Bitcoin Forum

Good evening fellow Bitcoiners,

I am writing a research paper on the dematerialization of Money for a business case.

We need you Bitcoiners to answer this question and if you feel that something is missing, let me know !

I feel that Bitcoin will thrive because consumers/users will embrace the currency if they find some use to it. It is a superior form of payment even if it is not ready for mainstream applications yet.

What are your thoughts about it?

Thanks :)

In my use case it's just an investment, I don't use bitcoin to make purchases, although I hope someday I can use bitcoin almost the same way I use cash, or at least the debit card.

mostly an investement aswell for the moment for now but im pretty sure we will reach a time where the price should be stable so it would be more because of the transaction speed and the low fees and being annonymus too.

Purely as a speculative investment currently, but I wish to use it in the future and the low fees, semi-anonmous and decentralised independent nature of it are all pluses to me.

There should also be an option for decentralization.
Most important to me is that I can be independent of merchants for my transactions.

Thanks for setting this up, i've responded to the poll.

My thoughts are simple, once you finish your research paper could you please post it somewhere in this forum for us all to read? We give you our thoughts, our ideas, our votes, and our time and it's very fair for us to expect to see the analysis and conclusions you make from the data we've provided.

Please share with us your conclusions so the entire community can benefit from your work (and our contribution)!

Thanks :)

Added, thanks for your input !

Well, this is obviously something that can be done, but in order to rely on this poll i will need quite a few more answers. I also interviewed a few experts about this subject, this poll is to confirm my analysis.

Mainly the fact that you can use it to trade with anybody across the world instantly without divulging a bunch of sensitive information.

Anonymity (not complete but good enough)
Ease of access
Quickness of fund availability

I`m into it due to since I`m pretty much jobless.

And its used as a temporary income while im still job hunting so not much of a choice, more of a survival thing at the moment.

I feel that you should add some pretty good reasons to your initial poll. While your every point is good and valid there are some additional features which bring people toward bitcoin.
Namely: 1. People are using bitcoin because they want to to be hipsters, because for now bitcoin is like new technology and not widely known. Some geeks and nerds likes this fact.
2. People are using bitcoin as a protest against corrupt financial system and government discredited with endless quantitative easing.

I agree 100%
It's so easy to send a tip to some one, and i think it's safer than other means.
For larger amounts to total strangers escrow is a must have.

decentralization isn't a tangible advantage, i mean there is not much difference between a centralized system and decentralized one, but i still like to have 100% freedom, which you can have in some bank too

i voted for anonimity and low fee, but the latter will not last forever if we need to go against spam and rise the fee in the future

Thanks for your inputs and comments.

Obviously we can agree that people are here for various reasons, Bitcoin has more than one advantage over Fiat or other payment methods.

I don't feel that Being a new technology and the fact that this brings in Hipsters can be considered as a competitive advantage Snorek. However i agree with the fact that it is in opposition with Fiat currencies,. This is why i used the term Scarcity.

I agree with ease of access.

Keep going, and thanks to the people who answered.

From the options available, Investment Vehicle and Decentralization are probably my main reasons, having money that cannot disappear if bank gets in trouble and increases my purchase power over time are major reasons to embrace bitcoin.

i mostly use in small amounts couse its digital good and fast trasactions and funny to have floating points too

Bitcoin as a tech is very interesting for sure and it is clear that we've only scratched the surface when it comes to possible applications. However I do believe that the majority of bitcoiners are drawn in by the lure of money/easy money. That's of course totally fine, it's actually helping Bitcoin grow faster. Over time as this initial gold rush period simmers down, I believe we'll see more people embracing Bitcoin the tech/payment system and less people being fazed by volatility.

I like it for the capability to transfer money anonymously, without banks and it can't be shut down because of decentralization.

Let's see the results of this vote... it will be interesting.

Perhaps we will end up forking, one side for decentralization (1MB max block size for a while camp) and the other for payment (increase blocksize now camp) :(

Perhaps we need a definition of what "low transaction fees" means. Low compared to other payment methods? For what amount?

Because personally I would consider even $5 / tx to be a low transaction fee. Others may think 0.2$ / tx is no longer a low transaction fee.

Excellent poll choices. I wish there was a choice for "side step KYC", but I guess "decentralization" and "ease of access" covered that.

I voted:

Anonymity
Decentralization
Ease of Access

Thanks ! I appreciate, but i also had nice inputs from the community.


My point of view, is that transaction fees does not include the block subsidy of 25 BTC. It is the small network fee that would speed up the process. I consider that as long as it is ten times cheaper than CC's it is a valide point.

My report points out the huge fees and risk of credit cards.

Keep the votes coming :)

i use bitcoin because it's like part time job for me
i earn bitcoin for what i want like jeans,sneakers,etc

Good Evening! ;)


For my part, it's only an experimental Investment at the moment but i appreciate the ideas behind the whole system. Fast and low-cost transactions are really a valuable argument that make bitcoin interesting. Although i almost never use it to really pay something, i would definitely consider to do it in the future. Concerning the point "Ease of access" I would suggest that there are still a lot of developments to come, as far as i can not imagine people of an older generation using it for the moment because it still stays quite complex if you don't have enough technical knowledge or basics.

I use bitcoin because I want to earn anonymously online. It's also a good investment and I like low transaction fees of bitcoin

Because it is fast and less fee for online transactions. No need to wait for few hours to few days to receive or send money.

