Bitcoin Forum

Guys, Bitcoin is fundamentally flawed, we all know this yet we keep focusing on the price. Bitcoin was intended to be a p2p, cutting out the middle man, yet we treat it like a stock. If Bitcoin were to be a reporting company by god knows how, it'd have to file for reports, 10k's,  quarterly, anually, the whole 9 if you're familiar with the financial realm.
Bitcoin is not a fraud, it's the individuals (smart money/wall st) manipulating it for the greed of money.

Not all of "us" are keeping up with the price of Bitcoin as if it were a stock. There are those of "us" that use Bitcoin as intended to purchase things and use it as it was intended. Try to keep that in mind when using "us" as a collective. There are a bunch of noobs that are treating Bitcoin as a stock, especially after 2017. But it's up to those that know what Bitcoin is and how to use it to educate the uninitiated so that the "mass adoption" phase can kick in correctly and not the way that wall street and the banks want it to. Yes the "smart money" and banks are controlling the PR piece and touting Bitcoin as more like a stock, that's where the uninformed come in and try to get a piece of the action. When they "lose" they feel that Bitcoin isn't worth anything and then they get out thinking that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are nothing more than another tulip mania.

But it has value. Should we ignore it and move on? If something exists we have to take it into consideration. Like when you write program and people value it at 10000 USD, will you ignore it because your car has nothing to do with price? One day you will need money and will need to sell it. Many of us hold Bitcoins because we don't agree with its price and think that it should be much higher, but we don't ignore it. We measure and value it and price is a good unit of measurement.

People have assigned it value, and for it to be used as a currency, it has to have value, and so people speculated on what truly is the acceptable price for 1 bitcoin is. I won't call it fundamentally flawed; we, the same people who gave bitcoin its value, are the ones who deviated away from the fundamentals of bitcoin and have allowed the same middlemen and governments to encroach this tiny space of ours on which we think we're safe from their control and observant eyes. Had we not given bitcoin some value, we wouldn't even be here, and only those who truly believed in the system way before bitcoin reached some significant value would stay.

if you go to a supermarket and pay with stocks, it doesn't turn stocks into a currency. it just means YOU chose to use stocks as a medium of exchange. the same thing is with bitcoin. if some people think of bitcoin as stocks that  doesn't make bitcoin a "stock", it is only their perspective of it. not to mention that it is still your perspective thinking people do that! the fact is bitcoin, like any other currency, is being traded. in other words the same way US dollar is being traded on Forex market, bitcoin is being traded in cryptocurrency market. would you call USD a stock because of that?

Yes,but if the majority of the people share the same perspective,that perspective becomes valid. ;D
By the way,I don't agree with the OP about bitcoin being p2p.I don't think that BTC is peer-to-peer anymore.There are som many crypto exchange platforms,online wallets and crypto casinos.Too many middleman services in the market.

How you choose to view your bitcoins largely depends in what you plan on gaining from it.
The fact is:
It has value
It is volatile
It can be transferred and hence can be used as a means of payment.
It's volatility makes it an investment option
It's volatility also makes it unsuitable as a store of value, no one wants to see their purchasing power drop without any action from them. (If you are considering the possibility of it's rising then you're viewing it as an investment)

Bitcoin is a payment tool. In this way, we should consider Bitcoin as "money". The value should actually determine only the supply-demand. But, of course, manipulation is also influential in price, because of the higher value than expected.

don't blame bitcoin for the way you are thinking about it. start blaming yourself for misunderstanding what bitcoin is for.

besides nothing is wrong if you care about the price and want to make a profit from bitcoin as long as you understand bitcoin and how it works and are not caught up in some hype.

How else to aptly explain what Bitcoin is.  8) But how important too that the activities of the 'greedy ' Wall street guys have made the acceptance and awareness of bitcoin faster. But for the commercialization of bitcoin, it will take ages for people to come to know of this magnificent technology.

Based on the Satoshi whitepaper, bitcoin is the currency. Of course, people are free to trade between currencies, such as EUR-USD, GBP-USD, INR-USD, etc. This does not mean that these currencies were treated as stocks. Each currency has its own function and jurisdiction, so people need to exchange currencies.

In stocks, you get a portion of a company's ownership (or share). This is the basis of "intrinsic" value. In Bitcoin, its value derived from the bitcoin network, users will be able to store value securely without hyperinflation and transfer it anywhere in the world.

