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Digital coins may be on the verge of going mainstream

nytimes.com

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Re: Digital coins may be on the verge of going mainstream

#41

Post by jordigh »

CPLX wrote: post #22
dcw303 wrote: post #7

We're a long way off mainstream. Take the Web as an example: When my university lab computer got trumpet winsock and Netscape installed, it wasn't mainstream. When Hotbot was launched and could actually search with some degree of efficiency it wasn't mainstream. When I learned html and javascript from reading Webmonkey posts it wasn't mainstream. When I switched to this new upstart called Google it wasn't mainstream.…

But with Google your Mom can find out when the store is open and where it is. Facebook lets grandparents see photos of grandchildren. Reading a blog replaces reading the gossip column in the daily paper. You could finally buy plane tickets without driving somewhere. And so on. The early web was really fucking useful as it started to mature. It solved a lot of real problems. What is cryptocurrency going to help these…

For me the real benefit of bitcoin is how easy it makes it to send money on the internet. If society at large treated bitcoin like a currency (i.e. suitable for settling all debts, whether public or private), the ease with which it can be sent online without intermediaries, anywhere in the world is what's really great about it.

Internet money, true international internet money. That's what I like about it. If you just ever care about USD and everything you do in your life is in USD and you live in the US, there's little value in bitcoins. When I got started getting paid for IRC math tutoring, from people I had never met, whose identity I didn't know and didn't care about, but who could send me money if I just gave them a bitcoin address; that's when I really started to like bitcoins.

I think bitcoin's utility is a separate question from regulations and taxes. Unlike most other bitcoin proponents, I like regulations and taxes, and I would be happy for whatever laws society thinks we need around bitcoins. I've paid sales tax with bitcoins when I've bought stuff with bitcoins from online retailers who accept them.

The problem I have with banks is that I just think that they are awfully inefficient. Their security features are awfully inconvenient and theatrical. I mean stuff like password requirements and website design, not stuff like being able to roll back incorrect or fraudulent transactions (which, btw, didn't work for me; the one time I had my debit card skimmed the bank didn't do me a whit of good in getting my money back).

Sending Bitcoins is as easy as sending email. Some banks in parts of the world let you do almost that, but it's just not as easy and convenient, and it's certainly not international.

Re: Digital coins may be on the verge of going mainstream

#42

Post by mrb »

WoodenChair wrote: post #34
mrb wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" What is cryptocurrency going to help these people do that they can't do already today? " International payments confirmed and spendable in minutes not days. Escaping inflation in Venezuela/Argentina/whoeverisnext. Sending remittance to family overseas without 10% wasted in fees. Receiving monetary donations for organizations that might be victim of oppressive censorship. Participating in modern e-commerce for the u…

There are transaction fees with some cryptocurrencies (for example Bitcoin) – for a small purchase they can be much more than 2%.

Fees are always optional. Right now $0.25 will make a tx confirm in under 70 minutes (typical 225-byte tx, 40 sat/B: https://bitcoinfees.21.co). Solutions are being developed left & right to further reduce this: alts, segwit, block size increases (segwit2x, BCH 8MB blocks), payment channels, etc.

(Answer edited. Yes merchants care indirectly about fees.)

Re: Digital coins may be on the verge of going mainstream

#44

Post by dboreham »

godzillabrennus wrote: post #31
Jasper_ wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even taking your (IMO incorrect) assumption that the web only became mainstream when Facebook launched at face value... > When Hotbot was launched and could actually search with some degree of efficiency it wasn't mainstream. That was 1996. > When I could post on Twitter and Facebook it was starting to feel like it was mainstream. That was 2004. So roughly a gap of 8 years. Bitcoin started in 2009. It's now 2017. A g…

The web was developed for a long time before 1996. I'd wager cryptocurrency has another 8 years before it's mainstream.

I thought the Internet had gone mainstream in 1992 when I was passed by a UPS truck with their URL painted on the side..

Re: Digital coins may be on the verge of going mainstream

#45

Post by Gigablah »

I feel like it's already mainstream, in Singapore at least. I was getting a haircut at the neighbourhood barbershop and I overhead the shop owner talking about cryptocurrency with a female customer -- stuff like regulatory issues, Satoshi's identity, altcoins, and so on. They probably had more knowledge of Bitcoin than I did.

Re: Digital coins may be on the verge of going mainstream

#46

Post by gthtjtkt »

godzillabrennus wrote: post #32
skshetry wrote: post #14

And, now, we have two bitcoins. Cash and umm, Bitcoin.I wonder what effect it has(will have) on the future of cryptocurrency?

Coinbase is going to support cash... as they go others will as well...

Coinbase currently has no plan to support Bitcoin Cash trading. They won't even support withdrawals until 2018.

Re: Digital coins may be on the verge of going mainstream

#47

Post by themacguffinman »

tootie wrote: post #24
mattdeboard wrote: post #11

2017 is the year of Linux on the desktop

ChromeOS put Linux on the desktop and no one noticed.

That's not really "Linux on the desktop" as its advocates imagine it. For most ChromeOS users, the Linux-y parts like the shell and the GNU toolchain are largely restricted.

Re: Digital coins may be on the verge of going mainstream

#49

Post by irishasaurus »

mrb wrote: post #42
WoodenChair wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are transaction fees with some cryptocurrencies (for example Bitcoin) – for a small purchase they can be much more than 2%.

Fees are always optional. Right now $0.25 will make a tx confirm in under 70 minutes (typical 225-byte tx, 40 sat/B: https://bitcoinfees.21.co ). Solutions are being developed left & right to further reduce this: alts, segwit, block size increases (segwit2x, BCH 8MB blocks), payment channels, etc. (Answer edited. Yes merchants care indirectly about fees.)

How will the average user be able to avoid these fees considering they'll probably be using some 3rd party app?

Appealing to the common person is going to involve larger exchanges how will digital coin grow and still keep digital currencies decentralized?

I apologize for my ignorance in advance. I'm really just trying to learn more about this, and can't find any consensus, even within blogs/articles authored by the same people.

Re: Digital coins may be on the verge of going mainstream

#50

Post by nemo1618 »

>For this reason, none of the investors I spoke with engage in short-term trading but instead choose, in the online parlance of cryptocurrency enthusiasts, to “hodl” (“hold on for dear life,” rather than sell off for temporary gains).

Someone trolled this author. "hodl" is just a misspelling of "hold," not an acronym.

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