
Who needs a dongle for mobile payments? - stuhood
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/03/24/bitcoin-doesnt-need-a-dongle/
======
ChrisNorstrom
Oh god not this bitcoin crap again. If it's not simple enough to explain to
someone's mom it's not going to flourish as a serious currency. There are so
many things lined up against the success of bitcoin I can't believe we're
still talking about it. And Forbes of all people.

\- It's a pain in the ass to move money in and out of bitcoin.

\- Constantly fluctuating prices means sellers have to constantly change their
prices in bitcoins.

\- Mistrust over bitcoin / mtgox sites like tradehill and the recent hacks.

\- The threat of repeat crashes and rollbacks.

\- A bad reputation due to the bitcoin crash a year ago.

\- The ability to lose all your bitcoins if your computer crashes and you
don't have your wallet backed up.

I think people keep talking about it in a desperate attempt to make the value
go back up so they can get back the money they lost when the bitcoin bubble
popped. Look I lost money in it to, time to move on from this crypto-currency
crap and go back to the reality that we're stuck with Paypal, Credit Cards,
and Dwolla.

~~~
stuhood
> If it's not simple enough to explain to someone's mom it's not going to
> flourish as a serious currency.

Do you think that the way the Visa/MC network is implemented is simple enough
to explain to someone who does not understand computers? No? Hm, I wonder how
people use it...

The point of articles like this is usually to highlight usability improvements
for a particular solution, and in this case, to highlight the fact that their
is no hardware requirement for bitcoin.

Also, re: the difficulty of acquiring bitcoin: mobile apps like this mean that
if one party in a transaction has bitcoin, the other party can go from 0 to 60
on accepting bitcoin in the time it takes to download the app from their app
store.

By almost any metric (including value) bitcoin is healthy, and slowly growing:
<http://blockchain.info/charts>

And in the interest of full disclosure: yes, I have an investment in bitcoin,
because I truly believe in the strength of the concept.

~~~
ChrisNorstrom
Hey mom, here's a credit card. Swipe it on that machine, sign your name, and
at the end of every month you'll get a bill of all the money you have to pay
back. Pay it off every month and you won't pay interest. Keep the balance and
you'll pay an interest on the balance. Easy.

Mom: "What's bitcoin Chris?"

Geek shit. Download the bitcoin desktop or mobile app. Make sure your wallet
file is backed up otherwise you can lose all of your money. Using Dwolla
transfer money (takes 5-7 days) from your bank account into MtGox and buy
bitcoins. The time you buy them determines their value (just like exchanging
currency). Then when you want to pay for something put in the person's bitcoin
address 1HULMwZEPkjEPeCh43BeKJL1ybLCWrfDpN and send them some bitcoins. The
seller might want to wait until the network confirms a transaction. And in the
event of a rollback? What then? Oh and you have to keep transferring money
from your bank account to dwolla to mtgox to your bitcoin wallet every month
if you want to seriously use it like a credit card or check.

All of this to avoid transaction fees and give yourself the feeling of
"freedom". Wow.

Many of the bitcoin enthusiasts are what I call "repeaters". They simply
repeat how great bitcoin is/can be without ever having actually tried to use
it as a real currency. They saw the phrases "transaction free", "p2p", and "no
government control" and assumed it was the best thing ever. I was one of those
people. I have learned and moved on and hope others do too.

~~~
stuhood
> Pay it off every month and you won't pay interest.

You're skipping the part where she needs to have a bank account, check book,
and possibly postage stamps in order to pay her credit card bill.

> ... transfer money (takes 5-7 days) from your bank account...

> ... seller might want to wait until the network confirms a transaction...

She is already familiar with financial institutions taking forever to process
payments/clear checks. Additionally, she is familiar with checks bouncing, and
with cards being declined.

> Then when you want to pay for something put in the person's bitcoin address

Or, as seen in the linked article, she hits 'Send bitcoins', and then waves
her phone at the recipients phone.

> I was one of those people.

It's brave of you to admit that you did not research the thing you invested
in. Many of us have.

------
pbreit
> Who needs a dongle for mobile payments?

Anyone who actually wants to _do_ mobile payments. The author reveals zero
understanding of human behavior, payment processing or how to get
business/service traction.

There's a good reason PayPal and Square are now in the best position to
actually deliver some meaningful advances in payment processing: they both
originally took advantage of human behavior and existing rails.

------
jrmg
Genuine question: what's on the magstrip of a US credit card that's not
printed on its front? Could a camera with good OCR replace the dongle?

~~~
pbreit
Not much. Yes, that _could_ replace the dongle (see Jumio, Card.io) but the
experience is pretty miserable compared to the swipe.

------
jsavimbi
In theory, you do not but until Apple perfects the technology, we'll just have
to wait.

I won't debate the merits of Bitcoin as a currency replacement as it is not
needed, traded nor quoted in the financial markets. And by financial markets,
I'm referring to the little club that certain banks and hedge funds have going
between themselves, not the service your buddy operates from his apartment.

