Bitcoin Forum

When Bitcoin came out the idea of every enthusiast was that it was meant to make fast payment, not so many wanted to own Bitcoin but after so many use cases people trusted the network for the swift payment of any amount one can make in minutes. We get to see stories of people using Bitcoin to purchase food items, house, clothes and the rest. It all make sense until another decade Bitcoin gained significant value and many was impressed. The idea began to change, it now became a store of value. Enthusiast believed that if they buy some certain amount of Bitcoin and hold it for a decade they will have a good profit.

Now in recent times big companies, organizations and countries are buying Bitcoin for financial reserve. In the next decades to come what do you think will be the mentality of those who are buying Bitcoin and those who wants to buy Bitcoin?

I am certain there will be a new purpose

I don't think there will be any new use case, we already know what BTC's use cases are, and in the future we are looking at mass adoption of those use cases. I.e. there would probably be more businesses, individuals and merchants ready to accept BTC as payment for goods and services, and more people would choose BTC as their option of a hedge against fiat devaluation.

Sometimes things that are considered uncertain can be a solution. Bitcoin is a real example. Bitcoin is underestimated but Bitcoin has become a new favorite in the world's financial system. There are almost no people who do not recognize the benefits of this network. Those who used to oppose Bitcoin, I can assure you the percentage of them has decreased over time.
It used to be considered only as a fast network but now the use of Bitcoin is not only for that but as an asset that can save those who have Bitcoin.

First of all it depends on how you define "fast". Usually because of the altcoin advertisers/scammers people tend to think that confirmation time is the indication of being "fast" or slow. But irreversibility is. Many altcoins that are producing blocks every couple of seconds have no security and many of them are centralized and most importantly some have mutable blockchains like ethereum. Their confirmation has no value and their transactions can never be considered truly irreversible.
However bitcoin's one confirmation has a tremendous level of security even if bitcoin blocks take 10 minutes on average to be found.

Secondly I don't remember anybody ever introducing bitcoin as a payment system with "fast payments". They key characteristic has always been decentralization. And as I explained bitcoin's payments and settlements are both very fast.

That's not new though. Bitcoin is designed to be money and by definition money is a currency that is also store of value. The capped supply ensures that and it has been like this from day one.

In any case I don't think the "mentality" has changed. There have always been many categories of adopters like those who invest in it to become rich quick and those who adopt it to reach financial sovereignty. And the number of people in each category is rising with adoption, even though the investors are more vocal therefore are seen more.

I think that the reserve of value thing has been said by many BTC maximalists for a long time. the only thing that matter is keep getting more shats

actually i wouldn’t say that it took a decade for people to quickly realize that there is more to bitcoin it’s just many didn’t think it would actually reach this high so they sold even when it just increased in a few amounts
i think we have pretty much hit all the purposes it will just depend on how many people are dedicated to that one purpose for example many people are buying bitcoin for future profit some just for saving money and fighting inflation

the fast payment mindset was due to people trusting that zero-confirm payments relayed in mainnet would eventually settle, with a tx fee of under $0.10/tx
and yes by 2019(10yr) this changed due to core devs making zero confirms less trustable on mainnet, whilst 'offramping' that "trust of zero confirm" over to subnetworks, and then changing the mainnet fee structure/formulae to hype-up, advertise the subnetworks as the go to systems for the old mindset

so its not exactly just a user mindset change due to new users from different backgrounds that just occurred through magic, but instead a protocol change to the roadmap 'plan of utility', done by core that caused the users 'mindset of utility' to change

so if you want to know whats in store for the next decade, just ask the core devs what their plan is

People’s mentality change when they are no longer benefiting bitcoin, but for now, I don’t think there will be a change of mentality, but more probably, they will continue to acquire more bitcoin especially if bitcoin price surges without limits.

Now, on bitcoin’s use cases, it will continue to serve as a mode of payment and a good store of value. The only difference is that, while global adoption for bitcoin increases, the scope of bitcoin usage also grows. Since content creators and influencers have been gaining high demand these days, instead of using fiat for their salary, bitcoin could possibly make its entry. It’s up for them if they will use it for investment or not. Another thing also is that it could also serve as cross-border payments and remittances where bitcoin creates lower cost for international transfers rather than using the traditional bank method.

