Hi Danny,
Good to hear from you and the other guy.
So I guess the analogy of BitCoin as cash kinda works right now, makes sense.
You mentioned other possible security "features" in the future. They sound like a good idea.
It makes me wonder though (since I'm still learning more about BitCoin). Are there men "with" BitCoin that sit around tables (or have phone calls/online meetings) who want to make these security features, and have the ability to implement them? Surely they must know that these "added" security measures need to happen for the masses of people to feel more comfortable with BitCoin, right?
What I'm worried about (since I'm still a newbie) is the question of if there are actually people who can and will want to make these added enhancements to the BitCoin experience?
There may be people working on these solutions right now, there may not. The way a free market works is that someone someday sees an opportunity to make a profit by providing a service that people want. They then create that service, and run a business that earns them an income for providing value to others.
If there is enough need/desire for such features, they will be created eventually. Someone will eventually want to earn a living providing that service.
Such services are separate from the bitcoin protocol. They don't require any special "Satoshi encryption". (I don't even know what flavius is talking about. Bitcoin is open source and anybody can modify the code if they want. You just have to convince everyone that they are better off using your software.)
I could start a business and call it "First International Bank of Bitcoin". Then I could create a highly secure process for storing the bitcoins I receive and keep track of peoples "accounts". Those who fear malware on their computer, and fear the possibility of losing their encryption passwords, could then deposit their bitcoins with my bank. Perhaps I'd charge a small fee for keeping the bitcoins safe. Obviously people will fear that I might be a scammer and that I might steal their bitcoins or that I'm inept and my bank might get hacked. So I can contact a well respected international insurance company and acquire some form of insurance policy on the deposits that people make at my bank. People will be able to file a claim with the insurance company to recover their losses if I turn out to be a thief or incapable of providing the necessary security.
Then once I have many customers, I can start to contact merchants. Merchants are concerned about double-spend attacks, but they can't wait for 6 confirmations to allow the customer to leave with the merchandise, because that takes too long. I can offer the merchants instantaneous transactions. They just have to open an account with my bank. When the customer makes a purchase, no actual bitcoins have to move on the blockchain at all. I already have them saved in my cold storage. All I have to do is reduce the amount I indicate in the customer's "account" at my bank, and increase the amount I indicate in the merchant's account. I can charge the merchant a small fee to provide this instant payment service.
Now my bank is profitable. I am generating income from both the customers and the merchants. I can perhaps provide additional banking services. Perhaps I can convince some of my customers to transfer their unused balances into a "certificate of deposit" that they contractually agree not to withdraw for a period of time. I can then lend out a percentage of those bitcoin to those who are in need of a loan, and increase my profits by collecting interest on those loans. As an incentive to convince the customers to transfer some of their balances into my "certificate of deposit", I can offer to pay them interest on those balances (rather than charging them a fee). Obviously the interest rate that I collect from the borrowers will be higher than the interest rate that I'll pay to the depositors, so I'll continue to increase my revenue.
The contract that the merchants sign with my bank for instant payments will require them to provide certain proof of delivery (perhaps a receipt signed by the customer). If a customer makes a claim that they didn't receive the promised merchandise, and the merchant can't produce a signed receipt indicating that they did make the delivery, then per the terms of the contract, I can perform a charge-back reducing the balance of the merchants "account" at my bank and increasing the customer's account.