Bitcoin Forum

Now the world is crazy about bitcoin!

We talk about its price ,its mining all day.

Besides its speculation ,what is the real use of bitcoin ?

Really ? First of all this is the altcoin part of the forum, so I don’t know how alright it is to ask about bitcoin.

Secondly, you can check all around the internet for the good parts of bitcoin, rather than asking for it, you can do a research, after you learn what is so good about bitcoin than you can start checking the big altcoins and see what they have over bitcoin and the added features. After that, you can come back and ask real questions.

you mean the decentralized, secure, fairly distributed, no premine, no ICO, original, crypto-currency called bitcoin?

let me introduce you to our old friend Google:
https://www.google.com/search?q=spend+bitcoin

lists of thousands of merchants online and offline who are accepting bitcoin payment (this link is more than enough to answer anything you want and only looking at all the merchants names will take you an hour ;D:
www.coindesk.com/information/what-can-you-buy-with-bitcoins/

also a good tool to find merchants that are accepting bitcoin payment online:
https://www.bitcoin.com/spend-bitcoin-online

Japan recognized bitcoin as a legal way of making payments aka as a currency and then Russia followed:
www.cnbc.com/2017/04/12/bitcoin-price-rises-japan-russia-regulation.html

first bank of bitcoin (interest paying) is starting in Japan:
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/japan-receive-its-first-interest-paying-bitcoin-deposit-accounts/

and since it seems like you are from China let me help you more specifically.

https://www.google.com/search?q=spend+bitcoin+in+China

bitcoin ATMs in China (Shanghai and Beijing):
https://coinatmradar.com/country/44/bitcoin-atm-china/

online shop accepting bitcoin from China:
https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-we-accept-bitcoin.html

2 awesome places to buy gift cards for most popular online shops such as Amazon at a huge discount and save up on a lot of money and a lot more:
Gyft.com
purse.io

All these alts with no use will die but BTC will not it will grow to become the universal currency. A fork is definitely needed at some time though to optimize the system while keeping everything else intact. BTC is king.

I thought fork is being generated as a solution for many and still increasing delayed transaction and higher fees?.


It's not bad to ask questions all over the forum but i think it's in your own initiative to search and go through pages and sections in the community. and sometimes there are FAQ's already answered and asked many times.

Fees & slow transactions are big hurdles at the moment,hope it gets sorted out soon

To me, Bitcoin is a decentralized way of moving money from point A to point B without a middle man (unless we are counting miners as middle men).

to shut down bitcoin, they'd have to shut down every computer running it, which is like putting out a fire that continues to grow exponentially.

Secondly, to move money traditionally you had to entrust your funds with a bank, which would then act as a middle man and transfer the funds using their facility, charging you a fee. It'd take days and probably cost you 1-2% of your full transfer, not to mention having to deal with bank employees.

Bitcoin bypasses most of that (unless you are trying to convert back to FIAT, which is a mute point, you can't blame Bitcoin for FIAT's short comings). If you are transferring bitcoin directly to someone, you can literally send straight from the comfort of your living room to the living room of your friend half way around the world, no middle man required.

The fees are temporarily high, this will change in the future, but even with the fees they are now, it's still incredibly cheap to send millions of dollars to anywhere in the world, within a few minutes.

Now, I've long said I don't understand why Bitcoin is so expensive. It can function just fine @ $5 ea as it can @ $100. Unless there is so much need in the system (demand) that we need a rising bitcoin, I really don't understand where the giant market cap comes from. Today you can definitely send millions easy and the market is liquid enough to accept it, but is the price higher because of use & demand? or is it simply because we all saw it rising in 2015 and bought it up as we have multiple times before?

It makes total sense to me that if everyone is buying and holding that the price will go up exponentially. Does the demand of bitcoin outside of being used as a speculation vehicle call for such a high marketcap? I really don't think so. Don't get me wrong, the liquidity is great, and something that any good currency should have. All I'm saying is that the vast majority of bitcoin users HOLD their bitcoin, instead of spending it and using the system, so the liquidity is literally nothing more than to cash people out of their rising investment (which of course only works until there's more sellers than buyers).

Maybe I'm missing the "store of value" side. I definitely use it for that, but I've never seen it that way. When I buy bitcoin, it's an investment which I full well plan to profit from in Fiat terms. I know I'm not alone in that.

Buying drugs and guns on the internet.

Lol yes, can't forget that. A currency isn't a currency until you can buy drugs with it.