In the future there will be more development on the Bitcoin project and adoptions and Bitcoin scalability at every stage of time, there is nothing new in terms of users for Bitcoin that we have not known, but there is a need for more development of that userscase to make Bitcoin mainstream adoptions and scalability enhanced Bitcoin ecosystem and low fees in the Bitcoin network and also several alternatives that aid network scalability that meet up with the demands of the time, between we have seen some nice developments already and we need to commend this present time and era in the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Bitcoin is a revolutionary digital asset to deal with right now. It's a coin that have come to remain in the market for a very long time looking at it's trajectory so far. What I'm pretty sure about is that a time will come that the bitcoin might not have its way like this any longer. For instance, a time will come where bitcoin must have gathered momentum in the market and become over saturated and alternative coins will have their way to thrive. Already bitcoin is gradually becoming unaffordable for a greater number of individuals and investors out there, especially the Micro-investment demography. As time goes on, it will reach its peak and will pave way for other coins to thrive in the market.


But do we think there would be a low fees in the bitcoin network again? I don't think so. As much as bitcoin is already thriving, not everyone who have the capacity to invest in the coin again and many people will have no option than to go for other altcoins like Solana and Ethereum who seems to have a good growth market effect in the long run. All I'm rest assured about right now is the fact that Bitcoin have come to stay and it will grow to the level that it will become the most valuable asset (both physically or digitally) in the world in future.

Well, it makes sense right?

When bitcoin was launched no one knows what is blockchain and probably no idea about the decentralized monetary system because we are using the printed money by government as means of exchange so if suddenly someone came and said it's the future and buy it, the people is obviously gonna ignore it but one who realized the potential mined them and HODLing forever. Now that the value of Bitcoin is around 100K and spot light fell on Bitcoin whenever the bull trend happens we see new people coming into the market and that's how everything grows.

Observe the public response every time Bitcoin crosses a new pricing mark. There’s excitement mixed with “What if I missed out?” anxiety. BlackRock, Tesla, Square are either formulating plans around it or buying in. Every purchase sends a message: distributed technology can be the source of future value. People want a piece of the new digital frontier and to be part of something greater, so they experience emotional tug

In ten years, the focus could be on world stability as Bitcoin serves as a financial shock absorber when central banks implement additional quantitative easing or push negative rates. The dilemma is: do we lean into this new era, or do we resist change until the old systems crumble? That friction shapes human growth particularly when we understand that open networks and self-custody help to create trust

Another thing is that user acceptance usually depends on empathy and understanding. Should the next generation inherit Bitcoin, perceptions will change once it solves actual issues like fast transfers or inflation protection of investments. The major revelation is that Bitcoin symbolizes freedom, choice, and a possible reset for people, people weary of top-down economics, not only money

The future of Bitcoin is undoubtedly profitable, and as such, just as time goes flies, so are we likely to see a massive increase in it's number of investors, because just as some countries and organization have opted into buying and investing in Bitcoin for long term, in next few decades, what we are likely to see are many countries opting into legalizing it as legal tender just as El Salvador and Central African Republic did. And likewise be a major asset for national reserve of a country when it's value skyrocket in next few decades.

The idea was first to have an alternative decentralized digital currency, which we could personally have control over its uses, experience a cheaper transaction fee along cross-boarder payments using a fast and secured p2p network, but the point here is that many never knew it could thrive to survive up to where it is today, so they never took it serious as at then, only few did and take the risk and are now enjoying the benefit.


Even if an idea is the perfect and accurate solution needed, not all the people will warmly accept the idea in the first place, only the few who could think out the box, create a different mentality as well as having the tenacity to afford taking risk in it could go for it, so for now, lets see what this new year and era of adoption will bring to the bitcoin network, if we could have more countries accepting bitcoin as a legal tender, things could change massively and the influence will reflect all over the world and the economy, people by then will not be persuaded to invest, just as no one have to encourage you to start a business venture, you motivate yourself because of what you have seen in doing it.

Since it might soon become a reserve currency, Bitcoin might end up becoming popular in international trade. Nations might end up using is as guarantee or collateral for loans and other credit facilitates.

With the high rate of government and institutional investors involvement in Bitcoin, I think there might be a reduction in the use of Bitcoin as a currency among individuals. There will be an increase in people using Bitcoin as an investment just like gold and other precious stones.

I don't think there is any change in the idea of ​​using Bitcoin, maybe now it seems that most people consider Bitcoin as a store of value, but the use of Bitcoin as a fast payment tool is still the use of Bitcoin itself, because I see that there are still many people who use it as a means of payment. So, I see that Bitcoin is currently considered by many people as gold and can be converted into a means of payment, the only difference is that Bitcoin is Borderless and very easy to use as a means of payment.

Even before the bitcoin became as it is right now the use of bitcoin haven't change because it is still use by many people as payment or whatever it is that people use it for. What bitcoin need is mass adoption which haven't happen yet since other countries are banned the use of bitcoin and also mining. The idea is that people can use a currency where no one is behind or there's no third party behind the scene which is why bitcoin is created for.

Big companies and governments are buying bitcoin for the same purpose for which most of us hold bitcoin, which is for the profit, which you refer to as the fast money. Bitcoin doesn't give you fast money; rather, it's an asset that gives an opportunity to earn profit in the long run, which is part of the reason why companies and governments are targeting it: they want to get the benefit that others are also enjoying.

I do not think that Bitcoin has functioned as a currency to the fullest because although we may have heard of people who have used it in completing transactions, the stories about these sort of individuals are not very rampant. There are still many cryptoholders who are yet to use their Bitcoin for transactional purpose and for that I think the next shift in mentality will be for investors to start using their Bitcoins in the purchase of everyday commodities.

Very important question that only time can answer, The Bitcoin fees crisis has been around for a while now, and till this very moment there have not been any notable improvements or advancements in development that aimed at eradicating Bitcoin network congestion and the high fees crisis, so for that reason, we can hope for positive development in the future, no one can tell what will happen in the future, and besides, we are beginning to see positive development and progress in the blockchain congestion that fuels constant increase in Bitcoin transactions fees.

Till date people still use bitcoin to purchase their goods only if they find it worthy personally I don’t think I will use bitcoin to purchase any product because I prefer the value which means holding bitcoin. I’m not expecting anything new since the two we’ve seen for sometime now is okay besides Satoshi created this as a means of freedom from third party like the bank.

Mentality doesn't change every decade but technology changes. What's our mentality? To survive, to take care of our family, to earn money, grow exponentially, develop physically and mentally and so on.
When Bitcoin was new, it's true, many people didn't own it because it's not really easy to know what will succeed and what will not. When the internet was invented, do you think that early adopters bought every possible domain name? No, why? Because it's impossible to predict what will be a gamechanger and achieve a huge success.

I really don't like what happened to Bitcoin but it was inevitable. In the end, strong species take over weak species and rich people take over poor people. Bitcoin is still doing very well compared to environment where it has to exist.

If bitcoin become more stable in the future it could go back as p2p payment, it will still live as an asset that’s all about p2p in the future, no one uses it as p2p today because it’s massively growing, people recognizing bitcoin as an asset because many people valued it so much, that’s the natural growth of bitcoin or anything that involved in money.

That’s the cycle and no other use cases will be made in the future but let’s see.

Is it, therefore, fair enough to generalize that the Bitcoin narrative has somehow shifted from utility-centered to price-centered? Before, Bitcoin is discussed mainly in terms of its features, its philosophy. Today, it's discussed primarily in terms of its price growth potential. Whether as a store of value, speculative asset, strategic reserve, or whatever, the focus is on its fiat equivalent.

There was actually a thread (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5519814.msg64754623#msg64754623) opened by d5000 discussing the odd and perhaps worrying way Bitcoin is being marketed these days, which is possibly founded upon a problematic narrative.

