Bitcoin Forum

So, we are moving into a new era where Fiat currencies are getting some competition from Crypto currencies and multiple other payment methods. People are simply not interested in using cash anymore, because cashless payment options are more efficient and also more convenient. < Debit & Credit cards / Crypto currencies / Gift cards / E-Wallets / Cheque / PayPal etc. >

So with the endless alternative payment options available, cash payments are slowly being replaced by more practical and convenient payment options.

Is there still a need for Cash <Fiat currencies> in this evolving world?

I can think of several scenarios where Fiat currencies are still needed, namely :

1. Where there are no electricity infrastructure.
2. Where it is not safe to carry expensive smart phones.
3. Where there are no access to the Internet.
4. Where there are a high number of illiterate people.
5. Where there are people with disabilities that presents challenges for electronic payment options.

I personally think there are still huge challenges that needs to be addressed, before electronic payment options can permanently replace Fiat currencies and that alternative payment options can co-exist with Fiat currencies.

Please give your opinion and participate in the Poll.  ;)

We need the coins pegged in fiat. Some may not consider it crypto but that's I guess we are going. We still need that debit and credit card and all the rest since the government can't just take them out at once. We still need these fiat, I don't know for how long but probably around 20 years. I think there are cities who already practices paperless transactions and all they do are just credit, debit cards and so on. I think the city is in Swiss. The transition to crypto will take long.

fiats ( that mean cash money as well) give people flexibility. cash is very secure payment method.
so in fact it is more secure in some ways then crypto
the cost of transaction is zero, delay of transaction is zero. but crypto + fiat is good combination for today's world
and, imo, it should stay like this  8)

You are mixing terms "cash" and "fiat" in many places in your posts, it makes it really hard to properly answer your question. Cash means physical money, fiat means government-issued money not backed by anything.

Should cash exist? Yes, because electronic payment methods rely on the Internet, electricity and special devices, and those things can't be always available, especially in remote places.

Should fiat exist? Crypto is technologically incapable of handling all fiat's transactions in the world right now, even with Lightning Network. So, it's kinda pointless to discuss whether crypto should replace fiat, until it's actually possible to do so.

I also believe that there is no need to phase-out fiat currency.  As the given example,


internet cannot conquer every corner of the world so there will always be a place where traditional mode of payment is needed.  In cases where electricity isn't available, it would be harder if we go back to barter mode of trading and using fiat currency is way more comfortable than carrying tons of goods for trading.  So instead of competition of which is better, people should learn how to synergize the effect of these two currency for the benefit of human economy.

I use the word Fiat because it has a very close link to cash issued by governments. The word “fiat” is Latin in origin and refers to an arbitrary order issued by a government or other authoritative figure. When applied to paper money, fiat currency refers to the scary notion that our dollar has value only because the government says it does. <-- Source : https://americanmonetaryassociation.org/why-the-dollar-is-called-a-fiat-currency/

So let's not split hairs on the actual difference between the two, because it can be any physical currency that are issued and backed by the respective governments.  ::)

Let's just focus on the discussion and question if these currencies should be replaced.  ;)

It depends on the state in which crypto will be once it gets regulated and adopted. If the prices stabilize, then maybe there won't be the need for fiat anymore. Provided, of course, that other issues you have mentioned get addressed and possibly dealt with. But still, i think that if it does happen, it will be in the future, perhaps 50 or more years in the future, provided that crypto development doesn't stop or slow down to a crawl.

We are indeed moving to a new era of digital money and transactions but we haven't yet reached a stage where physical cash can be eradicated. See the stats below,

Internal access: it is estimated that around 3 billion people have access to internet today, which is roughly 42% of world population. No internet means no digital payments.

Ref: https://www.invespcro.com/blog/world-population-online/
 
So if I overlook the other factors like computer literacy rate etc. The infrastructure needed for complete eradication of physical cash is not present. Yes, people from urban areas are using digital payments in their daily life but that's not the case for everyone!

The positive is that the situation is changing slowly and surely! But more time is needed before we see a holistic change!

It is still needed to be fair. Crypto can potentially usurp the role of fiat in the future, but that is still very far. Crypto at the moment is just at its infancy. Besides, government and crypto still dont meet eye to eye at the moment so removal of fiat currencies would cause major mayhem across the globe.
Plus, letting crypto take the role of fiat with how most people are still ignorant of its existence is pretty much impossible. Influence of crypto should slowly spread over the globe and only then can we start the improvementsbin terms of its role as a virtual currency.
As you said, issues still plague the usage of crypto as a fiat currency but that should be patched up in the future with how technology keeps on evolving.
Long story short, I believe it can, but not now. So at the moment, both should co-exist and let each other prosper.

I think I left out the government perception of Crypto currencies and it is worth a mention too.  ;)  Governments need control over reserve currencies and they have control over the supply of Fiat currencies, so they will be hesitant to move to Crypto currencies, if there is a possibility that they might lose control over their reserve currencies.