I love you because I am formerly AnonyMint and since 2013 my goal has been to add more anonymity to cryptoland. Thanks for validating my thesis about a coming glorious, anonymous Knowledge Age (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=355212.0).

I use bitcoins because they provide anonymity, easily accessible and with low transaction fees.
I don't like PayPal or any other methods because we have to give them our personal information and also that the transaction fee is very high.

Low transaction fees and easy of access.
For me it's much easier and faster to get some Bitcoins than it is to get money on my Paypal account.

I do not own a credit card, so that might have something to do with it :)

What I see people essentially saying in this thread is that Bitcoin is autonomous. They can get access to it, spend as anonymously as they take the care to obscure their IP address, and use it without any permission or without obtaining any account with some authority. In short, permission-less commerce (do what you like, no big brother with his dick up your ass!). Most of the terms above fall under the "autonomy" umbrella taxonomy.

In my case, I don't have a utility bill matching my current address because I rent. And so I can't comply with the asinine Patriot Act KYC identification requirements that exchanges and financial institutions impose. So no worries, I just go place a buy order on localbitcoins, then go deposit some cash in a local bank and I get the BTC released an hour or so later.

Later as the bankrupted Western governments start to limit more how much money you can get out per day from your ATM account (e.g. Greece is an example of what is coming to every Western nation because they are all broke), then if you are holding crypto-currency you can sidestep these restrictions.

However, do note that Bitcoin is not reliably anonymous (unless you are for example connecting via a unregistered, public WiFi connection) as your IP address can be traced back to your identity (and Tor and I2P don't really stop the national security agencies from tracking your identity on the block chain) and so the authorities will one day in the future be clawing back against you prosecuting you for violating their regulations by using Bitcoin.

This is why I (formerly username AnonyMint since 2013) support the development of altcoins with more robust built in anonymity. Many users will not appreciate the need for this until later when so many Bitcoin users are being busted for past activity all stored on the block chain.

Ease of access, constant availability and low transaction fees are my 3 picks. This is where Bitcoin would beat by far Fiat and this is why Bitcoin will survive and be competitive in the future. My money should be there when I want it and I should be able to spend it when and how I want it. About the transaction fees I don't even wanna spend words, we all know that current banking fees are outrageous.

I am not saying Bitcoin doesn't have drawbacks at the moment, but we are all here working hard to iron all these drawbacks.

Autonomy again. Thanks.

I use it as investment and earning. A mixture of hold,trade and lending.

Interesting thoughts from all of you.

What we can say for sure is that Bitcoin has various appealing advantages. Or that at least the perception of these advantages are very different.

Closing the poll in a few days. My report will be submited in early september, i will post some results here if there is interest.


Vote vote vote :)

Scarcity and near-instant transactions are also considered a prime reason for bitcoin's most highlighted advantages, that's amazing. I have always liked bitcoin for respecting privacy and maintaining anonymity. Of course there are a lot of advantages, all that pros and cons whatever, but I support it mainly for the idea of a decentralized currency, the digitization of an analog world.

I voted anonymity. I want to be able to buy something without having to give a copy of my ID, get finger scanned, give a DNA probe. Bitcoin allows me to pay fast and anonymous.

No government has control over it, only demand and supply can change the value of Bitcoin. paper currencies can be printed without any limits. Ease of use is the another reason why I prefer Bitcoin.

I have to I use it mainly to make money ;D Besides that I can buy a lot of things without paying a lot of TX fees as well as not have to wait for ages

Anonymity and Less transaction fees.
in future there will be a day when I can buy anything and everything with BitcoinBTC

For sure the main reason for people to get into bitcoin will be the Low Transaction Fees, while others choose privacy. But that's not the best in my perception.

The best reason to use bitcoin is because you controll it. No bank who can devalue your currency, no bank who can run away with your money (Cyprus), just own it and nobody can touch it (if you protect it offcourse).

How is the research coming along?

I'm curious about your focus on 'dematerialization' -- there is a specific economic definition of the term
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dematerialization_(economics) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dematerialization_(economics)) (i.e. doing more with less)
as well as securities-related definition:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dematerialization_(securities) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dematerialization_(securities)) (move from paper to in ledger bookkeeping)

Could you please tell us more about the nature of your research and what you hope to achieve?

Best of luck.

For one the speed is really good offcourse, but let's face it.

Everybody likes cheap and the fees are therefore the reason i use it and keep using it.

I think of bitcoin as a sort of currency. I buy things with it, and if the price goes up, I'm happy. Everything becomes cheaper for me. Bitcoin has a fraction-of-a-cent TX fee, as compared to western union's $5 TX fee, and its safe than PayPal, sure to its decentralization. And also less scams, as there is no bitcoin chargeback.

about the less scams part. I think you can not really sure about that without a escrow service. Without it there will be a lot of scams as bitcoin is untracable and unrecoverable

currently I only use the Bitcoin as an investment vehicle but not to make the purchases.  but when I must, i sometimes use the bitcoin. another reason for using the bitcoin is its decentralized form, by that I can use it wherever I am, cause no government owns it and therefore no taxes. Also its high potential to take over the world is a great determinant,. i love being part of change

I just use it as an investment.

At the moment i am using bitcoin to hold, to stay safe in a place, but i used bitcoin mostly for digital stuff, but always wanted to order something real goods but that day i hope will come soon.