Bitcoin Forum

I perceive that most of us have forgotten or should i say don't understand the concept and the primary purpose of Bitcoin. I had to made this conclusion after reading several post from different communities including Bitcointalk. Most post I read were meant to promote the use of bitcoin, but failed to apply the primary concept.

Interestingly, almost every bitcoin promotion article we see today contains HODL, Investment, Bull Market, 2024 Halving, etc, but only few talks about the basics.

You must be wondering what the primary concept is all about ?. The bitcoin white paper which was released far back had the answers to what bitcoin was primarily meant for. The heading of the white paper  stated Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. While reading through, the writer's primary intentions was to fix the issue of third party transactions, by making Bitcoin another form of transaction entirely. The most interesting part was how the writer explained vividly how the transaction would work in relation to security matters.

HODL, bull market, etc isn't bad, but how many of us still talk about using bitcoin as a regular medium of transaction ?.

Don't get this wrong, I am not against HODL or others because everyone deserves to make profit. but if everyone chooses to hold, then how do we promote ?, Just by using our mouth ?, Who believes what is not seen ?.

I think we are very lucky with satoshi's brilliance, but sadly, majority now consider bitcoin as an investment only, which makes me wonder if Bitcoin is still a p2p electronic cash system.

My opinion...

Look, another one more user can't accept Bitcoin to used as a commodity and demand to make Bitcoin as a currency just like the whitepaper was pointed out. Read below, satoshi itself isn't forcing the user to use it as a currency, then why you need to care about that?

Question to you: do you have Bitcoin? how frequently you use it as a currency? :D

It has evolved in the last couple of years. But yes, it is still can be used as a payment scheme as originally designed by Satoshi. But as I have said, throughout the years, when it been traded, it became an assets and so majority now used to buy and sell them in exchange. Or even hedge their wealth on it as a store of value.

It even considered as a safe haven during the pandemic, as people started to buy or put their money and just HODL and make profits once we hit the bull run in 2021-2022. So still depends on us, on how we treat it or how it will benefit us.

If you have bitcoin, you have the full control over your coins. That also means that you can do whatever you like with your coins. Bitcoin is a P2P means of making payment, but it has appreciating value as its price is increasing as there are more demand. That is bitcoin by design, even if not included in white paper, and that has been one if the reasons people adopted it.

In my country, to use bitcoin for transaction is almost nonexistent, but you can easily convert your bitcoin to fiat and spend and  you can easily convert your fiat to bitcoin. I have only been able to use bitcoin to make cross border transactions. I have not used it locally before because I do not see people accepting it.

Don't forget about the condition, Only if you have your Bitcoins in Self-Custodial Wallet.


Well, that's obvious, with the characteristics. No matter how others take it as an Investment opportunity, their safe mode with inflation as a store of value or Jewelry to show off (Just Saying), Their life fortnight life changer etc, etc, It was a P2P payment mode and it will be by default.

This can be seen as a deviation from the original intent, but with the introduction of this new function as an investment, Bitcoin has gained recognition among a wide audience and garnered global attention. Unbeknownst to many, this can also be regarded as a unique branding strategy. Imagine if Bitcoin had remained stagnant, as it did in 2010, with no change in its value – it might have gone relatively unnoticed.

Bitcoin has become known for making significant moves in the unpredictable bullish and bearish markets. However, this has also had an impact on Bitcoin, making its use as a peer-to-peer currency less popular.

It's essential to note that Bitcoin will continue to have users who employ it as electronic peer-to-peer currency, even if their numbers are not substantial. If the adoption of Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer currency is a cause for concern, it would be even more worrisome if Bitcoin remains obscure, and the peer-to-peer user base does not expand; that would be truly disheartening.

We've found a classic problem, right? We've got Bitcoin: a p2p electronic cash system, yet ta-da its hoarded like the goose that lays golden eggs! Listen up: we need to distinguish between BTC's core concept and our reality.

According to the whitepaper, Bitcoin was designed to create a p2p transaction system without third parties. A beautiful concept, right? However, HODLing, investing, and speculating grew since who doesnt want a piece of this profitable crypto-pie?