Their solution seem to be the development of centralized Blockchain based technologies, where they are given full control over the technology. <The so-called GovCoins>

In the future, we might see the digitization of Fiat currencies, made possible by the Blockchain technology.  ;)

let's not put the cart before the horse. cryptocurrency needs to actually go mainstream first---and not just as a speculative investment to be hoarded. like hatshepsut93 points out, bitcoin and lightning can't begin to handle all the world's transactions. neither can other blockchains, which are either less scalable or will suffer from the same inefficiencies as bitcoin.

everybody should just get used to cryptocurrencies coexisting with fiat, which isn't going anywhere as long as nation states still exist. i sure hope physical cash isn't going anywhere either.

Ok, the scalability and capacity of the technology is still debatable, but it is still under development and improvements are done daily. I think the Lightning Network will only be one of the scaling options in the future and we might see some other Alt coins becoming more widely used for some use cases.  ;)

The majority of the replies seems to show that a co-existence between Fiat currencies and Crypto currencies are possible and that there might be a slow shift from Fiat currencies to Crypto currencies in the future.  ;)

In some countries like the first world countries, digital money is starting to rise already but still there are still some countries that prefer to use fiat currencies when they buy instead of buying it thru digital money.

Fiat currencies exist for a long time already and that is the currency we are using globally. In the future maybe we can see more countries using digital money but there are some countries who doesn't have any access to internet or to any of these things that can help them send their money thru digital process. Maybe there is a chance that we will be shifted from fiat currency to cryptocurrency but for me it will be better if these 2 will co-exist as a way of payments.

I'd like to break it down all that you laid down which are all true


There's always  place in our world or planet where electricity doesn't exist and there are people who prefer to live on this area

Here in our country thieves are always on the look for that expensice phone

I live in our country where majority of the area doesn't have access to the internet

This I agree every country has this sectors of people

This is one of the strong reasons why fiat and Cryptocurrency should co exist

i don't like your categorization, i prefer to categorize them like this: physical versus digital money and also centralized versus decentralized currencies.

there has obviously been a transition going on for some time now from the physical form of money to more digital which includes credit cards, online payment processors, cryptocurrencies,... this transition won't complete in one day. it will take many years to complete as it is with any other transition. people didn't switch to paper money in one day to now want to switch to digital money. but eventually we stop seeing physical money to exist.
so to answer your "modified" question, no cash (the physical form) will cease to exist eventually.

the other category is different. i don't think we can ever see a replacement of centralization with full decentralization. as we can see already, bitcoin is used but it is not meant to replace fiat.
so to answer your "modified" question again, yes both centralized and decentralized currencies will coexist in the future.

We can not replace fiat with cryptocurrency just like that, we still need to conduct surveys and more in-depth research. Do not get the
wrong step, it will be difficult to fix it later. Must be thought out and planned carefully. In my opinion fiat is still needed today, because
cryptocurrency has a weakness there must be an electricity network and Internet. Whereas fiat is not dependent on electricity and the internet,
because there is a physical form. My advice are both fiat and crypto can co-exist, so they can complement each other. From there it will create
harmony for payment transactions.

I wouldn't mind not using fiat currencies anymore, but if that happens how then would I be able to cope since the area I live in is still struggling to achieve a cashless society. Credit and debit cards are being integrated, but that's still more or less "fiat". If I stop using cash, I'll love it to be replaced with cryptocurrencies, bitcoin to be exact because I'm a staunch believer in its potentialities.

You and I know it's not possible for bitcoin to replace fiat, so I'll just continue using the bitcoin more alongside my fiat currency

IMO,fiat should be completely vanished if the humanity want to live better life or they will keep running for their entire life but they will still die as poor this is how fiat methodology works.If crypto was only accepted then people with such scenarios will get practice to use it and in less than a decade they will be master of spending those as well.

It is not easy to replace fiat currencies with cryptocurrency and if that is possible it still requires quite a long time and will definitely go through the pros and cons in a country to change it.
if both are used together in my opinion it will happen in the near future and cryptocurrency can be used as an alternative equally.

I used to believe that cryptocurrencies would replace paper money faster than paper money replaced gold coins. Not anymore, I had too much Andreas Antonopoulus. Haha.

I believe that physical cash must never go away.

Fiat currencies should still exist. Not all people are still able to comprehend cryptocurrencies and they still rely on or trust in using fiat money. It will take a long way to go, it will cause a very serious debate. Even if crypto will gain success in the future, we will still need fiat money for transactions because we've been used to it and it will be really hard to just make it vanish.

I think paper money or crypto is better to stay side by side. They don't have to be replaced because in my opinion not everyone understands and knows how to use them, that's the first. Crypto requires a connection to the internet to be able to do transactions, without internet transactions may not be possible. The geographical location of a place will also be a factor whether crypto is suitable to replace fiat or not.
I prefer they continue to live side by side, because we can use both of them for our daily needs.

