Bitcoin Forum

I see more and more merchants accepting Bitcoin but I feel many are missing the point. I, along with the vast majority of you, hate spending my Bitcoin. The only reason I would spend Bitcoin is if I can get a 20%+ discount on an item or service that I would be purchasing anyway. This also assumes I can immediately purchase more BTC to cover what I spent. I have done this before for purchases on Purse, then buying the BTC right back on Coinbase. The headache alone is hardly worth it. So merchants! It's great that you accept BTC but give us a compelling reason to spend it at your establishment, otherwise we really don't care.

You've got a point... People don't see it as a spendable money but more like "gold"... You wouldn't spend it unless you really need it. But likewise, the merchants wouldn't really care if they get paid in fiat or crypto, so why should they help promote bitcoins and give a discount for using them? That doesn't make sense either... In the end, if we wish for a world were btc is more commonly used and far more valuable, we have to make some sacrifices ;) if you know what I mean..!

You can anyways be getting atleast 15% discount when you purchase gift cards instead of directly purchasing items with bitcoins else there are just few sites offering cashback in bitcoins like https://www.coinrebates.com/. 20% would be a huge discount rate which we wouldn't even get via fiat and since bitcoins don't have a stable price, it wouldn't be profitable for the merchant as well.

a thing I find hard to do, with purchases using bitcoin you will most likely lose money, everything we buy with bitcoin is not worth the price in general, because the transaction process is more expensive.

The compelling reason is that you are able to spend bitcoin directly. For you it may be a hassle because you don't want to ever touch your coin (evidently you don't own many). For some people, it's an opportunity to extract some value from their profits.

I still feel Bitcoin isn't a currency which could be readily use as merchant currency. Away from OP reasoning, I personally never feel comfortable spending Bitcoins for commodities as with time when Bitcoin rises, I feel that I lost money.
There is a need of another cryptocurrency in contrast to Bitcoin which could fulfil merchant needs with more stable prices using Bitcoin ecosystem.

Bitcoin has largely became an investment asset than a currency. Most of the Bitcoin holders believe in holding Bitcoin rather than spending because of its deflationary property comes with limited cap. Till when fiat is available which is inflationary, people are less likely to spend cryptocurrencies. In your case, yes if there is some really big deal using Bitcoin, then only people can think of spending. Otherwise who will like to spend something which will grow in value just by holding.

If that is compelling then you are easily compelled. I would be more than happy to place a bet regarding who of us holds more BTC ;)

Reason? Didn't you know that it's a good exposure for bitcoin once merchants accepted it especially if that is big merchant eventhough their goal is not means to exposed it. One reason they accepted bitcoin is because of demands and request.

Also why don't spend bitcoin? It's money and that is their money so whatever they like to do, then just allow it. Also merchants are not obliged to gives us a compelling reason like you are saying because in the end, we are the one who will decide if we will used bitcoin payment. And another one, there are times that people doesn't have fiat so bitcoin is the only option. There are lots of things to be concerned of rather than this.

Yeah , just hold. Do that and you;re going to kill it.
Do you remember what drove the price high?  Adoption and merchants.

Holding will get you nowhere.
Remember what the price of bitcoin was before the first pizza was bought?    0!!!!!!!
If everyone holds and nobody will use it it will go back to that price.

cool, you should definitely go spend all of your Bitcoin then.

I can understand what are you trying to say.Even myself saving the bitcoin for future plan rather than spending it on daily needs.I think Bitcoin is valuable similar to gold and people dont like to spend it until if there is any kind of emergency, but i like to spend it if there is any offer or coupon  available because they are directly offering us some discount in anyway. I only wish to trade or invest with bitcoin than on spending it on daily basis. Even i wish to spend it, then i will aim for at-least good offers to spend it on shopping or somewhere else otherwise i wont.

Its more of a gimmick, if you want my business I need more than that. Bitcoin is not going anywhere, businesses can accept it all they want, it won't matter. Most intelligent people will not part with their BTC without buying more, I need real compelling to do this. The merchants get more benefit than the Bitcoin spender.

If we do put ourselves as a merchant who do accepts bitcoin then we would probably sell out things which are really discounted and i guess it would really be worth knowing bitcoin prices would potential grow and you would able to break even on what you had given to your sales.I do spend my bitcoin on buying on steam purchases and its indeed on lesser prices.

I ONLY spend bitcoin online and I think you have a point. I now expect to pay less when I buy with bitcoin. At least 2-3% less. I can demand this because I know thy are saving 3% vs. a credit card.

For example, here is a little gold. Notice that it is $14,270.50. However if I pay with bitcoin it is $13,856.20. That is saving me $414.30 per bar!

https://www.amagimetals.com/gold/bars/10-oz-pamp-suisse-gold-bar-999-fine-gold#

Better money commands a better price.  ;)

I also just use bitcoin when I really need to especially in emergency cases or when I really run out of money. But, as much as possible I keep all the bitcoin that I can. I also have my salary from my job, so as much as possible all the coins that I earn here are meant to be my long-term investment.

I'm not a betting man... and mine wasn't a challenge, just a supposition. If you do own many bitcoin (say, more than 30% of your net worth), then the more usual thing to do is to export a portion of your profits--even small--to other forms of store. Most of my BTC purchases have been like that, some gold/silver, some magic, some other stuff... just in order to ensure a portion of my gains is in a different form, suitable for different times.

in that case, the ability to spend bitcoin directly is compelling and costs less than using regular cash.

I'm not convinced merchants will ever be able to entice people to spend Bitcoin, certainly not people who don't already own it. Very few of them will have margins big enough to be able to discount enough to make up for the inconvenience.

Widespread merchant adoption will be one of the last things to fall into place. It definitely won't drive adoption.

I'm pretty spend happy with it because it's basically free money at the moment. There's no way I'd bother if I had to buy it to buy something.

I totally agree with you, and I've been making the same point for probably as long as I've been a member of bitcointalk. The opportunity cost is way too much.  The other thing is that I get my paycheck in fiat, and everything I need is priced in fiat.  There's no reason to buy bitcoin just to turn around and spend it.  It has always been a speculative instrument to me and always will. It can function as a currency, but that's not really what its primary purpose is.

I convert no more than 4% of my holdings to fiat annually and use these funds for life experiences. Precious metals are more of a burden and I stay away completely unless I'm buying a watch.

Bingo!!!!!!

CURRENCY IS NOT THE PRIMARY PURPOSE.



I wish more people understood this.

I guess that does not make sense, so you should consider it to spend bitcoins.

Maybe function as a currency isn't the main purpose but for me exactly that functions very well. I'm not buying bitcoins to spend them, I'm earning them and by spending them I can even save more than that with paying with fiat. And I also believe that Bitcoins have to have practical purpose otherwise what is the use of it. You can't just keep them in your wallet forever.

Exactly!!!!! Not long ago I have seen a local merchant charge EXTRA if you wanted to pay with BTC. It's absolute crazy how they thought that would work?? I wish I would have screenshot it. I for one don't spend any, I'm only trying to get more.  :D

It used to be thought of as a currency.
Now people think twice before they spent bitcoin for useless stuff or small expenses.

People like Satoshi Nakamoto?
Bitcoin is ONLY a currency to me and was designed as such. I have no interest in risking my financial freedom by using dollars. Last year I had to replace my debit card 3 times due to security breaches. Guess how many times I lost my identity using bitcoin?

And just in the last weeks we find out that in the Equifax breach 55% of adults has their identity stolen. You can see if you are involved here: https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/

Of course the Eqifax board sold their financial position before telling anyone.  How shitty is that? Is this the dollar you think is so good for you? Bitcoin is the best currency in history and miles beyond driving truck loads of local currencies all over the world. You can keep your bank coupons.

Well, I agree that just hold your bitcoin before you regret to spend your bitcoin. We all know that the price of bitcoin will become more and more expensive and holding is one of the best that you could do if you wan to make and earn more income. Be patient and just hold your bitcoin.

So at what point would people here feel comfortable using bitcoin as a currency?  What price would make it acceptable?  Does it have to do with the number of people who have adopted bitcoin?  Price stability?  What?

I think that the merchants just wanted to provide more options and opportunities for the bitcoin users and owners. I think this is convenient when a time comes that they have no fiat money to spare, and they would have to resort to using BTC.

But I'd have to agree with you OP because I myself also would prefer to keep and hold my bitcoins. Definitely currency is not the primacy purpose of Bitcoin. There has been numerous times that I've been tempted to exchange my BTC to fiat money so that I may spend on other things but I would remind myself that it is better not to but to just keep my BTC and wait. Patience is a virtue and waiting for the right time to sell is very difficult.

It's funny. Bitcoin was to many people the answer to central banks forcing a few percent inflation, which they do to prevent hoarding and crushing debt. And here we are, not spending Bitcoin but hoarding it. I hope nobody took out a loan in Bitcoin last year.

Why so you hate spending btc ? You going to spend money anyway so it may as well be btc. If will help support bitcoin and create additional transactions. Where are you getting 20% discount ? That's great and I'm glad for you. Hopefully more use bitcoin to make purchases and more accept btc.

now bitcoin has more expensive transactions fee than some years ago. several years ago the price of bitcoin is no more than 1 dollars for transactions fund around 10 till 50 usd in bitcoin. i think the fee is something bad for this case. to be honest i don't wanna pay extra fee (from bitcoin transaction) while spend my balance to buy something

why not thats great idea promote bitcoin and give discount for using them, sacrifice but the return benefits to us good impact, marketing strategy for bitcoin help bitcoin to adopt more people and country's as fiat currency in the cryptoworld.

