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I'm curious how many family members asked about bitcoin since it's up 150+% since last Christmas. Anyone have any new interest?

Dr. Hax 2y ago

None. I mentioned it to a family member once last month in the context of not wanting to sell BTC since it was doing so well, but even then they didn't ask.

Even with inflation as it is in the US, no interest.

A few years ago the main question I got was "what can you do with it?" Since virtually nobody accepts it for goods and services, they quickly lost interest. That has gotten worse since #overstock dot com stopped accepting it.

Since the bitcoin culture is still all about buying and holding, not spending and using, I don't expect a huge #retail #adoption anytime soon.

All the ingredients are there: #inflation, ease of use (e.g. mobile, on chain, self custodied wallets), on-ramps like #PayPal, #Strike, and #CashApp... but I haven't seen the interest.

Now with transaction fees being up 10x and the lightning network being difficult to use for mere mortals, it's going to be an uphill battle in #2024. 🫤

I'm doing my part. I accept #BTC for the signets that I sell. If I did security consulting again, I'd demand to be paid in #bitcoin and pass on the job if they said no.

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Discussion

Dr. Hax 2y ago

One thing I can imagine that would really drive #bitcoin #adoption would be if someone made a killer product and then ONLY accepted bitcoin for it, and helped people get on-boarded.

Then people would either have to try bitcoin (and find out how easy it is), or get it second hand from a reseller.

The key would be to make a product SO GOOD that people would be willing to go through the extra effort. The seller would also have to be willing to take a hit on sales, since some people won't want to deal with the extra effort.

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Sats paa BTC 2y ago

Compelling points! I still think that the use case is difficult to understand if you haven't thought about scarcity vs abundance, money policies, and the difficulty of preserving value over a long time...

Dr. Hax 2y ago

That can certainly help, but even just being able to send money to people over the internet, easily, and with low fees is pretty enticing.

Less so at $5-10/transaction though. For example, a #signet is about $50 after shipping, so that'd be 10-20% in fees. Not an attractive option.

As long as people are willing to have someone else custody their money, lightning solves this. Another thing that'd do it is if we hit critical mass where people frequently hear things like "can you just send me some bitcoin [over lightning], I don't have PayPal [anymore]?"

I guess that's just it. I want it to be easier to get into bitcoin than to sign up for PayPal!

banjo 2y ago

This is what's needed -- ask if vendors accept Bitcoin - if they don't ask if they need help, if they say no, then (politely) decline to purchase their products & services. If they say yes, then help them get started.

"Keep knocking on the door, and eventually it will open"