Ahahah they are really funny but we have a bitcoin discussion thread here so you should be careful on your post please read carefully all the threads. And the thread or section of your topic so there are no complication also you will get a good answer in what you where asking.

Transfer money around the world for cheap, even where there are economic sanctions that would make such transfer impossible
Have a storage of value that won't surely loses value over time and won't require trust in banks or store or physical objects that can be stole, counterfeit or lost. Good if you live in violent places with fragile bank system.
You don't need to have a bank account or credit card to use them

The real use of crypto currencies, apart its main application, which is speculation and greater-fool game, is for those payments where fiat cannot go, is dangerous, expensive or difficult.  Main application: dark markets.
But there can be other kinds of payments where you don't want law and rule to go, or where law and rule are in such disordered state that there's no clear way to pay with fiat.  I could think of financing forbidden projects or activities, extortion, bribing, ordered killings, hostage taking.... on one hand ; and of sleazy business like porn, hookers, unregulated night life, unregulated gambling and so on on the other hand.

And yes, there are some geeks who like to pay regular stuff with crypto too !
 
The biggest draw backs of most crypto is that they are hugely deflationary, and hence the speculative part will always by far prevail over any actual currency usage, it will never become a stable unit of account (impossible with speculative non-stabilized assets) and so each time you deal in it, you take a risk of volatility.

Another issue is of course, that if using fiat for the purpose would be dangerous, don't use a transparent block chain.

Once the transaction fee issue and waiting time issues get solved, There are million of daily life uses. Plus it will give you real control, no more inflation BS. Economic Crises etc.. Also Can kind of protect you against spying. The List goes on. Bitcoin needs tiny modifications and it will be ready for the mainstream adoption. Bitcoin will change how the governments work and will give people the real power against the "Ruling class". well that's my opinion

And not getting caught for it. I think that is the best part of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Anonymity, although this is not fully anonymous most part of it helps in many ways. People will always tend to try new things to do illegal sh*t so it is nothing new to bitcoin.

and being scammed in the process, or being caught on the delivery

you know, lots of drugs and guns are being illegally sold much before Bitcoin existed, I believe it should be easier and cheaper to buy drugs and guns with cash

Most of the people don't look at bitcoin use as they see it as a way to earn money, which goes for the altcoin trading as well. We forget its purpose, or some of us.

For me real use of bitcoin is that you can be anon (if you mix the coins the right way), there is no regulation , no tax to pay atm. You can buy some things with it. There is not some big market right there but as adoption grow I am sure that there will be some.

You don't need a bank account ( no need to give your info to anyone), it is simple to use, once you understand just some basic things that all of people need to. You just need string of numbers and you are good to go to receive and send transactions. It used to be "low fees, and fast" but with the adoption growing right now and as more people do the transactions network is kinda full. Until something happens we might see increase in fees and waiting time for coins to come to your wallet.

But basically it is money, real currency that is being used. You can be paid as freelancer in bitcoin for instance or be paid for your job. Noone controls your money, you do! But some people find it even hard to control their bitcoins and make some of the things like losing their backup or not even making a backup...

While anonymity is an illusion. You still have to convert their bitcoin official currency to spend. For example to fill the car. From this moment on you see everything. Maybe in the future it will not be so, but so far people have very little bitcoins and therefore no market.

Will to try some BTC interactive real live chat? (NSFW)

Bitcoin is intrinsically a storage of value with the security of a Swiss bank that can be transferred anywhere globally. Who cares about the trading price lol

Global payment processing dude, without the need of a central authority/controller or government.

Bitcoin provides the ability for one free individual to transfer value to another free individual.

I can use Bitcoins  on the daily basis in every day life for paying all sorts of goods, services and expenses. If not directly than through Bitcoin debit card that is accepted everywhere. Bitcoin has the real value in real life and can be easily used for different things.

Who cares as long as the people that are crazy about it continue to make money. If that stops then as the question. Besides bitcoin is still trying to find its place.

Today bitcoin have real use. You can buy things you want in shops that already accept bitcoin for payment, that helps you to skip all this exchangers and cashing out's fees. Unfortunately in the world there are not so many places that would work with bitcoin or/and with other crypto. But together with bitcoin's popularization the number of such places is growing.

I think Bitcoin is a cult.  Not criticizing it because I am a member but you have to admit we are pretty fanatical about it. It is a very powerful idea that means different things to different people. Probably many things which Nakamoto never even thought about. S it depends if you ask a democrat or a republican or whatever.

