Bitcoin Forum

Alright. I have seen so many threads asking people to vote what they take Bitcoin as. These include currency, investment, payment and tipping etc. Now, if you can only choose between currency and investment.. What do you take Bitcoin as?

I take Bitcoin as a form of currency and investment. However, currency come first. I have never invested my money into Bitcoin. I only invested my time into Bitcoin.

I went to exchange and try to sell them at high price. Upon receiving the money from selling, I try to buy them again at lower price. This way, I can 1.2x or 1.4x my Bitcoin. And I will spend them online. I will never exchange them into USD or whatsoever currency and than withdraw them - unless I'm forced to.

What about you? Currency or investment?

I mostly take bitcoin as investment, and am strong bitcoin believer! coz there is no many places accepting bitcoin payment!

its a pointless question, its both.

I got into Bitcoin because it was a better payment method for online shopping than creditcards or wire transfers. I also do not trust PayPal. {So it started out as a currency}

The more I learned about the "store of value" potential, I started to hoard a bigger percentage of the coins I bought.

I can now say, the biggest percentage of my coins is in cold storage and I use very little for online payments and daily cofee and lunch.  ;D

It's great to have both options... You just choose, what percentage you want to use as a currency and how much you want to invest for later.

I would imagine most users here use it for both.  I was first attraction to bitcoin as a form of currency I could "legally" gamble with.   Then, slowly, I learned more about it and decided to invest in it.  The rest is history.  :)  I hope more for ways in the future to spend my coin. 

Right now there are no many places or services accept bitcoin payment. I'll choose bitcoin as investment because right now bitcoin investment is very promising and profitable

I currently see it as a nice investment for future use as  a currency if you get what I mean.. Buy cheap now, spend while high later. ;)

for me bitcoin is more of an investment since its value increases and decreased dramatically

Well to me it's more of an investment project, but that wouldn't be possible if bitcoin wasn't a currency, since then it wouldn't have any reason to have value.
I see it as a store of value in near future, used by many opportunity seekers and speculators, aswell as true believers in decentralization and banking rivals.
Is there a specific reason you're asking this or?


The question was; if you can only choose between currency and investment. We know it's both.


And currencies don't oscillate in value ? Right ..

cheers

Why can't it be both? Gold is both. Silver is both. Cash is both, to an extent.

I vote for both, I think it needs to be.

Well is actually both, just like those who invest in currencies the trading, bitcoin offers and future investment value and currency value with a bit more edge when it comes to operational cost, from sending X amount a crossed the world to paying a developer in bitcoin for software or a coding job.

its both currency and investment, people can invest in currencies too if you know about forex market where people invest in currencies and commodities

I take this as currency because i can buy many stuff with bitcoin and also keep collecting bitcoins for future.

I see it as an investment at the moment.  It is a relatively poor currency right now, as I can't spend it in enough places without having to trust someone or buy vouchers.
I use it to buy Pizza online sometime, otherwise it is an investment and some holiday treat money when I visit a major city with more chances to spend Bitcoin.

lets face it, the price is so volatile that we have to look at it as an investment.  It will continue to be this way until (if) a large number of the population in the world uses it, and then that number of people stays about the same.  At that point the price might not fluctuate quite so much.

I see it currently as an investment and a currency in the future. It does not behave as a currency simply because its not widely used nor accepted by everyone. It behaves more like a commodity, which you can invest in. Once it gains more adoption, I would start thinking of it as a currency.

Neither. Which makes it interesting.

i want it to be a currency 100%, so no stupid vat applyed to it, but the reality is different, the true is that bitcoin is still treated as a investments in the most cases

and as long as the price will remain unstable, it will be treated as that

not bad for me im invest on some coin that have a great comunity and i get profit, some people not interesting because he not learn about that coin, research before buy and waiting Big red line ( hard dump)

It's both, for people who use it daily it's a currency like I do it for gambling and buying some of the digital goods items and for people who just buy it and put it aside for long term, it's investment. But until we have more usage for it and more business accepting BTC it will be primarily used as an investment.

Indeed it is great if you can do both. ;)
Can I ask how you bought your first coins?

I use it as both a currency and an investment, to be honest.