How about flipping and bifurcating BTC? Imagine dedicated "transactional BTC wallets" and "investment BTC wallets." For example. people have two wallets: one for daily transactions (buying coffee, paying rent, etc.) and the other for investment and HODLing. This strategy could revive BTC's transactional utility while allowing us utilize the potential gain from bitcoin

I understand you, but I know also that many of people here are interested in bitcoins because of investment, so that is why keeping bitcoins is mostly talked about. There are still people who were introduced to bitcoins because of the advantage to make quick transactions for various purpose. Merchants who have more interest in using bitcoins for payment will always talk more about use of bitcoins for payment than just keeping it as a way to have an investment. I also think that merchants still keep some bitcoins to be in gain and benefit from the market when the value increases.

While most people just view it as an investment instead of using it as a peer-to-peer currency, that doesn't mean you can't use bitcoin as a peer-to-peer currency and still have some people use bitcoin for payment.  you don't need to care what other people think or do with bitcoin, you just need to use it for the purpose you want.  Bitcoin is used for more purposes instead of just being used for a single purpose, I think you should be more happy than sad about that.  because the important thing is that bitcoin is bringing a lot of benefits to everyone and is accepted by everyone, that is the success of bitcoin.

 Well, you are right about Bitcoin being a p2p electronic system and if you feel the use case of Bitcoin is not maximalized simply because users have taken to hodling more than using it to pay for goods and services, I'd just say Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin to present an opportunity for financial control to be taken from the financial elites and it wasn't dictated that it must be used only for paying for goods and services alone.
Either way you look at it, Bitcoin still has popularity and while there's those who invest in it, hodl, there's still folks out there using it for payments. Don't know if you've come across this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5467712.0, but it shows that there's still people who don't just hodl Bitcoin like a trophy. Even Edward Snowden advises that it should be used more for spending rather than investment or hodling. All this goes to show that it's a personal choice of what one should do with his Bitcoin.

Now people only use Bitcoin options as investments, as trading, and as speculative assets.
We are still not really on the path of the real BTC Concept.
Of course, this is because government regulations do not fully support Bitcoin as a legal payment asset.

P2P transactions between Bitcoin users without a third party are certainly possible,
but it is still not efficient with the costs and time needed to make transactions.

The best way is to p2p using the Bitcoin Lightning Network,
but some people don't like the Lightning network.

Now p2p is still dominated by third parties and this can be done quickly.
But it is centralized and controlled by a third party.

That is the beauty of bitcoin, it still is an electronic cash used for transactions without a third party daily while it is hodled by others as an investment and traded by some others.
The deflationary quality of bitcoin is very important and gives it more real world value. Currencies are difficult to displace, more difficult when it is a decentralized one trying to displace a legal tender. Having multiple utility means bitcoin will not wait until adoption grows incredibly as a currency for exchange.

Even the wallets attributed to Satoshi are still hodling.

- Jay -

Does having bitcoin terminal needed fee? Like example atm or credit cards accepted are paying some fees on the company was it also the same if theyy have bitcoin payment terminal? Does a company have the fees for that or we can simply use a bitcoin wallet for receiving payment? If none then using bitcoin or crypto is much cheaper than having credit card options on restaurant, shopping mall and etc.

Well, it is not so far from Satoshi's idea that it should be used as an investment or a store of value. There was a recent thread showing this with quotes. What does deviate from his idea is to do it by buying on centralised exchanges, leaving bitcoins there, trading shitcoins, using custodial wallets and the like. But he had foreseen that bitcoin would be used as an investment.

You should see the ads under mine or other people's posts, it's paid in bitcoin on a p2p basis every week and this has been going on for a long time on this forum at least since laszlo made it work for the first (known) time.


For me personally, explaining something you don't want people to know is a waste of time.

Understand this one fact about bitcoin that it can serve you on many purpose being a digital currency, an asset and a profitable investment we can hodl, but the idea behind this is that not everyone will be holding up at the same time, and not everyone will be buying at the same time as well, the demand and supply causes the change in them both and determine when people will hodl or Invest and buy bitcoin, yet nothing stops it being a medium of transaction in making payments.

What if I told you you can do both? HODL Bitcoin for investment and use Bitcoin for payments.
There's no need to pick a side, pick both sides.

