcoins will become Betamax if we don't do THIS (Read 5918 times)

I like that idea, but the best solution is to pay in bitcoin everywhere, and get paid in bitcoin. then you never have to exchange in and out of USD.

I will be in NY for the conference, with Steve and the rest of the Bit-pay team. Including Alison. If you don't know who Alison is, click here:

https://bit-pay.com

I look forward to a great weekend of bitcoin!

Tony

I like that idea, but the best solution is to pay in bitcoin everywhere, and get paid in bitcoin. then you never have to exchange in and out of USD.

As a trader I'm happy to accept bitcoins, but no one has them so few people buy in this way.
I want it the other way round - ie a buyer can pay with their credit card, bank transfer etc and I receive payment in bitcoins (which I can easily convert to cash whenever I like).  
This makes international trade much easier as the buyer does not need to be aware that transfer of value occurred in bitcoins.
There could be an open source payment checkout system that links to to the exchange of your choice in your own country, you press pay and the money is immediately converted to bitcoins in the local exchange and sent to the seller anywhere in the world. If the seller's exchange is connected to this system it could automatically convert the bitcoins to cash in the local currency (if the seller prefers cash).
All the exchanges around the world could function like a distributed paypal without having to open branches in every country.
No single entity needs to open it's own branch in every country - each exchange would be responsible for dealing with local legislation.

IMHO, you get porn and poker sites (read: pokerstars) to accept bitcoin and this will be the dominate currency of the future. 

Tony, will you be on 2pm show or in the evening one?

Absolutely! Just ask Vegetta (or whatever he changed his name to in probable disgrace) about how well bitcams is coming along. Its a great example of porn and bitcoin joining forces!

Leon, check out https://bit-pay.com and watch us on the Bitcoin Show tomorrow (Wednesday).  We will discuss a new service that does exactly what you are asking for.

Absolutely! Just ask Vegetta (or whatever he changed his name to in probable disgrace) about how well bitcams is coming along. Its a great example of porn and bitcoin joining forces!

Elections are for politicians, leaders make things happen.  I don't think a "business lead" is what's needed (and really, I abhor that "business" vs "technical" type casting BS)...no committees, no votes.  We just need people with good ideas and initiative to run with it.

So, let's discuss that.  I really don't like the sort of undisciplined, in your face kind of marketing approach that many are advocating (plastering bitcoin here or there, etc).  And, really, the software is not quite there yet for a mass audience.  So any marketing efforts should take that into consideration and evolve as the software evolves.  The worst thing from a marketing perspective is having a lot of people get exposed to it too early and rather than recognize its potential, they can't see past its shortcomings (stolen wallets, poor exchange security, regulatory uncertainty, use for illegal trade, etc...there are plenty of shortcomings). 

I think if you want to expand the use of bitcoin, you're better off focusing energy on the people who are already sold on the potential of bitcoin, but for one reason or another can't quite make it work or aren't able to use it as much as they'd like.  These are the people that are already trying to look past the current shortcomings, and if not for one or two missing things, would be using bitcoin or using bitcoin more often.  This will address key pain points for many people.

In addition to that, people need to keep searching for that critical niche where bitcoin's unique design gives it a clear advantage and address that market.  But for goodness sake, don't run out and try to start one of these businesses.  Just because you have a great hammer, it doesn't mean you should run out and start a construction business.

so is that the lesson... more bitcoin porn?

I think the TC's point is fundamentally sound.  I think the way to pursue is to make it possible for businesses to "accept bitcoin without accepting bitcoin".  That is, make it so that they list it as a payment option, but once you choose to pay with bitcoin, it automatically converts (perhaps through some intermediary service) into the currency the merchant wants and pays the merchant that way.  This would significantly increase bitcoin's visibility and remove a lot of the frictions and uncertainty associated with it.

Here is another comparison. Linux users swear up and down about how great of an operating system it is. Mac users too.  But what kind of market share do they get?

I thought it was BSD

that's it.
Same reason why we have such a robust internet now, porn.

Either that or due to high energy physicists continuously pushing for bleeding edge data transfers.

Betamax is still in use by broadcasters to this day... perhaps bitcoin wants to be the currency for professionals?