When I get paid in bitcoin, I spend some of it on sites that accept bitcoin and save the rest, and if the fiat price goes up during the period I hold, then that's an added bonus.

i would love to be able to consider bitcoin as a currency but so far i used it as a way of investment.
invest my money in bitcoin by buying when the price is low and store it, additionally i did the same thing you talked about in the OP for a while but now i focused all my attention to trading altcoin.
so i can say that i pretty much use bitcoin as an investment and a way to earn money.

BTCitcoin is more than a normal currency for me it is future of currency because it is decentralized and the government has no control over it, it is like freedom with privacy for taking it as investment in most cases so there is very solid reason for that too so many prediction from financial experts which are showing indicator it will go more high than over $1000 by the end of this year.

i use bitcoin as an investment. i get bitcoin from different revenues and also i buy too. i hold bitcoin for long term investment to get the profit but i don't consider it as a get rich quick way.

IMO bitcion means to be money and is the meida of exchanging goods or services. Because bitcoin has much potential so ppl may hoard it for the future. But most of the coins shouldn't be hoarded there. There is no or little transaction fees collected by the miners. Miners might not be satisfied with that situation, specially after the mining reward halving, and leave the mining industry,  which is hurting the bitcoin's network. The price cannot be increasing infinitely. Hopefully the bitcoin's price will be stable and the ecosystem has some balance, as the adoption rate increases and the halving aproaches.

That will be both but for me, currency definitely comes first. I can imagine that in the future, I can use it to spend on practically anything and it's more like a wealth protection knowing that the value of my coins would not be manipulated.

Same as me, as investment, now i just hold all of my BTC and keep it safe for a near future.

Most people still use it as an investment that they hold and hope for a revaluation in the future which may or not make it back to their local fiat. Why? because people perceive BTC as something valuable like gold, rather than cash. Only in situations where they would have a solid benefit (overseas transaction or whatever) they would use BTC imo.

Definitely currency, there are better investments, investing in bitcoin in the past 20 months hasn't been successful for anybody and the argument for holders is usually to "look longterm". If it is being used as a currency then it will also be positive for investors.

I definitely think that bitcoin is a currency, however many people in my city just thinks that it is an investment :( Bitcoin is indeed a currency! It can be traded with other currencies like USD/EUR etc. And it can also be used online, just like fiat currencies can be used in shops.

It plays on both side, many of of are hoping being part of this bitcoin culture with having a little to a lot would change the life we currently have based on a redistribution of wealth, mean while we offer our services to earn bitcoin and buy what is need it with it.

Bitcoin is designed to be used as a Currency, but it is being used as an investment. Unless more and more people start using it, it will remain as an investment.

Investment is needed to grow money so investment is needed!!!

I take it as an investement for the simple reason that I'am buying it to make profit , I buy it , I hold it , I wait till the price rise as hell then I simply sell it . and If I see it dropping instead of rising Iwill just sell it too so there is less damage i guess

For me BTC is investment.
I joined several signature campaigns until now in order to collect some BTC.
Now, I keeping this BTC in my wallet with hope that value of BTC will raise again, so that I can sell it for the good profit.
Some of this funds I cash out through exchangers and invested in other internet businesses.
I don't have interest to buy something with BTC right now.
 

Agree. As there are no many services accept bitcoin, i'm saving bitcoin in my wallet too until right now. I collect BTC from signature campaign and faucet until now. I will collect BTC until it's price raise up.

Currency for me too. I have also used bitcoins for currency-exchange purpose. Sell at higher price and buy at lower price. Only difference, I buy only whatever amount I sell. That way I earn fiat and btcs both.

its a ledger  :P

Defiantly a investment.

No question bitcoin is more of a currency than investment. But we have to think upon ourselves when was the last time we bought something with btc, for me it was long ago. And when was the last time we used btc just like we would use USD. I think for most us on this forum, btc have become more of an investment method instead of regular concept of money. That's just my opinion, because I invest way more than I use it to purchase goods/services.  :)

I think bitcoin is a poor currency right now. It is treated more as an investment at the moment. It will gain strong strength when it stabilizes, that's when bitcoin will be taken seriously, that's when people can use it as an amount of exchange and used as currency because it will have a definite value all the time and won't be changing all the time.