It varies with each person but a good rule of thumb is the following:

Once you have enough BTC where pulling out no more than 4% per year in fiat equivalent will allow you to live a great life, then you can start spending.

This is actually the direct result of too much speculation on Bitcoin. Now, am not saying that there is something wrong with what you are doing. We are all becoming speculators here and this is the reason why we find it hard to spend our Bitcoin because we are all thinking that the value would rise big soon and that months from now the value differential can be huge. So it can become a challenging on the part of the merchants dealing with volatility among other things they are tending everyday.

I am hoping that soon there can be an easy platform or facility that will help merchants accepting Bitcoin as part of their mode of payments. Hey, it can be a good business if there can be a service like that offering a bridge between merchants and the many consumers using Bitcoin in conjunction with volatility and other concerns.

Despite that fact that a big portion of Bitcoin holders is treating it more as a store of value just like the physical gold, we should never forget that it must also be accepted as a currency.

That's right, it's just in the store of value stage, I'm waiting for it to become a medium of exchange worldwide and I think that it'll take central bank failures before that happens.

why you do not buy it with fiat if you do not want to spend your bitcoin. 20% would be a huge discount rate it wouldn't be profitable for the merchant as well altough. One reason they accepted bitcoin is because of demands and request.

yeah, there are many transaction and store accepting bitcoin but if we use it as today maybe we need to think twice because now is the time to buy bitcoin if you have extra money I think bitcoin is a right way to invest just trust and wait until the bitcoin price will increase then that is the right time to spend some of your bitcoin.

This become a common problem for bitcoiners, but imagine if you're on the other side as a merchant owner.
Consider few things; how if someone spend bitcoin to buy some goods which costs BTC1 worth $3870 but it takes 1 hour to get 6 confirmation, and then 1 hour later bitcoin price drop to $3000, is it a big loss right?
That's why people, whether spenders and merchants owners still doubt to spend/accept bitcoin payment, unless there is third party such as BitPay as middleman to process transaction immediately convert to fiat currency, but it will cost even more to pay fees.

Do you remember 10-15 years ago when debit cards became popular and no fast food restaurant would accept plastic because fees were too high? What benefit did that have over cash? Simplicity. We moved money from a thing you had to possess (hard currency) to knowledge of a number (cc#). Now a majority of sales are plastic. The problem with pull transactions is apparent: fraud, minimal security, data breaches. Your numbers can be stolen. The benefit of bitcoin comes from the cryptography of digitally-signed push transactions.

I agree with you, Merchants should really give something that makes bitcoiners and bitcoin enthusiasts spend their bitcoins to that certain establishment since bitcoin is not just a coin same with fiat, it's value has the possibility of increasing and again it's bitcoin. If i will have one bitcoin ,One of the top reasons why i will not spend it,because it is really hard earned and for me it is too precious to spend,it is really how i see bitcoin.

I only spend Bitcoin online, there are no merchants in my country who accept Bitcoin till now. MANY people don't like to spend their Bitcoins that even goes for me but sometimes I have to use them to buy something online only when it is urgent, if it is not urgent I don't use Bitcoins I rather like to save them.
While spending bitcoins it is also important to have an eye on the bitcoin prices I only spend bitcoin bitcoins when the price of bitcoin is high. Bitcoins are not also a currency that people would use it to buy things from the merchants.

It's a good idea that merchants are now accepting bitcoin as a mode of payment but we must understand that they also need to protect themselves in incurring sudden lost due to acceptance of bitcoin, many requires to have bitcoin converted before accepting it but soon this issue can be settled if the price of bitcoin will be stable.

Spending bitcoins for buying stuff is not a good idea according to me because the value of bitcoins keep on fluctuating.For example you buy a motorcycle worth 1BTC,and you pay him with BTC.Then there is a possibility a week after you find the bitcoin prices have hiked by 500$.Beleive me guys there's nothing more depressing than this.You will really regret your loss.The prices of bitcoin may fall also, considering such cases in my country bitcoin is not accepted by any merchants due to this risk.So my advice would be to not spend bitcoins to buy stuff unless it's really urgent.And do trade your bitcoins with cash before buying stuff that would be better.Like I have plans to surprise my future girlfriend by gifting her a good gift on her birthday,so I would spent a part of my bitcoins on that occasion.

Right now spending bitcoins got a little easier. The mempools is not full, that means fast transactions and acceptable fees.
And when you look at the current price, it was kind of stable over the last three days.
That does not sound much at first, but if you want to buy bitcoin and make a transaction with them it is more than enough time.

this is not the time to spend bitcoin but it's time to buy bitcoin to invest, because the price is falling, but if bitcoin price goes up then it's the right time to sell bitcoin. I am currently waiting for bitcoin prices to go up to sell the bitcoin I have.

I think it doesn't make much sense for the seller to give you at least 20% discount, it's not interesting for him... And if it's not interesting for one of the sides tehre isn't deal. Bitcoin can worth a lot on long term, even knowing this I don't think most sellets are crazy to sell their stuff much cheaper just because they are selling for Bitcoins. Remember that when dealing with BTCs you are already skipping some fees and extra costs.

