Topic: Potential obstacles for mass adoption of BTC (Read 3942 times)

I think any publicity is good at this point... the time table for mainstream adoption isn't quick. We're talking at the very least a couple of years (more likely 5 or 10). So while publicity from sr and ponzi schemes seems bad right now... if a few year or 5 or 10... then it becomes an asset to bitcoin, because the network and the community survived it. just my opinion tho.

If you do start a rebranding campaign - that's an epic undertaking, you've have to get pretty much everyone on-board with that or it wouldn't stick.

I can see why switching to a different crypto is a none starter - but not rebranding, maybe we need to loose the bitcoin name recognition!

The momentum wouldnt stop, people who know about it and use it now will know the new name and thus continue to use it, the general public who haven't heard of it yet (but more than likely heard something about some funny internet money that got hacked, this stuff sits in peoples consciousness, there, but not enough to recall) will learn it by the new brand, something that doesnt confuse the hell of them. How many times are you met with utter confusion when you try and explain bitcoin "but how do computers make money" "who gives it the value" - calling something a coin that is not actually a coin, it just the first mental trip wire that goes on in peoples heads (in my opinion, based on nothing but my own view point,observations and life experiences)

"What's in a name? that which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet"

Also, I think a rebranding project might actually run better than a lot of big companies do, I mean, its open source, shit gets done when everyone chips in.

I thought the bigass ones were just the ridiculous value rocks, much like the US used to mint $100000 bills for internal treasury movements. I'm pretty sure they had small ones for actual transactions.

hell yes remember those big ass like 1 ton rock wheels that some island people used for currency?  Good luck stealing one of those!  And they're all pretty darn uniquely identifiable.  If Jim bought some drugs then you'd be like hey, what's Bob doing with Jim's rock?

internet and digital financial investigations has the lowest priority in most countries .i think maybe because;

a) it,s not sexy for criminal investigation department (they rather show of kg of seized drugs or goods which  creates false sense of security
b) it,s to diverse and already to big like an drop in the ocean to investigate.
c) capacity problems of the investigation offices, the manpower.
d) there are priorities to make and it isn,t btc  

Agreed, but IMO most criminals still much prefer ca$h to BTC.

No, but one that specifically has a reputation as being preferred and used by those groups is going to be watched harder.

Is there a currency or store of value imune to drug trade, scams and theft?

yeeeeah, I don't work for Kanguru or I'd probably be able to afford one.  Nice guess though, lol.

rebranding and switching to a different crypto are non-starters. Even if you made it an exact clone (to tap into existing hardware) you'd never get adoption and the two would just fight each other. Not to mention losing all bitcoin's name recognition and momentum.

We need to make a bulletproof hardware device that's so easy anyone can use it (aka it won't confuse iphone users). I would be best if it were sleek, stylish and well designed. And it should require proof of life as a second factor, so nobody can steal it shoot you and still use it.

i already thought of rebranding bitcoin.. but it still wont stop hackers, frauds and illegal drugs/ fake Id transactions from tainting the views of the normal world of business and consumers when seeing bitcoin.

u can rename a spade a shovel.. but its still gonna look dirty if u use it..

thus a different crypto would be the only solution to a full rebrand for mass adoption.

You are right, it's not obvious how the system works.
A rebrand could work, but as I see it, it's more likely to cause confusion.

You speak a lot of sense, this is the thing I've noticed when talking about bitcoin.... not everyone is a computer nerd and undestands this stuff, until bitcoin has some standards, a degree of fool-proofness, and an easy to use interface, bitcoin will be stuck in a world of our making.

Also, to add my potential obstacle...

the very fact its called "bitcoin".... the way the word sounds, and the fact it makes you think of "coins", in my view, leads to an instant none understanding, a conflict of thoughts I thoughts, its called bitCOIN, but its not a coin.... call it internetmoney, and instantly you know what it is. Also "mining" - the general public do not really need to know about this, it again creates confusion "but how can a computer make bitcoins" - that blows the average persons head! Just call it "transaction processers" - they get rewarded in internetmoney for keeping the internetmoney network running....

Bitcoin needs a rebrand, one that customers (and that is what "the general public" are at the moment - I think the forum and bitcoin industry forget that sometimes) can instantly identify with, and hey, get it right and it before long it could be the next massive thing .

silk road is good?

if u just want bitcoin to stay anonymous for illegal purchases then the only solution is to forget about getting bitcoin to the mass market. but use a different crypto for legitimate transactions/businesses

i think litecoin would be the solution to a non government controlled digital currency for world wide legitimate businesses. as illegal activities is too ripe with bitcoin.

It's bad rep in a business situation.
Any currency that enables drug trade is going to be of interest to the government and is liable to be shut down, or at least restricted by them. You may not think that sort of sanction a big deal, but for a business, it's a major issue.

I would say it's good rep. Proves that bitcoins r untraceble. Everyone uses cash which has "worse" rep.

nice 'plug' advertising ur concepts for dongle devices which u probably are gonna be the designers of.. so good on you for ur free adverts. but that sidesteps the topic at hand.

go speak to some businesses and ask them what they would do/need/want to accept bitcoin. no point talking to the already bitcoin adopted crowd of 50k regular users and ignore the voices of the 7 billion un-initiated.

the issues i see are this
1) bad rep bitcoin has due to hacking
2) bad rep due to silk road
3) bitcoin current users dont want transparancy of trades as it goes against the anonymity they 'deem' to think is their right with bitcoin.


now i said it before but the best way to get crypto currency mainstreamed is to get bitcoin green.. and there too much head banging going on between anonymous users and reputable users..

so the solution.. get another crypto to be the mainstream real world merchant currency so that bitcoin can be cash to for instance litecoins credit card.

bitcoin technology coding is easily transferable to litecoin. so it is effortless to implement hotwallet and cold wallet stuff. lite coin has no bad rep. so lets use litecoin to be the creditcard digital currency real world merchants use which would get more traction for bitcoin without the anonymous users throwing their hands up in disapproval of change to bitcoin.

Kanguru secure flash drives are pretty easy.  Just get an incomplete block chain downloading client, your wallet, and throw both on there an encrypt em with a password.

Both buyers and sellers can use also the paytunia wallet to send/receive coins on their smartphone (app on Google play or html5 version of paytunia.com for iPhones).

Buyers can get bitcoins for euros fast using instawire.

Actually I think commercial banks can provide same services to BTC deposits as they do for US Dollar today, a web based or card based payment service. They have less risk of running into problem for US dollar deposits due to the monetary policies of FED