All currencies are like that at the begining. Merchants are limited and those that use it are niche consumers. The volatility is also high as hell. Eventually things smooth out. With Bitcoin will be like nothing ever seen before.

I think bitcoin can be perceived as more than just a currency, I think it can even be assumed as more than just an investment. Rather than just limiting its future to a function of exchange, or a source to invest and gain money, it can be much more than that. Low inflation risk, low collapse risk,safe and simple. Its the easiest to carry and... untraceable.

It will take time, but eventually it will get there. Right now, people who buy bitcoins think of it as an investment which has the possibility to yield huge returns.

Although the prices of bitcoin had a few fluctuations and I strongly think that it can help the bitcoin becomes more stabilized in near future.

Like others said bitcoin right now is both a currency and a kind of investment. Prices of bitcoins aren't stable yet. It's volatile right now.

So this fluctuation sometimes helps people make profit. So some people consider this as an investment. Is also considered this as currency(more like an unconventional currency)  because people can buy stuffs with it.

I’m absolutely certain that in some parts of the world at the moment you could gain investment with the following business plan:
1) Create new digital currency.
2) Allocate 10% of new coins to investors.
3) Profit!

So I’m not sure that I see anything to stop a near endless invention of new digital currencies. And given that I don’t I can’t see what value most to all of them are going to end up having.

Link to complete article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/12/12/why-invest-in-bitcoin-when-you-could-invest-in-another-currency/

Bitcoin is digital currency,but as of now there is no such places accepting bitcoin as payment!
It required time to stabilized in future to use it as currency.
For now bitcoin is working with investment and that too in short term investment.
Investment may in fund,individual companies .etc :)

More like currency, as investment not yet  :D

it's the opposite, otherwise people would have been used it more, and less market manipulation will occur, also the price should rise, in the event that they will really consider it as a currency

it is also true that bitcoin need investments in it for succeed at least for the time being, investments could be considered the launch pad for the currency aspect of bitcoin

Exactly. And IMO, Bitcoin is more and more being used as an investment asset nowadays. A few days ago, I was watching an interview with the Bitpay CEO. According to him, the number people who are willing to make payments in Bitcoins have fallen steeply in the last 6-7 months, as most of the users are now stashing their coins instead of spending them.

I see it more of it as a money transmitter similar to western union.

Rather then being a currency focus, I just see it as more of a utility usage.

I`m actually opposite of what youre writing about here.

You mention lots of people are hoarding it, I`m more of selling it at a certain price point, once it gets to $300 minimum solid then buy back in when it falls.

I only see bitcoin as a blackmarket at this present time and money laundering.. I can be wrong but whatevers.

That is a nice article, thank you for posting. I feel the same a out how all these other crypto currencies just start their own currency, give out 10% to owners,etc and after proper moves, start gaining profit. Bitcoin is obviously strong and better, but such currencies kill the respect quotient.

Yes, but even if bitcoin might be the first crypto currency in the world, it doesn't mean that it will be the last. The only thing which keeps bitcoin ahead of others is more thorough adaptation of this currency compared to others.

I do use Bitcoin as a currency to purchase things some times. It can be a mix of both, a currency and an investment, i guess. I have invested Bitcoin, and I have also used Bitcoin to purchase things. If Bitcoin was accepted everywhere, then I would be more than happy to use Bitcoin as mainly a currency.

Creating new altcoins is total waste of potential. Only delusional fools possessed by greed are going that way. I was fooled before by promises of new altcoins and I won't be fooled again.
All we truly need is put all resources into bitcoin and improve it - it will the best course of action. Stop Wasting time on the pump and dump trash coin.

I appreciate your brave thoughts about investment regards to the Bitcoin. However do you know any time limit set for the higher rate in years down the line, which you would expect it as a profitable in terms of currency denomination.

Actually bitcoin be the both, I personally use bitcoin as both.

I don't think if bitcoin be a main currency, except the gov/country is collapse like Greece, they use bitcoin now as main currency.

For me bitcoin is a currency, i dont see any investment :). It can be investment if you see from another angel

I guess there are many people said that they get a good profit from mining altcoin here, so why now you suggest us to wasting out time there? Yes it is wasting time because you can't miss any chance of rising so I didnt understand why you ask us to left there when it still can earn you really good amount of money?