So bitcoin price was not created from thin air (like fiat) or company's ownership (like stocks), but from the network which is the safest open network in the world.

Pre 2013 geeks knew what BTC was, ..

Post 2014 the assholes took over btc and promoted it as a get rich quickk ponzi,

good news is nature is cleaning the assholes out

It going to take time before most users of bitcoin will change they perspectives about bitcoin and try to use it for what it originally developed for which is to provide a p2p system of sending and receiving money without any restrictions or involvement of any individual or institutions. But today people buy bitcoin and keep it as a stock with the sole aims of making huge profits at the end not knowing how volatile bitcoin can be when it comes to price so at that they always end up frustrated when the swing does not go in the directions they expect it to.

Basically everyone knows this BTC is not formed as a stock but different holders conclude BTC as a stock,Intriguing Industry blockchain if its related to the price maybe the person concludes different things by looking at the graph of the value the BTC movement there.Such an opinion should be straightened out but if its said BTC as a stock there is a point cause values fluctuate like stocks are not a stable currency.I still think BTC is our currency ;).

Never did it crossed my mind that Bitcoin is like a stock and I never even considered it to be like one. For those people acting like Bitcoin is like a stock where you can use fundamental analysis my question is how? There are no financial reports, disclosures, or even a company handling it so it may sound crazy for people thinking that you can use fundamental analysis on Bitcoin. Bitcoin is still an asset but there are other ways you can forecast its price by not using anything related to identifying its fair value.

If u do CFD on bitcoin then bitcoin will be a stock. You will get history data. And the report u need to self collect on website/portal and analyse your own.
P2P is difficult because there will a lot of scam outside (like u buy from personal seller can be scam also) and also criminals will use bitcoin too and u need to face them carefully if u like to. Middleman is ok, but the problem is middleman (exchange etc) will need to do KYC if government involved in.
Sure bitcoin not fraud, but will affect by technical (example fork) and hacker will hack your things if u not careful or not familiar.

That is not new! Bitcoin was invented as a currency aimed to replace Fiat money, we all know that a lot of people joined Crypto lately are treating BTC as just an investment that will bring them fast profit and no one can really do anything about this, everyone is free to think what he/she thinks. 90% of the last wave that joined the Crypto space is dealing with BTC as an asset that is supposed to bring them profit, even if what they think is not the truth but it is a fact that BTC was treated like an asset or stock for a while now, but it is also a fact that Bitcoin is meant to be a currency and will continue to be for the people who truly understand what is Bitcoin.

If you ever invested in stocks you would probably knew that even for stocks you don't always buy the value of a piece of a company. Most of the time you buy feelings on offer-demand patterns.

It's an age old discussion about the bitcoin. Whatever you said, it's correct about bitcoin but how come you reach to a conclusion that bitcoin is fundamentally flawed? It is our thinking about bitcoin which is flawed and that has not to do with the fundamentals of bitcoin. It is correct at its place and what differs is our thinking about bitcoin and the investment mindset. Bitcoin is still a p2p electronic cash system but we, the common people have taken it as an investment or a source of earning money. That certainly doesn't make fundamentals of bitcoin flawed.

Manipulators are everywhere. They are in the stock market, they are in the hedge funds, they are in the venture capital companies, almost everywhere in the financial system. Probably they are big in numbers in the crypto market because there is no regulator, so we often fall pray to their tactics! But that's how it is and we should be accepting it the way it is. There's no way we can cut them from the system. But that doesn't make the fundamentals of bitcoin, flawed! Watch what you are saying!

Bitcoin is 10 years old emergency non regulated asset
Bitcoin trading is manipulated because trading is not regulated in whatever way
It has nothing with bitcoin itself
If trading will be regulated then manipulation will gone
Bitcoin needs technology improvements and legitimate services support
But bitcoin is only 10 years old so think we want to much

Market manipulation can't be stopped only by regulations.
The market should be mature enough to become free. If we got a huge daily trading volume then it will require more money to make pumps and dumps. Now many altcoins can be pumped /dumped just by a single person trying to sell his altcoin savings.

Right. 10 years is pretty short for any market to mature so we're likely still infancy. At this point though you can't avoid people treating it as a stock since the market's volatility makes it act like one. Btc and every other altcoins in the market. Though eventually i think we can come to a time where we can see bitcoin closer to being  transactional option that a stock share.