Bitcoin was created as digital currency, so it is used as currency, besides of being a currency bitcoin has become a valuable investment because there a lot of people interested in this coin, and not only that bitcoin also can be used for global transaction and bitcoin also opened up a new business opportunity, like exchanger and coin developer

1) Bitcoin acts as a proof of concept and a very well thought out implementation of the blockchain protocol. Using a secure, decentralised network that rewards the devices that work on it, to publicly witness and verify the data (in Bitcoin's case, transactions)

2) It is a gateway to a more open and free world. No cchargebacks, no PayPal breathing down and watching on every single one of your transactions.

3) It's a deflationary currency. There's only 21 million coins to be produced, and sometimes people purposely throw away their Bitcoin, or "burn" them, reducing the total amount.

Bitcoin is a faster way and convenient way of payment. You don't have to go to money remittance center just to transfer funds. The fee is getting expensive but still cheaper than money transfer. But for me, its a form of investment. Theres a lot of potential to grow over years. I buy bitcoin only for investment.

what about using its technology to develop a network with an enhanced security? :P FYI the use of bitcoin is explicitly not limited, you can see some of the website such as newegg, dell or steam (AFAIK) has been accepting bitcoin as a form of payment. in long term, you can use it as a savings. when you are old, your funds will most likely be raised up thousands as the standardisation of payment. for instance, japan. the country of legalising bitcoin payment after the mt. gox incident had restored.<sup>1

1</sup>not sure by 100%

when the price of bitcoin goes up and the fees are ever raising due to large amount of transactions yet to confirm, the fee is eventually larger than money transfer; that's why we have altcoin.

I think with the price these days, the concept of bitcoin as a payment is having a turn to an invest asset. The first time I knew bitcoin, I thought it can be a good way of paying in the real life, no need to open your wallet and stuff, you jist need to scan a code and thats it, but now, it is used by the people to invest their money and earn some profit in the long run.

Of course there are uses for bitcoin otherwise there wouldn't be this much speculation.

For example, even with the high transaction fees that bitcoin is having right now it is still cheaper to send bitcoin across borders than to send a bank transfer or even Perfectmoney, as they banks can charge outrageous fees and PM charges 2.9% on each transaction.

And also you avoid central authorities... Which is great.

The real used of bitcoin is in remittances especially for freelancer who is working for clients overseas or abroad. It is very useful and very convenient to used especially if you have local exchanges. Since  bitcoin is a form of digital currency, it gives also an opportunity to anyone to earn anywhere in the world. The world is fast becoming a global village,and with bitcoin we even become closer globally.

Bitcoin is at it developmental stage and because of this op may never thing that outside speculation bitcoin has no any other means. Bitcoin as a crypto currencies was made to be a decentralized currencies, store of values, mode of payment  and medium of exchange. We may not see the full values and potential of bitcoin today but in near by future we shall see it.

Speculation is in second or third place in my opinion when it comes to bitcoin. I entered in bitcoin as I found that it is far better than traditional fiat system as I am in the international business of domain name reselling, it was very costly for me to accept international payments (and since PayPal has serious restrictions in my country, the extra stress was a cherry on the top).

I think we should look at it as a revolution in value mobilisation infrastructure (payment system) and since it is in the earlier stage, there are the people (including me) who are taking benefits of speculation.

Yeah a cult it is indeed, and personally it means nothing to me other than an investment, its gotten a value because people believe it in, no different from fiat. The main difference from fiat I would say is the fact that contrary to what people believe its not really a currency, at least not yet. That can change in the future with some of the developments being done to increase transaction numbers and speed, but for now its only purpose is a store of value or an investment.

I would also say what it is depends not only on if you are democrat of republican but also which country you are from, inflationary currencies aren't really a problem in Western countries, but they most certainly are in some developing ones with currency controls and big inflation.

This is what got me initially enthusiastic about bitcoin.  Now, the current fiat system allows to do that too, with all the caveats of stealing states and law.  However, the speculative aspect of bitcoin has grown its importance to such levels, that bitcoin is now just as much under scrutiny as anything else that transfers value ; and the gateways being "official shops" and "exchanges", I think it is somewhat illusionary to think that bitcoin will succeed easily in making free what is not free by state and law.  In fact, if bitcoin would have been less speculative, and would have had a market cap in relationship with its usage as a value transfer mechanism, it could have remained much longer "under the radar".

