Bitcoin Forum

I’ve been working on an idea for a platform — basically an Amazon-style marketplace where you can buy anything using crypto. Not just NFTs, but actual everyday products.

While building it, I ran into a fundamental question:

💬 Are people even interested in spending their crypto?

Most of us say we believe in the future of decentralized money. But when it comes down to it, we treat Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other tokens like long-term investments — not as actual currencies for day-to-day spending.

So I wanted to ask the community directly:

👉 Do you personally see crypto more as:

A long-term store of value (something to hold)?

A real alternative currency (something to use)?

And if you don’t spend your crypto — what would it take to make you start?

I'm not here to shill a project. Genuinely just curious — this question has shaped how I approach the product I'm building.


If anyone’s interested, you can check out the beta version here:

Beta access: https://bitcunia.com/ (https://bitcunia.com/) ( No email required )



I’d really appreciate any feedback — even a quick thought helps a lot as we shape the platform around what real crypto users actually want.

Bitcoin transaction fees are the main prevention to use it as currency. But still, many sites have been accepting crypto, and a lot of users are using it as a payment method as well. I have been using Bitcoin to make payments for NameCheap when I have been buying domain hosting for my clients. Because it's related to privacy, and I always prefer to use Bitcoin for payment.

I think similar sites exist that you are interested in building, though I can't recall the name exactly. But still, your idea is good; sometimes people like to prevent their privacy and enjoy their financial freedoms. It's true most of the people are just interested in holding crypto so they can make money from that. Very few people consider Bitcoin as a payment method; actually, this was the goal of Bitcoin. I will encourage you to continue your project.

I don't know if Bitcoin transaction fees would ever go down more lower than what we've seen it before because that's exactly the barrier that holds majority of people back to consider it as a full means of payment option. currently people view it more as a store of value and a hedge against inflation,  maybe with time the high cost of its transaction may no longer be an issue in the future, because Bitcoin is still evolving and we're yet to witness it's benefits to the fullest.

Bitcoin will eventually be used as a currency, but because it is still early in its adoption it makes sense that people would rather hold it for the wealth accumulation rather than spend it.

Eventually when it is widely adopted and no longer jumping up 50% or whatever in any given year, and once people have a lot of it as savings, people will spend it, because naturally the point of savings is to save for something to spend on.

But for that to happen we need merchant adoption, tax laws that give exemptions to Bitcoin purchases so buying stuff isn't a tax accounting headache, and wide proliferation of LN and/or other second/third layer solutions. But these things will likely only be prompted once adoption starts getting widespread enough for there to actually be a mass of people ready to spend their Bitcoin.

This'll probably take a couple decades to really start to come together and start becoming a thing people do outside of small local Bitcoin hot zones around the world. It is natural that spending Bitcoin is the last phase of adoption, because it has to be already widely adopted before it makes sense to do those three things mentioned above that allow regular spending with it.


Crypto is useless and will play no part in this other than perhaps stablecoins. But the above is the future of Bitcoin.

This is what many people see bitcoin and other crypto asset as, and that’s what has brought about increased interest in cryptocurrency lately and not for the reason it was invented for. Another reason why people see it more as a store of value is because of the high cost of transaction fees while using it on a day to day activity rather than holding it for the long time and only use or spend it once when the profit target is reached.


This was its purpose of invention but as it stands now, people are more satisfactorily joining it because of the secondary benefit it provide. We may see this is happening because Bitcoin is still in its adoption phase but in the future it’ll commence to be used more for what it was invented for.

I have used Bitcoin to buy stuff before, even though most people seem to just be holding it as an investment these days.  When Bitcoin first came out, it was meant to be used like regular money to pay for goods and services.  But now, hardly anyone actually uses it that way.  They just buy it hoping to get rich when the price goes up

as for me yeah, Ive bought a couple things with Bitcoin in the past.  I dont do it too often because sometimes the fees can get pretty high.  But a while back I got a gift card to Amazon using Bitcoin and that worked out nicely.  The whole process was smooth.  So Ill probably try paying with crypto again if the opportunity comes up.  Even if Bitcoin isnt really being used as a currency now, I still think the technology has a lot of potential in the future of finance and payments.

Personally in the country where I’m from it’s easy to make any purpose of something using my local currency than using any other form of payment, I have not really seen need for me to make payment with crypto in anything which is the reason why I only own crypto because I hold it like an asset and treat it as something of value, the only time I prefer to make payment with crypto is if I want to buy something on international stores where the charges might be too high to pay with my local card if they accept crypto that’s the only time I usually pay with crypto and for gambling funding too.

Bitcoin scalability have been on the low key, because of some regulatory limitations on it active usage as a currency, although in few online stores Bitcoin can be used to pay for Internet data and a few other services that allows Bitcoin payments but their are not all that popular in my region since we can easily exchange Bitcoin into local currency and use it to pay for all goods and services.


So directly or indirectly we used Bitcoin as a currency but higher numbers of Bitcoin holders prefer a d see Bitcoin as a digital gold and an assets.

Now, everything is flexible when it comes to bitcoin because ultimately we can use this as an asset for long-term value storage or use this as a means of payment because of its flexible nature bitcoin can easily be used for any purpose we want.

I personally still make bitcoin as an asset for long-term value storage because I still consider bitcoin as a hedge against financial inflation so that in the end I will certainly save and make this a future investment especially in the country I live in now bitcoin is still not used as legal tender so there is no reason to violate regulations by imposing a will that will ultimately harm myself.
I am quite comfortable with my choice where I will still continue to make this a long-term investment even though it cannot be denied that in the end there may be an opportunity someday I will make this as a means of payment but until now I still remain with my first option where this is used as a future investment.

it depends on what will you be selling lol i do not think anyone would be interested to buy a toilet paper using their bitcoins
i do see bitcoin specifically right now as a store of value as i use it to keep my money protected from inflation and hopefully get profit in the process but i could spend my bitcoin if there is something important enough for me to spend it on

Yeah there some companies that do accept bitcoin for payment too , but folks prefer holding because they believe in a long run it will continue to grow making it a token full with potential, imagine having a valuable asset and you believe that same asset have the potential to be far better than it is now as time goes will spend such ? Nah you won't rather you will find ways to have more of that asset.

But bitcoin and other coin still a currency, but can also act as an investment also due to price fluctuation and growth.

For a time, I also used btc as online payment method. However, the exchange rate is quite low than the regular exchange rate. Thus, you will end up like selling it at a cheaper rate. Much better to convert it to your fiat and just pay using your fiat. Some third party platforms are charging high fees that you will opt for other options instead. This is why, up until now, it is still better to pay using fiat as the fees are quite high, it is not practical to use such route. Thus, many are just holding their crypto for potential investments and not really for payment purposes. Maybe, if the fees are quite competitive as well as the exchange rate. But for now, we can see that it is still better to hold it rather than use it for regular online payment.

Frankly speaking, majority just want to hold their coins and wait until bitcoin price reaches an impressive amount, and eventually sell for profits, and then reinvest again.

However, when it comes to spending crypto, the fact that transaction fees are going crazy right now, I don't think people will love to do it. Maybe in the future, when it's no longer a barrier, and when bitcoin has already been accepted in all shops and department stores to buy daily goods and services.

Well... sometimes it is, but not always. Plus, there are other reasons people choose crypto for online payments. Maybe its about privacy, or avoiding traditional banking fees... Its not always just about getting the absolute best real-time exchange rate for every single transaction. But I agree that some third-party platforms and payment processors have unfavorable exchange rates and charge unfair fees. So you should be careful.

You are not wrong in your assertions of the currency. At the moment, you wouldn’t find many Bitcoin enthusiasts out there that are ready and willing to spend their Bitcoin like an everyday currency.

Either we like it or not, it’s not a normal currency and I say that without giving any attention to its form.
Our regular fiat is subject to inflation, it can’t serve as an asset. Bitcoin can and as such, you wouldn’t expect Bitcoin investors to just go about spending their precious Bitcoins at this time. For all we know, you could be accepting them with the sole purpose of holding too.

