In the short term future, that is...

I’ve had my fair share of conversations about Bitcoin with people who are both for it and against it. Reasons for an individual’s interest in Bitcoin seem to vary widely from an economics or finance background to a political one to fight against a nationalized currency whose fate lies in the hands of a few unelected individuals. It’s great to see Bitcoin bringing people together from such a variety of backgrounds.

What I find even more surprising is the lack of diversity with the arguments against Bitcoin. From financial journalists to the currency layman, skepticism around Bitcoin generally comes down to two issues: usability and volatility. While the volatility of Bitcoin is definitely a topic worth discussion, I’m simply going to focus on the argument against its usability, or lack thereof, since I believe it’s the most critical issue for Bitcoin today.

Many people are against Bitcoin because they don’t believe it can reach mass adoption. As a consumer, why should they go out of their way to acquire Bitcoin when there’s only a handful of businesses who accept them? As a business, why should they go out of their way to integrate Bitcoin into their POS systems when there’s only a handful of early adopters who use them?

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