This is very important to note: a good currency comes close to "ideal money", which has near constant value.  Whether it is *slightly* deviating from it with a slight inflation or deflation, as long as this inflation and/or deflation is BOUND to strict limits (of a few % per year) and is more or less predictable, is not a problem, because you can take this into account in agreements over time.

Currencies are, however, not meant to be long term stores of value.  They are meant to fluidize commercial interaction, and for that, they need to have more or less predictable value evolution.  You cannot make a deal over a few years in a "currency" of which you have no idea what value it will have over this time - if no mechanism is in place which tries to keep this value "on track". 

Bitcoin is becoming so valuable that it will probably continue to be used as a store of value more than anything else. Depending on who you are of course will dictate what goods and services are being purchased, but overall I predict less trading and more hoarding.

I can see Litecoins actually being used for transactions, while Bitcoins become more rare.

Today bitcoin users use bitcoin as an investment. The increasing use of bitcoin in the real world is proof that bitcoin prices will continue to rise. Daily bitcoin demand is getting bigger.

as token for "write" transaction in a software called blockchain  :P . The real use of bitcoin is inside the blockchain technology.

people use bitcoin also as investment. Actually is one of the best performing currency.

I think the real use of bitcoin is to become an additional currency to our current fiat currencies that are available in the market. Bitcoin is one of the best tool for the people who want to have investment and also money to be used online without having a problems for the taxes because bitcoin is tax free so we don't need to spend or get reduce from our money there.

I think this is extremely naive. 

I think the real use of bitcoin is a payment method, uncontrolled payment method spesifically even by the government or the bank as the creator Satoshi propssed on his paper  "a system for electronic transactions without relying on trust" but i don't know is it just me or... the bitcoin as payment method seems like annoying, the transaction of the bitcoin is extremely slow if we compare it to the another payment form out there let's say paypal. One thing that make bitcoin still exist as payment form i think it's simplicity and the fee (for big transaction of course), i hope this issue will be fixed soon, because there are too many competitors out there.

Financial freedom which bitcoin has provided to a common man even if he is from an under developed country.
No more dependence on banking sectors for transactions and no more huge transaction fees.
Giving full control over our money through wallet.
Ever growing price which has termed bitcoin's name as digital gold.

bitcoin is designed to work as a new medium of exchange so it is obvious that the real purpose of bitcoin is to be currency and a payment method which is very much like our primary currency and it is just starting to considered as a digital assets that can be also an investment probably most people are confusing to it .

That is true, that is the purpose and main reason why bitcoin exists, the uniqueness of it is that it is anonymous of whom is the owner of it unlike in cash, and also the value  of it is continuously increasing as of today. Of course, it is not because bitcoin wanted to replace cash but as an alternative way in the said transactions.

Exactly, Bitcoin has lots of real benefits and speculation of bitcoin price is only used by traders or investor. A normal person uses bitcoin to transfer money from one country to another free of cost. Previously one has to use paypal, western union and other expensive services which cost them lots of taxes , fee etc but bitcoin has made it virtually zero fee transaction all over the world.

Bitcoin can be used in different ways, The simplest way we can convert it to fiat or in other alternative coins. because is too good for trading, people can earn a lot by using it in the market. you can buy anything anonymously, no one can track your orders like when you pay with your credit card. furthermore transactions fees are very low.

illegal people use Bitcoin for illegal activity. Bitcoin protect the identity and no one can find out who we are

Bitcoin is pretty much used for things that can only be purchased online at for a special price. Bitcoin could get used for offline payments as well though there is not that many people that accept Bitcoin transactions offline right now. Since the price of Bitcoin is going up, there is a bunch of things that could be purchased online for a discount. I've purchased Bitcoin at a cheap price and was able to get a bunch of discounted things online.

Not all countries can benefit on bitcoin because some of them can't access to internet and even if they do they don't have time to check on it. The real use of the bitcoin is really up to you. You can always check online on what you can use on it but most commonly people use bitcoin in gambling, investing, buying and selling. Those are the most common things to use bitcoin, as for me put my bitcoin on investment because I wan't to earn more than what I have now but it really depends on you there many ways you can do with bitcoin.  :)

Thats what Im talking about. Why does everybody expect everything to happen in a few days or weeks? So when people say Bitcoin can hit $10,000 of $100,000 they are absolutely right.