You are absolutely right mate. Bitcoin is not being used as a technology but is being used as an asset. There are a lot of speculators in the market now.
We can say that the majority dominance in the crypto community is filled with speculators. Well it's not bad because bitcoin is growing eventually.
But the fact that Bitcoin is not being used as a currency and is being used as an asset/stock to trade in the market.
I guess when wide adoption of bitcoin takes place and there are large number of stores accepting bitcoin then BTC will be used more as a currency  and less as an asset.

Bitcoin was created for the sole reason of making transactions faster by eliminating third parties. But things always change. Bitcoin as asset may oppose its original cause but it also achieve a lot more than many have imagined. And it seems like it is bound to happen since it peaked in popularity just like what happened in every trends nowadays. Capitalism bears both good and bad in the society but as long as it is working, it won't disappear soon.

a single person selling his altcoins is not going to dump the market even if that single person has a large amount of that coin it won't be big enough. manipulation is not just having a lot of money to dump or pump, it is about knowing how to do it in a correct way that has the most influence and can affect the price.
if it was really that easy to manipulate the price then we would have seen price of every altcoin go up and down every hour instead of what happens now which is mostly one coin getting pumped then dumped for at least 6 months before it is pumped again.

Bitcoin price always on the demand in the market.
It is the people in the market who create the price and demand of it.
The blockchain is the system and not affecting any in the market.

Mate, I agree with you bitcoin is only used as a asset but not as a technology. People need time to understand the characteristic and its features to use it as a technology. A lot of news are coming across this forum as some big auto mechanical industries started accepting bitcoin also in lot of shops they started to accept it have a loom at brazil where they are making use of this technology.

Unfortunately Bitcoin as a p2p payment method seem to be more a dream currently. I'm not going to criticize people for treating it as a stock though. After all that is how many, including myself, discovered bitcoin.

I don't see why they have to be mutually-exclusive though. Bitcoin prices can still rise and fall as it is traded and yet be used for payment, especially since most of the time the value of the good/service is in fiat anyway.

well the price is what drives the useability and the wealth of the developers, they even tried to create their own central bank to take over world domination, and ran a corrupt cryptocurrency index, that defined the world into Bitcoin and shitcoins.

their nature should be known to all.

i wont wonder if bitcoin crashes because of those reasons.

It wasen`t supposed but by the time it kinda become. It`s funny how thing can take another form..
People have seen the opportunity to earn some profit and started to treat it like that. The fact is that majority doesn`t care to much about blockchain technology, they only looking the price chart as investors. I have to say that I am also with bitcoin because of profit at first place.

Well we don't acquire bitcoin for free, it has a price to pay to be able to get it and for those who've paid much for it are for sure will not want to lose if they just spend them like they are taking coins from their purses with out considering the value and how much they are going to lose. If I bought mine in 2017, for sure I cannot just let it fly and wave goodbye without thinking about my loses.

I may agreed that it is used as p2p and use it to remove the 3rd party but aren't we here to invest in bitcoin because we know that we have chance that we can gain profits from it's characteristics? The price is volatile, it may flactuate or it may increased. Thus giving us a chance to take that opportunity to at least get an earnings somehow.

As a decentralized cryptocurrency, no one can define how others will perceive or use bitcoin. Some people see bitcoin as a liberating technology whereas others see it as an investment, and some see it both ways. If bitcoin's price gets pumped by Wall Street in the future, then so be it. No one can dictate how bitcoin is used, since it is censorship-resistant.

If the price is as volatile as it is now. Investors can not help but be bothered about it especially as they put in hard earned money.
And the volatily would of course attract investors looking to take advantage and make profits.
That is the stage the network is at right now. In a couple of years, all this could change.

I don't know, but the dream of Satoshi was to used without the middleman.

However, may find it to function likes stocks, to be traded, in a exchange. Specially when bitcoin started to roll from $.1 to $100. And then exchanges popping early added to its ability to become a trade assets.

So why not take advantage of both? Used them are currency and buy things around without any third party involved and then trade them to make money. Makes sense to me.

Interesting statement. Care to elaborate? Where/how is Bitcoin "fundamentally flawed"?
Or you wanted to start with something bombastic, even with the risk of starting FUD, only to get some attention?
So please explain how you think Bitcoin is flawed. As you can see from others' post too it's not "all" who "know" that Bitcoin is "fundamentally flawed".


This denotes quite some lack of understanding. In all countries with inflation there are people who will buy less inflationary coins (USD, EUR..) and keep them as asset.
This is normal to also happen with Bitcoin because mathematically Bitcoin is more powerful than even USD and EUR.
Then there's Forex. The same happens today on Bitcoin exchanges too.

