There is the concept of green addresses (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Green_address) to solve this. Basically if customers use a wallet that the merchant trusts not to commit a double spend then they can safely accept a zero confirmation transaction. MtGox and Bridgewalker (https://www.bridgewalkerapp.com) support this so if you trust them and your customer uses them then you can accept the transaction immediately.
Of course for something like a cup of coffee or even a purchase for $80 worth of clothes I think most companies would be fine with accepting a zero confirmation transaction and taking the risk as it will be far less of a cost then shoplifting and will be less than the 2% they currently pay on every credit card transaction. If you are buying a $1000 laptop then maybe they make you hang out while they explain the features and wait for a single confirmation.
And now you've got "Credit Cards". Merchants won't accept your business unless you've got a trusted "green address", and you won't shop with merchants who don't support your "green address".
Again, attempts to solve this problem lead to a situation similar to credit cards... except worse (inherent to the extreme volatility and instability currently experienced in the BTC market).
Also, lol Mt. Gox. That company that you can't switch to USD every couple of weeks because they're not doing everything they can to keep their bank accounts open. Mt. Gox's instability is one of the worst things happening to the BTC market right now. If you give away your BTCs and store them on someone else's server, you're doing BTC wrong. Its no longer a decentralized system, but instead a new centralized system of currency.
Green addresses, specifically, are not a great solution because they thoroughly disrupt Bitcoin's privacy and frangibility model by making that source identification highly public.
But fortunately you can do something which is almost exactly equal: Have the trusted party just hand a buyer a signature of the transaction ID, which they hand to their vendor.
No one but the involved parties see the data... and it allows other models like ones where you retain control of your own funds and the signing party just agrees to take the risk the you cheat (and the cost of tracking you down if you do).
Comments
There is the concept of green addresses (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Green_address) to solve this. Basically if customers use a wallet that the merchant trusts not to commit a double spend then they can safely accept a zero confirmation transaction. MtGox and Bridgewalker (https://www.bridgewalkerapp.com) support this so if you trust them and your customer uses them then you can accept the transaction immediately.
Of course for something like a cup of coffee or even a purchase for $80 worth of clothes I think most companies would be fine with accepting a zero confirmation transaction and taking the risk as it will be far less of a cost then shoplifting and will be less than the 2% they currently pay on every credit card transaction. If you are buying a $1000 laptop then maybe they make you hang out while they explain the features and wait for a single confirmation.
And now you've got "Credit Cards". Merchants won't accept your business unless you've got a trusted "green address", and you won't shop with merchants who don't support your "green address".
Again, attempts to solve this problem lead to a situation similar to credit cards... except worse (inherent to the extreme volatility and instability currently experienced in the BTC market).
Also, lol Mt. Gox. That company that you can't switch to USD every couple of weeks because they're not doing everything they can to keep their bank accounts open. Mt. Gox's instability is one of the worst things happening to the BTC market right now. If you give away your BTCs and store them on someone else's server, you're doing BTC wrong. Its no longer a decentralized system, but instead a new centralized system of currency.
Green addresses, specifically, are not a great solution because they thoroughly disrupt Bitcoin's privacy and frangibility model by making that source identification highly public.
But fortunately you can do something which is almost exactly equal: Have the trusted party just hand a buyer a signature of the transaction ID, which they hand to their vendor.
No one but the involved parties see the data... and it allows other models like ones where you retain control of your own funds and the signing party just agrees to take the risk the you cheat (and the cost of tracking you down if you do).