Is Bitcoin money?

[Schuyler]

bitcoins are just like shells or furs in ancient times - of course they are not banknotes or coins, but it's money, because they have all the functions of money

Partly of what you've said is right.  Bitcoin is a digital currency, but literally it is not money. Bitcoin have all the functions of money because of the benefits what we receive. It helps us to do easy things.

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[Immobilising]

Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a particular country or socio-economic context, or is easily converted to such a form.

The main functions of money are distinguished as:
- a medium of exchange; a unit of account
- a store of value
(- a standard of deferred payment)

Any item or verifiable record that fulfills these functions can be considered as money.


I would say bitcoin is money according to the definition, though I know there are more definitions being used such as it being 'the medium of exchange defined by a government.'


The real question is though: Does it matter whether or not bitcoin is 'money'?

[abstractednerve]

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

I agreed on this matter, as long as bitcoin being used as payment in online it is considered as money like usd, euro and ¥ which means it shows bitcoin is like a real currency/money.

The only difference is that we cannot hold bitcoins physically and apart from that there is not much difference between bitcoins and real money as we can spend it anywhere we want like real money so bitcoin is definitely a money to me.

[dearbesz1219]

Yet, we can say that the money if there is already a country that officially use the bitcoin, and use of the bitcoin still not more than 3% of the total population of the Earth.

Actually there is. Japan already accepts bitcoin as a form of payment in many stores there. They even approved a bill for that which was approved last April 1.

And for the record, even though no country uses bitcoin officially, as long as you can use it as payment you can say that bitcoin is a money. That is because bitcoin hold a value that is directly l  convertible to fiat (money) so basically, bitcoin is a money.

My country philippines accept bitcoin as payment I think last month ago or two months ago the BSP or the banko central of philippines released an article about bitcoin and the details is "bitcoin as payment". Its not a problem the total population of bitcoin user it is less or more. The important is bitcoin gives opportunity to us to earn money . And thats good to say bitcoin is money because if earn bitcoin I also earn money.

its very good news that bitcoin now accepting in some country slowly slowly as payment method and i hope bitcoin will be acceptable sooner around the world.

That's a great news actually. Accepting bitcoin by the masses in each country sounds good news to each every bitcoin fanatic all around the world. No wonder a years from now bitcoin will really become the new currency in the entire planet.

[posternat]

I think bitcoin currency of future, as a digital currency that has a higher value than real currency, and has a function that is equivalent to official currency

Bitcoin is defiantly the money, but these days people use it as a commodity as they compare the price of Bitcoins to USD.  The same thing we use to calculate the value of Gold with the Dollars.

[SirPol85]

Yes, this is money of a new generation. Of course, they will not become the main single currency in all countries, but they will be a wonderful additional currency.

[paul gatt]

Yes, this is money of a new generation. Of course, they will not become the main single currency in all countries, but they will be a wonderful additional currency.

It is not only a new generation currency, it is not only an additional currency but it can also be the global currency of the world. We absolutely have a basis for believing it. The long-term existence of bitcoin has shown us its superior power over all other currencies. Even, bitcoin was once gold. That is the most obvious example.

[Kasabus]

Yes, this is money of a new generation. Of course, they will not become the main single currency in all countries, but they will be a wonderful additional currency.

You must be dreaming, it's impossible for bitcoin or any crypto currency to become the main currency for all countries.
As long as there are people who govern this world, the centralized world will prevail over the decentralized.

[Eebertay]

Put down the dictionary guys.

I skimmed through the replies and saw OPs post and there seems to be some confusion of what "money" is.
There were cultures in the past that would use seashells as "money".

Money is basically an IOU that is communally agreed upon.

By this definition, yes...bitcoin is money.


I am somewhat new to bitcoin but understand its unsavory appeal of groups exchanging it to fund illegal activities.

By this use alone, this is money.

[Eebertay]

Yes, this is money of a new generation. Of course, they will not become the main single currency in all countries, but they will be a wonderful additional currency.

