Bitcoin Forum

Lets say things are not how they are today.  

Today, things work like this:
If I bought at 500 and it goes to 1000 in a few months I am more likely to hoard the coins (for potential profit), rather than use it for its utility (which is exchanging for goods etc).

What if bitcoin had no value and was only used for its utility.  Like if I bought 10 dollars of bitcoin and its only going to be worth the same 10 dollars, I would have no reason to hoard.  I am more likely to spend on various items etc.

Now I understand the problem with this (set number of coins makes coins value rise) but for the sake of my argument, ignore all of those fundamental problems (I know this is probably like ripple or something - which I have not done any research on yet etc).

Do you guys think this would be a better idea, since it still would be a better payment system.  Easy confirmation and what not.

I would appreciate your thoughts below :)

No

There is a quote from somebody that you shouldn't repair a broken system
You should just completely replace it

There would not be any meaningful investment without the prospect of profits. Greed is good, it's what underpins everything we do. Wouldn't work otherwise.

so you are suggesting tying bitcoin price to the dollar.

so once the dollar goes plummeting down, bitcoin would too.

why not yen or euro or peso or rouble? all these government-denominated currencies are equally crappy.

You don't see the main benefit of bitcoin the currency, and that is - be a currency that all other currencies can be expressed in. Not the other way around (besides that's its absolutely technically impossible, to have a fixed price of a limited resource in unlimited fiats).

I probably come off the wrong way by what I was saying.  But I was thinking more of I put a set amount of value into the blockchain system to send to a buddy and he gets it.  

Of course, there are many issues with this theory (especially since it probably wouldn't work).  Especially once you get to the fundamentals (the buddy might not want to sell the bitcoin right away and the currency could plummet, causing recipient to throw a hissy fit.)

I get what your saying about not wanting it to be tied to a currency (which I do agree)
I see bitcoin as a legit means of exchange (mainly because of utility and scarcity)

But i made this thread because I was thinking of an alternative to all these price swings.  Most just want to hold for a payday and then sell with hopes to rinse and repeat.  Personally I love the utility of bitcoin [(prevent double spending, easy to confirm, impossible to replicate or "steal someone's identity" -unless of course you find or steal private keys.)]

but people rather hold then use in every day scenarios like at walmart or something.  Not saying they don't do it, but btc seems more of an investment than anything else (right now)

It will work once the price is stable. Which is when everyone in the world who has a reason to use bitcoin use it. This will happen somewhere north (possibly far, far north) of 100k.

And what's wrong with investing? The more people use it, in any kind of capacity, the more popular it gets. It's a good thing. I really don't see a problem except for the kind of people who dislike the fact that there are people with more money than them. And screw those guys, they never gave me anything when they had more than me.

No.

There would be no incentive for mining.  The system would be insecure.  It would die from double-spends.

The price also acts as an incentive for current holders to spread the word.  Why are people badgering businesses to accept it?  Because they hold it and want to its usage spread so its value will rise.

This same incentive will be used to fund Tor nodes, peer-to-peer ride sharing and apartment renting, mesh internet, etc in the future.  It's vital to blockchain technology.

Because you cannot change anything of value against something of no value. There is a reason people do not use leaves as money. Money must be scarce. Which is why the fiat experiment will end as usual.

Indeed, there would be no reason to hoard it because there is no reason to desire it.