I'm not here to tell you that Mt Gox failing was a good thing or that bitcoin is a flawless currency made of rainbows and unicorn energy. Bitcoin has a lot of problems still, but it's going places.
Every reddit thread that has hit the front page recently in the wake of Mt Gox erupting has opened the doors for people to ridicule not just bitcoin itself, but bitcoin users. We're all neckbeards who gamble our money away. We all live in basements and mine coins for free with our parents' electricity. Bitcoin has no inherent value. Bitcoin is tulip mania. Bitcoin will never be a currency because Maynard Keynes proved that deflationary currencies don't work the way Einstein proved relativity, duh! We're all money launderers and drug dealers.
None of that matters. Not because we're a cult, not because we're delusional, but because any new and disruptive change has to go through a phase of opposition and disdain.
Taxi companies HATE Uber because it disrupts the current established model for paying strangers to drive you somewhere. Every municipality with an entrenched taxi industry is fighting to kick Uber out.
Hotel companies HATE AirBnB because it disrupts the current model for paying a stranger to give you a room to sleep in for a few nights. Hotels have been trying to get AirBnB banned in certain cities.
Car dealerships HATE Tesla, and they have lobbied against Tesla being allowed to sell cars directly to consumers.
Internet providers are successfully fighting to force Netflix to hand over profits after failing to build adequate infrastructure with Taxpayer money. Internet providers are also fighting against getting Google fiber in their cities.
I don't need to lecture you with crazy talk about how bitcoin is disruptive to banks and force-monopolies. All I can say is I look forward to the day I can book a flight and rent a room in another country with bitcoin. I look forward to arriving in that country and not needing to exchange my money to buy food or a taxi. It WILL happen, because thousands of intelligent and creative individuals are working to make it happen.
The era of basement startups in Bitcoin is nearing its end. Look at Coinbase, Neo & Bee, Winklevoss Capital, and Buttercoin. We're looking at professional, multi-million dollar ventures as the next generation of bitcoin services.
Bitcoin is NOT easy to use and it positively SUCKS from an end-user standpoint. I say this as a person who trains friends and family on how to use linux. Bitcoin is confusing. Bitcoin wallets need a makeover. Basic security measures need to be easier to execute.
Don't worry about the layman. A lot of them will be casual users of bitcoin or some succeeding cryptocurrency one day, just like they eventually learned to use email and firefox/chrome and facebook and iphones. People are laughing at bitcoin because they want want the finished product now. They want stability, security, and ease of use. Let them wait on the sidelines for it.
PS: Speculating with money you can't afford to lose is dumb no matter what. If you lost your tuition or your wife's/sister's/parents' money, sorry but you have a gambling addiction, not a bitcoin problem. That kind of ridicule you do deserve.
submitted by chelovek89
[link] [2 commentaires]
from Bitcoin http://ift.tt/1pHgjPc
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire