I went to a bitcoin meetup Many people there had bitcoin, no-one actually use it

Quote from: jonathan6655321 on June 25, 2019, 06:14:12 AM

I think that the hodl approach is hurting us.

Hodling defeats the purpose of bitcoin being a peer-to-peer currency but hodling also helps keep the supply even more scarce and that leads to the increase in price. I guess this is like a double edge sword?

Quote from: jonathan6655321 on June 25, 2019, 06:14:12 AM

I went to a bitcoin meetup in my town (I'm going every few weeks for almost 2 years)
Because the market is rising now I somehow got into a talk with like 8 people about what they did recently or plan to do with their bitcoins.

All of them didn't touch their portfolio since the beginning of 2018
They didn't even use it for a small transaction.

there is a topic that always someone mentions and that's 'Why would I use bitcoin to buy something today when in two months from now my bitcoin might worth double'

I don't use my bitcoins as well and in some way, I think that the hodl approach is hurting us. I would like to know what the community here thinks.

You have a point because of the bull run you have a second thought of buying something when the price will go up, and this hurt Bitcoin as a peer to peer payment processor, but we can't blame Bitcoin holders because they treat it as a store of value with a huge profit but when the price normalizes people will use it to buy something.

It's because of the possibility that the value might increase. It would be a big waste if the value suddenly increases after they use their bitcoin. I think that's one of the reason why they don't use it.
Maybe they will use it if they really need it. I tbi k they are just being careful

Bitcoin is a store of value, an investment with an anticipated future rise in price, so i would rather have my bitcoin in my wallet than spend it. Imagine i have sold or use my bitcoin 3 months back when the price was $3300, what would have been my faith by now? The hodl approach continues, am holding my bitcoin till it hits $100k. Lets meet at the top.

Well, in every country situation is different.
For example, in my country there is no many ways how I can spend my Bitcoin.
Alsp, we have just a few bitcoin ATM in the whole country.
If we try to exchange bitcoin to fiat in other way, we have to pay very high taxes so again no reason to sell it.
The best is still to hold bitcoin and wait for the praice increase and much higher profit later, when surely we will have many more ways to spend bitcoin.

To be honest I think they are sane enough to store it as an investment, when you buy in Bitcoins you loose all future hope of it being doubled or trippled , when it hits high , you are going to regret that decision of buying with them , I personally believe that it is not supposed to be used as a Currency as a whole , it works best when it's being used as an investment , remember the person who actually brought the pizza for what could have made him a millionaire ?
Well no one wants to end up like this.
I think Holding is the key .

People who are involved in bitcoin usually hold all of their savings till the next price hike. When the value of bitcoin begins to skyrocket, people tend to hold back and ask for "more". they arent that satisfied with the current value and so that is why the portfolio is left untouched. Since bitcoin's value is ever-changing, People often wait for the price to go beyond of what is expected. It would be a shame if they use their bitcoins prior to the increase in value, that's why they are being cautious as to when they will use it.

I think there are reasons why they are not using it.

1. It is because they believe that when they are holding Bitcoin, their money can double in a few years. In short, they are hodlers and not spenders.

2. It is because they can't use it to buy something in the internet. Yes there are some establishments and sites who are accepting crypto but maybe they are interested on it.

I spend my Bitcoin rarely when I'm in need of money. I convert it to fiat then withdraw it.

Well I did, back in 2014 (I think) I bought hundreds for about $250 each and and then got an equal number of bitcoin cash for free when that came out.

A year and a half ago used it to buy a new farm house and barn on 40 acres of land (ten acres pasture and rest forest), new tractor, soapstone wood stove, (and 20 percent capital gains tax). Still have quite a number left.

There - someone used it.

You could convert your fiat to bitcoin before you buy something. I do this. I don't enjoy PayPal or banking and I prefer the ease crypto brings. I have waited like 3 days for a bank transaction to clear. I use mycelium wallet and take a scan of the QR code. No need to do anything but that. The fee and amount and address is done automatically. The fee according to your own settings. It is almost instant and works very well.

Crypto is just better in every way and I only use fiat when I absolutely have to and when I need cash for going to certain events or markets where they only take cash.

Quote from: RonF on June 30, 2019, 03:29:33 PM

Damn dude you lucky. Perfect timing. Cheesy

About 90% of the entire number of people in the Bitcoin ecosystem value Bitcoin as a financial asset rather than seeing it as a currency used for exchange of goods and services. Most of them usually prefer to hodl their Bitcoin rather than using it for their online transactions. If this continues, its gonna take a long time for Bitcoin to be seen as a currency for exchange of goods and services..

It's the truth. Now people look at bitcoin as an investment tool and a way of earning. So that they can think about using bitcoin as a payment for something, they have to get a lot of money. Then such people will have other goals for crypto.

Quote from: RonF on June 30, 2019, 03:29:33 PM

Well, you used it in exactly the way the OP is complaining about -- holding for years. I don't have any problem with that, myself. Just saying.

Between Bitcoin's scarcity and the speculation about its future adoption as gold-like money, I can't blame anyone for holding it as an investment rather than spending it as a currency.

So far, many people don't use Bitcoin or other cryptos for certain payment method. Many bitcoin holders use Bitcoin for digital asset investment and trading. From those, they will earn more profits. Of course, probably it will also be avilable for transaction usage but ot for this time. One to remembe, this is a digital currency. Everybody has different choice to implement this coin.