Bitcoin Forum

www.smh.com.au/national/bitcoin-currency-or-investment-20150904-gjfap7.html

currently, there doesn;t seem to be any way that btc could be used as a genuine currency.  And, judging by most all commentators here (which is probably a large chunk of btc users) they are here to make a buck with btc, and hoping for another "moon" run.

For Bitcoin to be successful as a currency, scalability problems have to solved. Either that or Bitcoin can only be a niche currency. That's really how I see it. As an investment, Bitcoin works pretty well at the moment.

The only problem is that I don't see that we will take a world by storm if we stay just an investment option. For Bitcoin to succeed, Bitcoin needs to be everything. A currency, an investment, a store of value, remittance, etc..

I won't be referring to currency by it's definition, the way i see it : if you can transfer value from person 1 to person 2 , it's a form of currency.
And as far as investment part goes, ofcourse it's an investment as well, since you obviously can both profit and loose on it.

cheers

I see it as more of an investment now, mainly because people dont understand it technically and dont understand the concept of it. Most people dont even know what an exe file is, yet were thinking that they can use bitcoin. It needs to become "easier" to use, but look at web wallets, it may be easier but it is less secure. I think over time it could get their, but it is going to take a while.

Definitely both currency and an investment at the moment.

Bitcoin is e-gold that has features of cash too.
I treat it myself as internet or might I say, digital gold. You buy it because you understand the technology behind it, you buy it because you understand for the first time ever scarcity has been designed in a digital way, you buy it because you know in the future its purchasing power will visit moon.
And at the same time, I could get some of it and buy some starbucks coffee (something you will never be able to do with gold and whatnot).

Yeah, that's ver true.. But not only that, I believe we are making strides in seeing how the first btc debit cards are working out, and if I'm not mistaken, they're working pretty nicely. It needs to stay somewhat decentralized, but at the same time banks now and days have to see it as a legit currency that they would accept if btc were to be taken seriously and have the absolute highest purchasing power.

I think a lot of people who think they're using it as a currency are actually just using it as a payment rail along the same lines as a debit card. A lot of those spent coins end up back as fiat again.

In an ideal world Bitcoin would untie itself from fiat. The fact fiat is tied to Bitcoin is slowing down the creative process of Bitcoin's technology development a lot. I wish people would just start accepting BTC everywhere so we don't have to deal with this fiat bullshit anymore. Unfortunately this seems like a pipedream. I will not be using said debit cards tho, I want to stay debt free.

If you use debit cards, its not like you are going to go into "debt"... you are just using the amount of btc you have in your wallet, just like you would use the amount of money you have in your bank. Now if they would issue btc credit cards, then yeah I would stay away from that because of debt issues.

I think they should have some metric like total value / total transaction value in a year.
That will give an idea about whether bitcoin is being spent (currency) or held (investment)

Even fiats also used to invest on something. So it is not a currency? What is the use of currency actually? IMO, a currency can also be as an investment isn't it?. So bitcoin is not only the investment but also a currency (but it is not popular yet that's it.

Bitcoin is a currency that is currently also an investment. Just like any currency, the rate at which it exchanges for other currencies changes over time, but bitcoin is an investment because of how quickly and drastically it changes.

In an ideal world everyone and their uncles would devote their lives to improving bitcoin. The fact not every single human being and their pet is working to improve bitcoin is slowing down the creative process of bitcoin's technology development a lot.

A true statement, but also a completely useless one. Fiat works currently, a lot better than bitcoin too*. There's no way bitcoin can "untie" itself from fiat.


*For those that go like "OMGWTFRUSAYIN bitcoin PWN0ZRZ fiat", let me ask you this: Which is better, bitcoin or *insert random altcoin here*? You say bitcoin? Well a lot of altcoins are basically bitcoin clones with slight improvements. So doesn't that make them better than bitcoin? No, because bitcoin's network effects far outweigh any potential benefits from the modified altcoins.

Similarly, fiat's network effects FAR FAR FAR outweighs any potential benefit for bitcoins at the moment. And therefore fiat works a lot better than bitcoin, at least currently.

it's both currency and investment since we use it to buy online and offline goods and exchange rate goes up and down

Well if you think about it, fiats such as the USD were first based on the gold standard where it was said that every note the government issued out was to be exchangeable at any time for a certain amount of gold the US held, it was just more convenient to carry paper currency and coins rather than sacks of gold.  Now that the gold standard is gone and now it is just based off trust in the Fed, a whole new game ensues...

Now that people don't really trust the central banks anymore, and also due to the fact that it would be more convenient to carry your currency amount in the form of data on your computer and phones; the evolution of what people consider valuable continues... So going back to the question, it is both because for one it can be called the new form of paper currency which was the new form of gold, and you can also call it an investment because as more and more people enter bitcoin markets, it will always increase the value of bitcoin; and since it's a global currency, the potential of value is infinite... just as long as people put their "trust" into cryptocurrencies. 

Does it matter?

