Bitcoin Forum

I'm making a little research into the Bitcoin and how people perceive it.

It boils down to people's experiences with Bitcoin and the value it gives them.

I won't be giving any of my experiences or views or any other information which might alter your opinion.

All I'm proposing is you give 1 PRO (positive) and 1 CON (negative) about Bitcoin. 1 of each, no more. You can give an explanation to your choice if you so wish.


At the end of each week, I will make a post and present all PROS and CONS gathered thus far so we can all see what drives people away and towards Bitcoin.

Pro - volatility. It can be utterly thrilling.

Con - volatility. It can be very tiresome being whipsawed all over the place, especially when you have a reasonable sum tied up in it. My appetite for it is running out now.

I'd say volatility is still the main thing attracting people to it. It also breaks many people too.

Pro: Ability to distance ourselves from banks - I think that Bitcoin's biggest advantage is that it allows people to stop using bank accounts and to be their own bank. With Bitcoin you don't have to pay anyone to hold your money.

Con: Volatility - Volatility is still too big for Bitcoin to become what Satoshi wanted - a peer-to-peer electronic cash. No shop will accept Bitcoin in a way that Satoshi imagined. Those who accepts it has to convert it to fiat.

PRO - Freedom. For the first time in recent history we don't need governments, central authority, or anyone to validate or allow us to transfer money, receive money and hold money. We just do as we wish without even reporting to anyone.

CON - Too much scammers and people trying to get rich quick. This is bad for bitcoin and for all honest people who actually own bitcoins and love it. Blockchain and bitcoin looks like scammers money sometimes....

Alright, here is my pros and cons
Pros-> cross border transactions are really easy now without any restriction what so ever. Takes only few seconds to send the coins.
Cons-> During high network usage, you either pay high fee or increase your confirmation waiting time.

Freedom = It allows you to transact with people all across the globe without intermediaries or crazy high bank fees. It is as close as we have come to actual global money.

Adoption = It has taken more than a few of us would like to achieve decent adoption, but its slowly getting better.

Pro's - Decentralized, volatile, anonymous

Con's- Just like what said above - Volatility too - yet this one can rip you off.

       - You lost your wallet keys then your funds is lost forever

       - Scalability problem

In spite of those cons above, the community do still have that big support towards it.

PRO:

Bitcoin is not a company, so it doesn't have to apply for permits to operate, meaning it was a global currency since the day it was launched. Even if a country bans Bitcoin, this ban is impossible to fully enforce.

CON:

Price volatility. Makes it impractical to use as a currency for most merchants and users.

Main pro for me: independence. I can take my money and move anywhere I want without paying a tax or explaining how I got the money.

Main con: vulnerable to price manipulation and volatile. Exchanges fake trades and use wash trading to manipulate the markets and USDt a huge vulnerability.

I'd like to give a few pros and cons, but as the OP is proposing that we give 1. So, I'll give 1.

Pro : Bitcoin can be use to transact globally and it's more easier than converting your national fiat currency to USD.

Con : Volatility could sometimes hinders and make it a bit difficult whether you decide to use Bitcoin to transact or stick with fiat to save a few BTC fragments specially during bearish season.

In my opinion

Pro - The ability to determine transaction fee. You can choose fee depending on the transaction speed.
Con - Scalability issue. Bitcoin networks biggest issue is the limited rate at which a transaction can be processed.

There is so many pros and cons of bitcoin, but since you allow to share only one  from each I will express my opinion. Just for reminder as you everyone know Newton's third lawSo bitcoin isn't different from this low.

PRO; Financial freedom, Satoshi nakamoto introduce a peer to peer electronic decentralized money transfer system where we can spend as we want. There is no any third party who would control your funds ever and you aren't obliged to show your income source when you are storing bitcoin at your own bank (address).

CON: Transaction time span, I don't know if someone else will be agree with me but this is really concern for me. I think it's become real challenge for bitcoin where some other reputed crypto-currency's transaction time almost instant. Its preventing bitcoin to use like on local shops due to double spend fear.

Pro; If you believe that bitcoin investment has the potential to grow, never underestimate bitcoin.
"Bitcoin has a long term and has a very clear direction for money, for that bitcoin can be the most valuable asset for millions of dollars for you" .
Bitcoin can be said to include the transformation that moves with the biggest technology in the internet era in investing l.

cons: Bitcoin is very 'speculative' in terms of price can be said to be unstable if you do not understand bitcoin has a number of risks.
That is, bitcoin is not socially beneficial 'bitcoin prices can also soar greatly affect supply and demand, this has no social impact on investing.