I believe that Bitcoin has stayed true to Satoshi's original vision and, if anything, it has evolved to better fulfill its intended purpose. Bitcoin serves a multitude of purposes, catering to individual preferences. It continues to function as a reliable choice, especially for long term "HODLing," where many have profited, and there are now even more user-friendly options available. When compared to other cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin's reliability is evident, making it a preferred choice for accumulating assets. Whether you're trading or investing, Bitcoin remains true to its original goal ie "as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system, an alternative to fiat currency, and a digital payment solution"

This all depends on the region just like we have some regions that do not support the existence of Bitcoin using leagl means to tag it illegal for people to trade with Bitcoin. Bitcoin had been a utility means for us to beak though from the traditional way of transacting business using fiat currency. Since the launch of Bitcoin, the world has seen total changes in individual mindset of having a world of non fiat transaction and this is going to have soon where everybody would be using cryptocurrency to trade and run there various businesses.

We don't, because the moment everyone becomes a hodler, it will be valuated at 0. The only purpose of Bitcoin is to be used as currency. If we don't have people willing to use it like that, it will go to 0, just as if we don't have people willing to use gold in jewellery and electronics, it will also go to 0.

The reason there is an orders of magnitude difference between the total holders and those who use it as currency, is due to the fact that bad money drives out good (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gresham%27s_law).

Bitcoin has a great potential which made it to go beyond using it as a payment method but also as a store of value and as a commodity in the passage of time. Hodling bitcoin doesn't mean that you are going against the purpose of its creation and design, because there is no way that one can hodli bitcoin forever.

When you hodli, and it is time to take profit, you must sell it or use it for payment, it depends on what you need the funds for. The challenge that some people are having in using bitcoin as a p2p payment system is that bitcoin is not legal on their country and the only way that they use bitcoin is by hodling it and keep their funds safe from inflation, especially people from the third world countries.

I have seen people from this forum that accepts bitcoin in their businesses as an alternative payment method. As long as traders are still on exchanges, and investors are still buying and selling, I think that will help bitcoin adoption to grow. We all have our choices on whatever that we want to use out bitcoin for, because it must be in a way that will favor us. While you are hodling, another bitcoiner might be using his as an alternative payment system, because it is not everyone that will do the same thing.

If I am not mistaken, then you are into Bitcoin for making money; it doesn't matter what way you choose. But it's become the general goal of crypto investors. We just don't forget about the real goal of p2p electronic money, but a major part of the Bitcoin community doesn't know about the primary goal of Bitcoin. They just consider Bitcoin an investment opportunity. If you ask me, I will say yes as well. I am not here to make just a P2P transaction. I am here to make money. However, the theme became like this because of a lack of knowledge. When we introduce Bitcoin to someone, we just brief them on Bitcoin as an investment opportunity. We don't try to explain how Bitcoin was created or why.

Your explanation was brief and worth noting...

We live in a dynamic world that has different needs for their valuables and Bitcoin being one such valuable does not have an absolute treatment... especially that Bitcoin means freedom then it's users will recognise it however they like, it can either be an asset or currency or both.. it's all about what it serves you.

No such thing as a primary concept!

As a matter of fact, Bitcoin is like a car others will use it to commute while others can use it as a collectors item that can be sold later for more money.

In some way it's stil a p2p electronic cash, because nothing stops you from using it that way. But the current incentives push most users to view it as an investment rather than a payment method. There's not a lot of places that accept Bitcoin, and fees might get high sometimes, and price volatility means it's often better to wait for a more favorable price.

Bitcoin's value does not depend solely on its use as a currency. People could avoid using it as electronic cash at all, and it would still be valuable because storing value for long term is also an important property.

the high volatility factor is the major reason why most users are after for the investment side of bitcoin rather than as a payment method. however, some are already seeing this payment method as cheap and easy, especially those with cross-border payments. they don't need to use the traditional remittance centers which charge a hefty amount and the duration is quite long. so for me, this usage depends on the need of the person, whether he's looking for investment or a good payment method.

That's right, even if people turn bitcoin into an asset, bitcoin will not lose its P2P feature. I am a bitcoin investor and I hold most of my bitcoins with the goal of finding profits. But sometimes if I need to transfer money to another country, I will ask my partner or relative to use bitcoin instead of transacting from the banking system.

You're right, how bitcoin is used depends on each person's needs and each situation. Just because people consider it an investment doesn't mean it can't be used for payments or P2P transactions.

These days people rarely use P2P because there are so many exchanges with low fees and continence’s that you might as well trade with them.

You can still P2P but it comes with risks. You need to know who you are buying or selling from because you might get robbed and due to this is why many just use a CEX and just deposit withdraw the money to a bank account.

