the biggest problems with bitcoin that I see are:
1) It offers no real advantage for consumers for day-to-day spending than cash or a credit/debit card - it's just more complicated. It's easy to dismiss this if you are tech-savvy, but think of the dumbest person you know. This could probably be improved with better POS terminals, etc.
2) Getting money in/out of bitcoin is still way more difficult than it needs to be
3) You can't buy hardly anything with it - and the incentive for merchants to accept it is low given the volatility and the fact that all of their bills are in a different currency. Instant conversion back to dollars kind of defeats the point if you ask me.
4) Most people view bitcoin as a money-making scheme, hoping that the value will rise dramatically due to the design-limited supply. If you're always thinking in your head that 10 years from now a coin will be worth $100k, there's a lot of pressure to not spend today. If the case for bitcoin was really cheaper, faster, better payments, there would not be so much focus on speculation.
All solid points but:
1. Will change once the technology is there. It takes time to improve but that's the direction it is moving in - being easy enough to be used by anyone.
2. Won't be an issue if Bitcoin truly catches on, because there will be no need to transfer it into fiat.
3. Once again, this is slowly improving every day. There are more and more merchants accepting it. But yes, we still need big names to accept bitcoin to get the ball rolling.
4. I think this has improved a lot over Bitcoin's lifetime. I personally got into it at the hope of making $$$, but as time goes on I stick with bitcoin because of its actual revolutionizing advantages like cutting off governments from controlling a currency. Also, with every new up and down more and more "weak hands" are weeded out - the people that are really here just for the profit.