That is correct, OP. And perhaps that is also the reason why there is an option in your poll that says "Both Fiat & Crypto can co-exist."

The world is divided into two and the gap is not just small but huge, a chasm that cannot simply be bridged. The world of the rich and the poor, that's what I mean. We are always hearing about technological updates, discussing about the need to replace cash with a digital currency, debating about how banks are becoming useless in the coming years, and so forth. But in the process, we might have marginalized a large portion of the world's population that cannot even meet the most basic of needs.

It is not just the lack of electricity or lack of access to smart phones that are obstacles for this kind of progress. Well, you've mentioned illiteracy. I have known people who does not know which is A or B, or 1 or 2. In my country alone, there are people who do not know how to use a pen. Hell, there are even people who are not familiar with the fiat money itself. And here we are talking about when it is replaced by something more convenient.   

Purely from the perspective of a consumer, what can cryptocurrencies do that Fiat cannot? If the intention is to transfer value and pay for/ buy goods and services, then fiat serves as well as cryptocurrencies.

I wonder why are we even still asking such questions when the biggest crypto like BTC is little more than a curiosity. It is a niche for hobbyists and technologists. The volatility is a milking cow for traders and whales. As far as buying/ selling products is concerned, it is limited to places where the Governments haven't yet taken a stand. Like in certain SE Asian countries like Phillipines, Thailand, Indonesia and Eastern Europe.

To be fair, It is serving its purpose of peer-to-peer electronic cash for the online community to some extent. Yet, the plans for world domination will have to wait till the time everyone is occupied with Dice games and gambling..LOL.

We as bitcoiners needs both for us to benefit from bitcoin, we need fiat to exist and bitcoin too. The idea of replacing fiats with bitcoin would be a terrible idea since bitcoin still needs fiat currencies now in order to survive. Plus the fact that fiat is more reliable than crypto (as for the moment) more convenient to spend on a daily basis.

Fiat would still buy me food rent and gadget, I don’t believe it would go away, but what you can buy with bitcoin? I know anyone can boost about how bitcoin are accepted in a number of services include rent, pizza, deepweb hackers, Amazon steam paypal blah, but they WAS accepted when the bitcoin is at ATH, when the price is dropping fast all the services cease to accept it. Can you stop buying food rent and gadget during the grace period? I hope not!

There still too much people who have never heard about cryptocurrency or even those who can hardly use Internet or online payments. That is why we can't just tell people to stop using fiat and switch to cryptocurrency. To satisfy people's needs we need exactly the combination of fiat and cryptocurrency.

We don't have to choose because these two play a vital role in our society. Everything should be in balance. We could use fiat while having crypto and it could collaborate for us to make things more convenient. The government wouldn't adopt only crypto so we got no choice for now but have fiat. Lots of countries still need to informed well about crypto first. There are places without internet and electricity so it will also be hard for them to have crypto.

Fiat still needed. Because we need some real tools for exchange. Cryptocurrency only shown digit, we don't feel good if only show digit. No different, not likely fiat per number have images and some intrisic value.

We know not all people know about cryptocurrency, that is must long time to educate them.

Debit card & credit cards still form part of fiat currencies. Moreover they are even more easier to create than fiat because banks can create as much money as they want just after keeping the SLR with them. Moreover addressing your issue fiat is still needed and cryptocurrencies can never act as a replacement for fiat because of some major issues. I wrote a complete thread addressing these issues here have a look: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5190558.0 . Deflationary spiral is a major problem relating to cryptocurrencies.

Fiat is highly needed regardless of what crypto become successful in future,  fiat is pegged and not as volatile as crypto is,  both fiat and crypto currency will work together,  none of them can go extinct or being replaced by another

Fiat money (or fiat currency) is currency that a federal government has declared to be legal tender. Cryptocurrency isn't legal tender and never backed by a government.[1][2]

Fiat roughly means, "let it be done." Cryptocurrency implies, "a digital and decentralized place of exchange governed by cryptography." Both are currencies, but there are some important differences:

Fiat currency is "legal tender" supported by a "central government." It is able to take the type of physical bucks (for instance papers Federal Reserve notes), or maybe it may be represented electronically, such as with bank credit. The government regulates the supply and you are able to pay the taxes of yours with it.
Cryptocurrency isn't "legal tender" also it's not supported by a central bank or government (it's global and decentralized). Its form is much more like bank account credit sans the bank account (in it's represented digitally, however, not backed by a bank or maybe government). An algorithm controls the source and also you cannot pay the taxes of yours with it (instead you've paying fees on it).
Or else, there's no intrinsic difference. Both fiat currency and cryptocurrency is usually known as currency or money, each are platforms of exchange which are used-to transfer value and store, each may be utilized to purchases products and services, each have their great governed by source, demand, job, scarcity, along with any other financial factors, both have their value impacted by the caliber of the method surrounding it, both may be traded on exchanges, and so on.

 Cryptocurrency, yellow, a bundle of wool, along with a dollar are retailers of worth and all have exchange value. Some value retailers such as the wool along with gold have make use of value, some like cryptocurrency and fiat currency are intended to be a market of medium and value of exchange only. click to read more (https://www.bestlookup.in/best-room-heaters-in-india/)

Think of this as a good example, when a lot of cardless payments and online payments options came out, there was still a huge demand for cash and just because "Tap and go" was really easy to use, there still is a decent demand for cash trade

With cryptocurrencies becoming so popular, I reckon we will still see a pretty big demand for other payment options like online money and cash, in the finance industry it is fairly hard to completely phase out a payment option.

To this, I say Yes! Cryptocurrencies will always be pegged in fiat to ascertain their worth. Again, remember that there will always be that illiterate and poor community who won't have access to the Internet at all or who may not even know how to use the computers. I don't think cryptocurrency is really trying to displace fiat and exist alone. It's simply asking for more people to key into it. So, there will always be fiat existing side by side with cryptocurrency. Anything that displaces this will cause more harm than good, whether cashless society or not.

Yes I think they still need to exist and you already gave some scene where it could really win over online payments.
But Fiat and crypto could co-exist just like what we are doing now ,
We could use both online and cash payment at the same time it all depends on what we want to use.
There are times that online payment would save us specially if our cash on hand is a little bit short,
And there are times when we would use cash because the merchant doesn't accept any online payment or cards.

it's better for both to exist, the reason is while these "< Debit & Credit cards / Crypto currencies / Gift cards / E-Wallets / Cheque / PayPal etc. >" are efficient in some ways it still has flaws that fiat
can fill and vice versa there no reason why both can't co exist.

You are confusing Cash with fiat currency. Fiat currency doesn't only include cash but every type of money considered as legal tender by the government. So, even though use of cash has been decreasing rapidly but other means of fiat currencies like plastic cards and net banking are still intact and increasing.
There have been already numerous discussions on the forum regarding fiat currencies and why these could never be replaced by cryptocurrencies due to the deflationary nature of cryptos. I don't think we need another thread here.

I don't think we'll always see cryptos being pegged to a fiat value, we could definetly see a world where people use BTC or another crypto currency (I am assuming that the government would be finished with their own crypto-currencies and they would be popular).

It could be pretty interesting seeing a world where every country has their own crypto-currencies and they are pretty easily able to be swapped, and then BTC is also used and popular between all countries. In that world, fiat and cash would still probably need to be used though.

If you want to completely erase the fiat currency then the economy of each country must upgrade first and every part of the world has access to internet, it will take a lot of year from now for this to happen. to be replace or not is either fine with me as long as the government do not put a total ban on crypto around the globe.

Just as the majority answered the poll, fiat currency cant be replaced. There might be a lot of unknown factors affecting the economy (positive and negative) once the world decides to completely replace fiat currency. But, thats still far from reality.

All of the scenarios you've enumerated is pointed directly to the under developed and 3rd world countries. 1st world countries have overcome all of these disadvantages, thats why theres some people including the OP thinks about this future Innovation.

Why do we need to get rid of physical currencies? When we can use both?

Fiat currencies will always be in existence since they act as the main thing that is backing cryptocurrencies. And moreover, it will be very difficult to represent fiat currencies with cryptocurrencies since only about 5% of the world is currently aware of the eistence of cryptocurrencies. In my country for instance, when you randomly select 100 people from the street, you will only get 2 to 5 people who have heard of cryptocurrencies. And out of these people, only one person might own a crypto coin. These two currencies can only co-exist rather than the other replacing it. 

I'd think that this is much lesser of a question about ideology, and more about practicality.

Do you foresee any government giving up control over their respective domestic money supply any time soon? Absolutely not. We've seen how they've reacted already towards FB's intentions on launching their own coin which could potentially disrupt the way that central banks implement monetary policy, and it's not overwhelmingly positive is it.

Fiat will continue to exist for at least until there is a grassroot movement to move towards decentralisation of the money supply, imo. It is still by far the most dominant form of means of transaction globally.

There's definitely a possiblity we are able to see something like countries all having their own crypto-currencies, I know for a fact that Korea and China are working on their own centralized options.

Unlike some other people, it could definetly work with the right amount of effort, where all payments are paid in your country's local crypto-currency, but the real question is if there is a point to this?

As magneto said, look at Libra as a pretty good example.

As for me, cryptocurrency becomes pointless if it is made centralized. It defeats the very purpose of crypto. But that is inevitable when countries will make their own version of cryptocurrencies. They will come up with a centralized one whose value will be more or less stable as it is the most friendly way to the economy. Even if their fiat version will eventually vanish, their crypto will be more or less valued based on it. Having said this, there really is no point converting into digital currencies when their very own fiat is already shifting to electronic, cashless transactions.

Excluding conditions you mentioned about needing fiat, crypto is much better. So, in advanced countries and high end cities crypto will be better.