Absolutely agree with your point! Bitcoin's many uses in the global economy are a resounding “yes” from me. Lets be clear: no one can tell you how to use bitcoin. Period. This is the core of decentralisation and financial autonomy.

Geographic BTC usage disparities, especially given legal limits, are formidable but not insurmountable. Your advice on hodling to protect value, especially in shaky financial systems, may revolutionise third-world economies. We must promote the idea that bitcoin is a lifeline for financially struggling people, not just an investment. I appreciate your contribution to this lively discussion and believe that diverse BTC uses will promote worldwide adoption.

I think that Bitcoin is for everyone a different thing. You may consider Bitcoin as a payment method/system/ecosystem, but (for example) I don't consider Bitcoin as A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System because it has huge disadvantages as a currency for everyday payments, starting from the costs of the payments, finishing the time it takes to receive your coins. I believe that we are going to have another coin/token that will be used as a payment method for every day transactions. For me Bitcoin is a new gold, but it is limited (gold is not limited), Bitcoin is limpid, it does not require any extra expenses to store it and Bitcoin is possible to hold by yourself, without keeping it in the bank or other storing place. And yes, it's just very stupid to spend Bitcoins on the food, basic goods etc. because no one with a sobriety of the mind will spend limited, unique asset, which may significantly increase in the value after mass adoption of crypto assets, on the daily expenses. It's just my viewpoint, I know that here are many of Bitcoin anarchists, who believe in the future of BTC like a substitute of USD, but it's crazy (in my eyes), because you are literally comparing digital gold with a dollar (I recommend to read why people went out from the using gold backed money to the money which is not backed by the gold). But life shows that sometimes even crazy ideas might be right, therefore let's just wait and see by our own what is going to be in the future.

P2P is still in place but you forgetting major roadblock that caused disruption of p2p System: The Government. We have no problem using it, in fact we would love to have old days coming back to us right away. Unfortunately there were mega platforms who used to be our p2p escrows but slowly governments started imposing the strict regulations on such platforms. Now they all ask us for KYC thus it breaks the rule of independent third party transaction as written by the creator of Bitcoin.

Moreover someone might say that we can just ask someone to do the transaction on local levels. However, there is increased threat of getting exposed to unwanted peeps or criminals too. This is one of the major reason why peeps just buy and sell over an exchanger, hold them, profit and stay happy.

Bitcoin already functions as a P2P electronic system, although it has not achieved this description and purpose fully, but it will as soon it gets recognized generally, accepted and then adopted by more vendors for transaction purposes. Satoshi saw the future, we are not yet in that future where bitcoin is already serving this purpose.

We are the early adopters that are witnessing the growth and maturity of bitcoin into what it will become, and for the now we are just taking advantage of it to invest and make profit from it's present volatile nature.

The time it takes for a Bitcoin transaction to finish is about 10 minutes, or a couple of hours if you set a low fee. The time it takes for a bank transaction to finish can take up to 4 days in my country. Let alone if financial institutions like Paypal are involved; in that case, it can take up to half a year.

While the government fights it, I don't think it's the main obstacle. Rather, I think it has to do with the skill set required to setup various software, the time required to learn how it works, and the Gresham's law (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/greshams-law.asp) which makes it more appealing as a store of value.

The fate of the price is to stabilize and adoption to increase so that it does not need to be converted into cash. Then people must return to the basics, which is the use of Bitcoin in P2P trading. Therefore, I do not see any difference between talking about that now or in the future, since the nature of the use of Bitcoin is what determines the type of discussions about it and that it is still among the issues. It is possible to use Bitcoin as P2P, even if many are not ready to use it, but the reason for not using it is not related to Bitcoin, but rather to challenges associated with accepting Bitcoin.

Well you do get a point on which this is really truly happening on which people dont really see its utility but rather they are really that seeing on that investment side of things or in speaking about opportunity on which it cant really be able to deny that this is indeed the truth.It do really just turns out that people are really that interested when it comes to earning opportunity that into its utility which i couldnt really blame them and even myself is really that guilty with this on which we are really that interested on holding bitcoin because we do really know its potential. Well, there's nothing we can do about it if people would really be deciding in terms of holding their coins instead on using it.

There's no point on doing so or something not that beneficial if we are really gonna be able to do such thing. Somewhat there are places in the world like El Salvador on which they did really utilize up that
functionality of Bitcoin which is really that great to look at. Dont worry which we know that adoption is really that on the move and recognition which is something that we are really that
gradually seeing on every corners of the world.It is really just that dont make yourself that too optimistic or something that would really be making yourself in a rush.

