The question is very interesting.

In my opinion it is a matter of adoption. People are trained to work in exchange for colored pieces of paper. They are accustomed to it (although they protest this custom).

Now comes a guy telling you to

1) go to a website (fine)
2) download a program (fine)
3) install the program (ah, hm, well, ok)
4) keep your antivirus up to date (what is antivirus ??)
5) secure your wallet.dat (my WHAT ??)
6) backup your wallet after creation of new private keys (whose private parts ?)
7) tell your employer to pay to account number (what is that funny string meant to be ??)
not to turn your pc off but to let the bitcoin program shut down properly first ()
9) think about wallet security (what ??)
10) update the bitcoin client once in a while (aha ?!?)

and finally, when the money is stolen or lost, that it is your fault since you did not properly backup your junk or kept your system secure.

Ok. I'd also rather have my colored pieces of paper.

We must solve the usability issues of Bitcoin for the end-user, who is not a computer person.

Why is the Occupy movement not immediately embracing bitcoin?

Probably because they have no idea it exist.

Fixed that for ya. 

I'll explain why:

You :  Use Bitcoins!  They avoid the banking system entirely!

Protester :  Wow!  Sign me up!

You :  It's Easy,  just go to bitcoin.org,  download the client,  wait 3 hours for the blockchain to update your client,  make sure your firewall has the port open,  you'll get a huge hash string.   Then tell people that went though that same process to send you bitcoins!

Protester : huh?

You : Didn't you get it?   See the client is the way you can send and receive bitcoins!

Protester :  Ok I got that, but I still don't have any bitcoins?

You :  Ok now you gotta sign up for Dowalla,  get an account and link it to your bank account it will deposit 2 charges in your bank account in a few days and then you have to verify those deposits with dowalla.    Then you can send money with it.

Protester:  Wait,  I have to use a bank to get out of the bank?

You : Yes

Protester :  go on.

You : Now you have to go on an exchange,  like Mt. Gox or Tradehill and link your dowallah account and your bitcoin address from step one,  and start bidding and paying for bitcoins.   If you get any then you have to transfer the bitcoins from mt. gox to your personal bitcoin client.

Protester :  holy shit,  I'm going to just hold this sign.   This is way too complicated.

You :  Wait until you hear how mining and block chains work.

Protester :  forget it.   

You don't need to wait for the blockchain to download to receive money. As soon as you start Bitcoin you can create addresses, and you will even see incoming transactions appear right away. They just won't confirm until the appropriate block is downloaded.



Also not necessary, 8 connections is sufficient for average use.


Most exchanges don't accept Dwolla anymore due to the risk of "chargeback". If you're already talking to a protester about Bitcoins, why not just sell them some?

So... mostly FUD. Designed to make it appear that a centralized solution (FlexCoin) is superior.

Not even close.    Not by 1000 miles close.

Even a centralized solution still has the problem of how do you get bitcoins in the first place.     It's a complicated process that does not allow (in the instance) for the protests to take the cause.

So as much as you would love to twist this...   my solution still doesn't sell you bitcoins.

Through taxes if possible, with pitchforks if necessary.


Nothing stops them under the current system, for the most part they already did it which is why the world economy is in the situation that it is.  In general, the answer to the question is that what stops them now is that there is barely anything left for the rich to take from the poor.  We are at the point where everything they take endangers the ability of the poor to support the consumer society which made the wealthy the wealthy in the first place.

It should be easy. It is not.

More important: It should be safe. It is not.

Even more important: The employer should know how to send me Bitcoin. He does not.

Absolutely essential: It should not be gone in case my hardware fails, my room mate catches a virus on a porn site, my cat chews the USB disc. A "real" bank usually does not lose money due to a IT issue.

Everything but trust and security with the other users.  I slowed recommending Bitcoin to anyone I know big time until a lot of those things get resolved, which I am not sure there is necessarily solutions to all the security issues.