Mon Nov 02, 2015 5:17 pm

In order to advance Bitcoin adoption rates for merchants, there has to be a concerted industry effort. BitPay spent huge on this effort but unfortunately their great campaigns have not had legs. Who do you think should take on the responsibility of leading the members of the "Bitcoin Industry" in efforts to embrace and educate the retail industry. My efforts to get the BF to do this have been unsuccessful.



Thanks for doing the AMA and thanks for hosting it Roger!



Brett Russell I don't think Bitcoin adoption will advance among merchants until their customers have bitcoin to spend-- so that's the part of the puzzle that I think needs the most work.



How will an ordinary person, going about their everyday business of living their life, obtain some bitcoin? Or what will motivate them to go out of their way to get some?



I don't know the answer, but until there IS an answer I think pushing more merchant adoption for brick&mortar merchants will be mostly a waste of time (there's a better case to be made for online merchants who want to sell their products to a worldwide audience). I don't think Bitcoin adoption will advance among merchants until their customers have bitcoin to spend-- so that's the part of the puzzle that I think needs the most work.How will an ordinary person, going about their everyday business of living their life, obtain some bitcoin? Or what will motivate them to go out of their way to get some?I don't know the answer, but until there IS an answer I think pushing more merchant adoption for brick&mortar merchants will be mostly a waste of time (there's a better case to be made for online merchants who want to sell their products to a worldwide audience).

Thanks for that Gavin.Just a followup comment from me. Thanks again for taking time here.Classic cause&effect.. It is interesting that many uninitiated consumers and merchants often comment they have no reason to "buy" or "accept" bitcoin because there is nowhere to spend it and merchants claim they cannot use it - lack of vendor support. So merchants opt to have the payment processors convert Bitcoin to FIAT so merchants can pay their bills... and the cycle continues. You wrote: ".... Or what will motivate them to go out of their way to get some?" Answer: Merchants who ACCEPT BITCOIN and may then offer a product or service that they will ONLY sell for Bitcoin or will offer discounts in the same way they may discount cash. Merchants are incentivized by a number of important components - no significant transact fees, no chargebacks, no need for a payment intermediary. Consumers or "ordinary people" are NOT INCENTIVIZED to use Bitcoin because Bitcoin is cash and offers none of the consumer protection that credit cards offer. Many in the Bitcoin community mistakenly make the parallel to credit cards. When a consumer uses a credit card they use the issuing banks money and the issuing bank takes all the risk. The consumer pays for that with premiums to price.More Merchants, More Bitcoin Demand.Thanks again Gavin.