Topic: Downsides of Bitcoin? - page 2. (Read 1378 times)

The disadvantages i can see are:

4. i really think bitcoin is not really friendly right now, there is lot of knowledge that ppl need to have in order to use it property, this is a wall that we should remove if we want that moreppl use it.

5. "You can't pay your Government's taxes, fees, etc. in Bitcoin" thats the final barrier, not to pay to government, to pay everything needed with bitcoin, ppl will start to beleive on it when they can pay government, ot his daily shopping.

there are more than that ofc but related to join post that what i think

1. Still too many hacks going on. Need to be very security savvy to really feel safe storing btc online.

2. No consumer protection. Luckily there are some legit escrow providers on here, but beyond that its buyer beware.

3. Difficulty for your average person to wrap their head around btc, let alone jump through all the hoops and figure out how to buy some

The only disadvantages I can see are:

1. It's not as anonymous / private as some would think.
2. It is evolving too slow now (this is also somehow good - for acceptance for example, but on long term it's bad imho).
3. Since my mother still has troubles using a dumbphone (not mentioning smartphones or computers), she cannot use Bitcoin (she don't even understand what bitcoin is). Meaning that bitcoin still has a huge disadvantage in the "fight" with fiat.

2 is not a downside of bitcoin, a downside would be that businesses are not capable of accepting bitcoin, and that is not the case. It is currently a limitation, because only a handfull of businesses accept bitcoin.

3) fiat can also be stolen through social engineering. Atleast in the Netherlands you dont have to buy bitcoin face to face. We have the easiest way ever, it is just like ordering food or clothes online. (bitonic.nl)

4) Totally agree, although future wallets will likely take care of this. You probably dont even need to know those terms. Although QR Code are allready out there everywhere, no problem right?

OP this is all pretty wrong, and not a downside of Bitcoin itself.
1) One of the purposes of Bitcoin is being your own bank. This means that you are supposed to be able to handle your own money if you want to use it, thus making this point invalid.
2) That's not a downside of Bitcoin, but rather the current acceptance level.
3) Anything can be stolen through illicit means online. Are you trying to tell me that nobody has ever experienced CC fraud? You are responsible for your own money.
4) It is user friendly. For the average user "private key" and "hashing" aren't important, sometimes not even 'blockchain'. People should already know what a QR Code is since it was first released in 1997; this is not a new term created by Bitcoin. "mBTC" is also very simple, since the term 'mili' is well known
5) I thought we were going to use it to avoid taxes?

I'm pretty sure that Bitcoin has almost no real downsides (by their very definition). We could argue that confirmations take too long or that we can't process enough transactions but that is a story for another day.
What you're describing seem to be downsides of the current ecosystem/infrastructure around Bitcoin.

1) You don't have "customer service" for loosing CASH paper ... right ?
well ... 

3) Usually, dumb people use the same password on facebook, yahoo ... and exchange wallet.
don't follow the white rabbit of malware, hackers and others exotic explanation. 

I will never pay taxes in BTC to a government: that is simply paradoxical!

problem solved:

https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=physical+bitcoin&biw=1280&bih=864&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIpf_8x7HkxgIVylYUCh3-5w4S

I think that the main problem of bitcoins (and that must be ranked as the number one of downsides) it is that he is not physical money. This make bitcoin usable only in internet and the ways that the money can be used in internet are limited. Then not to many people use internet and are even fewer those who make purchases there.

There is no downside to bitcoin. Do your research before you buy BTC and always keep them safe!!!
There is many different ways to protect your btc! Do a search and follow directions about to stay safe from "hackers".

on 4 and 5

4)bitcoin life span is very long, probably satoshi taked into account the fact that bitcoin will be used by future generations and not today's ones

5)there are services online that can pay taxes for you and you send them bitcoin, like cashila.com

also another problem is that not only those that don't know about bitcoin don't use it, but also those that know about it are only holding to cash out at some point in the future

so among those 3M estimated users of bitcoin, the number that are really using bitcoin is probably much less than many think..

In another thread I meantioned some of the advantages Bitcoin has over cash (https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/why-have-bitcoin-instead-of-cash-1113484)

Truth is not many people I know personally use Bitcoin. None of my friends or direct family members do and here are some reasons why I think that is.

I have provided some workarounds to most of these "downsides". Like everything in life, Bitcoin isn't really perfect.

1) While Bitcoins are not controlled by an actual Government, etc, that also means that there is no official "customer service" for Bitcoin, especially when it comes to reimbursement; If you lose your private keys you are screwed, the coins are gone and therefore your money. Doesn't matter who you buy Bitcoins from, they can't help you at that point. Some companies have made this pretty avoidable though, by just allowing a username and password to sign into your Bitcoin wallet.

2) Not enough businesses directly accept Bitcoin. While some big name companies do accept them, overall they aren't accepted at most online and local businesses at this point of writing. There are a lot of ways around this though just because of what Bitcoins CAN buy, which can be used to trade for the item you desire. For example if a local or online business accepts PayPal but not Bitcoin, it's easy to convert it.

3) Bitcoin can be stolen through malware, social engineering, being robbed at gunpoint, etc. Malware can certainly be avoided, you can store your Bitcoins offline, encrypted, etc. on a malware free machine/device. Social engineering is unlikely, if you are familiar with Bitcoins, you are probably familiar with social engineering. Being robbed at gunpoint can hopefully be prevented by meeting in a busy coffee shop, etc.

4) Bitcoin is not "user friendly". With terms like "Blockchain", "mBTC", "Private Key", "Hashing", "QR Code", etc. I can see where a lot of not tech-savvy people would be discouraged. It's clear that Satoshi didn't design Bitcoin to be used by everyone.

5) You can't pay your Government's taxes, fees, etc. in Bitcoin (at least I know in my country you can't).

Feel free to contribute to this, I would love to hear some opinions.