It's true that if crypto community considers bitcoin as an asset the future of bitcoin as a currency will not be that great and at some point, it can even fall apart too but you can't conclude anything based on the discussions cause the actual fact is bitcoin is keep evolving and finding the efficient way it to be while using it as currency, for example, the implementation of segwit which aimed to decrease the size of the TX so the fee paid by the user will decrease and it happened after the network congestion at the time of bull market then we also developed L2 layer basically Lightning network.

The development of LN paves the BTC users to transact BTC at almost zero TX fee without compromising the security and its basic so gradually the users are actually using BTC and also the returns from BTC lure new people into the market after every cycle.

As much as we want to stick to Bitcoins original purpose, unfortunately it's users will pretty much determine how best it can serve them and remain relevant!!!
Btw, If we are going to talk about Bitcoins p2p intentions originating from the whitepaper, then we might as well unfork whatever has been done to Bitcoins all in the name of originality !!

Besides, alot of factors have influenced the change of course of our cryptocurrencies such as regulation which was over looked ,and crypto is adapting to the change .

To be honest, most of the communities are talking about Bitcoin, and even bitcoin undelivers are talking about it and its critics. How much more can bitcoin enthusiasts do?


Yes, it may be true that most of our communities here believe that there are many people who say that it is good to hold bitcoin long-term, but most of those who say that do not hold bitcoin but they just know, or others have holdings but just a little.
Because for me, it's okay to hold Bitcoin if you can hold it for at least one or more, especially since the bull run is coming next year, so it's not true that most people want to hold it long-term; instead, most people want to have profit in the short term only because it is brought about by their needs in life.


That is not true; the majority of people who believe that Bitcoin is a good long-term investment also believe in p2p transactions, and others even use it if they want to make a transaction with it.

BTC tx's are not too expensive, especially when the mempool isn't congested and you have consolidated inputs. BTC is surely a p2p electronic cash and it makes cross-border payments easier to make.
Tx's are confirmed ~ 10 minutes on average, it doesn't mean that it has to be exactly 10 minutes but that is the average time, your tx's can even be confirmed in seconds, if you get into a block that is just about to be mined. Your tx would only be stuck in the mempool if you don't know how to use https://mempool.space/ or you don't just want to pay an appropriate fee.
There are still enough p2p solutions: https://kycnot.me/
You can buy and sell on p2p exchanges of your choice, or if you want to swap coins, you can use https://exch.cx/ but make sure you move your funds into your self custodial wallet and stay happy and safe.

I don't see it as a sad thing when the evolvement of Bitcoin's use coming from P2P e-cash system turned into a major investment globally. Yes, in the whole world and this is a better achievement for satoshi because he/she sees everyone talks about it and what will be the future of it. With that words of mouth, that's already a great thing that a project has been achieved and this is no longer a project anymore, this is a revolutionary financial technology that has disrupted the finance sector. The introduction of Bitcoin as a p2p e-cash system has been its way to its pavement to where it is right now. Like the other technologies, it starts somewhere and goes up to an unexpected growth like sky is the only limit of it.

People consider Bitcoin an investment just because it is too early in its adoption for it to be used as a currency. The natural progression of an opt-in global currency like this that goes from 1 person to global adoption is: get rich quick scheme -> high growth investment -> store of value / savings -> transactional currency.

We're out of the "get rich quick scheme" phase, which we can say probably ended after 2017. But we are still very much in the "high growth investment" phase. Probably over the next decade we'll see the huge bull and bear markets come to an end as the halving effects fade away, which will lead Bitcoin into the "store of value / savings" phase as the stigma and occurrence of giant crashes fades away.

The "transactional currency" aka P2P cash system, is the end phase. You only get to that once we start reaching mass global adoption so that enough people have Bitcoin to actually spend it with any sort of density with merchants, and also this only happens after people stop being able to say, "well if I hold onto it for another couple years it'll double in price so I may as well not spend it", and also once hundreds of millions of people have held onto Bitcoin long enough for their money to have appreciated to the point where they feel comfortable spending their financial gains. So basically, mass adoption needs to occur before people will actually use it as a currency to buy things. We're still probably 20 years away from the start of that. Like, even if say Amazon added Bitcoin payment this decade, hardly anyone is going to be using bitcoin on Amazon for the first 10-20 years, which is also why it makes sense and is also not a problem that hardly any merchants accept Bitcoin now, cuz it's still way too early for that.

