PORN.
Remember the Internet was made for porn! We need the same for Bitcoin. Once por is onboard the rest will follow.
Topic: What's the most important next step for a better functioning bitcoin economy? - page 2. (Read 3429 times)
June 21, 2011, 01:23:36 PM
June 21, 2011, 01:21:33 PM
In my opinion, neither mainstream businesses nor users are willing to install, learn and run bitcoin software. There are other ways to use bitcoins (i.e. instawallet), but the barrier to understanding how one uses a bitcoin is huge.
June 21, 2011, 01:20:50 PM
THE ONLY WAY BITCOIN WILL EVER FUNCTION AS AN ECONOMY WILL BE IF IT IS REGARDED AS A CURRENCY, RATHER THAN A VOLATILE BUBBLE COMMODITY.
AND IS THERE ANYTHING WE CAN DO TO ACCOMPLISH THAT GOAL? P.S. WHY ARE WE SHOUTING?
June 21, 2011, 01:12:14 PM
THE ONLY WAY BITCOIN WILL EVER FUNCTION AS AN ECONOMY WILL BE IF IT IS REGARDED AS A CURRENCY, RATHER THAN A VOLATILE BUBBLE COMMODITY.
June 21, 2011, 01:10:01 PM
This (OPEN-TRANSACTIONS): http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=20425.0
If Bitcoin makes you giddy, then this should too.
It provides the technical groundwork for an entire financial industry done right.
If Bitcoin makes you giddy, then this should too.
It provides the technical groundwork for an entire financial industry done right.
June 21, 2011, 12:53:02 PM
Epinnoia does have a point though, regarding widespread adoption.
To fully gain traction, the client and other backup devices have to be as easy to use as a credit card. I know that the underlying mechanics aren't simple, but if such a thing could be done it would be easier for people to use them in their lives without having to plumb the depths of bitcoin security.
How hard would it be to make an embedded linux device on a USB stick that performed the functions mentioned seamlessly? I don't have that immediate answer, but it would be very cool if such a thing existed. Also, extend the concept to a chip-on-a-credit-card device. People would sign up for such a thing in droves, since they are very familiar with using credit cards.
I respect the technical underpinnings of bitcoin and the clients, but we have a long way to go before regular people will be comfortable using this technology.
To fully gain traction, the client and other backup devices have to be as easy to use as a credit card. I know that the underlying mechanics aren't simple, but if such a thing could be done it would be easier for people to use them in their lives without having to plumb the depths of bitcoin security.
How hard would it be to make an embedded linux device on a USB stick that performed the functions mentioned seamlessly? I don't have that immediate answer, but it would be very cool if such a thing existed. Also, extend the concept to a chip-on-a-credit-card device. People would sign up for such a thing in droves, since they are very familiar with using credit cards.
I respect the technical underpinnings of bitcoin and the clients, but we have a long way to go before regular people will be comfortable using this technology.
June 21, 2011, 12:41:02 PM
The metaphor you are using doesn't really work. You could sorta simulate the behavior that you are talking about by making a new key, sending half of your coins to it, then copying it to the flash drive and erasing from the main computer. But that doesn't do what you want either, because a stolen key remains useful to the thief for as long as there are coins in the chain that can be controlled by it. An attacker with your key can steal your coins at any time, even when you think you are safe because your flash drive is unplugged.
If the program created a new wallet file and keys, moves coins to that wallet, and quickly move them both (new wallet and new keys) to an external drive, and I quickly unplug that drive... That wouldn't leave much of a window of vulnerability, would it?
If that is possible, I think it would be of enormous use to end-users who might have enough bitcoins to consider putting them in a safety deposit box or other kind of safe.
June 21, 2011, 12:33:37 PM
Make it easier within the client to dump your bitcoins onto a flash/thumbdrive, making them inaccessible until re-imported into the client.
For example, say you have 50 bitcoins. You want to take half of them and put them on your thumbdrive. Insert the removable drive, and choose "export bitcoins to drive" in the amount of 25 bitcoins. After doing this, the client would report that you have 25 bitcoins available.
When you want to pull those coins off that thumbdrive, you could just "import bitcoins from drive".
For example, say you have 50 bitcoins. You want to take half of them and put them on your thumbdrive. Insert the removable drive, and choose "export bitcoins to drive" in the amount of 25 bitcoins. After doing this, the client would report that you have 25 bitcoins available.
When you want to pull those coins off that thumbdrive, you could just "import bitcoins from drive".
Except that you don't "have" bitcoins. You have keys that you can use to control bitcoins in the blockchain by giving control to a different key.
The metaphor you are using doesn't really work. You could sorta simulate the behavior that you are talking about by making a new key, sending half of your coins to it, then copying it to the flash drive and erasing from the main computer. But that doesn't do what you want either, because a stolen key remains useful to the thief for as long as there are coins in the chain that can be controlled by it. An attacker with your key can steal your coins at any time, even when you think you are safe because your flash drive is unplugged.
Wallet security is very hard to do, not because no one bothered to make a simple way to secure them, but because security is very hard to do right.
June 21, 2011, 12:07:32 PM
Make it easier within the client to dump your bitcoins onto a flash/thumbdrive, making them inaccessible until re-imported into the client.
For example, say you have 50 bitcoins. You want to take half of them and put them on your thumbdrive. Insert the removable drive, and choose "export bitcoins to drive" in the amount of 25 bitcoins. After doing this, the client would report that you have 25 bitcoins available.
When you want to pull those coins off that thumbdrive, you could just "import bitcoins from drive".
For example, say you have 50 bitcoins. You want to take half of them and put them on your thumbdrive. Insert the removable drive, and choose "export bitcoins to drive" in the amount of 25 bitcoins. After doing this, the client would report that you have 25 bitcoins available.
When you want to pull those coins off that thumbdrive, you could just "import bitcoins from drive".
June 21, 2011, 11:41:23 AM
The next step is a better functioning community. As garzik has said all this forum spamming, political hoity-toity, whining, begging, witch hunting has driven most of the business types away from here and here is where they get there info.
June 21, 2011, 11:37:53 AM
You have to make bitcoin both safer and more usable.
June 21, 2011, 11:35:52 AM
I started to define "functioning economy" but I'll leave it to the reader to interpret.
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