So the only abnormal part is the level of speculation, but imho that's caused by the lack of regulations, which allows some exchanges play with fake volumes, fake trade and ultimately affecting the price when they shouldn't.

The degree of decentralization varies

The mapping behind the stock is an entity limited company. The shareholders'meeting, the board of directors and the board of supervisors correspond to the power, decision-making and supervision respectively. In general, there are actual controllers who control the direction of the company's development, so the degree of centralization is relatively high. Bitcoin is different, it has no physical mapping, it is not a company, it does not have shareholders'meeting, board of directors, board of supervisors, it has a variety of large and small mines, in the world of Bitcoin, mines represent power, power represents power, overall, the power distribution of Bitcoin is more decentralized, so the degree of centralization is lower than that of stocks.

Second, different regulatory positions

The establishment of a company shall follow strict legal procedures. The basic process of registered company: 1, inquiring enterprise name 2, providing basic information by customers 3, first examination and approval of industrial and commercial seal 4, capital verification 5, submitting to industrial and commercial bureau for examination and approval, printing business license 6, processing enterprise organization code certificate 7, handling tax registration certificate 8, obtaining all licenses, and other related materials. Everything from establishment to operation to bankruptcy of a company should be carried out in accordance with legal procedures, so that the legitimacy of the company's business can be supervised by government agencies. At the same time, the company's economic operations must be recorded in accordance with strict accounting system.

Even though the central bank has positioned Bitcoin as a virtual commodity, in fact, too many Bitcoin transactions are outside the law. Due to the de-centralization and anonymity of Bitcoin and the characteristics of global transactions, there are no effective laws and regulations to regulate Bitcoin transactions.

Three different valuation methods

As experienced stock investors, we know that stock valuation methods are various, such as P/E ratio, P/E ratio, free cash flow discount method. As far as P/E ratio method is concerned, its principle is dividing stock price by profit. It reflects that when dividend rate is 100% and dividend is not reinvested, after many years, our investment can be recovered all through the day. However, Bitcoin does not have these valuation methods. At present, there is no generally accepted valuation method for Bitcoin. However, some people in the industry usually use the "mining cost method" to valuate Bitcoin. Besides, there are also methods to anchor gold and foreign exchange reserves. We can see that as an investment product, the valuation of Bitcoin is essentially different from that of stocks. Does that mean that there is no difference between the analysis of Bitcoin price and that of stock price? In fact, it is not. Although valuation methods vary greatly, supply and demand determine prices, which is unchanged for commodities under any market economy.

When the use of a thing is not known abuse is inevitable, People that does not know the use of bitcoin usually shout scam and bubble when there is a little down in price. The best we can do is to inform people before they invest in bitcoin.

There are many diverse opinions as to what bitcoin truely is. Though some say it should not been seen as currency, others think otherwise. Though most individuals do ponder on what brings about the value of this coin, one common thing seen by everyone, is that this digital coin does have value.

It was and it still is. Satoshi's "real" vision was correctly implemented here. I dont see anyway how that is deviated from.

That is a secondary effect. There is a demand and supply for bitcoin and simple p2p system to trade with became risky and not cliche. Hence the development of exchange to facitilate the flow of coins and allowing people to buy them. Will they be used for trading? That was because speculation happens and it became a valued asset with time.

It makes sense to everyone and that what people are doing with it now.

Time(Duration), Work(TIME), Goods and Services (CAN BE CONVERTED TO TIME)

Time Banking https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB8ifVJ34JU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0Flh6cuuWs

Time Is Money -Benjamin Franklin

Some of the experts says that bitcoin is a digital asset and some said that it is digital gold which can hold and make profit on it, but not all of us. Some of the people including me just following the value trend of bitcoin but doesn't forget the idea of bitcoin and the future currency can be it. People/investors/traders are the main cause of why bitcoin inflates.

Yes it was fundamentally flawed by many people that it was only a scheme of scam ,but now look at itself it was totally improved and getting succesful and most of the country now was recognizing it for payment method/system and also investing.

Fundamentally called scam by brain dead idiots brainwashed by government propaganda against crypto. They were not even given the time or the proper knowledge to learn about crypto and its usage. Since we as humans tend to call things those are not reachable by us as "bad" - this idea came up and became popular in the internet. What is true was far from it.

