Asking if 0-conf is safe is like asking if airplanes are safe. For all intents and purposes, they are safe. Furthermore with 0-conf isolated to small payments, we have reduced air traffic to toy planes. If a toy plane happens to crash, the effects are negligible.

The pundits will argue about the air disasters of historical past. This analogy would only apply if 0-conf is used for major purchases, such as buying a car. Here is a business opportunity: 0-conf insurance. If a merchant doesn't want to accept the risk of 0-conf but needs instant payments, buy the insurance.

[edit] lambertpf makes a good point: double spend attempts are easy to detect, and a decent POS system would be able to detect one within a few seconds. This further reduces the risk of an actual double spend to almost zero.

submitted by /u/mohrt
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/9jnpju/asking_if_0conf_is_safe_is_like_asking_if/