Why we must wait goverment to collapse then use bitcoin as main currency? If the price of bitcoin is stable enough to replace fiat I guess government can't deny it again so soon or later they will change it but for now I dont think it is time for that

Many users start with choosing it as a currency and then eventually use it as an investment. For me too, it seems like an investment obviously because it is more promising and reliable. Bitcoin is a really good investment and provides a profitable future gain.

Nope, I think many of them start because its like 'free money' to them, they can earn without doing so much things at first but now bitcoin is really give them hope to change their life so they are start on changing this to investment. Bitcoin for short term yes it is good enough, but I dont think that bitcoin as long term invesment is really good enough compare to others long term investments like gold or real estates

I disagree with you regarding the bitcoin as a long term investment. Yes, the risk quotient right now is high as compared to gold and real estate but I think that bitcoin will truly be beneficial if it is perceived as a long term investment rather than just a little free money. It is really developing as a currency at the moment, but considering ti as a back up investment, just buying 1 btc isn't that bad I guess

You wont even know about how will bitcoin go for the future. People here are saying that bitcoin is going to rise in some years may be 10-20 years but thats all is just speculation, although I know that bitcoin is a developing coin that will earn you a lot but without any support bitcoin wont be a good investment at all. Get one bitcoin is not enough if you are make this as your back up investment because it is too little for covering what you loss in the future with bitcoin price around $500

This is a big issue and there is not a lot of agreement.  One of the major problems bitcoin has with adoption is governments settling on an answer.  In the US this problem is highlighted by the IRS viewing bitcoin as property while FINCEN views it as a currency.  We have to deal with regulations for both - very problematic.

Personally, I lean and prefer currency, but that would require it have a fairly stable value, and as a deflationary currency, I don't think that is too likely.

Good luck!

Bitcoin is constantly getting more support from a lot of fronts. A super long term investment of 20 years may make sense to own at least 1 BTC, but to be on the safe side, I would own at least 2 figures of BTC in my stack to be on a guaranteed success area.

It's solidly in the investment column as long as assholes won't stop selling BTC for less than the All-Time High.

Same with me, I take bitcoin as a currency first, and then a investment. That's what bitcoin is, but not for me. Because I invest in bitcoin more than I buy/sell goods with it. I don't ever buy anything with bitcoin for myself. But I do invest in it. So that's just for me, and I believe for most people on this forum. Just like money itself, but dollars is used more as a currency.

For me, Bitcoin is a investment because it is a earning source but it is also a good currency :)

At the current point I'd say its rather an investment. Most of the users here and on exchanges (I'm looking at you too!) are simply holding (hodl) and expect an increase in price later on. If it was a true currency, people wouldn't be afraid of actually spending it rather than sitting on it and waiting to maybe become rich in 1/5/10/whatever years.

It has the potential to become a currency, but for that we must wait.

How are you so sure? May be in your country it gets supported buy most country doesnt support on bitcoin because bitcoin will become threat to them thats why government are trying to press bitcoin as much as they can and make fiat as the only currency. If you want safe side you really need around 10 bitcoin or more and that will guarantee you will live on luxurious life. Only 2 bitcoin you really need to hope its price will rise more than $10,000

you as legendary forum member are aware of the mtgox/china +$1000 pump right? that was nowhere near a reasonable price. people can't hold their coins for ever just to make you rich.

People use bitcoin as both currency and investment. They usually start out with using it as a currency and it turns out to be an investment as bitcoin is very reliable and promising. Using bitcoin as an investment would profit you a lot , so you should try investing in it.

Once it's considered a store of value, widespread use as a currency will blossom. You can use it as a medium of exchange right now but it's a niche. I'd guess that it's an investment for most people who hold it right now.

I believe it's an investment since the price of the BitCoin keeps fluctuating.

Just above $1000 is completely reasonable, and will need to go up to $1M USD to encourage victimless economic liberty transfers from tyrants' fiat. Once it hits $1M USD, each satoshi will be equal to 1 US penny, and the number of decimal places will have to be increased in the software.

Not selling BTC for less than the All-Time High≠Not holding forever.
Just above $1000 wouldn't make me rich.