That means no one wants to miss out, not even you!

As far as my observation is concerned, people are indeed treating Bitcoin as a long-term investment rather than a day-to-day currency. Can't blame them. Can't blame us. With how fast Bitcoin's value is appreciating, it seems it's worth keeping than spending. And with how fast fiat is degrading in value, it will have to be spent first or invested in something that stores value, like Bitcoin.

I used to spend Bitcoin paying pills and buying prepaid mobile data and whatnot via a local wallet. I realized it's more or less pointless. The wallet is operated by a centralized company, custodial, requires KYC, registers Bitcoin transactions in fiat, and so on. I was using a decentralized currency in a centralized manner. What's the point?

I'd be compelled to spend my Bitcoin if there's a Bitcoin-only business that I can't refuse to drop by. What it is, I still don't know.

Yes, mass adoption of bitcoin is still happening. But honestly, I see no signs that it is being used for the original purpose for which it was invented.

Bitcoin is becoming increasingly popular and widely accepted, but the truth is that it is being promoted as an investment and people are accepting it that way. Even investors like us have no intention of using bitcoin as a currency, how can we expect new participants to see it that way?

High transaction fees, volatile prices or illegality…all are just excuses, the real reason we don’t use bitcoin as currency is because we don’t want to. Everyone wants to hold to earn profit and get rich, no one wants to spend bitcoin unnecessarily.

I prefer Crypto is a long-term asset. This means that crypto serves as an asset that will continue to fluctuate upwards. So I prefer crypto to improve my family's economic condition. I think right now users are more happy because of the value not the usability. So this condition makes users try to increase the amount of Bitcoin. They will spend it if they are forced to. Even now I don't expect Bitcoin as a currency. I just hope Bitcoin has official recognition, clear rules, so that we have a sense of security and comfort to move in the crypto industry.

Instead of creating market place it's better if you can help integrate with existing market place.

There has been the same effort of trying to create market place that cater to crypto users but it always falls short in term of userbase and products listing, the thing is, we need to connect to the existing web2 e-commerce so that we can use bitcoin anywhere.

I've heard apple pay is starting to integrate bitcoin, but as of now, I think the most successful implementation of bitcoin for daily usage is crypto debit card. Although it uses middle man, but it simplify purchasing thing with bitcoin. But of course it'd be great if we can use bitcoin directly and i'm really waiting for it.

Yes.  Indeed they are.  But this does not mean they will ALWAYS spend their Cryptocurrencies.

One thing you should note is that the Bitcoin market is not very stable and rarely enters bull runs.  Although bull runs have historically been highly profitable, them being a relatively rare occurrence means people will likely spend only then while finding themselves in an accumulation or recovery stage during the rest of the time.

Altcoins are even worse.  Most of them at least.  Compared to Bitcoin, they rarely produce more profit during the longer term.  However, many of them are what I would call 'one time risers'.  They rise only once but by an incredible percentage, then they fall and collapse while all the investors who put their money during the spike are wrecked.

If I put 100 dollars in Bitcoin and it becomes only 90 dollars in a matter of an year due to the Bitcoin being in a relatively bearish market, I would obviously rather not spend it.  If it then spikes from 90 to 500, I may decide to finally buy the new product I kept waiting to afford.

But if I put 100 dollars in an Altcoin, it often either becomes almost nothing, it becomes worth less or there are extremely rare occurrences where you find yourself in the middle of a one time riser during its spike.  It can become 1000 dollars in a week, or a day even.

However.  Keep one thing in your mind.  A lot of people never really spend because they see how much they made, 100 to 1000 or 90 to 500 in a really short time span and they think this is their time to become rich.  And at the end of this waiting, they find themselves now only owning 180 instead of 500 in Bitcoin or 80 instead of 1000 in Altcoins.  So they wait, hoping to recover their paper loss.  And it often never happens, so they sell.  And so on.

To end the story time quicker, while we do intend to spend our Cryptocurrencies, we are often emotionally and mentally stuck not knowing what to do next and realistically speaking, you can not and should not expect a VERY large volume on a Cryptocurrency shopping platform.  Business wise, it may be a good idea to integrate Fiat as a payment method as well.  Maybe allow customers to pay partially in Cryptocurrency and the rest in Fiat even.  I rather see a platform that succeeds with both methods integrated than yet another platform that shuts down after an year of operation due to a lack of volume or interest.

Some country are using bitcoin as a currency, which people can use bitcoin to pay for any goods or services in their country without any issues because is fuly legal tender, You can decide to hold your bitcoin for long term, to increase your income in the future because the price of bitcoin is not stable like other centralized currency, bitcoin is an asset you can be proud of involving yourself because it bring favour to users in the bull season and bear season, which are some of the things that makes it different from other centralized currency.

Bitcoin can be used as currency in countries where Bitcoin has been recognized as legal tender and where the central bank has recognized transactions in Bitcoin as legal. And in countries where Bitcoin has been declared an illegal currency, Bitcoin is only stored in wallets as digital gold. Bitcoin is completely illegal in my country and there are government restrictions on Bitcoin users. As such, I am only holding Bitcoin in my wallet as digital gold.

I see crypto more as a long term store of value so that is why I just hold my Bitcoin as an investment. If you want to use crypto as a payment system, you can use stable coins as the price is not too fluctuating as Bitcoin.

Nothing to make me start spending my Bitcoin as a currency because it is better to hodl Bitcoin for the long term. But I can use stable coins as I said before to buy something from the Internet. I can not use crypto as a currency in my countries because that is prohibit and I don't want to get in trouble because of that.

The problem of using Bitcoin as a currency is that the price fluctuates too often and the fee sometimes high. That make me uncomfortable use Bitcoin to buy something. So far I still use fiat to buy after converts my crypto into fiat. It is better to use Bitcoin as a long term investment.

I woke up to a news this morning that mastercard and moon pay are planning to start allowing their customers to use USDT payment option on their cards, and some stable coins will later be added.

A half part of me likes this news but the other isn't liking the news because the first thing I asked myself is what about Bitcoin? I've been waiting for so long to finally be able to use Bitcoin to purchase anything online via mastercard and others, the day this will be fully in motion is the day that Bitcoin will finally finds it ground.

Many have been doubting if Bitcoin will be good for payment option and I believe that big companies like Mastercard and Amazon are the ones creating a boundary between Bitcoin and Easy payment method.

I hope such day will finally come.

Eventually, I think the regulations won't be so tight in your country and others alike.

As others, I hope this day will come and more opportunities to use BTC for real would come with it.

I am still using bitcoin as an investment so far and that means I plan to store value in the long term rather than using it for any purchase like some people do. In some cases this is more ideal for me as holding bitcoin as an asset is much more profitable than using it to pay for something.

Of course belief is what gets someone involved and maybe a little knowledge to understand the bitcoin journey so we can be more confident in making an investment. The reason is obvious because bitcoin can be a hedge and this is something that many people are looking for to protect the value of their currency.

For the last paragraph, it's up to you whether you want to promote the project or not, but it would be wise to be honest with whatever you do. Because you also mentioned approaching the product you are building and this is a bit ambiguous for me to understand.

I see bitcoin as a long term store of value and an alternative digital currency, which can be helpful in diverse ways, depending on the aspect we want to see it impact on us, these and many more are the reasons to why many are running towards bitcoin adoption because they wanted to make use of a decentralized digital currency that is free of government attack and control, same as a currency that cannot be affected by inflation and at the same time a profitable asset we can invest.

I'll talk about bitcoin. There are different purposes for bitcoin. I think people prefer holding bitcoin rather than spending it because of the value bitcoin possesses. Bitcoin is spent occasionally by people, especially when there is a need for a fast transaction or a transaction that needs to go to a distant location that fiat can't reach; then bitcoin can come in. If there is fiat I can use to spend on anything I want, I wouldn't bother myself to spend my bitcoin when I know holding bitcoin will yield good profit. To me, bitcoin is for holding; I can decide to spend it when I need to spend it.

