Topic: Why use bitcoins instead of USD or another currency? (Read 4714 times)

Because its so much fun.

That's a fantastic response!

Here's an infographic of just one type of transaction (online credit card) and only one side of it (the missing part is where the consumer pays the credit card company.



With bitcoin, it is person-to-person.

I couldn't find a good existing diagram to show the process for Bitcoin.  This is kind of close:

Inflation protection. Currently Bitcoin inflates rapidly, but the rate will dramatically reduce in some years, since it follows an asymptotic curve. Government currencies inflate exponentially.
But yeah, that's more a "store of value" usage, not "means of transaction".
I understand that, as means of transaction, Bitcoin does not fit perfectly to every use cases, although it's great for some of them. And the reason it doesn't fit well to some use cases is mainly because conversion is still a hassle. Maybe one day it will be easier and cheaper to convert from and to legacy money. And with more business accepting bitcoins as payments, maybe one day it will be easier to earn your revenues in bitcoins as well, making conversions less necessary.

When you want to send a message to somebody, do you send a message to Fedex telling them to write a letter to Mr. X so they can post it through regular mail and give the fees to the one who receives it?

No, it would be stupid, and Internet invented email for that.

But when you pay online, you send a message to VISA/Mastercard/Paypal telling them to send money to Mr. X using their private transfer network and give the fees to the one who receive it. Add to this that this company possess and keeps all your private informations and transactions informations while keeping all the rights to give you or cancel your credit card as they wish.

We think that this method is pretty stupid, and Internet invented Bitcoin for that.

When anonymity and security are what you're after, bitcoin is the way to go.

I think the only way for bitcoin to succeed in commerce among average consumers would be that buying with bitcoin would reduce the retail price.

just wait more years.  then you see bitcoin get more use.  then every one want more :-)

A lot of the problems with using bitcoin at the moment because of fees and awkward user experiences are either being solved or can be solved just as a result of increased usage and scale. If you only want to use bitcoin as a payments method, then sure, wait for a while until the infrastructure and services are in place.

But all the projects that are being developed in the community are part of creating the reality that people want to see instead of just waiting for it to turn up.

i noticed allot of people are setting up stores to use bitcoin... awesome way to get the name out. Just sux b/c some of them you can't trust. I would rather carry a usb than  a wallet.. less bulge lol

to support cryptoanarchy

Just for me:
1) deflation. Nobody can create significantly more bitcoins, that already exist. My assets are protected.
2) speed. SEPA, bank wire and some times even bank transfer require from one day to several days. Bitcoin - just 10 minutes.
3) no geographical restrictions. I can use bitcoin in USA and in UK as well.
4) protection. I an be sure, that nobody in whole universe will not able to take my bitcoins, if I will not allow them. (If I will secure my wallet, of course)
5) no daily or monthly restrictions. Right now I have to wait, because I have set too small limit in one of my bank accounts...
6) small fees. Just nice surprise for such powerful tool.

First reason, deflation, is the most important one. Even gold is not so protected from inflation,
because gold meteor can fall, or we can find another huge store of gold somewhere in Africa.

The following quote is from - https://www.coindl.com/page/item/242


Also probably relevant video for question "why use bitcoins instead of usd" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtN9YUvh_XM

When I am at a restaurant and see written on the menu the words CASH ONLY there is then no question as to how I will be paying for dinner. My only options are to leave without ordering, or to pay cash.

Now the restaurant owner knows that some customers prefer to pay with a credit card, but cash works better for the restaurant owner -- probably because of the credit card merchant processing fees of 3% or more.

Now if that is the only reason, the restaurant might wish to put up a sign "credit cards, add 5%", but in the U.S., in many states yet, that is prohibited by law.     So we as consumers are just used to letting the merchant raise prices to accommodate our preference for a convenient payment method.  (and those paying cash get stuck paying the higher prices even though they weren't responsible for any credit card fees.).

So Bitcoin adoption for consumer purchases will likely be led by merchants that wish to receive bitcoins over other payment methods.   When at the counter, you might get some perk when paying with Bitcoin versus paying with any other method.   Like, ... for your $40 tab, you can swipe your card and sign for $40 or you can pay $38.80 worth of bitcoins (a 3% discount).  Which would you choose?

Now, consider this.  Right now the fraud that credit card companies absorb is spread out over the massive amounts of legitimate purchases.  Now if consumers switch to cash methods (including PIN-based debit cards), then the fraudulent purchases that remain on credit cards starts eating up more and more of the profits for the card companies.   So they increase their merchant fees, which drives even more merchants away from accepting them, which causes the amount of fraud on a per-dollar basis to increase even more since that doesn't drop at all.    Credit cards just don't work well for quite a number of areas where payment card fraud occurs, including with online purchases.

Also, there are other merchants that are accepting bitcoin exclusively.  If you want Nestor's Unity board game then your payment choices are bitcoin, gold or silver.  That's it. ... no fiat currency whatsoever:
 - http://nestorgames.com/#unitydeluxe_detail


But that specific example is not going to be typical.  The 3% discount for paying with bitcoin certainly could become standard practice though.

The value I see in BTC is the ability to trade with LOW transaction fees. Just try selling something of value on a site like eBay with Paypal. Say you sell something for $3000... Well, eBay is going to take $250, paypal another $100. And for WHAT?!?! That's more than 10% of your sale going towards middlemen. It's no better with large credit card companies charging 3%. It's just bits in a database folks. Now those bits are in OUR database and for a much more reasonable rate.

if you already have means of transaction then why do you need a reason to use something else. you would use bitcoin where it is easier to do so. you seem to be looking for a reason to make easy transactions more complicated. if you can use paypal or cash then use paypal or cash.



why do you want her to?

the presumption with this thread is that everyone has to "get" or use bitcoin. they dont.

bitcoin has some particularly good qualities that makes it useful for particular types of trade and transaction.

your mother doesnt have to use it she doesnt even have to know about it. the people who do get it and know how to use it will continue to use it when it convenient for them.

Yeah, that is perfectly okay.  Let them get introduced to it as a savings vehicle.  Using it in transactions will come later.  

Again, your mother should care because now she has a way to save money without getting robbed by the Fed.

Because otherwise she will be left behind by the currency revolution, along with average Joe.

Average Joe isn't going to care about bitcoin for a long time, and that's just the way it is.

Simple answer for me is anonymity.

Everyone has given awesome responses, but academic ones. The average Joe has no interest in sending money abroad. The average Joe doesn't understand the technological awesomeness of the concept. "It will be worth more" is a theory or hope.... not a fact. Plus if the value will increase, that decreases my incentive to transact and increases my incentive to hoard.

Let me ask this way.... Why should your mother care about bitcoin?

Here's where I think the growth sectors of the Bitcoin will be:

1. Emerging markets like central Africa, where they already use mobile phone minutes as a form of currency.
2. Certain countries have culture more amenable to btc, e.g. Japan, Finland.
3. Globlalization will become localisation. As the trend grows to buy more local, there will be more opportunities to use btc to avoid paying taxes.
4. Youngsters, they will be loving it. baseball card culture.
5.  International money transfers, for migrant working abroad sending money back home to their families.
6. Micropayments inside apps.
7. Tourists and travellers, safer than carrying cards and cash.
8. Savers, people with bank deposits earning little interest and getting it up the jacksey from QE infinity.