Author: Mike Hearn 2014-04-07 14:23:59
Published on: 2014-04-07T14:23:59+00:00
The discussion among developers in this email thread revolves around the need to improve the user experience of being one's own bank with Bitcoin. Eric Martindale stresses that it is important to make it very simple for the average user to "run Bitcoin correctly" without having to actively seek out reasons to do so. Currently, centralized third-party services like Coinbase and Bitstamp are winning in the user experience battle, which endangers the users and the Bitcoin network. This is because many users are not yet ready to be their own bank and still prefer to trust third-party services. Martindale suggests that multi-sig as a default could be a start, but only if it offers a better user experience than trusted third parties. Mike Hearn adds that the loss of money in MtGox has likely caused many users to lose interest in Bitcoin, and the transaction traffic has decreased since then. He also notes that many Bitcoin users do not distinguish between those who deposit with a third party and those who don't, and this lack of understanding could potentially lead to Bitcoin's downfall if people continue to refuse to use it properly. The developers agree that risk analysis services need to be integrated into wallets more widely for them to have an impact, so that users can have access to all the features they want in one wallet. TREZOR is seen as a cool option, but may only be suitable for committed users.
Updated on: 2023-06-08T18:52:02.494179+00:00