Bitcoin is being used for holding and spending, but the spending of bitcoin is mostly done when it is needed for a very important deal.

Transaction fees can be a barrier but I don't think that's the main reason why most people don't use it as a payment method. Not just bitcoin, most people don't want to spend any of their crypto assets, even low transaction fee altcoins like BNB, Sol...This shows that people tend to hold more and the reason is because they focus on profits. So even if developers can improve and reduce transaction fees to the lowest level, I doubt people will start using bitcoin for payments.

Volatility, limited supply and price increase over time...Bitcoin is more suitable for investment, store of value than payment method. Using assets that increase in value over time as a method of payment is wasteful, IMO.

Unfortunately, current adoption doesn't encourage the usage of BTC, mostly for just getting more of it. But I hope it will change in the future to come.

2 reasons holding Bitcoin from mass adoption:

• Low fees
• Availability of goods and services with support for payment with Bitcoin

Aside from Bitcoin being a digital gold and all, I know people would likely spend their Bitcoin if it becomes cheaper to spend than fiat is.  For people in developing countries, it's not feasible to spend Bitcoin and get charged over 10x to 20x the charges in trad finance.

It depends on the person who are using the bitcoin either they use it for store value or as a currency for payment/transactions. If you haven't know yet then let me tell you that there are some people who use bitcoin as a currency used for payment. Not that I remember which board in this forum that the thread was posted but I am sure that there is a thread about some forum members saying that they use bitcoin to pay for the electric bike that he/she bought. Laszlo buying pizza and paid using bitcoin have affects on bitcoin which is now one of the bitcoin history if you haven't know about it yet.

I think more people are seeing Bitcoin as an treasure instead of a currency. People will prefer to spend other currency or cryptocurrency instead of spending their Bitcoin because it seems people are always laughing at people that are spending their Bitcoin and praise only those hodling therefore there has been an ideal that Bitcoin is supposed to be held instead of spending. Another thing hodling the adoption of Bitcoin is because not many applications are available for spending of Bitcoin easily. If we want to spend our Bitcoin, we will be going through the stress of converting the Bitcoin to fiats first and when we want to use the Bitcoin directly, we have to start struggling with increase charges or fees. All this is making the spending of Bitcoin not worth it.

Some use it as a currency, but majority use it as a store of value especially that bitcoin has still a lot of potentials to reach its new all time high in due time. However, the end goal here is still to use it as a currency because that’s what the goal of Satoshi is, inventing bitcoin so we can be our own bank without the need of any third party anymore.

For now, while bitcoin price never stops reaching another peak, it’s more practical if we can use it as a good store of value and just spend sometimes to promote global adoption at some point.

first of all when talking about asset for long term value or asset to hodl for long time, then think about bitcoin and not any kind of crypto. there is different between hodling crypto and Hodling bitcoin.

possibly altcoin A.K.A {crypto} can be used for day to day transaction but not like bitcoin. since its transaction fee is low or lesser than that of bitcoin. but that does not mean that people dont use bitcoin for daily transaction but majority of people buy and stack bitcoin as an asset instead of daily use as medium of online and offline payment.
 
people can spend their crypto but i doubt if they can spend bitcoin like that. because the demand of bitcoin asset is becoming high to the extent that no one is willing to let of go bitcoin for any transaction without a tangible reason, instead people will prefer fiat.

I spend crypto every time the opportunity presents itself. Many years ago when this site and Bitcoin was a baby, a project called bitcoinstore dot com launched that sold computers and computer parts. I built my pc that year paying in Bitcoin.

Nowadays, I mostly buy gift cards with Bitcoin, which is then used for things in daily life.

When I tip Internet “content creators” I use XMRchat almost exclusively.

And I buy my ASICS and any mining gear with Bitcoin.

But to answer your question, I do spend my crypto and I also treat it like a long term asset. I have a wallet that I don’t spend from and a wallet that I do.

It depends on your current goal. If you want to maximize bitcoin as an investment, then go buy and hold as much as you can. However, if you also want to enjoy your profits and use it to purchase some of your dream gadgets and everything that will make you happy, that’s also very valid reason. Your money, your rules.

For now, I’m still focused on using bitcoin for my retirement plan so I won’t dare spend it but hold it as long as I can. But eventually, if bitcoin’s global adoption takes place in the future, surely a lot of bitcoin investors would also love to spend, and Satoshi would be happy knowing it.

I mean honestly it's kind of going to be a bit of both right now right but in the short term folks are holding like gold and when I gets to a much higher level in sure people with a lot of bitcoin will start spending theirs

Cryptocurrency investors give many reasons such as bitcoin is not legal currency, not many stores accept it, high transaction fees, unstable prices...All of this prevents them from using bitcoin as a currency/payment method. But the truth is that people's goals when choosing bitcoin is not to find a currency, privacy but they are looking for profit. So don't be surprised when you ask any investor, they will give many reasons but in the end they will say that they want to hold bitcoin because of its potential price appreciation, as well as they are still using centralized exchanges to store, buy and sell their bitcoins.

As soon as I saw the words "crypto" and "NFT" I new I was going to have to face a wall of MMT ignorance and shitcoin mindset, if I want to reply. So in the post, I'll be talking about bitcoin. I have no time for retarded shitcoinery.

Bitcoin in money, period. The hardest money there ever was created.

Money needs to have a few qualities. Namely, a good store of value, and a good means of exchange amonst other attributes we don't need to concern ourselves in relation to this thread.

Now imagine you lived on a island kingdow where gold is money. But the island king recalls all the gold, claiming he needs to remint it all with his updated portrait.
But the king is a crook. In order to finance his wastefu and corrupt bureaucracy and his destructive nation building wars, he dilutes the new gold. With half of the new coins made of tungsten.
So you have an old coin of pure gold, and a new coin of diluted gold. They both say $10 on them. They will both buy the same amount of stuff, and they are both legal tender for $10.
Which one will you save, and which one will you spend away?
Of course you will put the real gold under your mattress and spend away the scrap gold coin.

Well retarded Modern Monetary Theorists and fiaters will have you thinking that only means of exchange matters. That the worthless scrap gold is somehow more valuable real money because everyone is busy spending it and dumping it onto the next guy. MMT and fiat mind virus will surely convince you that if you are saving your real gold coin, you actually are not really using it. Because to fiaters, saving money is not only discouraged, it's also vilified. They don't allow you to sage your money for a rainy day. They don't say you are saving your money, they say you are "hording" it. Yeah, like an evil greedy little miserable grouch who refuses to share with the rest of us. You are not only stupid, because your fiat money will only keep losing value over time, but you are also a greedy evil capitalist for refusing to let other enjoy your money, by saving it for little Timmy's college fund, or your retirement, or for grandma's operation. How dare you? Have you no shame ?!?!

Never mind that if we had an honest banking system, it would be impossible for anyone to borrow a dollar unless someone else was saving a dollar. So literally, saving your money would be the only way for others to borrow money to build a factory and create new jobs.

MMT will gave you believe that you absolutely need to he dumping your currency into the next guy's lap as soon as you can. And that circulating your money actually is what promotes the economy, and helps others. In fact, once you are done spending your last dollar, you are highly encouraged to borrow more, drive yourself into debt, just so you can spend more, and promote the economy even more.

If circulating money really promoted anything and added value to anyone, you should sit in a circle jerk with your buddies, and pass around a $20 bill until you all become filthy rich. Somewhere around round 5 or 6, one of you will realize it's rather boring unless you make it into a drinking game. First one to become rich takes a shot!!!

The reality is that most bitcoiners don't really want to spend our bitcoin because we value our bitcoin more than we value our fiat. Just like a gold bug wouldn't be interested in selling their gold to buy something.

