Playing devils advocate here.
It's been bothering me lately, thinking about this. Consumers have absolutely no motivation to use Bitcoin. And because of that, I don't understand how it will ever go global.
All the motivation is for merchants. They avoid merchant fees. They get no chargebacks. But they're also going to get no sales (aside from enthusiasts), because consumers have no incentive to use it, whatsoever.
Where are the perks for consumers, in a situation where they're buying something with bitcoin?
The only benefit Bitcoin brings to consumers, is money transfers. People who send money Home to their families in other countries. Bitcoin will corner the market that Western Union currently dominates. And probably put it out of business. While that is a huge industry, it's a fraction of how big Bitcoin could become if consumers used it for purchasing.
What incentive do consumers have to use Bitcoin at all? None. And because of that, it's never going to be adopted worldwide. Again, playing devils advocate here. I want to hear people's responses to this. Because in my mind, it seems to be true. And that is depressing.
You may say, it's just like cash, what motivation do people have to use cash. Or it adds a level of privacy. But these aren't significant enough benefits for a worldwide paradigm change. We're talking about adopting a new paradigm here. There needs to be incentive, for people to even bother making a huge change like this. Especially when it's more difficult than cash. More confusing than cash. More ugly than cash, requiring people to understand several decimal place fractions and other complicated things. So not only is there zero incentive to use it, but there are several reasons why they wouldn't.
There needs to be something huge, global, significant, about Bitcoin that will motivate people who buy things to say "Forget this silly cash! Forget my credit cards!"
Tell me why this is wrong. Please.
imagine it this way in 10 years time. consumers will be using apps connected to payment gateways and shopping services where they deposit small amounts of satoshi's into their 'app' accounts to then use at starbucks, train stations, gas stations. in 10 years the price would be stable the spread of bitcoins reaches millions of individuals, instead of just thousands, meaning less hoards by single minds to cause a noticable swing in price.
so i open my shopping app hosted by bitpay for example, i see i already deposited my weeks wage of satoshi's i received from work. and now i choose starbucks from the menu, order a coffee and the 'offchain' transaction occurs to pay for the coffee and credit starbucks balance inside bitpay. that same instant starbucks accounting department withdraw all of its offchain balance to ONCHAIN bitcoins stored in their own safe.
how is this possible or why would it happen?analogy timequickpayservice by bitpay=visa/mastercard
your own safe= bitcoin-qt
sending wages ONCHAIN into bitpay = wire transfer
the difference between the financial FIAT system of today and the bitcoin system of 10 years.
1) visa ultimately has a national bank behind it with accounts which are then divided up into sub accounts for customers. with bitcoin bitpay will be the bank and payment processor all within one company.
2) visa balance checks require 'processing' times of 10 seconds before then authorising payments. and in most countries the pin number is required. with bitcoin the balance can be checked while the customer is still ordering, reducing those embarrassing moments of 'insufficient funds' after spending 15 minutes making product selections and having them scanned through a cash register.
3) instead of shifting gold or physical bank notes between banks via secure truck, ONCHAIN transactions between services will allow the digital transfer to happen world wide in minutes (10 minute block time) that is on a protocol the whole world then understands (blockchain) is not at risk of double spends due to accidently hitting the button twice or receiving 2 transactions via a data echo. thus removing the 3-5 business delays of traditional banking.
4)by pre-depositing funds into a service allows the funds to be pre-confirmed. this allows them to be used for instant transactions OFFCHAIN.
if your rich and do not want to risk your wealth with these third party services then you can keep your funds in your own safe.
much like the banking system, which then uses a corporation such as visa as a top layer service for faster payments. bitcoin will be the same. the blockchain will be the backbone of the financial system, with businesses offering different financial systems ontop of the blockchain. most people day to day wont touch the block chain as that is a few layers down. much like today most people dont use wire transfers to fill up the car with gas. they use a top layer service such as visa.
if your still not understanding the analogies imagine it this way.
bitcoin=bank of america
bitpay=visa
then read
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_Inc.