The world is advancing with different rates, but in the end the planet will have electricity, internet, safety " I hope" everywhere. That's when fiat will be forgotten.

I think fiat currencies will be replaced by cyptocurrencies minimum 10 or 15 years later. It is early for cryptocurrencies to replace them. Cryptos are volatile. Maybe stable coins can be more close to be the local currency of countries but it is early for them too.

Right now replacing fiat with crypto currencies are still out of the questions because of the scenarios that you have pointed out and I agree with it but if in case the society will keep on evolving then it will surely come someday like 50-200 years from now where electricity is not a problem anymore.

Where everyone has internet connections and even illiterate people already knows how to use the basic transaction of crypto currencies payment. Even if we are far from it but I believe 100% that it will occur someday.  

There are cases where people are not capable or knowledgeable enough to understand other cashless payment option. In addition to that, not all entities (especially small time businesses) are also capable to accept those kind of payments. Fiat is the traditional one and everyone are used to it so it's hard to replace everything when people grew up using paper money. Just like what you have mentioned, there are situations where problems occur when using only cashless payment method.

Fiat and crypto can work together in order to alleviate the standards of living of each and everyone of us.

I think I choose both fiat and crypto can co-exist because not all people are aware of crypto, and they still use fiat for anything. We are still evolving and still need time to introduce crypto to all people in the world. Unless there is a crisis in many big countries, people will still prefer to use fiat than crypto. People think that the fiat has not fluctuated and they don't mind carrying fiat everywhere. Although cashless payment is available in many places, still, people will use fiat. But the chance for crypto to be used will also be wide open since the younger generation is open to their mind about cryptocurrency or another payment method.

Let's be realistic, economy can't function based on cryptocurrencies. You need to have a bigger picture, not only the one from crypto user or crypto investor. Cryptocurrencies will not replace fiat currencies and that is the fact. But both crypto and fiat currencies can co-exist and together can make better financial platforme and potential.

The thing is, government will never allow a decentralized, possibly "controlled" by some group of whale currency to dictate their economy.  They would rather create their own and use it in place of cash but that beats our longing to have a decentralized cryptocurrency as the main currency of our country.  But well we can't do anything because the government always decide for the country's welfare.



Indeed, Bitcoin can be an alternative, that is one good thing that can ever happen, lets just hope the government will adopt it completely and let decentralized cryptocurrency to co-exist with centralized fiat system.

I can’t even imagine how you can do without cash. Not all people live in megacities and our life is not yet so automated. In addition, cryptocurrency can never completely replace fiat. As long as various states with their own economic and political interests exist in our world, until then the usual national money of states will exist. National money - cash or non-cash, is a mandatory attribute of statehood and cannot be completely replaced by cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency and regular currency must exist together.

Bitcoin wont be having any value if it will ever replace fiat, bitcoin has its value because it can be converted to fiat. Bitcoin is a digital money, if you will compare it to fiat, fiat has more use than crypto which you can really use in our daily life to buy goods and services, unlike in crypto, what we can really buy is limited, and all transactions can only be done through online transactions.

Fiat and Crypto Currencies should co-exist they will not replace its other. For me, crypto is better when transacting across border different countries. Fiat is better when buying on the open market there is no delay. Crypto payments are also good in malls and other establishments. I heard china will tokenize their national currencies I'm excited what will be the result.

I think fiat currencies will not be completely gone. It will be shaped and evolve into a digital version. We will see digital fiat currencies I think. Because governments won't be able to go on with simple fiat currencies at one point.

I agree about that scenario and again in the developing world of digital technology, at the same time fiat currency transactions can be carried out with a digitization system without the need to carry cash and this development has been felt comfortably too, so in this case at least every bank in every country will follow the development of the digital era which is certainly difficult to replace fiat currencies by crypto currency. So the point is, Both Fiat & Crypto can co-exist

Looking at the Poll results and also the majority of the replies in this thread, it seems as though most people seem to think that Fiat currencies and Crypto currencies can co-exist and that the common misconception that Fiat currencies must replace be replaced by Crypto currencies, might only be supported by a minority group of people.  ???

Yes, 7 votes in favor of co-existence are not a good indication of what the people want, but it already shows us where it is going.  ;)  So, let's see what happens as time goes on and if this trend will continue.  :P

of course cash (fiat currency) cannot be replaced by cryptocurrency because it has been issued for centuries and cash is fiat currency issued by all governments and paper money is one of the legacies of our ancestors, actually, if I were personally living in the electronic world today, I prefer to use cryptocurrency money because it's easier and safer if I think of using cryptocurrency compared to fiat currencies.

Thanks for your good observations regarding this issue, I think it's not possible to get permanently replaced of Fiat money by the cryptocurrency, In my opinion, still, a long way to go and we have to make our fully online based and then we can think that electronic payment will bring a revolution. I appreciate you that you have mentioned some good reasons whose are the main obstacles to carry out and establish permanently cryptocurrency as a payment method, At first we have to make sure about the electricity infrastructure whose are the main theme for this platform, along with internet service, we have to provide a lot of educational material towards both literate and illiterate people. after that, we can think as cryptocurrency would be a permanent replacement of Fiat money.