I'm not sure if those two things are compatible. If it was indeed artificially increased to the "all time high" then probably what we see this year is the "real value". For the past 6 months we are in the 250$ range (chart (http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/btceUSD#rg360ztgSzm1g10zm2g25zv))

The current market cap according to https://blockchain.info/charts/market-cap (https://blockchain.info/charts/market-cap) is just under 4 billion $. If we wanted 1M$/BTC today, this would need to be 14'500 billion $. (~14.5 million Bitcoins currently each worth 1 million $; 3600 times of what it actually is). Now, how long do you think it would take for the bitcoin network to grow by so much (realistically)?

(I am not entirely sure if value can be solely based on how much money was put in the system, but by bitcoin's own "value" as well. Regardless, I think the above is a good indication.)

Bitcoin serves both the purposes, its a great global currency as well as an investment. However I believe it's better to use bitcoins as investments since its prices keep fluctuating and so far we've seen a good rise only. Keep your BTC for 10 years and you might become a millionaire, great investment isnt it?

the price fluctuate also in fiat, to a minor extent, but still fluctuations are those, , so this is not the issue, bitcoin is more of an investment becuase of its great potential to rise to unbelievable price, when that price will be reached bitcoin will turn to a currency

Mining expenses have increased so much that it has become irrelevant to invest in mining as the price of bitcoin has also fallen. If it was 1000$ per btc now, then mining would be profitable but the price drop has clearly put so many miners into loss and so many of them have quit mining. My best friend is one of them. There is nothing left in mining for us, the cost of mining exceeds way more than any profit made (atleast as of now, maybe hardware changes in future change things)

So you have the equipment to mine now, but you stop because you are not making any profit, worse you are in loss. Say this continues for 6 months and then the BTC price shoots up to, lets say, 800$/BTC.

Wouldn't it be late to restart mining then when all other miners come back to the game and push the difficulty up? If you truly believe in bitcoin, why not continue mining and swallow some loss now and sell for profit later?
(Of course, if you can afford and assuming it was not the main source of your income)

That can also be a good thing that its price is fluctuating, it shows activity, it depicts growth. As the currency is growing higher and higher, it is also resulting in more trades or lets say, displaying activity of more trades going down in the market. That can always be a good thing as the currency and investment both grow, and benefit each other.

Well if you ask me, bitcoin pretty much serves both as a currency and investment. However, its prices are always fluctuating and have shown immense growth in the last 5 years. This uncertain feature of this beautiful virtual currency makes it a verry useful investment. Investing in bitcoin is a long term process and one shouldn't expect quick results. Have patience while you invest, and you'll definitely feel good about your decision after the next 5 years or so!

AS you have mentioned already, bitcoins are used as currency, investment, payment and tipping etc. We all know it has numerous roles to play and its pretty amazing. But if you have to choose it either as a currency or investment, i suggest you go with the latter. Why would i spend something whose value is likely to be 10 times in the next 10 years? Sounds like an amazing investment to me!

both ......... bitcoin is a currency & also an investment

I think bitcoin has both function, as an investment currency and of course, if the functions in the currency, bitcoin has almost all the advantages, such as easy to send, not easily damaged and very rare. if the functions in the investment, bitcoin is very advantageous because, in the future bitcoin prices will probably go back to $ 1,000

Btw Im saying about mining altcoin, it wont cost you that much right? You can rent through some website too like hashnet to get some pool mining, you dont need to do it alone buying so many mining equipment. This will cost you high for sure, but if you rent some GHs may be it will lessen your cost with recent price.

I take bitcoin only as investment. But not in trading. I don't have time to follow the moving of the price of bitcoin, I don't believe in various predictions about the trend in which will move the price of bitcoin and this make me have fear to sell my bitcoins because the price can go down instead of going high and because (this is totally irrational) have satisfaction have bitcoin in my wallet in every moment. The last reason make me feel good (for the part of me that regards bitcoin).

Bitcoin is now a investment. when almost more than 90% total bitcoins are mined out it will become as a currency.
Why it's a investment now: To attract new users to go every commerce to become world's main stream currency. Once prices of bitcoin stabilize then people will use it as currency.