When it is about bitcoin we should not support bitcoin emotionally when finding Pros and Cons.
Because I saw some people judge bitcoin by only focusing the Pros.
So Here are my true opinion-

Pro: Modern Transection: By using Bitcoin we can send and receive funds in a short time with the lowest transection fees with proper security.Again We can Use it through online like Modern Virtual Currency.


Con: Scam and Harmful: Due to Bitcoin scamming may cause huge damage of any user and it's also harmful to any Nation.Money Laundering, Account Hacking, Funding to Terrorism and Black Market activity are the main threats of using Bitcoin.

There are a lot of things that bitcoins benefits and some of the advantages and disadvantages already said and given by the other users but still, I will give on my own perspectives what are the pros and cons.

Pros

• The market is volatile
• Grab the opportunity to make trade
• Easiest way to transact
• Secure
• Transparent
• less tax
• Low transaction fee
• You can make an investment and wait to sell your coin that you can an easy income

Cons

• Volatile
• It takes time before it makes a changes on the market price

Those are just on my perspective what are the pros and cons that I would like to share. I think most of us had a similar answer because we already know the capability of the bitcoin and what are the benefits of using it.

PROS: Freedom. Basically anyone likes freedom, no one really wants being bound by rules made by others and Bitcoin could give that to me, at least in financial transactions. It basically let's me stay anonymous in my spendings, like what it should really be, unlike how most e-commerce sites do now where you need KYC to actually buy something. Plus, it lets me realize that if I get scammed, it's entirely my fault, cause I'm an idiot. End of story. If I get hacked, well, both I and the exchange I stored my coins are idiots.

CONS: Volatile. It's way too volatile. I see BTC as an investment at times, but I mostly use it as a cryptocurrency, not as an investment. Sure, it may be a nice investment but really, as a cryptocurrency, it being something good for investment is not good.

Pros: It's anonymous.

Cons: It's anonymous.

Pros - volatility, it makes the currency good for trading and investing, one thing that I want from bitcoin is the feature of being volatile, because of that I can earn money from investing and testing for a short period of time. It makes a big profit when I do long term investment.
- it also makes us control our money, we have the right to control and do whatever we want on our own money.

Cons - Prone from hackers, just because it is an online transaction, hackers are always there whenever we talk about the internet, that is why there are many bitcoin that has been stolen day by day. We need to have strong security in order for us to keep our money safe.
- the volatility can be also a con for the bitcoin because there are many people who also lost their money from trading and investing, better to have knowledge and skills before you try both things.

There are lots of pros for me, but I will start with the basics, which is about making transactions fast and cheap. Ever since I discovered Bitcoin I have been making use of it whenever I want to make transactions and I have recommended it to a lot of people that I work with and they have gladly accepted and it works for us. You can send money to anyone no matter where they are and they will receive it quickly.

Sometimes when I send money to my brother where he lives, he receives it that same minute and will then sell to exchanges and will have the money in his bank account. It's really quick. As for the Cons, I don't really know what to say here apart from the fact that it is volatile. But volatility is no longer a problem for me. I have gotten used to it and I know the right thing to do.

Pro: Decentralization / trustless

Con: Lack of simplicity for users (signing addresses, etc still a bit technical)

PRO

Relative Anonymity- I get to store Bitcoin without ever going through the typical "please fill up this personal information sheet", "where did you earn this?", "how did you earn this?", "can you provide us any proof?", and so on and so forth.

CON

Limited Usage- I cannot spend it where I want. I cannot go to my favorite bar, coffee shop, restaurant, and so on bringing only my Bitcoin wallet. At least for now.

There are lots of advantages that Bitcoin can offer to the people and there are also disadvantages that make people doubt investing in Bitcoin.
Probably all had been mentioned above of my post but Bitcoin's pros and cons are this all about.

• Pro = decentralization, will be the main advantage of Bitcoin for it will give everyone the freedom from bank authority and no government may have full control over it.
• Con = volatility for there is no way to anyone in predicting the Bitcoins stability in our current situation like this pandemic and global adoption.

In the end, it still depends on us how we weigh these pros and cons that will give as a full concept and perception about Bitcoin.

