On Tue, Dec 19, 2017 at 10:45 PM, John Levine <johnl@iecc.com> wrote:

In article <CAH9pdwftbj2Rwk8ih=3TGs0uj_ssU-oi_DsU-E1kaEpP2yLLTA@mail.gmail.com> you write:

...

The real question is if people (as in the average joe, not just from the crypto community) would trade the anonymity of bitcoin and other coins for one that's less private but more scam and theft-proof.

Avg Joes really don't like people and corps and governments all up in their business. Don't believe this, ask them over beers. If you give them two otherwise identical coins, tell them one's private and the other isn't with an honest five minute explanation, they'll pick the private one. It's up to you to make, give, and explain. Bitcoin is nowhere near private or anonymous. Genuine cryptographic privacy needed for that, such as found in the Zerocash (Zcash) family of coins, as well as other technology and tools. Even then some attention to proper usage is needed. Explain to Joe USA that banks and governments are actually silently scamming and thieving him to the tune of around 3% a year via simple inflation, plus much more on top of that via other means... he'll probably be quite happy to attend your cryptocurrency handling and storage class. People aren't completely dense, they do ask and want to know how, especially if they find you trustworthy. You have to earn that.

If you compare the number of transactions done with cash these days to the number done with plastic, the answer should be pretty obvious.

Plastic is a scam, designed to track, control and tax your ass under a guise of being beneficial, all while being easy to swallow, which you did. Cryptocurrency is the new plastic, without the scam.

This article in today's NY Times looks at NY doormen and other employees who have traditionally gotten a lot of income from cash tips, but nobody has cash any more:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/18/style/seasonal-tips-cash-free-payments.ht...

There's a "war on cash" against humanity conducted by governments banks and corps don't ya know. Search that string. Cryptocurrency is the new cash. Get them setup on their phone, tip well, tell them it'll be worth something if they manage / use it well together within their peer / community groups. That will get their attention and spark something there much more than yet another boring $10 bill would. That's your job.