You asked a very interesting question. Bitcoin (as an entity) is really constantly being rethought.

In the beginning, it was an alternative means of payment, then a promising means of saving, currently, its use as digital gold (as a component of the gold and foreign exchange reserves of central banks) is being discussed. That is, the understanding of the essence of the first cryptocurrency is constantly evolving.

What will be the next stage of this evolution? In my opinion, the answer to this question is given by the analysis of such unpopular entities in the community as runes and ordinals.

In my opinion, the next stage of Bitcoin's development is the creation of new digital assets on its basis. That is, Bitcoin will become a direct competitor to Ethereum, Solana, Tron and other similar platforms. At the same time, Bitcoin will have what these platforms do not have now - support from government regulators, which will allow issuing fiat money, stocks, bonds and tokenized assets on its basis.

The logical goal of Bitcoin's evolution is to be a measure and basis for the value of all other assets on planet Earth.

This phenomenon was not so widespread, if you don't count the sales of goods on SilkRoad. It seems to me that bitcoin was never used for its intended purpose to the full extent (massively and for a long period). As soon as the price began to grow, bitcoin turned into an investment and speculative (trading) instrument.

I would say it differently: the mass user sees bitcoin as a means of enrichment, that is, a certain asset that brings in large profits in a short period of time (almost like in a casino).

In my opinion, today's enthusiasts want to make a profit "tomorrow". :)

I think it will be about the same as it is now: a means of enrichment and preservation of value. I don't think we will see any dramatic changes in ten years, because the era of abrupt changes is behind us. Now everything will change much more slowly, because this system is beginning to enter a stage of equilibrium.

due to cores stronghold of the protocol and how they develop wallet features for securing keys/creating new key formats. you will notice how they are more concerned with multisig and ring signatures lately and things like partially signed scripts..

so with things like core pushing for coinjoin and such.. it seems the next era will be that people will need to deposit into grouped address/transaction managed by federations or multisigs rather than solely holding funds in ones own key that only requires your own signature to move just your funds

in short organisational reserves where people then borrow balance within the total of the transactions participants on a subnetwork of private payments

Agreed the idea of Bitcoins user case changes everytime with new discoveries,  at this time merchants became reluctant to go BTC after we had users double spending just to cancel out the earlier transaction and in some cases transactions were stuck for several days and if fees were so small these usually got dropped and that's how this era changed how Bitcoin was to be used and settled for the store of value ::)

Personally I thought the first hodlers really got to enjoy this concept of store of value because in the end they walked out as millionaires if you got out 10years later..

Perhaps we shall go back to the "store of value" because we all have the belief that Bitcoin can make us some free money :P and everyone is jumping on this boat on this reason alone..

Why do you think so? The other new use case people used/rely on Bitcoin for wasn't expected. To the best of my knowledge, i know that as long as Bitcoin still remains in existence and is adopted there will be other things people will rely on it for. You are aware that Trump used Bitcoin's hype as a tool for his political campaign? Or am i wrong?

I pray we all see the future you are talking about. As for me the future i pictured is one where there will be so many reasons why people choose to invest in Bitcoin not only the current use cases now.

Absolutely. I see bitcoin as a global currency which will shape the way governments will value the digital assets going forward. Bitcoin is already leading that and I believe bitcoin will continue to be a leader in the decentralized financial system for years to come and will drive new initiatives that will bring about change and shift from the current fiat currencies. In the near future I see more countries adopting the bitcoin for investments and as legal tender but I don't think Trump will have the ability to materialize the idea of Bitcoin reserves as he's most likely to face blockage from the powers that be within the system who might frustrate the process.


I'm seriously wowed about the real developmental stride the bitcoin and other crypto have achieved over the decade. Sometimes in 2015, bitcoin was seen as described as  the utility-centered but with the current market trend and the level of attention and adoption it's accruing is awe-inspiring and mind-blowing.

