If crypto is “the way of the future”, and it some how catches on, then people are simply going to learn how it works or get locked out of future markets. Due to the seemingly large number of crypto scams, a lot of people will lose their money along the way.
Not that I think it should succeed, but if there is a truly compelling use case for everyone to switch over, I don’t think we’ll let the complexity stop us.
Having a hardware wallet solves very little for small-time investors (the 99%) as they are in this to speculate, not to keep their savings for the next several decades. With everything moving online, it's close to impossible to convince even more tech-savvy people to plug in a USB dongle every time they want to make a transaction. You could say that then it's their own fault if something goes wrong as they "don't own the keys", but historically this type of blame-game did not last. Government regulation and insurance is a much more effective way forward.
Though to give Bitcoin some of the (marketing) credit, we get Blockchain, DEFIs, DAOs and soon CBDCs out of it. So, there's some massive innovation to be had in that sector.
Dash is already popular for payments and transactions with low fees.
Bottom line, a total miner capitulation event on any of these coins that are cheaper to mine is 100% unlikely. Computing and energy costs go lower and lower every year.
I don't expect the vast majority of ordinary people to have any interest whatsoever in crypto.
I would expect someone that has their entire net worth in paper currency to take steps similar to a bank in order to secure it -- a safe is safer than a mattress, a vault is safer than a safe -- I don't think that it's asking much for someone that is in a similar situation with cryptocurrency to take similarly large precautions.
It takes effort and study to understand how to better secure one's life, this is no different.
They would also have to avoid major exchanges for any operations, because Coinbase KYCs the crap out of you.
Everyone does it, including the most computer illiterate people. Gosh, accountants are super familiar with invoices generated as signed XMLs.
If a very inefficient and corrupt government could do it , I'm positive a private company could find the way.
It's just a matter of finding the right analogies and encapsulating the complexity for people.
As a counterargument: many more complex financial instruments existed for decades now and are not widely adopted because of both the cognitive load and the specialized software needed for participation. Adding hardware to this mix does not seem like a step in the direction of mass adoption.
Just to be clear, I am not saying we should not innovate in this space. On the contrary, the current state of hardware wallets is unacceptable. The only way to make this a viable option is drastic innovation. Just repeating "not your keys, not your crypto" and "get a hardware wallet" is disingenuous.
I think you’re right that it’s still simple, but what’s lacking is a “follow these exact steps” guide. People don’t want to think too much about it, they just want to throw money at crypto.
Something like:
1. Buy X hardware wallet
2. Open account at X bank, store seed phrase in the vault. If your house burns down, your money is safe.
3. Here’s exactly how to use the hardware wallet for all common operations. Do this (and nothing else), and your money is safe.
If it was wrapped up in a nice package with a pretty red bow on it, people would buy into it. But I’d say I’m more crypto-inclined than most tech people, yet I’m still nervous. I was already burned by Gox and not eager to repeat that, so Coinbase is out. Which leaves hardware wallets, which I know nothing about.
I’ve got crypto enthusiast friends who refuse to use hardware wallets because of the inconvenience.