While roughly the 2010s were Bitcoin's get-rich phase, roughly the 2020s will be Bitcoin's investment phase. 2030s may see Bitcoin maturing into the store of value / savings phase. And I would expect in the 2040s we'll start seeing bitcoin being used to buy things becoming fairly common.

I don't need Bitcoin to be legal tender or to be officially accepted as a currency to use it.

I can use it secretly without any allowance from governments and central banks but it is better if I use it in a nation where Bitcoin is legal or at least alega. Using Bitcoin in a country where Bitcoin is illegal is risky and if I use it there, I must have some knowledge and skills to hide my identity from the public as well as government and banks.

https://coin.dance/poli/legality

Most of nations globally don't consider Bitcoin as Illegal so it is globally safe to use bitcoin.

We can use no KYC exchanges too even in nations where Bitcoin is legal tender or legal, alegal.
https://kycnot.me/

Of course, you can use bitcoin to pay without the government accepting it, but doing so is useless because you will be using it secretly, and there will not be too many stores that will accept bitcoin for you to pay. So that will also be useless and even dangerous for you. For bitcoin to become a world currency, the role of government is indispensable and we should not deny that.


Bitcoin has become more user-friendly in most countries, but it is being treated as a commodity, not a means of payment. If we both want bitcoin to be the world currency and we want to remain anonymous then it will never happen and we are too greedy for that ambition.

Bitcoin white paper is not sacred thing that ought to be religiously adhered. Note that a lot of improvements are also not strictly stated in the paper, so i rather deemed as general guideline.

Furthermore, just because the majority of the people’s interest toward making bitcoin as a form of investment or commodity does not necessarily make them could not promotes it. There is no boundary that makes people must spread the awareness thorough the transaction-related examples.


All of those prerequisites alternative or option are still available. It is just the matter of user decision in regard of what pathway the would like to chooses.

The problem is not with the "users" of the technology, but rather with the governments and their definition of Bitcoin. Bitcoin is not accepted as a currency in most countries and they define Bitcoin (Crypto currencies) as a Commodity, so people cannot accept it as legal tender.  ::)

So, if merchants and businesses are not allowed to accept it as a currency and the government allow you to trade it as a commodity, then you hodl and trade it....and where there are online opportunities to use it as a currency, then you do that.  ;)

Will you blame them, people are only discussing what is trending at the moment, you don't expect people to be discussing Bitcoin as a currency when they can't comfortably use it in their different regions. Why it seems Bitcoin been an investment/asset is what is trending is because those are what the centralized companies in the industry are promoting. People aren't joining Bitcoin market because they want to use it as a cureency but because they see possibility of making profits when they Invest in Bitcoin and that's why popular words like HODL and halving are trending as those are words associated with making profits from investing in Bitcoin. There was a time when those words weren't trending so that means in future other things might be trending and not Bitcoin been seen as just an investment/assets but a currency.


Bitcoin hasn't changed, it's still a decentralized P2P cash, Bitcoin hasn't and can't be centralized so it hasn't lost its value, just that the majority of the current users of Bitcoin are profit focused and not utility focus. When more companies begin to accept Bitcoin as a means of payment, the narrative will change. For now we just have to give Bitcoin some time, you don't expect a currency that's just few years old to dethrone the current fiat system that has been around for hundreds of centuries. If Bitcoin been considered an asset or investment is what is going to bring more people awareness of the currency then it shouldn't be a problem. Narrative can always change provided the true value or Bitcoin doesn't change.

Frankly, it is also the problem of new users who come in thinking that Bitcoin's only purpose is to make them rich.

I mean, you will have to spend it eventually if you want to buy anything useful with it.

But the majority of people nowadays are using it as an investment vehicle where they buy it and then cash out at some later time. But governments are a bigger problem in preventing Bitcoin from being accepted in shopping more, especially the USA.

You know OP, I'm fine with how bitcoin is used right now because if it was used like what satoshi intended and what you want it to be which is a P2P electronic cash system then be prepared for high tx fees because bitcoin isn't good with high volumes of trade and so as more people are constantly using it for that then the more the network gets congested and the only way that you can get through that is if you pay a lot so you can be first in line to have your transaction processed. What bitcoin is right now are like those expensive Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh or Magic the Gathering cards that you can subdivide into smaller pieces but still retain value although the pieces are a divided sum of the value card, I think we're better off trading pieces of that divided collectible card than having it used like a currency plus these so-called divided cards can still be used like a currency but much better.