PRO for me is control. I know if I use the right instructions, I know exactly what I'm doing with my money, exactly who I'm sending it to, and exactly how much I want to send, and am 100% confident it will get there and can never be intercepted or withdrawn or sent mistakenly. Every other money alternative I have less than 100% confidence as I have to trust someone and rely on someone. Most likely a set of someones I don't even know or am unaware of. I note that this is a CON for many people I know personally, who WANT someone else to be in control of their money.

CON for me is ease of use. It's easy for me to use, relatively, but at worst, I need a mobile smart device to use it. I've seen alternative money forms that take a simple $10 non-smart device to use just as instantly by people who can't read or write. One day Bitcoin has to be as easy to use, but that day isn't here yet.

The biggest pro IMO is decentralization, while some may see it as a problem that slows down Bitcoin's adoption due to government pushback and KYC requirements.
The main con is that it requires the Internet to operate, so you need some degree of technological infrastructure to use it. This makes it more difficult for Bitcoin to penetrate  into poor societies and places where the level of education is low, like central Africa. Also, this feature makes it almost impossible to comprehend for older people (those who are over 70 now). It's going to change because in time, we will be at that age and the problem will cease to exist, but for now it is there and I hope Bitcoin can survive for the next 30 years to turn it around. 

PRO: Bitcoi is the first, and thanks to him interest and training was aroused; industry formed by enthusiasts; Necessary actions have been taken to build and adopt a global infrastructure.
CON: Bitcoin is not intended to solve problems and it has many limitations.

Pro : bitcoin offers everybody the ability to have a decentralized financial transaction we without much of control from others as typical with FIAT

Cons : anonymity of bitcoin gives an easy escape for scammers and hacker due to the fact that tracking is difficult, they do seems to get away with stealing and siphoning of funds

Pro: Decentralized currency

Con: Has a negative reputation from outsiders; it's perceived as a currency used by criminals to conduct black market activities

Pro: can be made as a store of value aside from gold, I make this statement from my experience. Especially during coronavirus came, I highly believe that bitcoin can be made as a store of value comparing to another investment place.

Cons: Can't be used as a payment system anymore since its fee per 1 transaction is high already, I could spend 0.0005 BTC or $4 per 1 transaction only.

    Pro = decentralization, This Freedom Attracts many of us.
    Con = volatility, Has a high risk to book loss.

Pro-Bitcoin is secure and there's no double spending.

Con-Transactions are not reversible,so Bitcoin is kinda "scammer friendly".The victim just sends his coins to the scammer's BTC address and they are gone forever.Many people might argue that irreversible transactions are actually an advantage,but I don't think so.

I wouldn't write about the price volatility and all the "make money with Bitcoin" type of BS,because I think that the topic should be more focused on the Bitcoin protocol and the BTC Core Blockchain.

Pros : decentralization; this is the ultimate importance of bitcoin and virtually every other cryptocurrencies. It breaks the wheel of centralization, Middlemen as well as the long chain of influence that has driven Fiat currencies.

Cons : volatility and security; this has led to lots of user losing their life asset due to the high nature of bicoin volatility... Bitcoin can have a huge movements overnight which can go either high up or way down and this sudden movements have scared a lot of people away from tge usage of bitcoin

This is base on what I know. Maybe some shared their own opinions already.

PRO
- Less Hassle
- No need for banks
- Volatility - this makes the traders profit faster

CONS
- Slow adoption
- Complex for some Average Joes
- Volatility - it can give profit to traders but it can give losses to them in a short amount of time.

I have been an average user of bitcoin since 2014 and here are the pros and cons that I have noticed.

Pro - I guess the anonymity and how you can purchase basically anything online.

Con - The fees and the waiting time of purchases.

For me personally, the biggest advantage is the fact that Bitcoin is the first decentralized cryptocurrency completely independent of the banking system, which for centuries has made the rich even richer and the poor even poorer. The idea is great, but people are too trained (brainwashed) to believe in something new, it’s much easier to swim down a river than upstream.

The biggest drawback, however, is that Bitcoin is still technically demanding for the vast majority of people. Today we have people who have trouble remembering a simple 4-digit PIN from their bank card, so for most Bitcoin is still in the realm of science fiction. One who has such problems in life is certainly not ready to be his own bank.

