Why have Bitcoin instead of cash?

[faridkifly]

Bitcoin is "virtual", but cash is "real"
So, cash have bigger chance of get lost than bitcoin I think(if you're save bitcoin on paper wallet/offline wallet)

[n2004al]

I recently paid for some local tacos using Bitcoin. My friend who was unfamilar with Bitcoin thought it was strange, like I technically didn't pay for them or something. We got into discussing Bitcoin and one of the questions he asked me was:
"Why would you want Bitcoins instead of cash?". For a second I didn't know what to say; then I thought about it and here is what I came up with. Feel free to contribute to this.

1) More security (especially if you are careful).

2) Bitcoins are a potential investment, cash is not. Paper currency only really goes down in value, Bitcoins have a lot of potential to be worth more as time goes on.

3) Fast, worldwide transactions at your fingertips.

4) Similar to #3, but it's a universal currency. It's legal in most countries of the world and you don't need any kind of currency conversion to send money to people in a different country than your own.

For me is a big mistake to pay with bitcoin. People must pay in the money they have profits. So with the money they will be paid. If they will paid in another money (bitcoin for example) they will lost the money they don't have profits and this is a mistake if we consider every kind of money an investment on itself. If I will be paid in us dollar i must pay in us dollar. If I have profits in bitcoin I can pay in bitcoin. To not speak here about the hope that bitcoin will increase in value and spent bitcoin in such case is a secure lost.

[g1974ak]

I recently paid for some local tacos using Bitcoin. My friend who was unfamilar with Bitcoin thought it was strange, like I technically didn't pay for them or something. We got into discussing Bitcoin and one of the questions he asked me was:
"Why would you want Bitcoins instead of cash?". For a second I didn't know what to say; then I thought about it and here is what I came up with. Feel free to contribute to this.

1) More security (especially if you are careful).

2) Bitcoins are a potential investment, cash is not. Paper currency only really goes down in value, Bitcoins have a lot of potential to be worth more as time goes on.

3) Fast, worldwide transactions at your fingertips.

4) Similar to #3, but it's a universal currency. It's legal in most countries of the world and you don't need any kind of currency conversion to send money to people in a different country than your own.

Someone must have bitcoin instead of cash only if believe that bitcoin is an investment and its value will increase in time. For this bitcoin must not be spent but save in the wallet and possibly bought from time to time to have more.

[errornone]

8) Bitcoins can be password protected. When someone steals your wallet with cash, it's gone. When someone steals your wallet with bitcoins, they can see how much is in there, but they can't spend a dime.

are you talking about bip38?

[manselr]

8) Bitcoins can be password protected. When someone steals your wallet with cash, it's gone. When someone steals your wallet with bitcoins, they can see how much is in there, but they can't spend a dime.

are you talking about bip38?

BIP38 gives you the ability to add a password in your paperwallets, but every software wallet out there gives you the posibility to encrypt it with a password. Bitcoin Core is not encrypted by default by some reason (it should ask you to put a prompt when you fire it for the first time).

[damiano]

Being my own savings bank and not having the risk of having it stacked under my mattress is one reason why Bitcoin instead of cash, send bitcoin anywhere in the world or off world if they have a internet connection in just a moment.

If the things I need fiat for can be paid with bitcoin I will go all in on bitcoin without a doubt!

[errornone]

8) Bitcoins can be password protected. When someone steals your wallet with cash, it's gone. When someone steals your wallet with bitcoins, they can see how much is in there, but they can't spend a dime.

are you talking about bip38?

BIP38 gives you the ability to add a password in your paperwallets, but every software wallet out there gives you the posibility to encrypt it with a password. Bitcoin Core is not encrypted by default by some reason (it should ask you to put a prompt when you fire it for the first time).

yes, but i think he was talking about bip38.

[errornone]

answering the topic, 'you' should diversify your portfolio. Dollars, Euros, companies/shares, Bitcoin, Monero, etc etc. You should have them all.


never keep all your eggs in one basket.

[knowhow]

own 100 dollars today ,100 euros today can be worthing 80 euros as can be worthing 120 dollars,soo there is some conversion rate that makes those currencys worth more or less,100usd/100eur converted in bitcoins can be and became 200 dollars in short time can get value and is very hard to loose a big ammount to those currencys eur,usd or other..with those others currencys it wont happen a double worth or 50% value.

[errornone]

own 100 dollars today ,100 euros today can be worthing 80 euros as can be worthing 120 dollars,soo there is some conversion rate that makes those currencys worth more or less,100usd/100eur converted in bitcoins can be and became 200 dollars in short time can get value and is very hard to loose a big ammount to those currencys eur,usd or other..with those others currencys it wont happen a double worth or 50% value.

and you can lose 50% too! Risk has two ways! up or down!

[wearepoor]

I recently paid for some local tacos using Bitcoin. My friend who was unfamilar with Bitcoin thought it was strange, like I technically didn't pay for them or something. We got into discussing Bitcoin and one of the questions he asked me was:
"Why would you want Bitcoins instead of cash?". For a second I didn't know what to say; then I thought about it and here is what I came up with. Feel free to contribute to this.

1) More security (especially if you are careful).

2) Bitcoins are a potential investment, cash is not. Paper currency only really goes down in value, Bitcoins have a lot of potential to be worth more as time goes on.

