Bitcoin usage is flat

[WhatTheGox]

There is no incentive to shop with btc.  There needs to be discounts for people to go through the trouble of buying bitcoins.

Thats why we need to work on people getting paid in bitcoin.  Fees are saved all around when you dont convert to fiat at anytime, problem is exchange value is wide.

[crazyivan]

Last thought, here’s CoinDesk’s aggregate new merchant adoption of bitcoin:

Is there data on formerly Bitcoin-accepting businesses? That needs to be subtracted from the above chart?

* NewEgg - Bitcoin promotion over.
* "No, big companies don't really accept Bitcoin" - Money

As the price kept going down, less and less buzz was around BTC and as a consequence, less businesses got involved into BTC.

The question s how low can the price go before we see the opposite trend resulting in increased merchant adoption.

[gentlemand]

There is no incentive to shop with btc.  There needs to be discounts for people to go through the trouble of buying bitcoins.

Thats why we need to work on people getting paid in bitcoin.  Fees are saved all around when you dont convert to fiat at anytime, problem is exchange value is wide.

There have been some honourable exceptions. Newegg offered some serious discounts for a while. I think Overstock are looking into making some very specials offers for BTC users too.

[jaberwock]

Bitcoin estimated transaction volume,  USD

Bitcoin transaction volume in US dollars is surprisingly flat, and has been for the last year. Occasionally there's a day with a transaction volume spike, but that's frantic trading, not usage. While the number of Bitcoins involved in transactions is up, that's because the price of Bitcoins is going down.

That means the bubble is over.

So you more or less can trade or hold safely without having nightmares about losing 80% of your money.

Things probably will change by the next halving

[Alley]

Volume is down but number of daily transactions are double since the bubble.

[crazyivan]

Bitcoin estimated transaction volume,  USD

Bitcoin transaction volume in US dollars is surprisingly flat, and has been for the last year. Occasionally there's a day with a transaction volume spike, but that's frantic trading, not usage. While the number of Bitcoins involved in transactions is up, that's because the price of Bitcoins is going down.

That means the bubble is over.

So you more or less can trade or hold safely without having nightmares about losing 80% of your money.

Things probably will change by the next halving

We need to have next price rally long before that. Next halving is over a year ago and by that time, BTC community must continue to grow.

[Amevalentine]

True. So what be done about this? When do you expect this situation to change?

Perhaps Satoshi over-estimated bitcoin by thinking that it will replace fiat and ended up creating 21 million Bitcoins. If be had only 21000, then due to the decimal values, we could have had the same volume just by that.

I doubt anything can be done about the price decline, except for hoping that the halving next year might improve things. But it is hard to say what exactly will bring about the stability in the price

since jan, 2015. price of bitcoin falling to down. so there is nothing to expect indeed to stable it price at the moment until long.

[Cryddit]

Most places are recovering from the economic turbulence of recent years by inflating their currencies.  Bitcoin (or $USD) are therefore attractive in those countries as an inflation hedge.  $USD are lower risk, Bitcoin have a higher upside and also hedge against some particular disaster scenarios better - but have a much higher risk. But that's not transaction volume, that's investors.  And speculators looking for a massive price increase later too, but not people looking to use it for transactions. 

The US and its relatively anti-inflationary policies make the inflation-hedge argument less attractive for American investors, and as already noted using Bitcoin (and finding places where you can use it) is an inconvenient hassle if what you want to do is day-to-day transactions.  So Americans are not hedging inflation, they're investing mostly on the basis of speculation about a raised value in case of widespread adoption.

It is the third-world (undeveloped) and fourth-world (kleptocratic) countries I'm looking to as places where Bitcoin will gain traction for daily use.   These are places where the local currency cannot be stabilized, the laws make any use of it beyond spending it hand-to-hand just as much of a hassle as bitcoin, and there is no protection (in fact sometimes active risk) provided by local financial institutions.  In short, Bitcoin can flourish where the competition from the localized fiat economy is particularly weak. 

[Nagle]

There is no incentive to shop with btc.  There needs to be discounts for people to go through the trouble of buying bitcoins.

Newegg tried that and gave it up. See http://www.newegg.com/bitcoin.

[Frost]

Yes, Bitcoin is still heavily overpriced. I think the real value is around $50 or so.

[BitcoinPenny]

Most bitcoin users are speculators and not consumers. Bitcoin is failing miserably on the consumer side.

If someone can explain to Joe down the street why he should jump through verification hoops so he can buy bitcoins on coinbase, and then go make purchases for goods and services at a limited number of places using those freshly exchanged bitcoins, while he could have bought those same goods and services at those same places, and at a wider range of places, with the debit card he already has in his wallet, then Bitcoin usage will increase.

Sad, but true.

[oblivi]

Bitcoin estimated transaction volume,  USD

Bitcoin transaction volume in US dollars is surprisingly flat, and has been for the last year. Occasionally there's a day with a transaction volume spike, but that's frantic trading, not usage. While the number of Bitcoins involved in transactions is up, that's because the price of Bitcoins is going down.

That means the bubble is over.