Bitcoin needs adoption, lots of it. If someone wants to adopt it as a currency, great! If someone wants to adopt it as an investment, wonderful!

It's both right now, anyway, debating a future majority is futile (especially since if people don't adopt it there won't be a future to discuss.)

The broad definition of a currency, means that Bitcoin should be adopted by a huge share of a population, either local or global and be recognized by a government. This is only partially true for Bitcoin as a currency. In time when the price are low, most people hoard the token and it takes on the characteristics of a investment vehicle.

It's the "Chameleon" of currencies.

Bitcoin has many wonderful feathers, it's a currency as well as investment. Here are the some other interesting facts of bitcoin
1. Payment network (like Paypal), payment element (like USD).
2. Bitcoin can be usual money as well as medium of exchange.
3. Address are anonymous, but transactions are in public ledger.
4. Digitally created, still capped.
5. Modern innovation with property of ancient medium of exchange.

List can be too lengthy if we deeply look into the wonders of bitcoins...

This has been argued to death but its both. However, if you have money in the bank and you get interest what does that make your fiat? 1 bitcoin is still 1 btc so it's a currency but one that you can treat as an investment.

Bitcoin a digital currency maybe just for the moment I can't predicting the future.
but in my country Bitcoin just a commodities like gold and does not set its circulation.

As of now use of the word investment is more relevant compared to currency. I don't see a reason why for a person needs to exchange to bitcoin on some legit items when the person can just pay in fiat. All those people holding to it are basically waiting for the price to go up. And the word moon says it all

The main purpose of bitcoin is as a currency for those who got problem when using fiat. But, time by time, bitcoin has been used by more people and it causes the price become fluctuating, thats why people take advantage of it as an investment.

Agree, because bitcoin is limited and the users is grow recently(although it's still need mass adoption), so the price is fluctuating, but not always going up, bitcoin situation is susceptible, if the price is down many people too panic and make a sell wall, so the price down and the whales participate in it.

Also people take a bitcoin as investment too. So bitcoin can be both.

The drop in price over the last 2 years could have changed people's mind about that.  :)

i think bitcoin can do both jobs correctly

Why not? I can buy things with it and I can accept it as a payment.

It's both right now but hopefully it gets to the point where it's not an investment, just a currency. We want the volatility to go away.

BTC is sui generis/de novo

much like email is an aspect of the internet, it is not the internet....

investment, money, commodity, are all aspects of BTC but they are not the entirety of BTC.

It's hard to say that bitcoin can be used as currency because many governments ban bitcoin utilization in their teritory. It's also bitcoin hasn't ready yet to go mainstream so there's no many merchants accepting bitcoin right now.
In other side many people use bitcoin as their investment or like currency trading. They don't use bitcoin, but they change their bitcoin into FIAT.
In my opinion, bitcoin is both of them. I can use bitcoin as currency only via online trading in some merchants and investment for the future.

Both, and that could be one of the many cool aspects of Bitcoin, you can manage your money everywhere, freely. With fiat, if for example you want to invest in forex platforms, there will always be regulations and delays with deposits and withdrawals.

I'am going to speak my self only here , I personally see Bitcoin as an investement for now I was too late for the train I guess since I started in late 2014 but I hope I can get on another train ;D so hopefully the price will increase , It can be a currency but for now  .. we should go mainstream and % of world population should start using it before going there .

 In Germany bitcoin is recognised like a private money,it is propably the best legislation for btc.Generally  Europe is friendly for digital currencys,USA i see like nightmare

From my personal experience and my personal point of view, i can say that this Bitcoin for the last 9 months was totally alternative world currency especially on digital world..
But for the day when this bitcoin born and being introduced to public until 9 months ago, i think bitcoin was some very high risk investment thing....

that is not anything new. bitcoin is currently mostly used as an investment and it is mostly being traded for earning more fiat. and I think it is because there is not enough usage for it.

Currency for the nerds, investment for the wise, speculation for the mass ;D

bitcoin is meant to be a currency, and it should be headed that way but we are nowhere near that point in time. there is still a lot of problems involving bitcoin which i think is the main reason why it is still an investment and not a currency.
two major ones that i can mention are extremely volatile price and slow confirmations.

as for me.
bitcoin is a currency and an investment itself.
that is why bitcoin is so unique and hve a great potential.
bitcoin as a currency overcomes usd...
and bitcoin as an investment it is so awesome.
althought it still need to be long term to earn more.
gg..

right now we can say that bitcoin is investment
and all the user is just waiting for the price go higher..
and we will just make profit from it when bitcoin become a worldwide currency or after the mass adoption..
so until it not happen for me it will remain as investment..

Both. It satisfies the properties of a currency (with shining stars) and that is it's main purpose, but especially today with it's volatility can also be considered an investment / speculative commodity.