Before we start coming to terms whether we should eradicate fiat currency with crypto currency. We should first of all ask ourselves how stable will the price of crypto be, if been used regularly. what happens if there's no internet service or you're in a place that they know nothing about online transactions and so on. The two (fiat and crypto currency) will still be making use of in our everyday's life

older people will not use crypto as payment. and many people with 'weakness' will not use crypto, and in some place that not support what it need will not use crypto. but it doesnt mean crypto cant lead fiat, but it can replace fiat. i know in some country they try to implement buy or sell something using digital money, though in traditional market. 

Fiat will exist most likely for a very long time, because the worldwide adoption of crypto is still only at the initial stage

Cash cannot be replaced easily since it is being controlled by the government. Even if we decided to replace cash with cryptocurrrency, we still have no power to control it and the government won't even allow the removal of cash. Other payment method were just given because of the innovation and development it offers, but the main way to pay is by cash. That's why it's called "other payment method", that just work as an option in payment.
Buying big amount things are good for cards to avoid bring lot of cash in your pocket but imagine buying small amount things and then you have to use cards just to pay for it... It'll just become more complicated.

Fiat is still important, cryptocurrency can be an alternative but it is not suitable to completely replace fiat. In cases where crypto is regulated, it is impossible to use crypto as an alternative to cash, that is why fiat is important.

If fiat refers to printed paper money which worth nothing but the government says it has, I prefer don't use it.
But it can't be replaced as long as the government still exists due to fiat currency backed by the government itself. Should fiat still exist? Yes it should, but in the different forms such as printed on gold or silver in place of fragile paper.

On my own point of view, I don't think fiat currencies will be replaced by cryptocurrencies because as we all know cryptocurrencies value are volatile so it may rise or fall from time to time so it's really hard for us to save and buy the things we want if the value of our currency is volatile. It should have a stable currency and the volatile currency so that we can create value through fiat pair.

That is why the guy said stablecoin. Just like USDT or the Libra currency of Facebook.

But as mentioned by op. There are cases where fiat is necessary. Just like places where there are no internet and electricity. Most cities and developed countries can do a full shift to their own stable crypto currencies but developing and poor countries will be having a difficult time to adapt this kind of monetary system. There are countries that poverty level is very high and needed to focus on those issues rather than developing their own crypto currencies. 

There's no need for cash in this world but the transition should be slow so that people who lived all their lives with fiat money are able to adapt. Electronic cash and electronic banking is a new thing. Fiat money was there for decades and it will take at least another decade before it goes away. Fiat also has many advocates who like to feel money in their hands. And what about people who don't like cryptocurrencies at all and think it's another tulip bubble?

The national money of states cannot be replaced by cryptocurrency, and above all, because they are an indispensable attribute of the existence of each state. Not a single state will allow this, because both the state’s economy and the state itself will be put on the verge of destruction and decay. However, this is only one of the reasons why cryptocurrency can not completely replace fiat with itself. Certain groups of people themselves will not want to, and to a greater extent will not be able to use cryptocurrency. In any case, for fifty years this question is still premature.

There are remote locations that doesn't have electricity, but these days through the advancement it is possible as solar energy can be produced even from very low sunlight.
As mobile operators have developed inbuilt wallets, we can enrich the security so that even if smartphones were stolen or taken by someone else they can't make use of it.
More firms were trying hard to give cryptocurrencies physical appearance. This is hard, and paper wallet is the only way it can be viewed physically. Some form of offline transactions were made, but at some point it needs connectivity to register to the block.
This is not at all a problem, people found difficult to use phones. Now everyone who haven't gone for school uses it better than a techie. So, being illetrate is not a big issue with cryptocurrency.
People moved from physical cash to card payments, and this gets effective when governments promote it and encourage using card/other forms of digital transactions for all the needs. One such promotion is taking place through out Japan.

Right at the moment, fiat are still needed, we can only replace fiat if and only if the government will require us to do so, because fiats are necessary and cryptocurrency has still something that can't do when a fiat can. That is to manage our taxes. Right now, there's allot of needs to consider in relation to taxes, such as a standard cryptocurrency to pay taxes, amount calculation of taxes, and conversion of currencies to national currency with blockchain.

I am sure that fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies can coexist very productively without interfering with each other.  I am sure that each currency will have its own regular user, because even though it has been possible for many years to use bank cards and payment systems, many people prefer not digital money and cashless payments, but paper money.  The same situation will be with cryptocurrencies, when they will be used by a certain circle of people, which really can consist of a large part of humanity.

I think they can both coexist. It is because of the reasons that you have mentioned. There were still developing countries who can't afford yet to lose fiat money. Also, even in developed countries, it is still hard to live without these fiat. With it coexisting with bitcoin, we are lucky to live this era with it. We all hope though that we must not be too dependent on one of the two.