So if you ask the difference between store of value and means of exchange, they ate tie sides of the same coin. And this is likely to keep happening until we run out of people to accept our fiat. I'm not holding my breath.

As far as I can see, people don't use bitcoin as a currency, they just use bitcoin as an investment, a commodity to exchange for the purpose of making a profit. People don't even care to spend it nor do they intend to spend it as a currency. Instead, at the end of the day when they make a profit, they convert all the bitcoins into fiat and start spending fiat .


This could be due to the legality of bitcoin as not many countries accept bitcoin as currency yet , but I think it's mostly due to habits, preferences...


To be fair, except for international transactions, domestic transactions , fiat is still doing its job well and no one is complaining about it .  There is no reason for people to look for alternatives, so we won't see bitcoin used much as a currency in the near future even if it is  legal.

The problem why people don't spend bitcoin is as a result of the limitations they have in doing so, majority of the countries around the world have placed that limitation to the use of bitcoin at various levels, with each of these countries having their restrictions to the full exploration of this digital technology. As a result, it has affected the the outcome of this result.

Although it isn't proven that this act by the various governments have been able to  stop the increased level of adoption by these country people particularly since bitcoin does thrives digitally till date. It also goes to tell you the potentials that come with the future of the bitcoin especially being adopted as a legal tender for transactions across the countries of the world.

I see it as both store of value and currency. Bitcoin's value has been continuously growing over the years. As more adoption happens, the increase will continue so holding bitcoin for my future is a good option. While I also don't ignore it as a currency, it's just bitcoin is still not widely accepted now and people still prefer the use of traditional fiat.


My crypto investments are my retirement fund. I don't intend to use it until I retire and not able to work. By the time I resign, their value is more than enough to live comfortably as well as provide inheritance to my immediate family.

Great topic — and definitely one that anyone building in crypto commerce needs to wrestle with.

Personally, I still see most crypto (like BTC and ETH) as a store of value, especially in uncertain markets. The volatility makes it tough to justify spending it on daily purchases when the price might spike tomorrow.

That said, I do spend stablecoins (USDT/USDC) occasionally, especially when platforms offer:

✅ Real utility (e.g. discounts, access to products not available elsewhere)

✅ Fast and low-fee checkout (ideally without needing to bridge chains)

✅ Good mobile UX (crypto payment should be as easy as Apple Pay)

For me to really spend more crypto:

I'd want price-stable options (or automatic conversion at checkout)

Some kind of incentive (e.g. cashback in crypto, loyalty rewards)

And of course — wider merchant adoption, so it's not a niche use case

You're definitely not alone — a lot of people believe in the idea of crypto as money, but psychologically, it still feels like "digital gold."
Your platform could help change that perception — if you nail the user experience and incentives.

Excited to see what you're building!

Bitcoin is a store of value.

ETH is for paying for gas and speculation, as is SOL.
Most altcoins trend to zero in value and are just ways to raise capital and fund the early stages of projects. Successful long term projects discover ways to earn income over time, most projects fail because they fail to do this and just rely on their own token without appreciating that it's trending to zero.

It's because they put profit at the helm, rather than expanding their eco and making it a better place to use and talk about.

I see and treat bitcoin and other alternatives crypto currencies as a store of value, something to hold for very long time, I prefer it this way because the price of cryptocurrencies change alot, and this is an opportunity to take advantage of and make good money when in the future, we check our wallet and see that it now contains alot of money.

Like I have previously Said in my other comment on another thread, I prefer to spend fiat over crypto, most especially bitcoin, and another hinderance is the bitcoin network fees which sometimes do get very crazily high, if there was a fixed amount users pay as network fees, many by now, alot of businesses around the world will be accepting bitcoin for payment of goods and services.

Only through the Lightning network would it be viable, as for now - unfortunately, the network is not suited to be used in such a way currently.

But it all may change in the future ;D

For Bitcoin as far as I know most people do not use it as a daily payment. Bitcoin is seen as a hedge against inflation and also as a way to grow finances in the future but there are also those who use it as an alternative currency for payments such as the policy that was once implemented by El Salvador even though it was not effective, I personally prioritize Bitcoin as a hedge but for other types of crypto I use it as an alternative currency for payments, so it comes back to each individual's approach and understanding to distinguish the role of each crypto.

Bitcoin specifically - not a chance of it being like a very used currency before some big changes to it (block size, etc..), so keeping it up as an ultimate store of value is a wise choice. And afterward - who knows what future may bring to us 8)

Me too, I prefer to spend fiat over any crypto I hold, not just bitcoin. Not only network fees but also their price volatility are the biggest hurdles, IMO.

I would not be happy at all if after paying with bitcoin, the price of bitcoin suddenly pumped. Or after i bought bitcoin to use for future payment purpose but its price suddenly dropped a lot. That's really annoying and I bet I'm not the only one who feels annoyed by this.


Honestly, I don't see any benefit in using bitcoin or crypto as a payment method when we have almost no problem with fiat.

BTC is obviously a real alternative currency to fiat, a decentralized and censorship resistant currency, however, it is also an attractive long-term store of value, so on that note it is more convenient for most people to spend their fiat that is constantly devalued by inflation, rather than their BTC that is a store of value.

Needless to say that i do not mind spending my BTC when i get the opportunity, but it would not be on something too expensive, just a few hundred of dollars, but surely not on something that costs thousands of dollars, i'll use fiat for that.

Nothing like shill here because you didn't specify or direct us to your product.

As regarding your question, I would say yes, people are interested to spend their crypto and at the same time see it as something to hold to protect their assets against inflation. The fact that we preach HODL doesn't mean or stop us from spending our crypto when the need arises but the reality is that we have limited ways of spending our crypto and that limitations hinder the daily usage of crypto.

Consequently, people choose to hold more than they choose to spend as there are more cheaper alternatives to crypto. However, building a project that allows people to spend their coins to obtain what they need is not a bad idea. Take a look at casinos that offer deposit and withdraw in crypto and they're growing daily.

For now it cannot be denied that the role of bitcoin has become flexible over time even though its original purpose was as an alternative to fiat but in the end until now not a few people use bitcoin as a long-term investment which makes this an added value because apart from being an alternative to legal tender (if a country legalizes it) bitcoin can also be an alternative to financial protection that we have.

This is a good advantage so that in the end even though there are still a lot of bitcoins that don't like it for several reasons but not a few people are in it because they have good confidence that bitcoin will grow in the long run.

For the problem of spending or not it depends on each perspective because in this case all have the right to spend or not their assets because those who do not spend do not mean they are completely unwilling but sometimes there are some regulations that must be obeyed because not all countries currently make bitcoin a legal means of payment, including my country which still makes this a commodity but that does not mean this is also a setback because after all this is still very good for long-term progress.

If we follow Satoshi, the goal is to use bitcoin as a currency, but I think that’s not the wisest thing to do for now. Bitcoin continues to give us an amazing price, so why not grab it while good opportunities are still in front of us. We need to be realistic in order to gain maximum edge, and with that, we need to acquire more bitcoin rather than spending it. After all, we can spend some of our bitcoin when we have sufficient amount of bitcoin to hold first. That should be the first goal.

From my own ideology, if crypto is earned then i spend it like i will spend a regular fiat. But if bought  with fiat then the intention remains to hodl. Although it is agreed that Bitcoin as a store of value has profited more than been a mere digital currency which it was originally designed for, the idea of spending it as a currency gives it even wider adoption on a P2P scale.

I also believe the amount of coin held also matters. A larger amount of Bitcoin will give more motivation to hold compared to an amount that can't yield enough profit during bull run. I spend small bitcoin as a currency and hold bulk because with the current price of BTC it is evident it is a game of quantity.

Yes that should be what's going to happen, but we don't reach unto that level yet since the level of adoption is not wide and policy made by government is not in favor for that usage. For now they think about Bitcoin as investment and I'm happy for that kind of development since somehow we are seeing them participating on the scene.