I started out using it as a currency when the price went above $500 and then it went down to $300 and I started to hodl. I tend to stop using it as a currency, when the price drop below the average level at what I bought it for.
In every sense of the word, I only use the profits between the buying and selling price, and never use more than the amount I put down to buy it. < Example – Buy $5000 worth / price increase and the profit is $500 / Spend the $500 worth, but keep the reserved amount of coins >
 
Do not spend any, when the selling price goes below the buying price.

i see it as a currency for this time
it might start being an investment soon
but i will still using it as a currency

bitcoin is a currency in the short term, but people hold it for many years and see it as an investment.
imo its both

Op want to ask on wich side?? Our personal or our country???


For my country from the last year they didnt care about bitcoin anymore, they only talking about it around 3 years ago...

But for me i always make bitcpin and others alt coin as my digital currency, never try or think to make some investment on it...

No reason it can't be both. Most currencies typically are both held and traded.

both investment and currency. of course while a high risk investment includes the possibility of high or even complete losses, it also means the possibility of very high returns.

I think for most it's like an investment for now and the simple logic behind it is there aren't many places you can spend it and if you spend it the process of buying for some is a little difficult, so they buy it and hodl it hoping they can sell it when the price is up, like the early adopters did. We need more businesses, at-least online ones at first to start accepting Bitcoin so that more people use it to buy stuff and don't just hodl it for future.

The buying/selling process needs to be simplified but it's difficult since most of the exchanges are demanding KYC forms to be submitted now and people tend to avoid giving personal information to unknown websites.

Bitcoin holds value and that value can be transferred from one person to another, so that goes its part as a currency however, in today's situation, bitcoin is used heavily as an investment tool by many people hoping to get their piece of moon.

The safe and also correct answer is to say bitcoin is changing constantly its properties. For now it is mainly used as investment method because there is still promise of price increase and some even believe that price will reach 'the moon'. But when bitcoin will be mass adopted then 'investment' part of it will be lost.

agree
because bitcoin can also act as currency and also can be an investment tool  :)

I'd say that it doesn't fit neither of the definitions 100%. But then again, it's perfectly flexible use applications make it whatever you want it to be.

for me its 50-50
its a digital currency which you can spend on what you want
and like an investment bc the price changes from time to time

Yeah, it is a currency in short term and investment in a long run, as we are using it as a currency to buy products online or transfer funds online but it would be great to hold bitcoins for future as it can be proved to be an best investment product, but again the adoption level would play an important role in future success of bitcoins.

The more people that treat it like an investment, the more like an actual investment it will become. That's certainly my hope, anyway

Currently, Bitcoin is already both.
It is already used for some years as a currency and every day more and more people and businesses are using it. And now that the Federal Trade Comission considers bitcoin as a commodity it ca also be considered as an investment.

For me this bitcoin and others alt coin  was an alternate currency when i need some online transaction.. I never feel it as investment things, even there were already many site that make bitcoin for trading same like stock market trading..

Im just start to learn any investment method fot real money, because of that i will not took bitcoin as an investment, its totally just digital currency

Bitcoin is both as gold is both. We can buy and keep it like we normally keep buying gold and use it as ornaments or jwellery but it can actually be sold high if the price climb on future (investement). Like currency several contracts are done where gold is considered as global currency, even countries keep gold as asset in exchange of printing their paper money. Bitcoin may also be as valuable as gold or it may get accepted as gold infuture.

first i think it is a currency ,therefore it is an investment too.dollar is a currency but it is also an investment for the rest of the world.

I believe it's a currency.

Many people buy currencies as investments just like they do BTC. (Ex: buying EUROS because I think the price will increase and then selling it when the exchange rate is more favorable, etc...)

BTC is new and therefore that might be why people see it more as an investment for the time being, but ultimately it's a currency IMO.

Bitcoin is both currency and investment at the same time.Most of all it depends on you how you see it..I like to see bitcoin as an investment because of the volatile nature of bitcoin..Bitcoin prices are so unpredictable that you never know what boundary it can cross in the next few days ;)
Investing in bitcoin currently is the best thing you can do,just invest and hold your bitcoins and you will surely make a good profit when the price will go up soon next year :D.

Now in my opinion , it bitcoin like antiques , and all the people looking for it , and bitcoin was good as an investment , because the exchange rate is very fluctuacive . and also is reviewing the state Jepan bitcoin as a currency that is legalized

it is more like an investment now as you can see a lot of people r buying btc is just for keeping and not for spending. but to be used as a currency there also must have places where you can spend and this is a real problem as a lot of coutnry dont even have such places for u.

difficult question, but I think bitcoin can be used for both currency and investment, also I'm concerned, I'm afraid bitcoin user prefers to use bitcoin as an investment, so it will inhibit popularity as a currency bitcoin.

It's both. You can use bitcoin as an currency, but also use bitcoin as an investment.
To me bitcoin as an asset/investment is the main thing i am using bitcoin.

I find it as both but mainly an investment. I'm doing everything I can think of...

If you believe in the future of bitcoin, it will be adopted widely so that it will hit mainstream, then you need to treat bitcoin as an investment.
At the same time, if you do not want to save bitcoin can spend it like a currency.