In a few countries crypto was made "the" mode of payment but this wasnt the way for bitcoin. Instead they created altcoins for their own country. I do not support this idea because with a altcoin controlling a countries economy a lot of problems can arise.

But how can you expect us to use bitcoin as the trend being settled here for 10 year Since?From the beginning bitcoin has been for holding and this made people turns to becoming millionaires so people here also believe that in future they will be like them.so just use your bitcoin and I will hold mine

Just because it's been given importance as a stock that eliminate the intermediary we cannot term it has got flawed. Everything at the beginning will be different and further when continuous growth and usage takes place it gets taken to different dimensions. This is where we've got it to be payment method and on different needs.

We know that it is not intended to be a stock. But it has a huge value because of the huge price. And I don't we can just ignore the price just because it was intended to be a p2p. And yes, speaking of frauds, I think we should be researching to reduce that kinds of problems since it is really hard to deal with fraud.

You are right bitcoin can never be a fraud and the only value it has is with the individuals in the market and this individuals some time manipulate the market and turn it what ever way they like. The big bag holders inject huge amount into the market to influence the market to they own advantage.

The fraud in bitcoin is the same as fraud in fiat. People use the term in a different way. Before bitcoin was being used, fiat was used to fraud people. The methods remain same but the mode just changes with time. Now people are being fooled by the same method  but a different mode that is bitcoin. Same old scare tactics or phishing tactics to scam people like we always see.

Talking about price manipulation though, we cannot do anything about that since the market is not regulated by anybody. While trading should be done cautiously, still losses are possible and those are market risks - that you agreed to before you started trading.

Bitcoin really exists on the belief of people in its prospects. Its price, as well as the entire decentralized cryptocurrency, depends only on the ratio of supply and demand for it. Therefore, he has such a large price volatility. In a very short time, it can rise significantly in price or descend just as sharply. Therefore, externally, Bitcoin resembles a financial bubble. For the same reason, it is unlikely to reach too large price values. Here ordinary human weaknesses will always work - fear for their investments, emotionality in decision-making and eternal human greed.

Sad but true,Most of us see it as a stock and only use crypto as an investment.
They forget what it is made for and doesn't want to use it as a payment method.
And I agree Bitcoin isn't a fraud it is the person who use's it .

Bitcoin is a store of value and should be treated as such. Since Bitcoin has no stakeholder, only developers, it would not be valued based on a "business" but moreso based on basic supply and demand of Bitcoin itself. If you understand the concept of Gold as a store of value and its value over the millennia, then understand that Bitcoin is more or less a digital version of gold.

That is what they say .  bitcoin is a digital gold because gold and bitcoin have some simillarities  the only difference is bitcoin dont exist in a real world .

 by this , bitcoin can be a store of value but it can also be used a a currency for paying and buying   . idk what stakeholder means but every people can invest on it , i think thats also simillar  .

 blockchain has nothing to do with the price because its only a technology but bitcoin can be consider as a stock because we can invest on it .

If you expect people from all over the world to use bitcoin and have  different beliefs,professions and everything, then btc can not be confined to be a p2p solution only, the bearer has the right to treat it however the like, can be stock, can be digital gold the choice is unlimited.

there is nothing wrong with people having different views towards bitcoin, even if they only want to make money from its rise and falls and nothing else. that is the whole purpose of bitcoin to be non-restrictive. but the problem is when they try to brand bitcoin with a certain thing they think is true like "store of value only". that is when they start breaking things apart.

Bitcoin cannot be considered a reliable repository of value due to its high level of price volatility. A good example of this is investing in Bitcoin at the end of 2017. Investing at this time led to a decrease in the price of bitcoin by 70 percent. A reliable repository of value then disappeared and did not appear until today.

Just because bitcoin is not a stock does not mean there can't be metrics to measure its value. The fact is its transaction volume keeps growing and it's finite or scarce. The argument that bitcoin should have a market cap comparable to gold is thus sound.

In that sense the term store of value is being wrongly used by certain people who tend to think such. Bitcoin or any other speculative asset can never be a good storage of money. Its something that can be used for trading, maybe storing temporarily unless sold or bought again.

For that you would prefer to keep the money in a bank even if that seems opposite of what this forum is for. It is the truth. Even stablecoins are just big ponzis running around trying to keep the inflation in their currency under control. They would collapse anytime, but not anytime soon as long as a koolaid drinking crew is there to pump them up.