What data, what assets do you rely on to believe that this pattern will happen with bitcoin? Maybe you are one of the few people who consider bitcoin a currency like what Satoshi said in bitcoin's whitepaper, but I want to tell you that bitcoin is unlikely to become the world's currency. For one simple reason, no government will accept something they cannot control as a substitute for the fiat currency they create. The chance of bitcoin becoming a world currency has also disappeared as they are planning to create their own CBDC. they are looking to control us more, whereas bitcoin is decentralized, do you think they will let that happen?

I can relate to your point of view because despites the banned and suspensions of Bitcoin and other AltCoins in some countries, that still doesn't hinder nor bridges the coins transactions as long it is a P2P and the ability of the decentralized of the digital currency.
At points of such sceneros, the idea reasons for the coins transactions is primarily aimed to make profits and not the alternative potentials for transitional fiat.

Digital currencies or cryptocurrencies are almost completely decentralized, with only bitcoin being the only decentralized currency on the market. Furthermore, there are not too many countries that ban bitcoin, most governments allow their people to use bitcoin as a commodity and asset, not as a payment method. What Charles-Tim and you are saying is that bitcoin only serves as a commodity and is allowed in most countries. But to be able to use bitcoin directly for payment and without converting to fiat, there are very few countries that allow it.

BTC wasn't created to be the world's reserve currency or anything like that, but you are wrong when you say BTC isn't a currency, surely it is fungible and can be used as a medium of exchange. It is worth mentioning that BTC doesn't have to even be a legal tender, as long as the government of a country doesn't place a ban on it, it can be accepted by merchants if they wish to and you can use it as a medium of exchange in places that accept it.

If you just need an agreement and consent from the seller and the buyer then you can use gold, silver or any asset as long as both parties agree it can be used as a means of payment, not just bitcoins. What I'm trying to say is that government legitimacy for bitcoin, that's really hard to achieve and we need to accept that. I'm not pessimistic but I don't think bitcoin will have any chance of becoming a payment method replacing fiat in the future, bitcoin is more suitable as an asset.

I do not think that we "need" that, it would be good to have it but we do not really need it. We could end up with something like that which could make bitcoin go up a lot and that would not be a bad idea but I personally believe that it's not a must. Bitcoin right now is still a great p2p electronic cash system and we are changing bitcoin from one person to another easily all the time, it should be very important to keep that in mind. I get that it may not be all that great this current moment but that doesn't change the fact that we can't really make it change all that much.

We should be talking about how we can use it more instead of just invest into it, and that is a bit more rare concept at the moment. People do not use it like a currency, they do invest into it like it's gold, but they do not use it like a currency, we need to make sure that there are a lot more people who are investing into it, and that would be a lot better for sure.

Assuming that Bitcoin is no longer just a "get rich quick scheme" is too simple. Opportunism is still common because the market is volatile and based on guesswork. Looking closely at how technology progress, changes in regulations, and economic shifts affect each other is needed to break down the timeline you suggest.

There are too many factors to consider when arguing that Bitcoin will become a "transactional currency" in a straight line, following your planned stages. Dealing with the complicated factors that could shorten or lengthen this road is very important. Because global financial systems and regulatory settings change all the time, your timeline for mass adoption in 20 years is based on speculation and doesnt take that into account enough.

Can you still use bitcoin as described on the whitepaper? Of course you can, look you cannot force people to use their belongings a certain way just because you do not like it, people are free to use their bitcoin as they see fit, even in ways that go completely against the spirit of bitcoin, like those that store their coins for the long term on an exchange, we try to discourage that behavior as they will lose everything if the exchange goes down, but at the end each person is free to use their own property as they want, besides there is enough people using bitcoin to transact with each other and buy all kind of stuff online, so this does not worries me at all.

Bitcoin is a currency and anybody that do not support that should leave argument and face reality. Bitcoin was created to be a digital currency that people can use for business transactions and payment of services. If we look at today, we can see that Bitcoin is serving it purposes even though the government are not in full support of it. It is certain that with time, Bitcoin is going to be recognized digital currency by the world government for business transactions and service payment. It is only going to take a little while for this to come through with amazing dominance.