It is probably helpful for Bitcoin for it to be used for purchases. If businesses start to accept it as payment and people actually use it that way, it will probably make it go more mainstream. However, I think most of us are holding the majority of our Bitcoins rather than spending them. I've only used Bitcoin a couple of times for purchases. The way around this is that we could buy more Bitcoins than we want to hold and have the rest for spending just to help promote Bitcoin.

Where do you live? There are no merchants accepting Bitcoin for payment around where I live.

You have a point on the opportunity cost of spending bitcoin today. It's quite often that bitcoin will be worth more tomorrow than it is today. Or to truly abandon the fiat anchor of our thinking, goods purchased with Bitcoin will likely be cheaper tomorrow then they are today (because of the steady increase in Bitcoin's value)

We are truly in the midst of a battle between Bitcoin as a currency and Bitcoin as a store of value.

But assuming bitcoin would always rise too would be wrong. It would attain a value, at least when the supply riches 21 million.

I fully agree with the author. to spend bitkoiny today there is no sense. it is not profitable.

Spending it does not make sense using it to invest in other things that does makes sense and that is what we all want i think to invest and secure our future so dont spend but invest or save.

nowadays there is no sense in spending bitcoins.

Why would merchants who face volatility and maybe even legal risks for accepting Bitcoin should give people a discount on top of that? If people don't want to spend their coins, than it's just easier for merchants to stop supporting Bitcoin at all. Also, viewing Bitcoin spending as an opportunity loss is wrong, because in that case your every fiat spending would be the same opportunity loss, since you could have just bought BTC instead. If you don't want your BTC portfolio to diminish, than just buyback every BTC you spend.

it's pointless now to spend the bitcoins that are so hard to earn.

We all know this thing very well that the market price of Bitcoin is not that much good now a days which means you are not going to get a good profit if you will sell your Bitcoins or even spend them. As far as I think, these days are like the days for taking a deep breath. There is no point of selling your Bitcoins or even spending them at low cost.

Not really pointless because i personally still use bitcoin if ever i have shortages in my own pocket.But yes bitcoin is really hard to earned that's why we should refrain from buying all those things that are not really important to us so we can save bitcoin and hold it for long.It may be giving us huge profit in the future.

OP, I agree with you about not wanting to spend bitcoin, however I do think when merchants accept
it, it's a good thing all around.  And some do, as you said, give big discounts to people who pay via
crypto.  Not many, but enough to stimulate interest.

I dislike spending crypto immensely but I have done it (and then regretted it).  On the other hand, none
of us knows when bitcoin's going to crash, and spending it could seem like the smartest thing in the
world in hindsight.  That's happened to me as well.  I think of crypto as an asset, not as a currency, and
I know a lot of people here share my view. We don't spend gold coins anymore, do we?  Nor silver ones.
Those things are commodities now, not cash.  So it is with bitcoin.

although you can use bitcoin for anything you want to use, but i think that in present time it may not be a good decision, because in present time we can see that the price of bitcoin has gain the accelerator and now the price of bitcoin can increase too much in next few weeks, therefore i think that in current time it will be a good decision to hold bitcoin and not to sell it in current time.

I just can't spend my bitcoins. It's almost a compulsion at this point. I'm just saving them all for later and no matter what someone throws out there it is not worth spending them. Maybe if you get 20% off something you really want already, but that's kind of far fetched. Why wouldn't they just buy bitcoins themselves?

True, for e I used only my bitcoin if it is really important. I just hold a portion of it and invest in altcoins. Most of my holdings are in altcoin and some bounties are not yet sold, because I know it has a great future.Just use bitcoin if it is really important if you want a long term gain.

Well Good for you if you save and hold your bitcoin, but for me I surely need to spend my bitcoin if a necessary thing happen like I need to pay bills or make a grocery weekly well I have no choice about it because I only got bitcoin as my money for the time being, even thought I have a regular job to accommodate with all the expenses needed there are still a need to use your bitcoin without prior notice, like emergency if someone from your part need an operation on the hospital bills you can really never say when will you needing money,

Spending bitcoin these days is not a wise idea anymore because you can see that the price of bitcoin is getting more expensive and the people right now are getting the mindset of a true holder like the people in gold investment. They are now also going for long term and that is one of the reason why the price of bitcoin is not dumping hard because they are all get used to this and they just want to secure bitcoin for long term profits.

Merchants are not really forcing you to spend your bitcoins. You have the power over your coins. These merchants have good purposes. Imagine if there are no merchants, could you use bitcoins when you are in great need.
Seeing prices go skyrocket without holding bitcoins is depressing in my opinion that is why no one spends.

Actually, you are missing the point if you don't see the need for being able to spend BTC. While I agree that many people enjoy storing BTC which is why the value keep rising, but without the ability to spend it, it becomes like gold. But BTC is better than gold, because you can spend it.

