Topic: BTC needs the trust of masses (Read 1307 times)

Hehe, it's funny because this is true.

I'm not sure that media did those with the purpose that they really want to make bitcoin look bad. They just combined a negative thing (which in research, most of people is interested to hear negative news) with a technology that be involved in that like bitcoin, in case to get people attention 
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140728-why-is-all-the-news-bad
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201411/why-we-love-bad-news-more-good-news

These news have got many attentions from the world and make them misunderstood about bitcoin at once    It will be harder to develop bitcoin then.

I agree that the media attacks are very hurtful to btc as a whole, because they tend to focus and point out things like associating drug money with btc, one article that was hot for a while was supposedly isis was using btc (story was very fishy).

And the media attacks have been relatively mild.  If btc really started to take off, I fully expect to see lots of media coverage of the slightest thing that causes problems.  They will be blown up and will try to make btc look bad.

If they are really interested with bitcoin, I'm sure they will find the way to obtain it.

I think its happened too in other transactions, not only bitcoin. It just depend on our precision before do transaction.

Atleast, US has prepared it https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/us-consumer-agency-prepares-protect-bitcoin-shoppers/
Hope the other countries will do the same.

Like no 4, it only depend on our habit, we should do the backup note of code or password for every important things.

IMO it's the most influential point that affect bitcoin development in society. There were news about drugs, weapons black market, terrorism, etc that involved bitcoin. It make people stay away from bitcoin.

This is possible if China continues buying.  I am now bullish because I think a lot of chinese are very uneasy about their current situation, and collectively they have the numbers to strengthen bitcoin price, and make it less susceptible to whale manipulation.

With that said though I think you are right.  1 whale could do some serious damage to btc if they wanted to mess with price volatility

People are scared of change, they're like sheep, following each other around, worried about making a different & independent move.

There are two types of people in life, wolves & sheep, which one are you?

For whales to stop being effective with their manipulation we need seas of normal people moving tons of money daily. The bigger the volume the more useless the whale planned pump and dumps will be. This process is a gradual one and takes a lot of time with any new currency.

Some issues why I think its having a hard time:

1) Price uncertainty and potential manipulation (see mt gox bots)

2) Major exchanges/websites hacked/shady practices and people losing btc when trying to withdraw

3) Difficulty in obtaining initially (once you do find a way to buy btc, its not so bad)

4) Accidentally sending to the wrong address (ive seen users do it on here)

5) NO CONSUMER PROTECTION (huge problem for most people shopping online)

6) Losing bitcoins (I forgot my password to my blockchain wallet and cant log in.  only lost a few dollars, but still frustrating)

7) MAINSTREAM MEDIA ATTACKS (making btc synonymous with criminal activity)

I think we still need the "bank help" for now, especially in the countries that ban bitcoin where its rare to get bitcoin's ATM and shops. I guess people will understand about bitcoin if they have an account in bank, which the bitcoin system is almost similar with fiat in bank. And bank can be a third party that connect people with bitcoin.

That is true, but that is only because of mis-information.
The masses do not yet understand that Bitcoin is a method of transacting leaving all middle party (and unnecessary expenses) out.
Bitcoin should NOT really be seen as an investment (not at this point).
So basically it's a replacement for banks, VISA, WU, etc. but with super low fees.

So for the masses to trust Bitcoin then the masses must first understand that.
Once they do understand that, then they need to be able to go from cash to Bitcoin, which is something that is not that easy at the time.
We have localbitcoins and several ATMs worldwide but it's not enough.

And for mass adoption we need (more) widespread services for: Cash -> Bitcoin.
Not: Cash -> Bank -> Exchange -> Bitcoin

I agree with you but I don't see some short term solution.
We need some ''big'' merchants to start accepting bitcoin.
We can win the trust of the masses if they see that bitcoin is globally accepted as payment option (like paypal for example) and that they can spend BTC in many ways, buying and selling digital products and services online.
That has not happened yet and people still buying bitcoin as an investment, and therefore we see big fluctuations in bitcoin value.
What average bitcoin user can do in order to change it?
Introduce BTC to people and merchants around you.

It's the opposite.

The masses need the trust of BTC

In a pyramid the first people who get in get payd big and everyone thereafter get less. In bitcoin the early adapters have 100K+ bitcoin and those who came after fight over scraps. It would be strange if people did not see this.

This is also my biggest problem with bitcoin and why i think it never will be adapted by the masses.

Imagine a merchant selling something of real value on a automated website and accepting bitcoin. Then one of the twinkledudes buy everything he has for 150K BTC and the value of bitcoin drop to the floor. The merchant will be ruined.

If i was a merchant i would only accept bitcoin if i sold some useless trinkets that people would buy only to prove bitcoin can be used to buy stuff.


As it is now i see bitcoin as a betatest. Someone migt use the data collected to make a strong crypto in the future. A crypto not only for a few lucky, but for everyone.

You would not like what the masses say about bitcoin. Bitcoin was mentioned on some website in the comments, and the poster was teared to shreds by "the masses" who all said it was a pyramid, ponzi, get rich quick and something like that.

Bitcoin would have been much better off if it did not have the bumps in the road. We had a flying start, and then MtGox happened... This had a huge ripple affect.. Governments and people lost a lot of trust in

exchanges and everyone was screaming "Regulate Bitcoin!!!" The uncertainty before the regulations also kept some people from investing.

Then Silkroad happened and a lot of people associated Bitcoin with illegal practices... eg. drugs. A lot of the people who got burned, turned against Bitcoin and started to spread fud and negativity.

These things are holding people back from investing.... The sad part is... this was done by people within the Bitcoin community.     

Bitcoin is stable. Look at the fluctuations in value of the other popular currencies. Everything fluctuates, Bitcoin is no exception. The fluctuations in price are just a factor of the bigger system.

I'm not sure but there was an advantage beside its disadvantage about the fluctuation, where the traders took this chance to get high profit when the price was being not stable. But yeah it's a disadvantage for bitcoin development, because make most people still not sure about the potential of bitcoin since the price is not as stable as fiat.

it may be gaining the trust of the GREEK masses!

To gain trust as a single idea it would be pretty hard, the key players on the trust issues would be the companies working with bitcoin. not bitcoin it self just because is the monetary tool we use to trade, buy or sell with.

I am just learning about Bitcoin and pale in comparison to many here on the boards, but here is what I am thinking on the question:

It is an interesting thought about stabilization of Bitcoin despite the fact it is a decentralized digital currency.  I think the misunderstanding by mainstream society is a great part of the instability as the powers that be are not favorable on it.  I do think with trusted and established fiat currency, there are ways to manipulate the system also causing chaos so "stability" is open to interpretation.  With Bitcoin there are stress tests for concern along with, as I understand it, unfair mining practices where it be almost too competitive for casual miners to achieve a gain.  There are still pros and cons with Bitcoin which I am still trying to get my head around. Because it is not backed by any sort of commodity such as gold, it makes transactional value converting it to traditional currency difficult.

Some states like California are making legislation incorporating rules on it, but it has a long way to go before it is truly accepted as an alternate form of payment. In the San Francisco Bay Area where I live, I can only think of one brick and mortar store that accepts it as payment (Nakamoto's). I wonder if it will take the economic decline/collapse of (multiple) countries like Greece and within Africa to gain momentum and enough following to instill a sense of stability and for that matter viability.

I could be way off base, but that's how I see it.