Probably the biggest pros for Bitcoin is that this is the first cryptocurrency created and is acknowledge by the world. But why is Bitcoin acknowledge? because it gives you the freedom over your money. Unlike the early digital coins before Bitcoin, Bitcoin is the first digital coin that is decentralized and semi-anonymous. You don't need any banks, verifications, or any authority to use your money. You are your own authority.

Because of its anonymous features, the worst cons of Bitcoin that I've noticed so far is the amount of scammers and fraudsters using this in order to steal money from unsuspecting victims. Authorities are having a hard time tracking criminals as Bitcoin could be split into many parts or wallets. We have mixers and other services that helps them do this.

Although people might say that fee might be a con, I disagree as Bitcoin can adjust overtime.

Pro: I'm in control of my own bank
Con: ...........



These fees only happens when the network becomes congested but you really do not have to pay $4 for a single bitcoin transaction. If fees could shoot up fast, it could easily go down too.

You can avoid paying exorbitant fees by checking the mempool at https://jochen-hoenicke.de/queue/#0,24h first. See mempool size in MB and calculate the tx fee needed for the next block. If you want cheaper and have more time, maybe see the possible tx fee for the next two blocks. Please note that each block contains approximately 4mb.

Lastly, you cannot apply the above method if you do not use a wallet that allows you to customize the transaction fee.
Wallets that automate usually set the fees higher than what's actually needed.

Good topic op. These are what I believe are the biggest advantages and disadvantage associated with BTC.

Pro:
- BTC helps conduct online transactions across the world without any interference in an anonymous manner. No need to use services like Western Union etc which are governed by a central authority.

Con:
- The learning curve is steep for beginners which is the biggest drawback. There is no simple tool to make learning the basics of cryptocurrencies easier currently.

The biggest con imo is how hard it is to fully understand how the system works. Takes years and it's not something that newer generations would be accustomed to like we were to mobile phones. A mobile phone requires putting in that SIM card, powering it on and you're free to text/call.

But BTC requires a lot of things you don't already know even as a tech geek unless you start studying it. The worst part is, the largest mistakes are usually learned on the go. You can pay $10 using a $50 bill anywhere and anyhow without having to think about high fees due to congested network, about only being able to use it once (paper wallets) or your $40 might go in the void et cetera.

As a pro, decentralization is the one that wins me.

Might agree since you are going to encounter a lot of problems or maybe you're going to ask a lot of questions about bitcoin when you're just getting started but probably it was just normal since bitcoin network etc was just really easy to understand.

It would take a lot of time to understand how the system works and how the marketplace of bitcoin moves, but there is no doubt that the bitcoin is really more reliable for transactions than the fiat money that we are using especially at times like this where we have a pandemic.

Transparency is the best thing I like about bitcoin, everything is public to everyone. Anyone can check and verify all the tx details. Another thing I like is irreversible nature of BTC.
Volatility is the resistance towards BTC being the main currency worldwide. If the value was constant, I guess we had so many users. May be none too, LOL.

Pro:
Anonymity, the user you are transacting with can be anyone, no one knows his real identity of the person they are transacting with, only a wallet address is sufficient enough for transacting.

Con:
Volatility, Bitcoins price is many a times highly volatile, at the start of the day your wallet balance can be $10k but at the end of the day your balance can become $11k or $9k with the same amount of bitcoins kept in it.

Pro: Bitcoin is able to act as a global currency even though each country has their own currency, but bitcoin is still present as a global currency that knows no boundaries of any country, cannot be influenced by politics, government or others. Bitcoin is able to survive in any economic crisis.

Cons: Bitcoin is a money laundering tool that can't be controlled by the government or even financial institutions. That way bitcoin will be a great opportunity as a tool for money laundering without being able to be controlled for criminal acts or tax evasion. With the lack of control by the government of bitcoin being a digital currency that seems worthless, bitcoin is considered an illegal currency without any clear regulation on bitcoin in the eyes of the law.

Unfortunately it is only anonymous as long as your address has not been linked to your identity.
As soon as someone can link your address (your pseudonym) to your real identity, all your transactions can be assigned to you. (and probably also other addresses)
But of course you can use mixing services or Coinjoin to improve the anonymity of your transactions.