If there is no particular need, then I think spending around bitcoin is unwise. It is a precious asset taht is considered to be even better than gold. We won't spend gold here and there in all sort of small financial matters. Similarly, we must be careful in using bitcoins. It is good to save them for future use and better to invest further to increase the number of bitcoins.

I'm excited about the prospect of Amazon accepting cryptocurrency.

If you believe in bitcoin you will have all of your money invested in bitcoin, that way when you will need to spend money you will have no other option other than pay with bitcoin. its simple as that.

With price over 5 thousand dollars it would be triggering people to save more. Well, it's already a fortune. But yes if you need to spend then spend it wisely. A spend that is not regretful but worth it.

i think it is now really the right time to spend because it is  now in a high price status.i believe it is less expenses of bitcoin if we use  it when it is in a high price.because  if we  apend it today only few amount of bitcoin can be spend because it is now  in a high value situation.maybe if we spend it in a low price the value is also low and it really need more expenses to provide our needed things .so then i believe that it is now the time to spend.

as for me, I do not spend my bitcoin yet because I think it will still continue to grow and I think that this will be a great opportunity to earn more.

It's a new kind of way of thinking.
As we had been told since a few years ago, there wasn't another option to the centralised power like bank, goverment and other middle actor that have to certify any contract you make.
But with BTC and blockchain protocol now we have that other option we were looking for, so we do not need that 3rd parts anymore. So we are FREE now

Yes and this is the major reason why bitcoin will never be able to become a currency. Investments and currency must be distinct. Until the price of bitcoin floats new heights everyday we could never adopt it as a currency.

Same here, I also hate spending my Bitcoin but there are times I really need to spend it to pay for my bills. And I do notice a lot of merchants accept bitcoin but only in other countries, but sad to say in the country I am living in I rarely see merchants accepting bitcoin so I have to exchange it to our local currency.

My personal struggle in spending bitcoin over cash is that my belief in the potential of bitcoin to increase in value. When I keep or hold bitcoin in my wallet, it can appreciate overtime; unlike cash that when I keep it in my wallet, it can depreciate or even phase out. Good thing about paying with bitcoin is it's lower transaction fee rate, sometimes even free. Since more adoption of bitcoin could also increase its value, then I guess there's also no harm, rather advancement, in spending it for some time. Just strike the balance and look with what works best for you.

Spending bitcoin these days is actually hard to do. We are now looking at the movement of bitcoin and we are all amazed. This movement is now indicative that bitcoin will definitely continue to soar higher and higher and time will come that a single bitcoin will be valued more than $50,000. Spending a sleeping treasure is hard to do.

I don't like spending my bitcoins. I treat them like a long term investment. Why would I pay with bitcoin for something I can buy using fiat? I try to exchange as much money to bitcoin as I can. It's not easy but it is definitely better idea than buying drugs, alcohol, cigarettes etc. It's weird to see people charging extra for paying with BTC

I think that's they way to get major adoption by mass market: handle the payments the same way they handle FIAT payments.

I think it is another way to get the coin. If I buy a paper for and sell it with a margin of 20% then its like buying your coin 18% less.

Same logic can be applied in other ways: If you loss 20 percent of balance you need to make profit more than 25 percent to take back losses. Merchants are not ready for volatility and this disadvantage makes things more harder.

I get your point of not wanting to spend your BTC, I used to do that and now I completely regret it. However, it's a good thing that more merchants and webstores are accepting Bitcoin as a payment method, it's boosting its usage and becoming more widespread around merchants and internet users. Many people see Bitcoin as investment/asset, similar to gold, which is completely understandable, so do I.

It is worth selling bitcoin these days as the market will probably go higher than current position but people who own many bitcoins will not feel unhappy spending some of them at any stage.
We paltry amount of coin holders are optimistically looking for a chance to make profits from our holdings, however merchants help bitcoin grow more faster.

Right now I must agree with you. It's hard to spend bitcoin since there is a big chance that it's price will increase in a near future. If we do spend them, it will be because of greater convenience, or to take advantage of a good promotion. And it's a really good practice to always buy the same amount of bitcoins as soon as possible, so that we don't miss any possible increases in it's price.

Anyway, I also think that's important for bitcoin to have more utility than "just an asset", so even if there is no real advantage in buying goods with bitcoin, I try to make a buy once in a while, just to show support (and of course, I replace the spent bitcoin, as soon as possible).

There are many online sites that have started to accept bitcoins as a mode of payment but in real world bitcoin is still lacking the exposure and there are not many places where we can spend bitcoins directly for buying anything and it will surely take some long time for that to happen and even if I have option to spend bitcoins for buying anything I won't spend it and will save my bitcoins for future and for shopping I will prefer to use fiat or credit card as bitcoin will be more valuable in future and at that stage I won't mind in spending bitcoins.