So you more or less can trade or hold safely without having nightmares about losing 80% of your money.

Things probably will change by the next halving

All stores of wealth go through bubble-burst cycles, including BTC. Right now is a perfect time to store and amount, it's a waiting game until the next bubble happens, and then sets at a higher floor.

[ashour]

Most of the fiat volume is built from coin payment processors like bitpay,coinbase etc. The services like microsoft, dell or overstock auto dump the bitcoin for fiat.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Most of the fiat volume is built from coin payment processors like bitpay,coinbase etc. The services like microsoft, dell or overstock auto dump the bitcoin for fiat.

And this has me wondering why any retailer would want to accept bitcoin.  It's harder for the consumer and it's an extra, unnecessary step for the retailer.  The only real reason I like the idea of bitcoin is that it's a worldwide currency that transcends political borders.  On the other hand, I never buy anything from overseas anyway, nor would I trust an individual in another US state, much less another country, with my money!

[gentlemand]

Most of the fiat volume is built from coin payment processors like bitpay,coinbase etc. The services like microsoft, dell or overstock auto dump the bitcoin for fiat.

And this has me wondering why any retailer would want to accept bitcoin.  It's harder for the consumer and it's an extra, unnecessary step for the retailer.  The only real reason I like the idea of bitcoin is that it's a worldwide currency that transcends political borders.  On the other hand, I never buy anything from overseas anyway, nor would I trust an individual in another US state, much less another country, with my money!

It costs them nothing extra, no charge backs or fraud, gets a wee boost in publicity and milks the occasional early adopter. There are also people who are committed to using it for ideological reasons.

It's a piddly market no doubt, but there's no risk for them. They also get the money a whole load faster from Bitpay than from a credit card company.

Part of the problem is that it's absolutely wonderful for merchants but there's no incentive for their customers. They'll have to address that if they want it to grow.

[MakingMoneyHoney]

Most of the fiat volume is built from coin payment processors like bitpay,coinbase etc. The services like microsoft, dell or overstock auto dump the bitcoin for fiat.

And this has me wondering why any retailer would want to accept bitcoin.  It's harder for the consumer and it's an extra, unnecessary step for the retailer.  The only real reason I like the idea of bitcoin is that it's a worldwide currency that transcends political borders.  On the other hand, I never buy anything from overseas anyway, nor would I trust an individual in another US state, much less another country, with my money!

It costs them nothing extra, no charge backs or fraud, gets a wee boost in publicity and milks the occasional early adopter. There are also people who are committed to using it for ideological reasons.

It's a piddly market no doubt, but there's no risk for them. They also get the money a whole load faster from Bitpay than from a credit card company.

Part of the problem is that it's absolutely wonderful for merchants but there's no incentive for their customers. They'll have to address that if they want it to grow.

The businesses also save money accepting bitcoin versus a credit card, because credit cards charge the business fees whenever someone makes a purchase with their card.

[Cruxer]

True. So what be done about this? When do you expect this situation to change?

Noone know this, but my bet is more "simple usage" applications for smartphone's. Bitcoin is still quite complicated for common user.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

It costs them nothing extra, no charge backs or fraud, gets a wee boost in publicity and milks the occasional early adopter. There are also people who are committed to using it for ideological reasons.

It's a piddly market no doubt, but there's no risk for them. They also get the money a whole load faster from Bitpay than from a credit card company.

Part of the problem is that it's absolutely wonderful for merchants but there's no incentive for their customers. They'll have to address that if they want it to grow.
[/quote]

Thank you, sir, for the thoughtful reply. 

Yes, just looking at the scam accusations and the currency exchange subsections here, folks are having trouble even obtaining BTC without getting scammed.  And with exchanges there are fees and of course BTC price fluctuations.  Should be interesting to see where all this is in a few years.

[randy8777]

Most of the fiat volume is built from coin payment processors like bitpay,coinbase etc. The services like microsoft, dell or overstock auto dump the bitcoin for fiat.

And this has me wondering why any retailer would want to accept bitcoin.  It's harder for the consumer and it's an extra, unnecessary step for the retailer.  The only real reason I like the idea of bitcoin is that it's a worldwide currency that transcends political borders.  On the other hand, I never buy anything from overseas anyway, nor would I trust an individual in another US state, much less another country, with my money!

It costs them nothing extra, no charge backs or fraud, gets a wee boost in publicity and milks the occasional early adopter. There are also people who are committed to using it for ideological reasons.

It's a piddly market no doubt, but there's no risk for them. They also get the money a whole load faster from Bitpay than from a credit card company.

Part of the problem is that it's absolutely wonderful for merchants but there's no incentive for their customers. They'll have to address that if they want it to grow.

The businesses also save money accepting bitcoin versus a credit card, because credit cards charge the business fees whenever someone makes a purchase with their card.

retailers are crazy not to accept bitcoin as payment option. the lack of knowledge is an important reason for why they still not accept it. if more know how it works and what the benefits are, then they will show support.

[bumpk1nK]

And this is why I think bitcoin may still be going down. I don't think the floor has been hit yet.