Is Bitcoin money?

[Adioliver]

MONEY totally is a different concept even though we can use bitcoin as money for buying things but I would say that bitcoin is more like gold whose value keeps on increasing and it's better to invest bitcoins rather than spend it as money.

[NoNetwork]

Yes, BitCoin is a money and you can use Bitcoin to buy and sell goods and services.

I know there are many central banks of different countries who do not recognize Bitcoin as a currency but still people use it, trade it and love it.

You are right Bitcoin is money, considering the fact that you can invest in it and you can buy stuff using this currency (like cash, I think), you can even get paid by doing some service.

The reason why the central banks don't recognize it as a currency is because, the government didn't even accept it usage-wise that is. So the banks then will not do anything about this, because the banks are being monitored by the government itself. In order for this to happen, the government first need to accept it inside the country.

[BTCSAMIUL]

Bitcoin is not only money, but also a payment system. Bitcoin can not be compared with Fiat. It has many advantages. Just like the real money, you can buy some things like food, clothings or appliances using bitcoin.Bitcoin nowadays has a very helpful hand of real money.

[knightmairesaint]

Bitcoin is something radically new. Nothing like Bitcoin has been possible until now. I would go so far as to consider it sui generis; "in its own class".  This makes it important to understand what Bitcoin actually is before we try to describe it to others.

We're getting a good handle on the code, and of course on Bitcoin's function and utility, but what words should we use to describe Bitcoin itself? There has been some debate in other threads [mostly my doing] over how it is like/not like money, cash, dollars, etc. I'd like to start this thread by focusing on the term "money", and play Devil's avocate by asking for your best arguments that Bitcoin IS money.

My legal dictionary states "In usual and ordinary acceptation it [money] means gold, silver, or paper money, used as circulating medium of exchange, and does not embrace notes, bonds, evidences of debt, or other personal or real estate." [cites omitted]

Wikipedia says "Money is any object that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally, a standard of deferred payment." [cited omitted]

Webster's Online Dictionary defines money as:

• 1. The most common medium of exchange; functions as legal tender; "we tried to collect the money he owed us".
• 2. Wealth reckoned in terms of money; "all his money is in real estate".
• 3. The official currency issued by a government or national bank; "he changed his money into francs".
• 4. A piece of metal, as gold, silver, copper, etc., coined, or stamped, and issued by the sovereign authority as a medium of exchange in financial transactions between citizens and with government; also, any number of such pieces; coin.
• 5. Any written or stamped promise, certificate, or order, as a government note, a bank note, a certificate of deposit, etc., which is payable in standard coined money and is lawfully current in lieu of it; in a comprehensive sense, any currency usually and lawfully employed in buying and selling.
• 6. In general, wealth; property; as, he has much money in land, or in stocks; to make, or lose, money.

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I maintain that per these definitions, Bitcoin cannot possibly be described as "money". And further, I think that those who do describe Bitcoin as "money" are doing this community a disservice.

But that is just my point of view. Are there any that can convincingly argue otherwise, that Bitcoin IS money?

If you are basing on the definitions, bitcoin faled to exercise those cited. In its own form, surely bitcoin is not money. It has no regulations and laws. It is not a common form of exchange since only those crypto-oriented are using and it is just a few percentage of the population. It is also not issued by the government since it came from some private organization in the internet. However, bitcoin is payable in standard coin by conversion and exchange. Another thing is considered wealth because it is holding not just and amount but a great amount when converted to a local currency. So, my point is, bitcoin can money in a sense.but not.in all aspects, if you're to take that meaning

[cryp24x]

In my country Bitcoin is money.  It was first identified as suspicious digital token so government warn us about it in 2014, but later this 2016, our government declare it as legal tender and eventualy as payment and money.  My government saw it as high potential digital currency so they are now into legalizing exchanges here in my country. Probably we can see a China like action to those non licensed exchanges since our government requires bitcoin exchange to have licenses for operation since they are dealing with money.

[lagracia]

Anything that is being used as a medium of exchange is money. Bitcoin, like gold, is money.