Until now I do not want to spend BTC owned because I think BTC has a bright future in the future, save BTC there is the right investment for now because time after time the price is higher and it is an advantage for me who always want to collect BTC every time. For me, spending BTC will only have regrets in the future where people already have a lot of BTC and take advantage of it while people who have spent BTC days will only be able to watch people who will later enjoy the benefits of BTC.

The more we use bitcoins, the more widely bitcoins will be accepted, and the faster bitcoin will grow. I do exactly this - purchase with bitcoins if possible, and then buy back the same amount in fiat. The difference in price between just buying in fiat is usually negligible, and I know that I am helping to spread bitcoin.

With the current transaction charges i am not confortable to spend my bitcoins or even bother to transfer from exchanges now a days because it is a pain for the ages to get one confirmation and hence i am not happy to spend my coins until the network issue is sorted out and i am sure that is the case with everyone and the more we use bitcoin wont make it widely acceptable ,lower transaction fees and faster confirmation will attract people into bitcoin.

That's a good news that there are establishment that currently accept bitcoin payment. I am not spending my bitcoin right now but i am willing to spend it when i need it.

You can see more and more places that accept Bitcoin and that's a really good thing ! We need mass adoption to make Bitcoin bigger.

Im just using my bitcoin in case of emergency or whenever my allowance is zero balance. And what I like about bitcoin is that some of the stores online accepts it, and more and more are continuing and on process to accept bitcoin as payment for what ever a person boughts online. But as much as possible I just store them so that they might be possible to increase in the long run.

Finally, someone realizes the downside of spending your btc on shopping or services. Bitcoin's volatility has huge impact when spending it, we do not know when will the exchange value change. Like you spend it for 300$ today and what if tomorrow the exchange value is doubled? What you have said is actually right, merchants and business owners must offer us interesting deals so that it will be worth the purchase.

Buy a pizza with bitcoinand you can enter in the legend: D

you all will understand ... People do not see it as money that can be picked but more like a gold mine, you will not spend it unless you really need it. But also, the merchants will not really care if they get paid in the form of filters or crypto, so why should they help promote bitcoin and give discounts to use it? That does not make sense either ... In the end, if we all want a world and bitcoin will be more commonly used and much more valuable, we must make some sacrifices to bitcoin, hopefully you all understand or know what I mean.

There are now a lot of merchants accepting bitcoins as a means of payment, I have been able to pay for my domain and hosting using bitcoins lately and I have also funded online trading accounts using bitcoins. Good isn't it

Some of them do so already, but it's more a short term promotional deal rather than something long term. And even with these deals it's very difficult to make people actually spend their coins for once.

We have to accept that there is nothing that will change in the coming years, because nothing hints at the volatility to decrease, and not hints at Bitcoin's growth to stagnate any time soon.

That being said, people should just stop being so focused on paying for things with Bitcoin. It's not like they depend solely on Bitcoin to buy their daily needs and all other stuff. As long as fiat offers better usability, keep using that.

Merchant adoption of BTC has actually decreased in several countries since 2013 (e.g. the US!). Many businesses that started to accept BTC back then
have since stopped doing so, because cryptocurrency purchases didn´t meet the expectations of the business owners.

However, this isn´t really a surprise. Due to the surge in value it doesn´t really make sense to spend BTC (sound money)
when you can just as easily or even more easily pay with your depreciating fiat currency. Additionally, credit cards, Paypal
and other fiat payment methods are still faster and more intuitive in terms of usability.

You're absolutely right. Whatever was the amount of bitcoin you have save it's still too soon to use it. I used to sell some of my bitcoin but not anymore. It's getting more rare since the sources are getting fewer. Working in this forum is not as easy as it used to be. Whenever bitcoin rises, signature campaigns become fewer. Keep stocking your bitcoin because in the coming years, it may reach a surprising price.

Baseless condemnation of Bitcoin by public figures in the banking sector, such as JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, has also triggered mainstream adoption of Bitcoin. A few months ago, Dimon described Bitcoin as a fraud and a bubble, while JPMorgan was fined for $2 bln for committing mortgage fraud, an actual fraudulent activity.

It was later discovered that JPMorgan traders and their clients invested in bitcoin after Dimon’s condemnation of Bitcoin, through the Nordic Nasdaq’s XBT Provider, a Bitcoin exchange-traded note (ETN).

Millennials are quickly understanding the lack of transparency and fraud that the finance industry represents, and shifting towards Bitcoin that is purely mathematical, systematic and decentralized.

Given a choice spending fiat or bitcoin in a certain item then i would surely use fiat because I know that its value is inflationary while bitcoin is the opposite. This is why it is hard to spend bitcoin because we know that sometime in the future if the trend continues then the value of the item we will pay will have lesser bitcoin value and it seems that every satoshi counts. Besides, paying a small value item with bitcoin will become expensive because of the fees. As of now, I can't prevent converting my bitcoin to fiat because of some urgent needs but in the future, my goal is to invest it for long term.