Ideally it should all become digital, but because we're not in an ideal world this is not going to happen. The many different countries and governments would just never agree.
Therefore our only option is to have both.

They both could co-exist.
I don't really think that crypto needs or would replace Fiat anytime soon.
We all know that the government wouldn't let it happen because they couldn't control crypto .

I agree with your first scenario. Technically, without fiat there is no bitcoin because the mining farms that operate the Bitcoin network all require fiat to purchase their hardware and electricity. A total fiat collapse would destroy Bitcoin and the entire Crypto ecosystem, but this will probably never happen. At least not without some type of major world war where the power elite are wiped out and economic rules are re-written.

If fiat collapses BTC will collapse as well. This may not be a popular opinion but I see BTC as built on top of fiat, similar to how altcoins are built on top of BTC. In order for BTC to gain value it had to be bought with fiat. Similar to how altcoins had to be bought with BTC. this is not to say that BTC can't become one of the largest world currencies or stores of value like gold but ultimately, in a doomsday scenario, you can't eat or drink BTC. If fiat collapses were are all done.

Time and time again this question was asked several times already and some still think that cryptocurrency can totally replace fiat in terms of being the main medium.
Unfortunately, it cannot considering the circumstances that each is facing especially the factors that are needed to be taken into account.

Fiat will always remain as the main medium of exchange among countries. The value of currency primarily depends on the number of gold reserve the country respectively has and its economic power. Fiat has been accepted by all as the main medium of exchange and the government has been trying to regulate its supply/demand depending on the need of the country.

On the other hand, cryptocurrencies have no innate value as they solely exist in the internet. In addition, a limited supply of 21 million in circulation would bring chaos and manipulation to the person/organization who has the majority of coins. Lastly, the government of each country must adhere and view it as the MAIN medium before it can be implemented and applied.

fiat currencies must remain to exist and continue to circulate together with cryptocurrencies, technological and infrastructure developments in almost all countries are still uneven.  in my country there are still many areas that do not yet have electricity and internet networks, how do they transact if fiat currency is destroyed..  so I'd agree if Fiat remains in circulation and cryptocurrency is an alternative payment/investment option.

Why do we have to replace or remove one thing when they
can just work together. You know the saying "two is better than one". This can be applied when two of them are being helpful to each of us. Fiat and crypto are both helpful to us so why would we eliminate one of them? I can't see the reason to replace fiat because fiat is important. Not all citizens can access digitally. Some rural places don't have enough knowledge and capacity of digital innovation.
We cannot really replaced fiat. And since crypto is a great development, it is the addition to make things more easy.

Crypto is far from perfect yet, there  are a lot of flaws associated with crypto especially in the transaction aspect,  for instance, in crypto any transaction mistaken sent to an unintended wallet can not be reverse and if you don't know the owner of the wallet, then your funds are lost for good, I don't know how many people are ready for that, because trust me no one is above mistake. Fiat is still the more reliable to use.

There are a lot of challenges to replace the fiat currency and make everything digital, the next generation will be more than capable of going through the transition period but not everyone will be comfortable with it and then there is an serious issue of privacy on where the money is spent, i do not want any transactions being recorded if i am meeting an escort or a stripper  :P and hence i want both to co exist.

Yeah agree, you can't use bitcoin or crypto completely after all, I know that many crypto users too glorifying bitcoin, that in the future bitcoin will replace fiat, it's just speculation. Not everyone accepts crypto, not everyone connected to digital, and also there are still many others competitors in addition to fiat anyway. Right now we depend on fiat its the fact, bullshit if you fully shop using bitcoin. Both can be used together and it's more easier, why bother yourself to only choose one, whereas you can be much easier to use both.

That's a good mindset to have, both currencies have their positives and negatives, and in the current state there is no need for a single currency to be complete dominant.

I am against crypto-currencies being the only currency, because there are still a lot of people who like fiat and there's been good development made in the realm of banking and online money.

Eliminating fiat currency is a rather long process. I think it will take at least 50 years before the cryptocurrency industry completely replaces the current financial sector.

Still we need fiat/real money. We can't neglect that. I know using crypto-currency become too easier now a days. But you know it that eventually all crypto-currency should convert into fiat in order to use it on real life. Fiat /real money also coming with some latest features, like mobile banking. So you don't need to carry any real cash nowadays. Its something look crypto algorithm but its backed by real money. That's very weak point of crypto-currency, there is no backed for crypto-currency. There should be very easy way to convert your crypto-currency to real money. Then use of crypto-currency will like fiat.

It will be hard without fiat currency, It is the physical money we had and because of it, goods and services has its value and fiat is the basement of it. Without having fiat we are just going back in barter era where we exchange something to another. Cryptocurrency is also base its value depends on fiat, Without cash crypto has no value.

