Ok, so we have a couple of cryptocurrencies out there, bitcoin, litecoin and so on. I had a look, trying to buy some litecoins, but was utterly turned away by the hoops I have to jump…:
- First transfer money in EUR/USD/RUR or other national valuates.
- Buy the coins.
- Send them.
In addition, the credit card interface was in russian, with quite a lot of options to select from – and wanted me to create a user at a separate website from the trading site. And of course there was a 3% fee, or more, involved, plus the 1.75% VISA charges for foreign valuates.
I consider myself more technologically advanced than the average – by far. Yet I’m not able to get my hands on those cryptocurrencies in an easy way.
So how do you ever expect it to be for someone not speculating, criminal or enthusiastic about it? If you’re a criminal, it offers clear benefits. If you’re speculating, their rise has been spectacular…
But as means of purchasing something? Sorry. With Paypal I enter my username and password, and press enter two times. Convenience are more important than the high ideals about anonymous, untraceable currencies. For I’m all for the latter one, but not with this horrible user experience.
And then I’ve not even mentioned the litecoin client, which downloads at least a few hundred megabytes of data, taking long time, providing little or no feedback…
It’s utterly useless as a currency or mean of payment to me right now, and I bet I’m not the only one with the same feeling…