Topic: How do we make Bitcoin work as a global micro-payment system? - page 2. (Read 2788 times)
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One of the most liberating aspects of Bitcoin in my opinion, is its potential as a mass micropayment system, for things such as crowdfunding, small digital purchases such as music, films and software, and for charity and all other forms of donation. It cuts out the middle-money-men, eases and expedites the transaction process, and therefore encourages people to give more money in small amounts to the people who deserve it: writers, software developers, musicians, charities etc. instead of feeding it endlessly into the pointless, craven culture vacuum that is the financial industry.
What's holding bitcoin back from being used in this way on a mass scale? The transaction process is much simpler than using, for instance, paypal: you don't have to enter any passwords, you don't need to select a credit card, you don't need to go through extra security checks, and you don't need to worry someone will steal your credit card details. Spending bitcoins isn't the problem, the challenge is in growing the number of people who have bitcoins to spend - right now it's just too hard to get hold of them unless you're an inquisitive, geeky dude with a currency fetish. I really believe that once people have some bitcoins and experience spending them, they will realise quite quickly the huge advantages of the currency, and want to use it more and more.
So that's problem 1, assuming we solved that, then problem 2 follows quickly behind - instability. Suppose you could get bitcoins to people easily, perhaps in the same way as they would top-up their pay-as-you-go phone in a shop, and with low/zero exchange fees. You then have the possibility of the currency devaluing by 50% in the space of a few days, perhaps before you've even spent any of the bitcoins. That wouldn't be a sustainable system. Unfortunately, I can't see how problem 2 can be solved unless the distribution of bitcoin goes much further and wider than is the situation today. However, that broader distribution would probably require something like problem 1 to be solved first, which itself wouldn't work without the solution to problem 2, and well, you get the picture. So it's a classic catch-22.
I really think that the most important use of bitcoin is for it to be used as a secure, global, zero-fee money transmission system, first and foremost. This is purely because of the power it takes back from the financial system, and also from all manner of middle-men, advertisers and marketeers who have - over the course of the 20th century - built a barrier between the people who produce things, and the people who buy them. We don't need anyone in between.
So, I just want to hear opinions and practical ideas on how (or if) we can achieve this with Bitcoin.
What's holding bitcoin back from being used in this way on a mass scale? The transaction process is much simpler than using, for instance, paypal: you don't have to enter any passwords, you don't need to select a credit card, you don't need to go through extra security checks, and you don't need to worry someone will steal your credit card details. Spending bitcoins isn't the problem, the challenge is in growing the number of people who have bitcoins to spend - right now it's just too hard to get hold of them unless you're an inquisitive, geeky dude with a currency fetish. I really believe that once people have some bitcoins and experience spending them, they will realise quite quickly the huge advantages of the currency, and want to use it more and more.
So that's problem 1, assuming we solved that, then problem 2 follows quickly behind - instability. Suppose you could get bitcoins to people easily, perhaps in the same way as they would top-up their pay-as-you-go phone in a shop, and with low/zero exchange fees. You then have the possibility of the currency devaluing by 50% in the space of a few days, perhaps before you've even spent any of the bitcoins. That wouldn't be a sustainable system. Unfortunately, I can't see how problem 2 can be solved unless the distribution of bitcoin goes much further and wider than is the situation today. However, that broader distribution would probably require something like problem 1 to be solved first, which itself wouldn't work without the solution to problem 2, and well, you get the picture. So it's a classic catch-22.
I really think that the most important use of bitcoin is for it to be used as a secure, global, zero-fee money transmission system, first and foremost. This is purely because of the power it takes back from the financial system, and also from all manner of middle-men, advertisers and marketeers who have - over the course of the 20th century - built a barrier between the people who produce things, and the people who buy them. We don't need anyone in between.
So, I just want to hear opinions and practical ideas on how (or if) we can achieve this with Bitcoin.
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