Can we use bitcoin as mode of payment? Can we use bitcoin for paying bills? I have read some of threads here talking about wallet, coins.ph and alike, can we use them to pay or make transactions?

[batang_bitcoin]

Anything that is being used as a medium of exchange is money. Bitcoin, like gold, is money.

Can we use bitcoin as mode of payment? Can we use bitcoin for paying bills? I have read some of threads here talking about wallet, coins.ph and alike, can we use them to pay or make transactions?

Yes, I can use bitcoin for those things and I love on how fast the services of the exchange that I'm using. And bitcoin is not only a payment method, a virtual money but it's also an investment where the fluctuations of price is happening daily. Most of the exchanges does have the same feature of those services and it's just one of their services, you can also have a prepaid load by paying through bitcoin.

[shunga]

Anything that is being used as a medium of exchange is money. Bitcoin, like gold, is money.

yeah your right but not totally because we need to exchange it into money before we use it to accept it to every market place. but somehow some of market place accept bitcoin so you better try that, soon i think i will become a real.

[mozillaspez]

Bitcoin is an evolutionary progress in the world currency. As the world evolves with technology, currency evolves too.
Soon, bitcoin shall be well known by the majority and will be the top crypto currency that people would use.

For me it depends upon the point of view of different people. Everyone has his own thought about this. People don’t consider bitcoin as a money because this is not a paper money thing. I agree that for now, bitcoin is an asset which will become and will be used as money everywhere soon.

[nkarm1]

Bitcoin is an evolutionary progress in the world currency. As the world evolves with technology, currency evolves too.
Soon, bitcoin shall be well known by the majority and will be the top crypto currency that people would use.

For me it depends upon the point of view of different people. Everyone has his own thought about this. People don’t consider bitcoin as a money because this is not a paper money thing. I agree that for now, bitcoin is an asset which will become and will be used as money everywhere soon.

This is answered from the meaning of money itself. What is money? It is a note or some forms of documents that is somehow equivalent to goods or products. Most of the moneys in the world are gold backed up, so looking at it bitcoin is a money right? Bitcoins value is somehow backed up by currencies from different peoples who bought some bitcoins using their local currency. So bitcoin is backed up by currencies that is backed up by treasures like gold. So it is now  considered as a money on my point of view. No more discussions. 

[dreamer81]

Dont think of bitcoin as money. Think of it as "store of value". In other words, you work day after day after day. All this work results in fiat which you use to buy food/housing/electricity/car/fuel etc. The fiat that you dont use, should be "stored" somewhere. Now come the breaking point, because you want to store it somewhere where it doesn't loose its value. If you put 100 USD in the bank, sure you will have 100 USD the next day, but for each day that goes buy you can buy less and less goods for those 100 USD, and in 10 years or so, you can't even buy a happy meal (over exagerated).

So what do you do? Store the fiat somewhere where it doesn't loose its value, and that is bitcoin.

[pyedpyper]

Digital/Virtual Currency is a type different from physical money, it cannot be touched but posses the same functions as the fiat currency. The need digital currency arises for having cashless and fast translations over the globe. Similarity Bitcoin is a type of Digital currency which exhibits all the properties of physical money which has peer-to-peer transactions take place between users directly without an intermediary. So, Bitcoin can be considered as Virtual Money/Currency.

Yes bitcoin is money. Because we are use the bitcoin something for buying online we use it we are trading online so we use bitcoin I send some money for my friend I use bitcoin and send my bitcoin with my friend we are really enjoy the  bitcoin trade .and bitcoin accepting are many place and markets.

[kassia]

Yes and no, bitcoin is a combination between a stock and money. Price of a certain currency will decrease the more you produce. Bitcoins aren't affected by this. Just like a stock, you invest in it by buying it and then selling at a higher price or you can mine it by solving math puzzles.

[DimaS1574]

for me bitcoin is money becouse  i can use it to buy  some items/ goods/secivres. maybe it is not so convinient as  a fiat but it is possible

[zais]

Bitcoin is something radically new. Nothing like Bitcoin has been possible until now. I would go so far as to consider it sui generis; "in its own class".  This makes it important to understand what Bitcoin actually is before we try to describe it to others.