What you are doing right now is the use of Bitcoin. It is intended to create a new type of payment that is thru internet. To provide convenience to us, with Bitcoin. You can easily pay/receive money to another person without going somewhere which saves time and money. Due to our busy schedule, we  need a currency that will enable us to make a transaction wherever and whenever we are available, and Bitcoin gives us that opportunity. Now, the exchanges are the secondary use of Bitcoin, we can use it to earn profit by trading it with other currency and maximizing its fluctuation to generate profit.

Criminals can try and use Bitcoin as effectively as they may to try and perform illicit activities, but a lot of the time there simply isn't enough anonymity provided by something like Bitcoin for it to be of much use to criminals. They can utilize a lot of other cryptos that are a lot more secure and anonymous than Bitcoin is. With enough dedication anyone can be traced using Bitcoin. With other cryptos it's a lot harder.

freedom of your finances... not meaning it to say you'll have a shit load of money i mean it in the since that your money even if its just a little bit that you own is your money and cannot be denied to you or stolen from you buy an organziation or government because they control it. thats what it is to me. it gives me the freedom to do what i want with it and keep the nosy little shits from the government out of it.

on top of just that basic tier of things i like it should be noted that now wealthy governments cant steal the funds of poor governments who are using bitcoin as there currency meaning there might actually be hope for third world countries. bitcoin, to me, is the best currency there is. fiat currencies contain to me bs things that say certain people can come and take what you've worked your ass off for without any realistic cause or legitimate reason.

Just because bitcoin was taken by the speculators money, doesnt mean it have no other uses. If bitcoin would have only the role of a speculation vessel, it would just be pump and dump scheme like some subprimes. It constantly rises in price because of the hodlers that believe it has a lot more value than the fiat it was bought with.

Usage that is harder or imposible to do with dollars:

1. Big money transfer with low fees.
2. Micropayments.
3. Easy to give tips with over the internet.

And everything of this being scam free.

The simple fact that it is decentralized gives it value. It opens up opportunities for the unbanked. Access to capital via p2p lending, decentralized marketplaces, more privacy. These are just a few. I like the idea of someone in a 3rd world country getting a p2p bitcoin loan, and selling goods and services globally even in a decentralized marketplace and making money to support a family. An opportunity that never would exist with bitcoin

Look at the big picture.

You have entered the community and didn't know the use of Bitcoin, the real use? You know you can google it or search in the forum so you will wake up and know. Like in what way will you use Bitcoin and in what manner does it help you?

Well, Bitcoin can be used to buy things: (https://spendabit.co). It is peer to peer which is completely different to government tendered money, namely fiat. It is also a deflationary currency that is capped at 21 million coins.

Just in case if anyone is wondering what is the use of Bitcoin, what can you do with money when you have money what do you do with it?

You can spend it of course and easier to spend with ability to spend world wide also makes it more convenient and as a result we see crazy

Popularity and people rushing towards the whole thing. I'm sure when for the first time rail roads were invented and built after a while people

Started to see the benefits and as a result we had an industrial evolution with the help of steam engines. right now flying cars are in story books

But recently some prototypes of them were launched in to the air as air taxis in some country in EU. where ever international banks are blocking

Your access to their transferring of money system you could use Bitcoin instead and since it is a world wide accepted currency the other party

Shouldn't face any trouble cashing it out.

Unfortunately, as I said in this other thread (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1954882.0) - besides speculation - there aren't other relevant uses of Bitcoin.

Most people here just care about its dollar price...

Well bitcoin as a medium of exchange is terrifying, the privacy were talking about is good and as good in using to bad things. As first usage is on the underground of the internet many people put in their mind that bitcoin is dangerous and illegal. We dont know for sure whats the best use of it, but its good to be use in having transactions. In the near future where we move electronically cryptocurrencies will be a major medium of exchange there but as of now like gold, in my opinion Bitcoin can be best use as a reserve.

Yeah, the fact is bitcoin is only used to get the dollar as much as possible, just to make a profit, most do not care what bitcoin and will be used for what, it is important they can get a lot of money

It really depends on what you want to use bitcoin for. I think it is fair to say that many consider bitcoin as the next big ticket towards big gains because of the tremendous potential to increase in price over a short period of time. To the people who are after its use as a pseudonymous currency, it is a way to buy things without the intervention of others, be it for legal or illegal means. For some, it is a new form of transacting that veers away from traditional ways and banking institutions.