Both Fiat & Crypto can co-exist for the future because investor and costumer needed both fiat and crypto, they want increase money by crypto investing and want to use fiat as currency digital payment because bitcoin still not allowed with many transaction in every country, both of fiat and crypto can't separated each other and investor need both them, without one of crypto and fiat investor look dislike and not happy to make transaction and investment.

Surely fiat will remain and will exist together with crypto

Fiat currencies cant easily be replaced or vanished on the field. It is still needed since crypto is not yet fully developed which is unlikely to fiat. Fiat has more function compared to cryptocurrency, replacing it by now would be a bit troublesome for all of us, and fiat will still exists even crypto will be developed. Every individual need it and it should not be vanished.

Bitcoin is too volatile to remove fiat to our world. For me bitcoin is much more like an investment than a currency if we look at its price since then. If we use it as a daily currency, we could be rich or poor on that day. If bitcoin will be regulated and its price will stabilize then people like me won't be afraid to use it in a daily basis.

I believe we are still far away in a complete digital currency world. There is still a need to fiat form of currency since not all people has the access to stable internet connection and reliable technology to be able to transact digital money. Just think of third world countries such as Africa. It is still needed to exist, but there's a possibility it will be completely replaced. But I don't think it's soon to happen, it would take a lot of time to revolutionize current payment systems.

I think it is inevitable that fiat currencies will lost their values in the process of time. But I don't think that the governments will be stubborn about continuing with fiat currencies in the future. They will create their own digital money.

Fiat should still exist as a pegged to determine the true value of each coin per time, as for payment online, it can be replaced by a more stable bitcoin, that is when the market has enough liquidity to minimize sudden sudden dumping. For physical transaction, it can still remain for less technological areas and conservative areas.

That's the problem. When people see bitcoin as an investment and not a currency. Why would you want to use fiat when you can use bitcoin? So many places these days are accepting bitcoin and also paying out bitcoin for work. Many websites that do referrals or website ads allow payment in bitcoin and it has been so for a long time already.


I agree. I think that is long enough. I think fiat will still exist for a very long time to come. People will call it old money and still use it.

Perfect mate today the combination of fiat and crypto currency are very useful important, I use it well both in my personal needs depend on the availability of the merchant they accept payment.
But as of now crypto currency is not purely mature as new currency because a lot of people didn't understand well what is crypto currency especially the old generation. In the duture possible virtual crypto currency is the main currency use by world wide.

Cryptocurrency will not be able to replace fiat currencies completely, and both will be equally used as payment transactions or other transactions.
because not everyone understands and can use cryptocurrency because it is related to the internet which so far has not been distributed evenly to get access or good network support, and although in the future it will be distributed evenly and fiat currencies will not be replaced because fiat currencies as currency symbol in each country and cryptocurrency is the world currency.

Of course, it will be more effective if the two go hand in hand and complement each other. Fiat and cryptocurrency have advantages and disadvantages of each. And this is the reason why fiat is still very much needed.

Although the development of technology is very rapid, development has not been evenly distributed, there are several places where we have difficulty accessing the internet, at that time, of course, fiat was more effective. And with other effectiveness, fiat is still more effective for direct transactions and micro payments. That is why the cryptocurrency is more appropriate to be used as an alternative payment that has a high selling power so that it is also effective for investment and commodity trading.

 Yes, there is still a need for fiat currency because not all people use bitcoin although crypto market have legal by government, many people only know with cash money and fiat currency, they do not know whit digital currency like bitcoin, maybe they will move to bitcoin after know benefit of bitcoin for people by no have inflation value like money could change value every day, after have crypto as currency we still need fiat for deposit bitcoin to bank and cash out money.

Do not rush things. The world will develop in the same way as it did before this time. No cryptocurrency will change the course of history, even in the world of finance. Of course, cryptocurrency already has a great influence on the financial world, however, it will be just another financial asset that will occupy its niche among others. Fiat will not go anywhere and will continue to exist. Under no circumstances can cryptocurrency replace traditional payment systems. National money will exist until one superstate remains in our world. Of course, if at all possible.

In my view, Of course, the world needs fiat. Day by day people is moving into the internet, digital money. In the near future, more people will involve in crypto payment too. But still, we need fiat. Whatever happens, Fiat won't die. Because it is more convenient for some reason. Cash money feeling is so different than digital money. To make a payment from each side to the other side in the world, digital money is very much popular and it will be growing with the time, but in your country, fiat is the best way.

I believe that digital money should not completely replace fiat money. There can be failures in electronics, software can give out any error and if all economy is based only on one digital money, it can lead to huge financial losses. Fiat money must continue to exist. They have shown their effectiveness in any mutual settlements. Ultimately, for the economic infrastructure to function successfully, completely different payment methods must coexist.

Fiat currency will hard to be replaced as long as crypto currency not supported by government. if government don't announce of using crypto currency, fiat will still remain. crypto has a lot of potential  and benefits. but, I think locals will have difficulty to use crypto as much as their locations would not accept it much. in future maybe, everyone can accept it.