every mobile bitcoin app is a lightweight client - it only syncs block headers, much faster but not great for large sums of money.
so for a person that can't tell "browser" from "internet" there's no difference between introducing them to paypal or to bitcoin - it's just an app on your phone and you can press the "send" button.
I think what the parent comment is trying to say is: who cares about this? Not even many of us technical people care.
It's like saying, "Just get the mobile app, it just synchroaligns the ledger manifest distributable intra-block metadata! Duh! Simple!"
It's not accessible to people, and not even engineers who aren't familiar with the tech.
I don't need to understand the minting process to know how to use a dollar, but for some reason the Bitcoin community expects you to understand blocks, difficulty, ledgers, exchanges, and many other concepts that are relatively advanced and take time and effort to understand. A dollar is a dollar.
This continually seems to fall on deaf ears.
so what exactly did you want to say?
this tech is a decade old but it's still in it's infancy especially regarding UX side.
I can't, I don't have time. No, I understand you mean "somebody might build" - but so far, nobody did. When it changes, the evaluation changes too. So far, we aren't there by no means.
> there are many things trivially done in bitcoin that are absolutely impossible in bare usd
Sure. How many of them are necessary to a typical credit card/cash user?
> one can use multisig escrow accounts to implement paypal-like dispute resolution
You seem to be under impression dispute resolution is a technical problem in search of suitable algorithm. It's not - it is a social/service problem which needs careful balance between trust to various parties and careful calculation of how expensive each tweak to trust levels would be and how to keep fraud in check without pissing off too many people. It's not an algorithmic problem (at least not until we have strong AI).
> can't run away with your money
Which also means no possibility to curtail fraud - if the middle-man can't reverse transaction, what prevents me from selling you an iphone, sending a brick instead and leaving with the money? Or, alternatively, what prevents me from buying an iphone and claiming I got a brick instead, and getting my money back and a free iphone?
> can't block the transaction against will of both participants
Which also means feds close it after a month because it is being used to trade drugs. And seize all the funds there (if you're adventurous, you can sue the federal government for the return of the funds - maybe in 10 years you'll even succeed!)
there are plenty of products on top of bitcoin. but i guess it's important for you to believe that there are none?
> Sure. How many of them are necessary to a typical credit card/cash user?
gee, i don't know, what do you think, does typical credit card/cash user do this thing called "transacting with other people"? sigh.
> You seem to be under impression dispute resolution is a technical problem in search of suitable algorithm
when you're not sure it's wise to ask rather than to make assumptions.
> if the middle-man can't reverse transaction, what prevents me from selling you an iphone, sending a brick instead and leaving with the money
what prevents you is smart application of cryptography. maybe you should inform yourself on the topic before arguing? https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Multisignature#Multisignature_App...
> feds close it after a month because it is being used to trade drugs
quick, somebody tell feds most of drug deals are done in USD, make them close USD!
this is depressing.