What good thing about is we see El Salvador initiated that action to make Bitcoin as their currency although for now it failed but with the efforts they made to educate their people about Bitcoin would provably play huge role for their future generation. Then maybe next time when they execute again that Bitcoin would be their legal tender many people can adopt because they know how to handle their Bitcoins.

In this situation provably that we can see lots of people would gonna do it and maybe more country would make Bitcoin as their legal tender to.

Honestly, I have never considered bitcoin as a currency and I also do not believe that bitcoin can become a popular currency/payment method in the future as many people say. Simply because there are too many barriers preventing that from happening, barriers not only from governments but also from bitcoin itself. Slow speeds, high transaction fees, and unstable prices are reasons why it is not suitable to become a popular payment method. Until these issues are resolved, don't expect people to use it for payments because when it comes to means of payment, what people care about is speed and cheap fees. They don't need a decentralized currency in this case.

I personally see BTC as long term store of value not every crypto because BTC is the only store of value that competes gold. If I were to use my crypto for buying things the first thing I want will be the availability of such a service in my country. Most of these fancy services aren't available here, therefore I can't really use them although I do use my BTC for daily expenses.

If I have to use my crypto to buy from your store easily, I can prefer but if you will provide better rates because due to transaction fee and some other bigger inputs into the same wallet address the transaction fee can really become too high and troublesome for a small buyers. Therefore I suggest you sell expensive things.

If I tell you my opinion they do not have competition but their marketing demand is high which is why they have not competition and if you look at it the price of gold is high in its market and the price of Bitcoin is high in its market which is why we should see our own opinion in comparison with both. Everyone think this and we also want it to be made easier for us which benefits us and others. In this matter I cannot answer your question but if you talk a little more clearly about it it will be better.

But this will be see very rare but if it happen their marketing will be more due to which we will also benefit and whoever takes this Bitcoin will also be in the best position.These thing are minor because it will have to be provide to you everywhere but we will have to pay more Bitcoin fees to them than other place so this will actually be a disaster in the market. We have to transact with less fees so that we do not suffer any loss and their market also increase.

Thanks to everyone in this very active community — reading through the replies has helped me understand a wide range of opinions and perspectives on the current state of crypto. One thing that became clear is that some people are genuinely interested in using crypto, while others still prefer to hold it like digital gold.

A major concern that was raised by many is the high transaction fees associated with Bitcoin. That’s completely valid. But just to clarify — our platform doesn’t rely on BTC alone. We support 300+ cryptocurrencies across multiple blockchains, including TRON, which has extremely low fees.

From what I’m seeing, the best path toward real crypto adoption might be a dual strategy:

Use major coins like BTC or ETH as long-term stores of value

Use stablecoins like USDT (especially on low-fee chains like TRON) for everyday purchases

That way, people can preserve value while still having a practical, cost-efficient way to actually use crypto as a currency.

Really appreciate all the input — it’s helping shape the direction of what I’m building.

👉 If anyone is interested in the platform I’m building and would like to contribute with feedback or ideas, feel free to reach out via email. I’ll be happy to give you access to the demo version.

Email : bitcuniainfo@gmail.com

Previously, I only held cryptocurrencies and did not spend them. If necessary, I transferred them to Fiat and occasionally to stablecoins. But today, as of 2025, there are plenty of services that are ready to directly accept cryptocurrencies even in countries where cryptocurrencies have an unregulated status.
For example, I paid for replenishing my friend's Steam wallet, giving him a gift. I paid for this in Bitcoin. I also understood the balance of the hosting service on which my sites operate through cryptocurrencies.

In general, today you can use cryptocurrencies in many places.

If Bitcoin was widely used for the transaction of good and services in my country, maybe I would tried buying some items with Bitcoin but currently many people see Bitcoin as  store of value like gold and they'll prefer holding on to it to yield better profits in the future, maybe in the near future traders of small and larger scale businesses would begin to use Cryptocurrency (Bitcoin) especially for transaction like they do with fiat but for now I'll rather hold on to it to for as long as possible. Anyways maybe if I travel to a place where Bitcoin is available as a payment option maybe I might thinking about buying some gifts for my siblings or parents with Bitcoin but until then, holding is the best option.

The truth is I have never buy anything with crypto or even Bitcoin, the regulatory framework of crypto in my place is not transparent and I don't want to involved myself is something that government will say they have ban today and another part of government will say they it's now legal. I have some sats I'm holding by the way and it's has been great run and I'm planning to hold for long time, I don't want to regret like others when Bitcoin is too expensive and I don't have any on my wallet.

I think the perspective of Bitcoin period as ones investment depend on the amount you have invest. To be honest with you, there is no way you will want to invest $1000 into Bitcoin and want to take the money out in a year, it's possible that you might have earned profits of $400+ if you bought on the first day of January but is that really the kind of profit one need to be chasing? Absolutely no, long term should be the goal regardless of any amount, you can only play around with big funds if you plan to invest for short term.

I had used Bitcoin in the past as a currency, but we're talking about 2013 or 2014, more than 10 years ago. Back then, Bitcoin was valued at $200 and it didn't seem too much of a deal. This however has changed, and it's now worth over $100,000 (and recently surpassed a new ATH once again), rendering an extremely valuable asset that I'm not going to use on something that I can simply pay with fiat currencies. I don't think I'm going to start spending Bitcoin, unless it's time for me to convert to fiat.

Perhaps your idea of a marketplace where you could deal with cryptocurrency doesn't sound bad, I'm not sure if I'd still use Bitcoin, because I consider it a long-term investment, but I would consider using it.

Regardless of your use of bitcoin, it is a currency so far. We can think of it as a long-term investment asset, but it is essentially a currency that can be used as a means of payment. The increase in the value of bitcoin has likely made some people reluctant to spend it as a currency, but they tend to hold it in the hope of getting a high return over time. I don't blame people for having such plans for bitcoin, but the fact is that the value added of bitcoin doesn't change its use case as a currency.

I don't use bitcoin as a means of payment until my country's government legalizes it. Of course I can force myself to use it as a means of payment secretly, but this is clearly against the laws in my country. In the future, if there is a change in the rules, I think I can also use it as a currency to pay for something I want.

If you mean crypto and not Bitcoin, then I would say that for me, cryptocurrencies are both, a store of value and a real alternative to currecy. For example, Bitcoin is mostly a store of value for me rather than currency but it also depends on Bitcoin transaction fees. When fees are low, it's good to spend Bitcoin but overall, it's not the best choice for making a payment because transaction fees are sometimes high, unbearable and when you collect lots of UTXOs, then transaction is really becoming expensive compared to other payment methods.
For payments, I prefer cryptocurrencies like Litecoin. It's very fast and cheap but there are also other much better options as well, litecoin is just my personal preference.

There is a lot of confusion when it comes to spending Bitcoin or holding it for long term investments because the changes in price causes this confusion among investors. Investors spending Bitcoin always seems to buying Bitcoin at that very time and spend it immediately because the price fluctuation may cause delay in the transaction he may want to do resulting to buying more.

Also the transaction fee is another factor that causes the confusion when choosing Bitcoin for spending or holding, so it only has to do with the rich to spend Bitcoin if they can cover the fee no matter the value at the time of transaction.

Research has shown that very few investors spend Bitcoin, more investors are holding Bitcoin and that many stable coin investors spend stable coin than holding, so it'd been necessary to integrate a marketplace for using stable coin for purchase of items than Bitcoin, not saying people won't use Bitcoin but only for the rich.

We can't deny that it's a currency, I might be wrong but Bitcoin's initial purpose wasn't supposed to be an asset, we hardly use it as a currency anymore, but it's completely understandable. I'm personally not reluctant to spend it, I'm adamant that its extreme high price doesn't account for it to be spent on something that can be acquired with fiat currencies; why should I use it to pay my bills?

