I think you're forgetting one of the most important aspect of currency, market acceptance. What is the point of a currency if you can't spend it? So far there are very few places where BTC is accepted. Without it, people are just hoarding based on speculative demand.
Oh, that's not forgotten... I just feel that quite a lot of progress is already being made in the arena of merchant adoption, especially lately, and they are going to hit a bottleneck trying to push adoption even further without enough demand meeting them, hence my suggestions to increase the demand side.
It's a balancing act really... Merchants got a big jump with the introduction of bitpay, now the users need a big jump to match, and so on and so on...
I'm glad you as fucking retarded as you appear to be. Someone remind me never to go as full retard as lukep.
You are a very angry little man, do you know that?
Perhaps I should try a different approach with you. Since it's not easy getting my concepts across to you as it is to just about everyone else here, I would like to try use
bigger fonts or perhaps have someone translate my words into your language... Would that help any bro?
If one of the major features of bitcoin is anonymity, doesn't it defeat the purpose if you could walk into WalMart and make purchases with the currency? (I'm not trying to be an ass, just legitimately curious)
Yup, like VinBed said; anonymity is optional. The IRS certainly isn't encouraging that feature.
The way I understand it, I don't think the currency is meant to be used by the average citizen for daily purchases.
So far. The point here is that every single day more things are bought over the internet than they are by the old fashion ways.
Bitcoin is the Only net-native currency. (The only dominant one at least.) Online, it's advantages out-perform other currencies in every single way that matters. (Lowest fees, most privacy, fastest transactions, best security, etc...)
So as we become more accustomed to paying for every little things with our cellphones or through our computers, bitcoin simply can't fail at being the preferred currency once it's adopted by enough merchants.
Isn't it similar to the buying of precious metals to hedge against the market and political corruption?
Absolutely. It does all of that by default. It's actually better than PrecMets are for the need of Value Storage because they are tracked by governments and not allowed across national lines... Bitcoins can't be tracked or restricted like this.
(Inb4 someone reminds me that they can't store value because they're just worthless data...)
If any particular government was to try and end Bitcoin, the first thing they would do is make it extremely difficult for common retailers to accept the currency. All they would have to do is increase the amount of tax you would have to pay on all Bitcoin revenue. Most retailers balk at taking AMEX since they pay upwards of 3% in fees, what if the government was charging them a tax of 8, 9, or even 10% on Bitcoin revenue? The counter argument is that the bitcoins will get transferred to the store owner, but a sale of goods is still happening, and the governing body will want their cut. Most mom and pop shops won't want to fuck with the hassle.
That will dissuade some merchants, and embolden others to not report these sales.
But unlike Amex, they are able to truly hide these sales from their government so you can bet it won't be a small number of mom and pop shops taking them under the table. (This is System D at work, which is ALREADY the world's #2 largest economy.)
No. Retailers aren't going to begin accepting Bitcoins until their manufacturers and suppliers begin accepting Bitcoins in exchange for sending a few containers across the Pacific Ocean. I could be wrong, but I'd say Bitcoins is quite a ways away from that.
LOL... You're wrong.
First of all, what's the cheapest way to move large amounts of money across borders?
Secondly, who says they have to pay their supplier with the same currency they took from their customers? They can exchange it, and if the advantage in their local market is worth the hassle, they eventually will.
Especially since Walletbit introduced this at CES last year:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5yEZLWOdRU]A Bitcoin Way to Pay - YouTube[/ame]