This is also where opportunity comes in, just like we were taught in economics, there is money cost as well as opportunity cost, if some were being informed about bitcoin and have taken decision for it acceptance and usage, then they will be ever grateful in the future for making such a decision, while if they were told but refused to take action over bitcoin adoption, then there is nothing to do than for them to witness others making profits with bitcoin in the future, but for those who would only be having the privilege of hearing about bitcoin for the first time in the future time, it will be left for them to decide right by them or not.

Well in 2024 we witnessed a change of mentality from institutions towards Bitcoin.
In less than a decade we are going to see a change in mentality from the wealthy classes
when they realise Bitcoin is Digital Capital and a real option over Gold, Property and Scarce
collectible items which form traditional capital now.

I'm not sure about the "decades" I think changes will happen quicker than that as more
and more people come to realise what Bitcoin can offer


I think the complete opposite, in the future new use cases and utilities will be
created on the Bitcoin network, we have only scratched the surface of
what can be built on the Bitcoin network or around Bitcoin itself just in terms
of financial services and products.

I think that slowly, countries are realizing the advantages of Bitcoin over fiat and that no matter how much they fight, they cannot fight progress. Bitcoin is the next generation of money. A global money.

Governments want power and control on their citizens in many things including finance. With Bitcoin or altcoins, they have more difficulties to control their citizens, so they are mostly against these things as much as possible.

They want to develop, and launch their CBDCs, to control their citizens better financially. It's their main plan that is not to make Bitcoin legal tender and give full financial freedom to their citizens.

With time, fortunately more green countries with Bitcoin Legal status.
Some world maps for Bitcoiners. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5471817.0)
https://newhedge.io/terminal/bitcoin/legality-map
https://coin.dance/poli/legality

I think this mostly influenced by technology as well, just wait until space exploration possible then you'd see digital currency like bitcoin to be needed more than ever, the one that's secured by big computational power, right now people fading the utility because they aren't really looking into the future, but so far bitcoin is for the future.

currently what attract people into investing in bitcoin is the deflationary nature due to capped total supply so they think it's a hedge against inflation which it is and pretty damn good one at that.

Before the mentality was that cash was king. Then the internet delivered us the truth and transparency on economic data as well as economic policy...people woke up - they realized that the people governing our money weren't so smart after all...many started investigating alternatives, Bitcoin being one of the most popular. The next shift? Protection and productivity. Savings accounts yield negatively against inflation, and standard jobs don't give you a rewarding life. People are waking up to these two facts and over the coming years, people will start to adopt their mindset toward more than just grinding a 9 - 5 to hopefully one day retire in their old age.

Any idea about what the new purpose of Bitcoin would be? I can't imagine any other purpose for BTC, other than being a store of value.
The Bitcoin blockchain cannot be used for storing useless stuff like NFTs or other "digital garbage". This would make the blockchain clogged and it will increase the transaction fees. I also don't think that the "mentality" about Bitcoin has changes that much. Bitcoin was a speculative asset back in 2010-2020 and it still is a speculative financial asset. Most investors view BTC as a speculative asset. Their perception didn't change throughout the years. I'm sure that it won't change in the next decade(2030-2040).

Runes would like to ring a bell for ya.. :D
But I agree, for now, BTC can be used only for big purchases, in my opinion, not for a daily usage.
And it wouldn't change much, it's just that big guys would enter the same stage too.

What will happen in a decade or so depends on how the world changes, who takes power and which countries rise to global dais.

I consider bitcoin to be one of the leading investment options but who knows what might happen? In that context do not forget that precious metals are still holding themselves. They will not lose their significance even if their cost becoming lower than bitcoin.

I just hope people still following some shitcoins and understand their objective to make their creators rich and not investors.

I don't think there will be much of a new purpose because from the creation of Bitcoin, Bitcoin has definite purpose that are outlined, this is a decentralized assert that cannot be controlled by government, you can as well use it as Digital currency and as well invest in it as an asset you want to grow with time. So in the future I don't think there will be much changes as the only thing that I know will be that, there will be more and more investors and persons that will be scrambling to get as much as possible the number of bitcoin that they can have in their possession.

It will be a battle between CBDCs and Bitcoin from the other side.
And I do hope to see the right side victorious.
 8)