If you wanted to use Bitcoin, you could potentially use a cryptocurrency debit card, such as those from exchanges, but there are other platforms as well, although it's basically not a Bitcoin payment, but close enough.

Bitcoin can be used both as a currency and a good store of value, it already depends on you which preference you are more comfortable of using to. I don’t want to say to hold it rather spend it, or the vice versa. But one thing is certain, use your bitcoin where you don’t have to regret in the future.

As for me, I’m good using it as a good store of value for now especially that its price is very bullish at the moment. Bitcoin as a currency can wait, I believe everyone is heading that purpose when global adoption for bitcoin has already taken place.

Hey, thank you so much for sharing your opinion. I really value your thoughts and feedback on this. If you're interested, I’d be happy to give you access to the beta version of the platform (still in development). Let me know!

I'll start using bitcoin as a currency when I start getting paid in bitcoin.  Until then it's a store of value. 

That said, if it goes to a zillion million, then yeah I'll get me a yacht with it.  But it's too dear to me right now to use it for something like lunch.  I'll use ever-degrading fiat for that.

Of course it can be used for both purposes, the initial and its intended purpose was to be used as a currency. I'm personally not comfortable spending it at this point, but perhaps it's because I'm not relying on it for my daily expenses, my salary covers those just fine. I had used it in the past, and while I don't regret it, it hurts seeing your $10 transaction being valued at over $1,500 nowadays. It's a great store of value, even though I do expect it to fall anytime soon.
I wouldn't mind trying it out, let me know if you can!

This Is for sure a good point... Or doubt for any Bitcoiner I Guess.
As we know with this innovation there Is a change of paradigm. For a certain sense this Is a total change from what we have seen with fiat Money.
Now you can use "digital Gold" that become expensive versus fiat.
This Is a win win situation since if you store for long term you can even get probably a better monetary value in the future.
Nowadays with high fiat inflation, I dont see many choices other than a superior technology.

For the very fact that someone is holding a crypto currency is enough to say that that person is using or spending crypto but the main train why most person's seems not to be using their crypto assets on a day to day basis is most  people are considering crypto currency as a long term investment plan so basically they invest in crypto currency and wait till anytime the price is good enough for them to sell and make profit

If it's Bitcoin, it's more of a long term store of value. But for the altcoins, we're likely to spend them for these purchases that you have told you're making with as marketplace like Amazon.

I don't know, I'll sell some and will hold more. I've done a lot of mistakes in the past and that's why. If I will spend my crypto and sell them for fiat, it's basically because of need but it's more of a savings money for me while holding it. So I've got two use of it, as a store of value and as a savings.

Because Satoshi created bitcoin with the intention of being a peer to peer currency but over time people turned it into a speculative asset to make profit and that is exactly what is happening.

So there is nothing wrong when some people say that bitcoin can be used as a currency or an investment and it depends on each person's needs. But if you look at the reality, most people use it for speculation and not many people use it as a currency. So for me, bitcoin/crypto is an investment, a store of value, not a currency.

I'm glad to hear that — feel free to reach out to me here:

📱 Telegram: @NAM3tv
📧 Email: bitcuniainfo@gmail.com

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Believe it or not many people want to spend their Bitcoin online too, and this shouldn't stop them from holding Bitcoin for the long term as well, I spend part of my Bitcoin as money and I hold the remaining.

It would have been cool to check out your platform but I guess you have your reason why you don't want to drop link to the platform, I am a long term BTC holder and I have also use BTC to make some purchases online too so don't let this be reason why you should halt what you are working on..

Don't forget about other coins too, BTC is more of gold than others and I believe that people feels like spending other coins as means of payment more than using Bitcoin.

I will stay that way because of the value BTC already has - who would want to use their BTCs when the price is that big and it can be hodled? Mostly by those that are using BTC for what it is, not because they want to profit in the long run.. Who knows what comes next for BTC.

Yeah, I feel this question.  Most people I know treat crypto like an investment, not something to spend.

I used to get hype about the idea of ​​buying coffee with Bitcoin back in the day :D, but let’s be real — most of us are hodling. Why? Because it’s been going up over time, and spending it feels like burning cash. If I buy something with ETH today, I’m always thinking “what if this coin is worth more tomorrow?”

That said, I *would* spend crypto if it made sense. Like, if I got paid in stablecoins or had a card that automatically converted my crypto at checkout without fees or headaches. Or if there was actual cashback/rewards in crypto for spending it — that’d make me think twice.

So to answer your question directly: 
Right now, I see crypto more as a store of value. But I could see myself using it regularly if the experience was smooth, practical, and actually benefited me more than just holding onto it.

Big fan of what you're building — we need more stuff like that to push things forward.

To be sincerely speaking, I hold my crypto currencies on the long run, and only make spending of it when there is a need to do so. I have this feeling of letting my online finance remain online until the real world needs some financial support and then I can take out of it, otherwise, I just hold, or do some swapping when demands arrives (i.e when the market is moving downward and the price will affect me, so I switch to stablecoin).

On the other hand, I have not really seen a platform that makes use of crypto as forms of payment and I believe its because I have not searched as well. If I see, and something that is needful for me, either for online activities or offline, and it's worth it, I will buy, otherwise, I don't have plans of spending my crypto funds.

Value in crypto would be preserved better than if you turned it all to fiat, so I definitely agree with you here.

And to spend when it's only needed is okay too - you use portfolio as you see fit, and if you convert from time to time, that's how it should be ;)

I actually enjoy spending crypto using my crypto cards ^{(have a few of them from different issuers)}. it gives me a sense of getting something tangible in return for something that feels kind of untouchable. Thus, I use crypto regularly to cover everyday expenses, mostly groceries and other living costs. At the same time, I still keep the stash set aside for the future. So, I view crypto as both stuff, i.e. currency and digital gold.

But you mostly use USDT on the cards in question, correct?

It’s not always necessary to use USDT. I top up my card accounts with ETH most of the time lately. The fees on this network are quite reasonable compared to what I observed a year ago, and the transactions are fast. Since I keep ETH in my wallet, it just makes sense to use it. Sometimes, I even transfer BTC to my cards ^{it really depends on the situation, and honestly, it doesn’t matter much which crypto I use}.

Do I understand correctly that it auto-converts any crypto into what is needed to buy said groceries / other small stuff?

Hey! I didn’t include the link because I don’t want to spam, and as I mentioned in the first post, the platform is still in development. I’m genuinely interested in your thoughts and feedback. If you’d like, I can send you access to the beta version. Just let me know!

Contacts:

Telegram: NAM3tv
email: bitcuniainfo@gmail.com

Clearly almost everybody prefers to use traditional currencies for financial transactions, it is faster and transactions fees are very small that you will hardly feel it but Bitcoin transaction fees can skyrocket sometimes. I believe that as the adoption is increasing with time there will be more demand for it to make payments but for now only a handful of holders are willing to spend it and not all businesses accepts it. It is more profitable to hold Bitcoin as an investment asset because the longer that you hold it the more profit it will give you on the long term, it has gained the reputation as a store of value and hedge against inflation.

Unfortunately we are using it as a digital gold. It's an asset now, and people are buying it and holding as much as they can, and not using it as a currency at all. Sure there must be "some" people who does that, but is not that common and we are going to end up with some issues with time, so we need to eb careful about it. I understand this may not be easy to handle, we just need to make sure that we are going to end up with more money if we just hold it, and not spend it, that's what people believe.

If you know you are going to hold, and not sure if the other person would hold or sell, then you wouldn't give it to them, you would give them fiat, something that loses value overtime. That is bigger importance too, if you buy something today with bitcoin, and bitcoin goes up tomorrow, you will regret.

Since there is strictness in my country regarding use of Bitcoin and other crypto, I too have no other option but to hold the Bitcoin as long term investment. Due to government strictness there aren't any merchants available that accept Bitcoin as mode of payment. If you go through this  forum on regular basis then one can easily conclude that majority are holding Bitcoin for long term investment, some are accumulating by adopting DCA technique. If we see how Bitcoin price has evolved over period of time then it also becomes clear that holding Bitcoin for long term is best investment strategy.   