I agree with you. Just keep getting bitcoin and saving bitcoin for the next years because in the future, the price of bitcoin might become more expensive than before and that is how we will make a lot of money from being wise to not sell bitcoin or getting rid of it because the price of bitcoin is getting more expensive than before and that is why it is very worth it to just keep bitcoin.

the most I do is spend bitcoin right now, it's impossible to do because I will not spend bitcoin like that and it should do very mature thinking.

This confuses the general public who think this is supposed to be used as a digital currency. I guess there needs to be more awareness of alternate coins that are better suited for daily transactions.

I can pay for something with Litecoin, Monero, Ethereum, most of popular altcoins. But I will not spend bitcoins because it has big comission and because better to save them sa long-term investments

There are many services that accept paypal or bitcoin online payments and it is reduced by% of the total payment but it is impossible to pay for life payments because no one accepts it as a form of payment.

Yeah if you are having the target you will see how the bitcoin will help all the people to sell but the rates of the bitcoin is now getting high and the amount of the order in the bitcoin will be the helper of the bitcoin I can see the bitcoin is now spreading the money and a lot of the shops are which is using the bitcoin as the shopping currency and the bitcoin is going to have the high market place in the country.

I still don't see bitcoin's appeal as a form of payment, at least under the current circumstances. Transactions are not instant, transaction fees are high, and given bitcoin's rising trend, people tend to rather save it for long term earnings instead of using it on a day-to-day basis. I think the infrastructure around bitcoin has to improve in order for it to be used as a mode of payment.

More and more merchants accepts cryptocurrency as payment. It has gone wide-spread. Spending it or saving it actually depends on the owners decision. A lot of cryptocurrency are now emerging and the originals are bitcoin. One of the best is Ethereum. You can check out more of it's information at www.propthereum.io

I guess because right now the demand of bitcoin is much greater than supply so its services for trading also asks for a more reasonable price compared to regular currency trading. This is because of bitcoins potential, now it is not for a daily use but soon when the number of bitcoins reach its cap then I think that would be the time that it will be more applicable for daily usage.

As the marketplace accepting bitcoin people has got increased access to more services in exchange for bitcoin. Still people doesn't feel to spend bitcoin for those needs. It has been prioritized as an investment asset based on the growth happening with time. The same cannot be experienced anywhere else.

Actually I do not care whether they will give discount when pay with Bitcoins. Because I am not thinking about spending it now or even for the next 3 years. I am saving my Bitcoin and waiting it to pump more like reach $20,000 dollars before I sell a large portion of my Bitcoins. Currently mined was $16M and we only have $5M Bitcoin left before it reach its hard cap. So I guess it is better to buy more than spend more. Having discounts with those merchants will just encourage you to buy more. Making your Bitcoins even less.

Bitcoin is only for investment, and it is not used to trade any commodities because bitcoin trading takes a few hours, even several days, with more coin than bitcoin to spend.

You have good point for spending bitcoin. But dont you think why merchant will give you discount till 20% by paying via crypto??
I think it does not make sense. But if any merchant give that to its customer, its good for bitcoin users.

Bitcoin is difficult to use when it comes to buying like merchants and so on. Bitcoin is not yet known in other countries. In other countries, it is not legal yet. Many also resist the bitcoin, so many have also tried to break or destroy it. But if bitcoin is legal in different parts of the country of the word? you can expect the stores can accept bitcoin where we can buy products or food.

I doubt bitcoin will ever be used as a transaction medium. That's not the reason it has value. Because of high fees and lack of scalability it's looking nicely placed to be used only as a store of value.

These days, more people invest bitcoin more by its increasingly worthwhile value
Many consider bitcoin as gold, buy it to reserve, wait for the price increase and then make profit

HODL That's my strategy.

Well if of us are gonna stuck the bitcoin here in our wallet then what is the purpose of earning bitcoin I meam you'll only need to spend what you need not what you want if you guys know what I mean bitcoin  is something we should value while at the same time it is something that we invest upon om to help support our faily expenses and suppory our family and love one's needs.

I don't like spending my bitcoins. I treat them like a long term investment. Why would I pay with bitcoin for something I can buy using fiat? I try to exchange as much money to bitcoin as I can. It's not easy but it is definitely better idea than buying drugs, alcohol, cigarettes etc. It's weird to see people charging extra for paying with BTC

Spending bitcoin these day are very high in fees
allot of bitcoin online banks and exchanges are charging overprice fees
per transaction, hope this issue get solved soon.

As for me as much as possible I don't spend my bitcoin. I rather hold it than to spend it, by joining in crypto market my goal is to save and invest my earnings. And I see to it that I stick to that goal so I can better use and maximize the benefit and advantages that btc can offer to me.

er...how ya gonna do that if this guy is correct?

(hell, I'm already 1 stripper away from a bad decision at these prices!)

