Bitcoin is Approaching the Mainstream

On December 12th, the Internet Archive announced they would be accepting Bitcoin donations. For starters, the Internet Archive is ranked 224th among all websites in the US and 213th worldwide. Let that sink in for a second.

In the two days that the site has been accepting donations, they've received over $1,000 in Bitcoins. Bitcoin users came through in a way that guarantees that other sites, possibly even bigger sites, will take notice that accepting Bitcoins is an extremely easy and effective method of collecting donations.

A comment from "apeterson", on Reddit, summed it up best:

"If you already have Bitcoins, the necessary steps are:

1) Copy the address;
2) Paste it to your wallet;
3) Enter amount; and
4) Press send.

(editor's note: two of these steps will go away when the URI scheme is implemented)

If you already have a credit card the necessary steps are:

1) Choose from one amount in the options (25, 50, 100, 250, 1000 or other);
2) Select additional options and optionally sign the donation with your name;
3) Add to basket;
4) Review your basket, and untick the hidden option to donate an extra $2.00 to justgive;
5) Proceed to checkout;
6) Login as donor, either by your existing account or by creating a new account;
7) Create an account;
8) Enter email, first name, last name, birth year (chose between 4 options: 1979 or later, 1965-1978, 1946-1964, 1945 and earlier), gender, and how you heard about the site;
9) Untick "I would like to get spam";
10) Enter billing info (full address);
11) Enter credit card info; and...
12) [this is where apeterson surrendered]

The pain alone to complete [these steps hurts more than just giving them] the 5 BTC I sent them."

One other turn of events that will push Bitcoin closer to the mainstream is that you can now sell your Bitcoins on either Mt.Gox or Tradehill and withdraw your cash to PayPal. The significance of this should not be understated.

You now have some serious ammunition to help you convince someone that Bitcoins are actually worth something. Many an argument about the legitimacy of Bitcoin can be put to bed simply by telling someone they can sell their Bitcoins, right now, and withdraw the cash to their PayPal account, right now. You could even offer someone Bitcoins in lieu of cash and not feel like an eccentric Internet geek; the divide between Bitcoin and fiat currency has grown smaller.

Posted in: charity,legitimization,PayPal