True, since Bitcoin's transaction fees are very high, no one will try to use Bitcoin for any small transaction. Because it will increase the price of the product for which it will be paid. Everyone uses Bitcoin only as an investment currency and holds it until he gets a good amount of profit. I myself also hold Bitcoin with the aim of getting a good amount of profit from it. However, I cannot hold it for a long time because I am not very strong financially, due to which I constantly need a lot of money for daily expenses and some special expenses, due to which I do not have the opportunity to save from my income. Bitcoin will be used as a payment method, but it will take a longer time and each country will need a centralized wallet from which internal transactions can be made, avoiding high fees. This is a long process that will take several years.

I am not a user of bitcoin as a means of payment, but I am a holder who hopes to profit from it in the long term. My country hasn't legalized bitcoin as a means of payment, so I won't break those rules just to satisfy a desire. Even if I could use it, so far I will not spend this bitcoin on anything and I intend to hold it longer until the target is reached.

Real use cases for bitcoin may have increased in various countries, but unfortunately you can't use it in my country yet. You still need to convert any crypto to fiat if you want to transact, this is actually regulated by law. To this day, no one forces me to use bitcoin as a means of payment, I don't want to use it.

Have you made a transaction with Bitcoin recently?  It seems your perspective on Bitcoin transaction fees is stuck during the days of the hype of the ordinals.  The recent transaction fee for Bitcoin transfers is less than a dollar, and it is at least 31 cents.  Where is the very high fee in there?  Did you know that many interbank transfers are higher than the current Bitcoin transaction fee?  Others are way higher and what worse is other bank fiat transfers are dependent on the amount to be transferred since they charge by percentage.

I'm spending bitcoin only when it goes up in value. I just feel more relaxed about it in bull market and always go into a saving mode in bear market.
When bitcoin loses 30% of its market price I never spend it. I hold for dear life and buy more.

When it goes up, or even better reaches a new high, I tend to get into good mood, I buy some stuff, gifts for my family, do the things I neglected because I thought some of these things can wait for better times. For instance, I had to service my car in March, but the price was $80k and I thought I'd wait up to 6 months. When we went past $100k again I used bitcoin to pay for it.

To be fair, it's both nowadays, some people can spend Bitcoin as for payment and using for gambling transactions while others are holding into it as digital gold. Bitcoin is diverse right now, it can be used in everything, that's why the growth of Bitcoin is pretty consistent is because of the infinite use case it can give.

Also if you're worrying about the fees, there are L2 that can give you lower fees and can transfer BTC is just small fees, so people are free to do with it anytime. So yes, again and again, bitcoin have various utility and it's not specifically used for a single usecase only.

And people are falling seriously for digital assets because your secret of what you own is safe, so what are the reasons why you would not want to try it? Because people want returns, and aside from the return, people want something trending, and I will love it when you try investing because this is something you will not regret, and the main reason why Bitcoin was created was for it to be seen as an asset, not even as a currency, but because of its value, people are giving it as much value as money. And instead of seeing it as a currency, it will be better to just hold it than to choose it as a currency.


As long as there is money when you hold it for sure, a lot of people will definitely want to hold it because what is the essence of holding if it is not for profit? The profit is usually what drives the intention, but the truth is that it is not as easy as we think because if only what you rely on is the investment, then it won't be easy because of the bills that are meant to be paid, so this is why we need to consider more important things.

I believe that at some point we will see people finally using bitcoin when adoption has spread. Right now despite being popular we still are not seeing maximum adoption, in my opinion.
This is true anyway. If you continue to hold, you will end up earning more money than you started with. This applies to bitcoin of course and not to anywhere else. In other cryptocurrencies you never know since they’re extremely volatile and can end up crashing in the long term.

Correct. When you make payment at POS terminal using your crypto card any eligible cryptocurrency in your account is automatically converted into fiat currency which is the default for your card. This happens if your card balance is insufficient to cover the purchase. The fiat is then converted into the local currency ^{if it is needed}. This entire process occurs in a twinkling of an eye. However, it's often a good idea to convert your crypto into the card’s currency in advance considering whether the market is in a bull or bear phase.

Maybe at the start, the idea wasn't for it to primarily be a long term store of value but at the present, it obviously has become a store of value and the majority of holders use it for that purpose rather than using it for frequent transaction. Because of the potential of some crypto expecially bitcoin, selling it too soon looks like a wrong investment strategy and the narrative we've been seeing has been mostly towards that direction. Using it as a long term store of value doesn't take out the fact that it cold also be used as an alternative currency but factors like increased transaction fee makes it deficult to use It for such purpose.

Maybe if bitcoin becomes less volatile and there's no indication that it will get bullish in the future I might reconsider holding it further than this but as long as things continues to get better and the market continues to be favourable to most holders, I will opt for holding it rather than spending It. The advantages with holding your coin is that you can decide to spend it at whatever time you want to but once you've spent it, regardless of how bullish the market later gets to, you're never going to benefit from it again.

Sadly I think most people are not interested in using it as a currency. Just look at this forum, you can try dig into my post history too, some people even look down on you if you are spending your BTC.

I 100% think its sad because if not for the people who actually spend BTC to buy things, the hodlers have a shit market that gets value 100% from speculation.

Try your site, make it happen, and offer cashbacks or discounts, its the only way to go big otherwise you only rely on the low % of users who spend.

Many people are using crypto as a currency, to purchase different things they like, every day. You didn't outline if it was only Bitcoin or other crypto you are talking about but if you are making a general lookup, my opinion is that there are many people that spend cryptocurrency everyday for purchasing something they like, while many other people too are holding for investment purpose. The crypto community is so large, so if you have platforms that people has to pay with crypto, you will have customers that will patronize your business but I suggest you add more crypto option, not just 1 or 2.

Thanks so much for your thoughtful reply — really appreciated!

What you said is exactly what we’re aiming for: making crypto spending simple, smooth, and actually worth it. That’s why we’re building a platform with features like crypto cashback (1–3%), stablecoin support, and an experience that feels just like any regular online store.

If you're interested, I’d love to give you access to the beta.

Beta access: https://bitcunia.com/ (https://bitcunia.com/) ( No email required )

Your feedback matters — we're building this for the crypto community, and your input helps shape the platform into something truly useful.

I'd say that most of us are just holding it like digital gold, okay, let me speak for myself. I want to spend my crypto currency for important things like landed properties the same way I use my centralized currency but that's very difficult to do because of the country am from, I only get to spend it like our local currency if I'm dealing with a fellow crypto Holder, though I don't really see crypto currency as something I can use to purchase my regular everyday needs but I see it as an investment for the future.

Someday, it all will be regulated properly, and the space won't suffer much from those wanting to tax the crypto usage for such operations to the brim.

But for now, we live as we live, unfortunately..

even though we understand that bitcoin was developed as a digital currency, but increasingly here, it is more widely used by people as an investment only. this is reasonable because in every transaction there are fees charged to the sender, not to mention the waiting time, and fewer merchants accept it. these things make people reluctant to use bitcoin in their transactions, and prefer to use conventional payments that are considered more practical. while from time to time the value of bitcoin is increasing, and it becomes an encouragement for people to buy it and hold it for a long time to get profit from it. but that does not mean that people who transact with bitcoin are few, the number may be more than you expect.

If you have been staying in the crypto market for quite long, you will know why majority prefer to hold bitcoin like digital gold rather than spend it easily as a currency and lost their hard-earned bitcoins that a lot of people have been very eager to have.

Bitcoin has a good store of value, the longer you hold it, the higher its price will be, so it’s no surprising why majority turn greedy just to have and hold bitcoin. Though it’s meant to be spend, but I believe for now it’s not the most appropriate thing to do.