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/17/bitcoin-price-ronnie-moas-sees-cryptocurrency-at-300000-400000.html (https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/17/bitcoin-price-ronnie-moas-sees-cryptocurrency-at-300000-400000.html)

I mean, hell, it gets to 400k a BTC and the shock is gonna kill my frail heart!

(well, it gets to his 400,000 a BTC level ..and I can still HODL, we will see how big a set I have I guess)

wimper :( not frigging likely ;(

I also was spending my bitcoin these past few days since I really need to buy gifts for the kids and also for my mother and father and also for my son. I want them to be happy even in a simple way that they will think I remember them this Christmas. I want to spread love for them in that simple way but after this I would probably save my bitcoin and I will go to save more than to spend more.

in my opinion, it depends on what you will spend with your bitcoin, but not everyone will generate with the bitcoin they have because bitcoin is precious with its sometimes skyrocketing currency

heh, give them a paper wallet with some BTC....either they will laugh a few years from now or go DAMN! Cha-Ching!

It's a hard thing to spend bitcoin or convert already the btc to fiat because it's continue to grow so since that is the situation here i save some then convert some to fiat,actually everytime i click my phone to convert btc to fiat i always think many times so since i do that kind of thing i do 50/50 like 50% save then 50% cashout to spend in real life.

Spending Bitcoin is becoming increasingly more difficult the longer time goes on because people are getting into it more and more on a daily basis, however the network isn't progessing or evolving making it very hard to actually do transactions or use Bitcoin like money, which is quite sad.

I do not think this is a good time to spend your bitcoin as the price goes up day by day so madly so hold it and wait. I think everyone should sell Bitcoin at the right time and limit the sale of all because no one can predict Bitcoin prices in the future.

people buy things because they need them, I guess the two reasons why would someone spend Bitcoins oppose of cash is to spread the use of crypto, or their waiting for a paycheck.
so if someone is waiting for their Friday salary, and have no fiat money on hand, and want to buy food, most people would rather use Bitcoin from their savings than starve for the day ;D

its like you have $5 in your pocket and $1000 in the card, you would rather spend the $5 first, but if you don't have cash you will access you card to pay for things.

I also think adding a discount on bitcoin purchases will increase usage for sure.

Nah nobody really spends bitcoin on dumb stuff, for me it has to be something that i cant get otherwise like things or services from the darknet, but seeing a company like Steam or a forum like reddit accepting bitcoin as a payment is pretty stupid and i can't see anyone using it.

It is actually a negative feedback if people would say they do not spend their Bitcoins. That means Satoshi Nakamoto somehow failed on his invention. But to be honest that is really the prevailing trend when it comes to Bitcoin treatment. Most of the time, Bitcoin is not really a digital cash. It is actually treated as an asset. The majority is actually guilty of this. But who's to blame? The value is shooting to the moon.

Its absolutely GOLD feeling spending your bitcoins now a days i remember there were a website "piiko" of mobile recharge (not sure if it still works) and i used to spend about 0.05 BTC every month for mine and my wife's mobile bill and now 0.005 is even to much for that  :)

I spend my bitcoin last night. Buying shoes and new clothes and buying things for christmas. Christmas gifts yeah. Spending it with a purpose is good enough than spending it in uneccesary things just to fulfill your satisfaction or your wants.

I were actually looking for some website to buy joggers the other day which accepts bitcoins but could not find any (found few unknown could not believe on them ) then end up selling some on localbitcoins and bought CA sports joggers from local shop, so let me know which website you used which ships worldwide ?

This is really true statement and I agree with your concept of storing the bitcoin for now onwards. To be honest there were many ways of earning bitcoin in the previous era, there were faucets which use to pay us million satoshi's just like that for every 15 minutes and now we just get 5-10 satoshi's. The is really small example about what I'm trying to say here about the bitcoin and how difficult things are getting for the bitcoin now a days. 

You speak the truth about the signature campaigns and more over don't forget about the trading also where the coins have become so expensive to enter into market. If we want to buy the coins no a days then everything is above 100 bucks and it makes difficult to buy them in quantitate manner. 

Im sure these things will be changed in the future by upgrading the bitcoin itself to far smarter blockchain than the work process that it carries today. :-)

I'll keep it safe stored on wallet rather than buying some stuff online unless I really need it - after the hard rain the rainbow will come  ;)

The more we use bitcoins, the more widely bitcoins will be accepted, and the faster bitcoin will grow. I do exactly this - purchase with bitcoins if possible, and then buy back the same amount in fiat. The difference in price between just buying in fiat is usually negligible, and I know that I am helping to spread bitcoin.

I have absolutely no idea to spend bitcoin because if I spend bitcoin then I will not have savings and profits in the future. One of the goals of creating bitcoin is to be one option as a solution to improve the economy of either a person or agency/company. Blockchain technology makes it easy for every user to be able to transact without any distance limit making it easier for users to transact with anyone, anytime, and anywhere.