Whatever we say people using bitcoin for their greed including ME . More over currency it became the stock . I am holding some of the bitcoin form long time even lots of community members and traders out here . No matter what we can say bitcoin still store of value . Hodl is meant to Stock i think.

It's not that bitcoin is not intended to be a stock. It just depends on how the person is going to use it. And most of us here knows that blockchain has nothing to do with the price because it is a "technology". Bitcoin is not intended to be a stock is your perspective about it. Some people use it like stocks because it is volatile and can earn money from it.

I think Bitcoin is actually supposed to be something between a currency and some non governmental body which can help us to establish our own place in this world .
.. Bitcoins actually gives us true freedom .

I think it is not supposed to be an investment...or a currency but it is serving those.purposes at the same time it is actually a movement .

Bitcoin serve as digital currency and can be regard to as money which gives chance to every online people to buy and sell without any stress as long as the two party know what they are getting involve in by accepting the btc as form of money and can also be traded or exchange to fiat at any point in time.

It is because of the way that these manipulators have manipulated the market that makes it look like bitcoin is only used as an asset alone. That 2017 increase to me did more damage to the market, because the way bitcoin surge so high was kind of too outrageous that it attracted many people who only came to the market to make money through cryptocurrency alone and not to use it as p2p that it was created for.

I want to see how those manipulators will survive in future when the volatility is no longer there and the price movement will be so little like the way it happens in the Forex market, then people would have embrace the currency purpose of it and be using it to make payment on so many merchant stores then either online of offline.

what can you do if thats what they want ? there is a saying  that if you cant beat them join them. many are like u that hates the fact that people only treat cryptos as assets and they always complain but end up that they become investors too. now they dont complain because they are happy with the results. .

blockchain has nothing to do with a price , yes your correct with that because blockchain is only a technology and cryptos are currencies . both are different .

Bitcoin is a digital currency that can be use as payment method and as  a medium of exchange,it means it can be use in trading like a real money or dollar. The only difference bitcoin is digital while dollar are a form of money issued by the government together it's value. Bitcoins value is depends on the demand and supply and also the manipulation of some big company or individual behind cryptocurrency. So,it's up to you if you treat bitcoin as a stock.

It is not supposed to be an investment, but it is right now, individuals are concern about when Lambo? when Moon? so obviously there a shift from a supposedly peer-to-peer paradigm to a playground of whales and manipulators.

Anyway, we can't really blame how the game and rules has evolved to being similar to stocks today. And I don't think that Satoshi has seen that his creation, that supposedly to give freedom from financial institutions are trying to be 'institutionalized", just sayin'.

True. That pump did attract a lot of no-coiners and newbies who never heard of crypto to buy some bitcoin. But that was what the Tether manipulation was intended to do - pump the market to Bitfinex could cash out its store of coins. Many people got the hint that prices are going even higher from friends, neighbors and so they bought the news - the wrong move during a huge pump.

It wont become like Forex. There is a basic different between forex and crypto. In the former people buy and sell almost every minute and dont think about holding unless there is a news of a gradual rise or sudden rise. In crypto it is more about cautiously holding and waiting to sell and proper time and then buying back. So the manipulators will always exist. You cannot prevent them without bringing in regulation.

So if you look at the price of Bitcoin means that we treat it like a stock? Why don't we treat it like a currency? Forex traders always keep up with the price of their favorite pairs like EURUSD, GBPUSD, etc. so why wouldn't we keep up with the BTC price against major world currencies, especially if after all we want Bitcoin to become the world currency?

The more people own Bitcoin around the world, the less it can be manipulated. Now only a small percentage of the World's population owns Bitcoin, so once mass adoption kicks in, the merchant phase will also become much bigger. Everything we use or store has some kind of value. It's the way our financial systems work. Even in less complicated fiscal setups, you can barter a few goats for a cow, for example. We can't get rid of the fact that smart money will follow anything that has the potential to grow exponentially, especially if it has a limited supply, but demand can be ever-expanding. Yes, I don't like price manipulation at all, but hey, they are even manipulating the price of basic commodities like food, and that to me really sucks big time, even more than looking at Bitcoin as a store of value. I don't mind Bitcoin being a store of value at all, to be honest, as it works as a hedge against the basket of useless fiat debt-ridden currencies.

I love Bitcoin especially for being different from ,for example, dollar. Governments can't control it. The control on your BTC is on your hands. It is the most alluring thing on Bitcoin and this market.