[adrusi]

Transferring bitcoin when all relevant parties are using bitcoin is more efficient than transferring USD when all relevant parties are using USD. If people are presenting bitcoin as a good alternative to wire transfers then they are being misleading.

[aidenn0]

If bitcoins can't compete with wire transfers, then how will bitcoin ever become mainstream? The world isn't going to switch to bitcoin overnight, so there will be a period of time in which bitcoin will need to be converted to other currency at one or both ends.

[coryfklein]

> how will bitcoin ever become mainstream?

I doubt it ever will become mainstream, but one path to "mainstream" is when merchants, banks, companies, and payment providers just accept Bitcoin rather than:

1) Pretend to accept bitcoin 2) Pay a sub-par service with high fees to convert any received BTC into USD immediately 3) Encourage customers that don't already hold BTC to pay in BTC, adding another conversion step from USD -> BTC

If 90% of the people I give money to just accept Bitcoin as payment, then it makes sense for me to have a "Bitcoin account", as payment fees could be lower.

[aidenn0]

> when merchants, banks, companies, and payment providers just accept Bitcoin..

That's not a path to becoming mainstream, that is mainstream.