3) Fast, worldwide transactions at your fingertips.

4) Similar to #3, but it's a universal currency. It's legal in most countries of the world and you don't need any kind of currency conversion to send money to people in a different country than your own.

Someone must have bitcoin instead of cash only if believe that bitcoin is an investment and its value will increase in time. For this bitcoin must not be spent but save in the wallet and possibly bought from time to time to have more.

Yes people hesitate in spending bitcoins as they view it as an future investment, while cash is not an investment, people would freely spend if they hold fiat, but when it comes to bitcoins they would think twice before spending it as its value gonna be much more in the future.

[knowhow]

own 100 dollars today ,100 euros today can be worthing 80 euros as can be worthing 120 dollars,soo there is some conversion rate that makes those currencys worth more or less,100usd/100eur converted in bitcoins can be and became 200 dollars in short time can get value and is very hard to loose a big ammount to those currencys eur,usd or other..with those others currencys it wont happen a double worth or 50% value.

and you can lose 50% too! Risk has two ways! up or down!

yes thats one option that we need to consider as well but bitcoin is the best ,and i doubt you will find it lower than 200 dollars from the next years

[Miracal]

Being my own savings bank and not having the risk of having it stacked under my mattress is one reason why Bitcoin instead of cash, send bitcoin anywhere in the world or off world if they have a internet connection in just a moment.

If the things I need fiat for can be paid with bitcoin I will go all in on bitcoin without a doubt!

However fancy it sounds, I will only move from fiat to btc when btc is more stable. I don't mind paying with btc, I don't mind receiving money like that. The only thing I mind is keeping ALL of my savings as btc, because if btc crashes somehow, it will create very negative situations for me to handle. And the chances of bitcoin crashing is much more than my bank turning against me, atleast right now.

[SebastianJu]

Being my own savings bank and not having the risk of having it stacked under my mattress is one reason why Bitcoin instead of cash, send bitcoin anywhere in the world or off world if they have a internet connection in just a moment.

If the things I need fiat for can be paid with bitcoin I will go all in on bitcoin without a doubt!

However fancy it sounds, I will only move from fiat to btc when btc is more stable. I don't mind paying with btc, I don't mind receiving money like that. The only thing I mind is keeping ALL of my savings as btc, because if btc crashes somehow, it will create very negative situations for me to handle. And the chances of bitcoin crashing is much more than my bank turning against me, atleast right now.

Exactly. Believing in the success of bitcoins is one thing. Making sane business decisions is the other. And sometimes you need to sell your bitcoins when you are sure that they will drop significantly. I mean who is ready to lose 25% of his wealth each month, like it was the case in the last year. Sometimes even 25% on a day. Holding when you anticipate that would simply be stupid. Regardless of how you think about bitcoins.

Learning to put everything on the table is something i had to learn the hard way too.

[mindrust]

Besides, Bitcoin is an invisible gold and do not be restricted by the customs.

Very good point! This basically allows you to bring more than 10k in "cash" around the glob in your pocket without customs having a chance to find out.. Can potentially be problematic though, helping illegal transactions.

To be honest, this is the biggest advantage of bitcoin. Nothing else ever mentioned above comes this close.

But, on the other hand yeah, it is also shady people's favourite.

[AtheistAKASaneBrain]

own 100 dollars today ,100 euros today can be worthing 80 euros as can be worthing 120 dollars,soo there is some conversion rate that makes those currencys worth more or less,100usd/100eur converted in bitcoins can be and became 200 dollars in short time can get value and is very hard to loose a big ammount to those currencys eur,usd or other..with those others currencys it wont happen a double worth or 50% value.

It's funny how people always complain about Bitcoins volatility when we are going down. We've been in a uptrend for the last month or so and people has stopped magically complaining about volatility.
At the end of the day you aren't losing money, you just go through periods of up and downs vs the stable price of fiats.

[rivoke]

Bitcoin is really attract my attention since my first glance. It has value , fast transaction and low fee rather than my local cash.
That's why I like owning bitcoin over cash. Recently many online shop has accept bitcoin as payment method , which is really helpfull for me to purchase something with bitcoin in real life.

[HarHarHar9965]

Bitcoin is really attract my attention since my first glance. It has value , fast transaction and low fee rather than my local cash.
That's why I like owning bitcoin over cash. Recently many online shop has accept bitcoin as payment method , which is really helpfull for me to purchase something with bitcoin in real life.

I can hardly come across shopping websites which accept bitcoin as a payment gateway. Where do you live and which is this website you talk about? Are there anymore such websites and is their delivery reach global or limited to a country or a region? Also are you sure you really know your investment? If so, tell me in your own words about how and why it has a fast transaction, what kind of fee are we talking, etc.

[knowhow]

the transactions are instant , only confirmations get some time ,anyway,be able to buy with bitcoins is on of the big purposes of it lower the fees paying less and getting a good product as we would pay with fiat.Atleast is should be like that since the fees to pay and receive in bitcoins are very low,soo i hope commerce and people understand that they can have the same profit asking a lower ammount with bitcoins.

[botany]

Well having a cash, we usually keep it on bank. As we know when we keep the bank we will got charge every month.

Nope, not a valid reason. Banks pay interest on deposits. This will easily outweigh the charges, if any.
There are far more credible reasons for keeping bitcoins, compared to keeping cash.