Topic: Real life bitcoin scenario for non-bitcoiners - page 3. (Read 4792 times)

A guy goes to mtgox and is allowed to cash out as many btc as he wants because free markets don't put hard limits on that kind of thing.

Follow-up comment:

If you want to increase acceptance, make it a point to always offer to pay for products and services with bitcoin and then provide your favorite link to get more bitcoin information. They will most likely decline but you will accomplish 3 things:

1. You will convey to them that there is a market demand to pay in bitcoin from their customer base.
2. You will introduce them to bitcoin and give them links where they can learn more.
3. You will pave the way for them to say "yes" to the next customer who offers to pay with bitcoin.

When I first heard about bitcoin I dismissed it outright and ignored it for 6 months before I decided to take a second look. Now it is my preferred method of being paid. I never accept credit cards or PayPal. I accept only physical cash (gold, silver, FRN's) and digital cash (bitcoin). When I receive FRN's I quickly convert them to one of my 3 favorite commodities: Gold, Silver or Bitcoin

People will come around eventually - it's good for business!

Bitcoin can be useful even if a store point-of-sale system is never implemented.

But to go with your scenario, I see two options:

1: The clerk scans his items, he goes to the payment device (the thing people swipe credit cards with now). The screen gives options for the buttons indicating types of transactions, one of them says "Bitcoin". Adam presses the button by bitcoins. The screen brings up a QR code bitcoin amount, store name, and address (all in a bitcoin standardized format). Adam pulls out his smartphone, opens the bitcoin app, zaps the code, presses the confirm button on his phone. After a second the screen says "transaction received" or something like that, Adam takes his stuff and walks out. (The store name is not nescesary for the bitcoin transaction, but it makes record keeping nicer so when you look back at your wallet you know what that transaction was from.)

2: The clerk scans his items, Adam swipes a card just like he would a credit card. This is linked to an account with bitcoins, but the store clerk doesn't need to know about all that, since everything happens in the backend to do the conversion and the store is electronically sent dollars, just like a credit card.

Why I say bitcoin can be useful without this setup is that bitcoins can function as a savings tool, like gold does today. People who want to save money convert it to bitcoin on an exchange or with somebody local in person, and when they are done saving they convert it back on the exchange. Bitcoin has the advantage over gold in that it is harder to fake and it is easier to trade with people farther away.

Bitcoin is also very nice for internet purchases. And for doing long-distance work (like programming or digital artwork) where there is no reason for the employer and employee to be restricted to dealing only with people in their own country.

You make an excellent point. There's no reason to convince anyone about the merits at bitcoin. IMO it will continue to rise in use and value due to it's nature. Those who disregard it do so at their own loss. When I buy things I offer to pay in bitcoin whenever possible and those who have ears will want to know more.

I bought several products this past week this way. I spend bitcoin only because I earn a good portion of my income in bitcoin and I have to liquidate some to cover day-to-day expenses. With that said, I save as much as possible and only spend what I have to.

the end

He reaches for his Woolong Device, fumbles and drops it.  "Fuck, this will be the second time I've had to replace my Woolong this week."  The store clerk looks apathetically up from his newpaper and points to the sign that reads, "No Woolong, no service," then continues reading the breaking news about the Illuminati plot to assassinate President Johnson. 

Dog eat dog world.

Would you please share those instructions with us here? To me this turned out to be the sticking point.

1) No need for confirmation for such a small transaction. (Sure, trying to double spend while purchasing a snack would be fun for most geeks, but regular people are not considering this as much fun)
2) Let's assume he's using a full client with private keys stored on his device only. (Please don't advertise web wallets to newbs and tell your friends not to use an exchange like a wallet for all their money)

He pulls out his BitInstant card and swipes it in the credit card machine.

He leaves and eats the snacks.

While driving (and eating snacks) he sees that Best Buy is having a sale on TVs. He pulls out his phone (while driving) and transfers some Bitcoin to his BitInstant card.

He walks into Best Buy and buys a new TV.

When he gets home, after setting up the new TV he checks his ING account and see that his paycheck has been deposited. He does a p2p transfer to BitFloor of his paycheck and sets up an auto-exchange from USD to BTC at a desired price.

He sets up an auto transfer to send some spending money to his phone and BitInstant card account.

He grabs a pack of chewing gum, checks his shotgun is fully loaded, then leaves the store through the busted glass front, stumbling back into the postapocalyptic wasteland, shaking his head and muttering "No water here either" to his parched wife.

Those that don't do currency will have it done to them.

Fuck the retard masses, they can get with the program or starve.

What about a bounty challenge??
The user(s) who gets the most stores to adapt bitcoin as payment on the counter gets the jackpot. Any btctalk user would be free to donate.
Maybe we can gather such an interesting amount that people really start engaging.
I would donate 1btc right now to such a project.

He tries to transfer coins from his online wallet only to realize that once again the entirety of his savings has been taken by a hacker -- another Chinese relics dealer, he assumes.  He sighs and smiles, apologizes to the store clerk for the inconvenience and walks to his car. 

"What will I tell my wife now?"  Adam ponders.  "I already sunk her 401k with the promise that we won't need fiat investments because bitcoin." 

He looks across the parking lot past the freeway to a field with a single oak tree standing tall in the middle.  It's a warm fall day and the sun and air slow his pace allowing him to appreciate the natural beauty of the world as he makes his way toward that tall oak.  His phone is vibrating in his pocket, no doubt his wife realizing that Mt.Gox froze their account again after the latest troubles.  He ignores her.  As he approaches the tall oak, he checks his .22 caliber pistol that he always keeps on him in case he has to defend himself, his property, or the terms of a contract.  He sits beneath the tall oak, looks up to see the sun glinting through the falling leaves.  It's beautiful. He raises the .22 to his temple and begins to weep. 

I love it!

I've told people how amazing Bitcoin is / why it has such enormous potential, and the reaction is sometimes a genuine but less-than-completely-sold "well, that sounds kind of neat." And then I tell them I'll send them some free coins if they set up a wallet and send me their address. When the transaction goes through and the money shows up almost instantaneously, you can sort of see it click. The abstract system that I'd been describing suddenly becomes much more "real." And the amount doesn't really matter. I usually send about 50 cents worth.  But even if it's a tiny amount, you can say truthfully that it might be worth thousands someday if Bitcoin ever really takes off.

Just leave it at zero confirmations unless it's a really big purchase. How often does someone try to perform a double-spend?

If this is true and that the vast majority don't care to ponder things so fundamentally important like money/value then we've got bigger problems than innovations such as Bitcoin can address.

If people in general are so incapable of independent critical thinking any unscrupulous, entitled entity can dangle a carrot or wage a misinformation campaign to maintain the status quo.

Any meaningful change has to be fostered from the bottom-up by a mass of critical thinkers.

i offer them to take it this way, or return me the coins and i give em cash next time we meet.

so they are kinda forced to do at least one bitcoin transaction

When you borrow this money, do they know you intend to repay them with BTC? Or is that a fun little surprise?

to spread bitcoins i am doing this:

i borrow small amounts of money at bars from people i know,
i then send them the same day that money in form of bitcoins + a little tip + instructions