Here's my pro and con:

Pro: I trust myself more than I trust my bank
Con: use as everyday currency - slow, pretty complicated for beginners, volatile (and nobody wants to be the next pizza guy)

Pro - Investment opportunity. Bitcoin has transformed my life from a freelancer to someone who got the potential to run a business. I mean I bought bitcoins when it was around $300 in 2015 and now I am enjoying 30x growth for my money in 5 years. I could not imagine anywhere else for such a growth rate. I guess when bitcoin will be having another 10x growth, I may retire.

Con - High tx fees as of now. Even it is a temporary problem after segwit, sometimes it enforces me to make use of other coins for quick settlement. Usually I do hate using any altcoins but high tx fees is leading me to do so.

Of the pros and cons, I chose this as the most important in my view
Pro: Decentralization -> this includes freedom, convenience, privacy, and everything that I cannot get in the conventional bank system
Con: Decentralization ->, unfortunately, this also makes me uncomfortable because I am fully responsible for all the risks I face, hacking, including security, risk of loss, etc. all those actions are my responsibility, and if there are mistakes then I could lose them all.

I am also very interested in the investment opportunities provided by BTC, although I am more inclined to use them as commodity trading, the opportunities provided are the same. That's what I'm interested in here and try to make the most of this great opportunity. As for the fee ... hmm ... I'm not too much of a problem, because it's already worth the opportunity we get, right?

I agree with some people in this post that the Pro and Con of bitcoin is the same: Decentralization.

It gives you freedom but at the same time you are responsible for your own money.

As web developer, it's like using Digital Ocean compared to shared hosting.

My personal experience is that people do not trust Bitcoin because it has a huge volatility.
Actually, this is a positive factor of Bitcoin as this means that the market is free, but people do not really understand that as something positive.

Pro: Volatility. With the volatility of the market, there are a lot of people that could earn a profit in a short time after they invested.

Con: Volatility. Volatility is a double-edged sword. Yeah, it changes and can give profits but it could also give losses in just a matter of seconds.

IMO:

Pro - It is decentralized. You are free to do anything with it. You can't do it with fiats

Cons - It is volatile. We can't directly use it to buy goods. I want to use it directly, without going through an exchange. Another thing is the scams going around it.

High transaction costs, I think, will be comparable to what you get. The speed possessed by bitcoin to make transactions is very good. using altcoin is also an alternative to reduce transaction costs to be cheaper.
Even when compared to the transaction costs of local banks or other transactions, Bitcoin is cheaper and faster.

Bitcoin transaction costs will not make Bitcoin increasingly shunned, because for Bitcoin investments is the best choice for now, Bitcoin is a valuable digital currency.

Pros:
Transparent: It changes the world arround us and rise consciousness about Blockchain technology and its usefulness.
Decentralisation is another Pros.
Cons:
Volatility: because it attracts greed people to this nice community, however it increases the adoption of bitcoin widely. Also because we can't easely use it to pay what we buy frequently.

It is very interesting to discuss about bitcoin pros and cons, because it is indeed bitcoin a controversial project. I will give my views
on bitcoin, hopefully it can be useful input for others.

PRO: Privacy - I really like bitcoin because bitcoin can make me anonymous when making transactions. And that is a positive thing
in my opinion, which is not owned by fiat currency.

CON: Volatile - This is the cause of bitcoin until now it's difficult to become a payment, because the price is not stable. Even though
there is a lightning network that provides a solution, there are still many people who objection to the price of bitcoin which is volatile.

What a joke. The con of a knife is that it can be used to slice dead meat as well as a live one. :)
For me what you've just pointed out as a con is a pro, but we obviously have a different understanding of the right and wrong.

Pros- anonimity, freedom, decentralized, not controlled by government, volatile.
Cons- anonymity to point out who will be the greatest factor of its volatility. Freedom which I think one of the reason why it is not that accepted for usage. Some people think that without the control of government, it is not safe or secured.

Pro - alternative currency independent of banks and government.
Con - really quick change in price.

RESULTS ARE IN.

Here is what I gathered from your responses and experiences on Bitcoin over the past week.

https://i.imgur.com/lmJ9swi.png


It would seem that so far the biggest advantage of Bitcoin is Decentralization and distancing itself from banks.

Biggest disadvantage is Volatility by far. For some, high price fluctuations are fine, but most of you experienced volatility as a negative side of Bitcoin.

+ first crypto coin, most popular crypto coin on the world
- very big fees, slow speed of transaction, high volatility