We're getting a good handle on the code, and of course on Bitcoin's function and utility, but what words should we use to describe Bitcoin itself? There has been some debate in other threads [mostly my doing] over how it is like/not like money, cash, dollars, etc. I'd like to start this thread by focusing on the term "money", and play Devil's avocate by asking for your best arguments that Bitcoin IS money.

My legal dictionary states "In usual and ordinary acceptation it [money] means gold, silver, or paper money, used as circulating medium of exchange, and does not embrace notes, bonds, evidences of debt, or other personal or real estate." [cites omitted]

Wikipedia says "Money is any object that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally, a standard of deferred payment." [cited omitted]

Webster's Online Dictionary defines money as:

• 1. The most common medium of exchange; functions as legal tender; "we tried to collect the money he owed us".
• 2. Wealth reckoned in terms of money; "all his money is in real estate".
• 3. The official currency issued by a government or national bank; "he changed his money into francs".
• 4. A piece of metal, as gold, silver, copper, etc., coined, or stamped, and issued by the sovereign authority as a medium of exchange in financial transactions between citizens and with government; also, any number of such pieces; coin.
• 5. Any written or stamped promise, certificate, or order, as a government note, a bank note, a certificate of deposit, etc., which is payable in standard coined money and is lawfully current in lieu of it; in a comprehensive sense, any currency usually and lawfully employed in buying and selling.
• 6. In general, wealth; property; as, he has much money in land, or in stocks; to make, or lose, money.

[links omitted]
[/list]

I maintain that per these definitions, Bitcoin cannot possibly be described as "money". And further, I think that those who do describe Bitcoin as "money" are doing this community a disservice.

But that is just my point of view. Are there any that can convincingly argue otherwise, that Bitcoin IS money?

Bitcoin is a digital currency that is not tied to a bank or government and allows its users to shop without revealing their true identity

[Cosbycoin]

Bitcoin is intended to be used as money. The extent to which it differs from the various definitions of money is primarily due to its unpopularity and lack of government sanction, which in my opinion should not matter when speaking about it as "money."

Yes, there is no harm if we consider that bitcoin is the same as the money will be different but the shape is called a digital currency. If the money we can use in the real world and directly but if bitcoin it could only be used in the internet world. but in the end it also endowed a bitcoin can we use to help our real life needs. with bitcoin we can make money is useful in the future.

yes I am agree with you that bit coin has been defined by different people in different angles but I like your one’s that bitcoin is a transactional tool which can be converted to any local currency and can be used in online buying, selling etc I also like bitcoin because it has converted the life of so many people from poverty to wealthy lifestyle.

Bitcoin is not only transactional tool. We can make transactions by using fiat also but paper money is used in a lot of matters. Bitcoin is a digital currency and an asset also. Bitcoins have increased its value tremendously and gives huge profits which make it a precious asset.

We can pay for some services directly in bitcoins; here it becomes a medium of exchange which means it is money also.

[qwertyuiop0987654321]

Anything that is being used as a medium of exchange is money. Bitcoin, like gold, is money.

Bitcoin is something that has a value and can be exchange as a money. It is a factor or most likely equipment that is use in exchange of money but today it can be used as an alternative of money and can be used as a currency at other countries.

[kidoseagle0312]

Yes, bitcoin is definitely Money/Currency because we used it as online payment, then can be converted depending on the country you belong. That's the good thing about in bitcoin very transparent and flexible too. Actually, in other country's bitcoin adapted as payment in the restaurant or coffee shop like Starbucks.

[kingragnar]

yes of course. bitcoin is one of the digital currency that is widespread in the internet world. And because of this many people have tried to enter this type of business or work. But many do not know what the bitcoin and the thing that will do it in your life. If you just do it well you can even get rich. My advice is just the right strategy how you can grow by bitcoin.Good luck brothers and sister.

[badungs]

you can call it money, because bitcoin can buy if some person accepted the payment with bitcoin. but you can call it thing that can sell and create money. magic right?