I haven’t started spending bitcoin yet, but am sure later in the future, I will definitely be using bitcoin for transactions. Currently am just holding bitcoin, and am not using it for transactions yet, and the reason why I don’t use bitcoin for transactions is because I haven’t seen any store that’s accepting bitcoin yet in my country, if you are holding bitcoin, and you want to make some transactions, you will have to sell your bitcoin into the local currency before you will be able to transact, but am sure with time, we are soon going to start seeing businesses and companies accepting bitcoin as payment method, and we will be able to make payment with bitcoin.

That's exactly what we're building — an online store where you can buy anything you want using Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. We'd love to hear your feedback on the beta!

Beta access: https://bitcunia.com/ (https://bitcunia.com/) ( No email required )

If majority will keep on advising to buy and hold bitcoin for long term, most especially coming from the legends in the forum, then no one would really want to spend bitcoin having that kind of advice.

Except if you have  massive amount of bitcoin in your portfolio, spending some portion of it won’t be a big deal for you, but if you are still in the process of accumulating bitcoin, you will do everything just to earn and save bitcoin, rather than spend it on things that can paid with fiat instead.

I am one of the people who may exist for this because indeed until now I still do hodl and never make bitcoin as a currency.

But in this case it does not mean that we do not want to try to buy an item or make this a currency because in fact there are several obstacles that might occur if this is done. As for now in my country although it may still be said to be neutral and there are even indications of more than neutral but until now bitcoin is still used as a commodity asset not as a means of payment so instead of stepping over regulations that could be difficult it would be better to stay on the predetermined path because this could be a good thing rather than later offending existing regulations in the government.

In addition, indeed my initial view of bitcoin is still one of the assets that can be used as an investment for my future so I still don't really want to make this a payment method (for myself personally now) but it does not rule out the possibility that this will happen in the future where I buy and spend my assets on an item but for now I just want to focus on the investment I made with my bitcoin so I still survive with the bitcoin hodl that I have.

Hmm. All of us using Bitcoin with each other on this forum probably 80% come from countries just like yours but we are not 'stepping over regulations'.

Countries that ban trading Bitcoin ban it commercially, but will never ban a person from using it (how can they enforce?). If what you are worried about is true, then owning BTC is even a crime anyway.

Thats just an excuse bro, if you don't wanna use BTC just say so, no need to pretend youre just trying to be a lawful person ;)

My point isn't to shame anyone anyway. Just remember, if nobody used BTC... its not gonna have the value it has.

And if the fear is that big, there are plenty of DEX options to go off the grid, so to speak, just an extra step to do so ;)

Yes, if you're willing to risk your BTC on some shitty unsecured smart contract on a shitty unsecured network. I might trust Ethereum among all the different alt networks but would I trust the contract keeping my 'bridged' or my 'wrapped' BTC? Not in 1 million years, and many cases already happened to show this is not safe!

People are torn between holding it for future gains and using it like regular money. When big names in Bitcoin world tell everyone to HODL it makes sense that most people not want to spend their Bitcoin.

Why spend something today if you think it will be worth much more tomorrow? This is especially true for those still trying to get more Bitcoin.

But this also stops Bitcoin from becoming widely used currency because for that to happen people need to actually spend it. Right now most people see Bitcoin as something to invest in or save not something to buy groceries with. Only those with much of Bitcoin might feel okay spending some as it will impact their total much.

People who have a bitcoin in a larger numbers, some have a bitcoin as a store value, and the more reason why they have such storage in bitcoin because they want the price to be high before they will sell the bitcoin, so many people do hold bitcoin for long so that they will make a profit whenever the price of bitcoin increases.but I don't know for other persons but I know very well that bitcoin price always price and so many persons uses bitcoin for different kinds of things

It's okay to do both, but never forget who is the kind of storing the value and what may come from it in the long run.

Normally there are some people that will not use their crypto currency to purchase anything because they just don't want to. Basically everyone have their own reason while they are into the crypto space, some people trade crypto currency and some people invest into it while others are using it in their businesses. Well even though you you finish creating your platform and it's legit, people that will use their crypto to purchase goods or pay for any service will be available, but you should also create an opportunity for those that will be using their fiat currency to purchase and pay for service on your platform.

I personally think crypto mostly as a store of value especially during uncertain markets but I think the shift toward spending will come once we have more stability better UX and incentives. If your platform can make it seamless and offer real value compared to fiat options I think a lot of people would be open to spending their crypto more often

Especially when it will also be transparent and secure..

Totally agree — better UX and real incentives are exactly what we need to move from holding to spending. That’s what we’re trying to build with our platform: a smooth, crypto-native shopping experience that actually makes sense compared to fiat.

We’re also testing a 1–3% crypto cashback on purchases as an added incentive.

If you’re open to it, I’d love for you to try the beta and share your thoughts — especially on the UX. Your feedback would be super valuable as we keep improving!

Actually nowadays I tend to think that Bitcoin is a long-term store of value, where people can hold it and profit from it. However, that doesn't mean that I don't consider it an alternative fiat currency. It still is and always will be. It's just that in the real world not many merchants accept Bitcoin in their stores... and also the fees and waiting time, which doesn't encourage me to use it like any other currency. But in certain cases, I might be interested in using Bitcoin as a currency in transactions.

Currently, I tend to use Bitcoin as my own bank in my pocket.

For me, Bitcoin is a great alternative to deposits in regular commercial banks. The growth in the price of the first cryptocurrency exceeds the amount of interest I can get by placing my funds in deposit accounts in commercial banks.

I also use Bitcoin for cross-border payments. Such payments are currently difficult for citizens of my country. But they are possible if you use Bitcoin.

Also, if I go to another country and need money there, I can sell some satoshi and get local national currency in return. That is, Bitcoin serves as an analogue of a bank check for me.

These are the functions of Bitcoin that are (currently) the most valuable to me. At the same time, I prefer to use fiat money (cash and non-cash) to buy goods, works and services.

Crypto is just like gambling, if it wasn't for the money involved that you can earn from this investment, many would not want to use it for transaction as the primary use for it was first mentioned by the one who invented it. This is just the reality, many are into cryptocurrency because of the money they can earn from it after a long time holding and not to be used for transactions which is the primary aim of it been invented.

We should tell ourselves the reality of it all, we just have to keep our expectations high on Bitcoin because of the big benefits you can get from them when you hold them for the long time. To be well adopted for transactional purpose, it will take a while because a lot of things needs to be put in place before it can happen to some degree while I still feel the vast majority won't also look at it in that perspective at all.

Missed your response earlier sorry but well, legendary accounts are also daily spending on the forum. Staff, legendaryes even newbies are active in Collectibles and active in Gambling, all spending every day.

I know there are some who as I said actually look down on people not hodling everything but I'm hoping new people see the other legendaries more. And get inspired. Its just a personal thing for me.

Reading the response of the members. I've found out that more members are not making Bitcoin a currency but a sort of investment. People are selling to make a profit, and others are converting their local currency to buy things. There is no direct buying of stuff using Bitcoin. But I understand why, because people are not comfortable with fees and some transaction delays. These are the things that stop people from using Bitcoin as currency.

There is no lack of knowledge, but there is a lack of confidence and trust.

Right now, you can create a Bitcoin transaction with 2 sat/vbyte and your transaction will go through and you will be able to pay $0.3 dollar as fee on average, Intra bank transaction from one country to another can cost you more than that amount but Bitcoin can do this effortlessly. The problem here might be fees but the macro problem that contribute to this is regulation and policy, many countries doesn't legalize Bitcoin as legal tender and hence the reason for low patronage as means to buy things.

It's easy for financial regulations to label your business as money laundering when you are dealing with other currency than the local or recognized currency in the country and for that reason, people don't want to be involved with Bitcoin as means of payment. If you notice that during bull run, it's easy for business to say they are accepting Bitcoin as deposit and that's because they sell immediately they make their profit without any hesitation.

In which cases in particular would you use bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies for transactions?