Bitcoin Forum

BitCoin is NOT a currency. Any business is rolling the dice accepting BitCoin with how volatile the price is. With how rapid the price swings (mostly down), no logical business would/should accept BitCoin. No different than gambling. To my knowledge my dollar last week is still a dollar today, not true with BitCoin, you would have taken a hefty loss this week only!

To my knowledge, my bitcoin last week is still a bitcoin today, so GTFO.

Bitcoin's used as a medium of exchange; it is both currency and money.

Unless you're saying Wikipedia is wrong.  So let's try this again:



Damn, that's strike two.  You should really go chase these guys and tell them their definitions are wrong, since, y'know, Bitcoin's not a currency, despite having the qualities which would define it as one.

If Bitcoin is for fools why did you make yet another topic about it?

Your reasoning that it is not a currency is because it is volatile?
Have you seen the Yen recently? Or how about the NZD?

May 23rd: 103.73
June 13th: 93.80
Today: 100.00

Actually, if you put it simply, BTC is more like stocks than money. The price fluctuates and your assets may lose value. It's price is driven by demand, like stocks.

Only, there isn't a company behind it...

And you can buy stuff. So it kinda reminds of money. What if you had Apple stocks, and you could buy a Mac with 0.5 of your MacCoins? Wouldn't that be money?

Oh, and your dollar isn't really a dollar... sure, the note/coin is the same, but it won't buy you the same amount of oil/gas/eggs/Euros this week and the next.

So, I guess dollars (and money in general) are kinda like stocks... right? Isn't that why you'd invest in a foreign currency?

Anyway, I don't really get the whole economy stuff, but I'm more interested in buying BTC than FaceBook stocks.

Hope my little brainstorming helps.

The dollar isn't a currency either by your logic.

http://goldsilverworlds.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/US_dollar_purchasing_power_vs_gold_1774-2012.gif

Sorry I can't hear you over the white noise and the echos from the past when this was already discussed countless times all over the web...

Bitcoin is a commodity. hehe.

Bitcoin is both a currency and a payment processing system, as are all other Cryptocurrencies based on Bitcoin such as Litecoin.

It depends from what viewpoint you are looking at it.

I agree with this somewhat but if you run a firm that derives most of its revenue from fees then it should be relatively easy to adjust the fees as the price fluctuates. If I operated a bitcoin orientated business and dealt only with BTC then I would definitely be taking more notice of the value in USD or the value in USD after fees for withdrawing etc. Rather than the value in BTC alone, as it is not a very recognised currency and you can't use it to pay for important things like food, petrol or utilities. If these firms are smart then they would have already planned or have experience in how to deal with high price volatility.

One dollar has still the same approximate value. With 1.30 usd you could buy 1 euro.
But between now and 3 months earlier, the value of bitcoins changed a lot

They didn't start being the equivalent of 80 USD, not mostly down at all ???.

That's the result of the government controlling the liquidity though.

Assume the value of crude oil sky-rockets, and you want to buy it.
When there are not enough bitcoins to match the demand, it's value goes up, because everyone wants more bitcoins so that they won't get cold.
When there are not enough dollars to match the demand, the government doesn't want you to get cold, so it generates more dollars. To you, your dollars seem stable, but in reality they are devalued a little.

Anything represented digitally can be a string of 0's and 1's. Those 0's and 1's are part of how we are communicating at this moment!

It is being used as a currency for years.

And what can you do with your bitcoin?

spend it, convert to USD, trade it, etc.

The value of Bitcoins doesn't make it a currency or not. If it's used to exchange goods/services etc then it's a currency. If it's worth $0.60 it's still a currency. If it rises by 100% then it's still a currency. As long as it's still being used to buy things. I think you need to look over the term "Currency".

Here's the Webster's dictionary definition:
1.
a : circulation as a medium of exchange
b : general use, acceptance, or prevalence

Let me also give a list of stuff that was once used as currency (sometimes they still are used in parts of the world)
1. Gold
2. Furrs
3. Tobacco
4. Salt
5. Gemstones.
Have the value of these items stayed the same? No! Are these backed by a country or a central bank? No! Why are you even on this forum? GTFO! And look at your username! Do you even know how bitcoin even works on a basic level?
 

Your dollar is not actually the same dollar it was yesterday. It depreciated slightly in value (in fact, the major reason the Federal Reserve exists is to depreciate the value of the dollar in a stable way). In a year, most likely, your dollar won't be able to purchase the same amount of goods as it does today.

What you pointed out just means the dollar is merely more stable than bitcoin over the past few years. That may continue to be true tomorrow, next month or next year. Or it may not.

If Bitcoin is not a currency, what is it?

A good way to destroy a processor at that point.

Most of the naysayers say that its just a commodity. Well, gold is a commodity, yet almost all the powerful ancient empires used it as a currency.

hockey cards is a currency

Hm... I wonder if that definition needs a clause saying it can't be used only to trade with itself, it must be used as a medium of exchange for multiple types of goods :p

All currency is faith based - including BTC - if the market gives up believing something has value, then guess what... this goes for anything inc fiat currency.