You must be dreaming, it's impossible for bitcoin or any crypto currency to become the main currency for all countries.
As long as there are people who govern this world, the centralized world will prevail over the decentralized.

I am trying to wrap my head around this thought as well.
If bitcoin can become a mainstream currency.

In order to do so, the price fluctuations MUST stabilize.

This means, that bitcoin cannot be hoarded by a handful of people or groups but must be more evenly distributed.

For example...say every person in the world had some fraction of bitcoin, this would lead to the ultimate stability.
One of the first steps in accomplishing this is for countries to recognize bitcoin, like japan. Once people can start to buy goods and services with btc on a larger scale, it will normalize the pricing.

The fact that some shadowy figure named satoshi nakamoto and chinese miners hoard tons of currency is a huge negative to bitcoins possible mainstream adoption.

[Wolf2017]

Yes, this is money of a new generation. Of course, they will not become the main single currency in all countries, but they will be a wonderful additional currency.

You must be dreaming, it's impossible for bitcoin or any crypto currency to become the main currency for all countries.
As long as there are people who govern this world, the centralized world will prevail over the decentralized.

Not agree with you. What's the globalization? The government can and wants to be able to manage money. Periodically, they trigger the inflation and take money from people, then they start deflation, and again Rob the people. With bitcoin this is not possible. Why is it the government?

[msarro]

I think bitcoin currency of future, as a digital currency that has a higher value than real currency, and has a function that is equivalent to official currency

Bitcoin is defiantly the money, but these days people use it as a commodity as they compare the price of Bitcoins to USD.  The same thing we use to calculate the value of Gold with the Dollars.

The fact is more people are treating it as investment instead of currency but if we want to see bitcoin as more stronger in future then we should use it as a currency and should spend it whenever possible to help the circulation of coins.

[Distinctin]

I think bitcoin currency of future, as a digital currency that has a higher value than real currency, and has a function that is equivalent to official currency

Bitcoin is defiantly the money, but these days people use it as a commodity as they compare the price of Bitcoins to USD.  The same thing we use to calculate the value of Gold with the Dollars.

The fact is more people are treating it as investment instead of currency but if we want to see bitcoin as more stronger in future then we should use it as a currency and should spend it whenever possible to help the circulation of coins.

If more people are treating it as investment then that means the price that we see now is just manipulated.
I don't think that will be the real scenario, I still believe more people are spending than investing.

[severaldetails]

I think bitcoin currency of future, as a digital currency that has a higher value than real currency, and has a function that is equivalent to official currency

Bitcoin is defiantly the money, but these days people use it as a commodity as they compare the price of Bitcoins to USD.  The same thing we use to calculate the value of Gold with the Dollars.

The fact is more people are treating it as investment instead of currency but if we want to see bitcoin as more stronger in future then we should use it as a currency and should spend it whenever possible to help the circulation of coins.

If more people are treating it as investment then that means the price that we see now is just manipulated.
I don't think that will be the real scenario, I still believe more people are spending than investing.

Bitcoin is both right now, a form of investment, and a possible form of payment (so money).
Unfortunatelly I see the trend that more and more coins are used as investment or for trading into other crypto currencies.
I do not think that is a good developement, because it seperates bitcoin from the rest of the economy.
My hopes are that price becomes kind of stable and people use it more as payment again.

[BitHodler]

Bitcoin is both right now, a form of investment, and a possible form of payment (so money).
Unfortunatelly I see the trend that more and more coins are used as investment or for trading into other crypto currencies.
I do not think that is a good developement, because it seperates bitcoin from the rest of the economy.
My hopes are that price becomes kind of stable and people use it more as payment again.

People are free to use Bitcoin the way they want. I can't blame people for using Bitcoin as an investment option as it lends itself perfectly for that due to its speculative nature.

Other than that, people have no real desire to use Bitcoin as currency since fiat is doing its job perfectly fine. There is absolutely no reason for people to ditch fiat for Bitcoin when it comes to buying goods.

Compared to fiat, Bitcoin is slow (confirmation wise), and it's expensive in use due to the fees that are likely to increase further in the coming years. Pools will be depending on fee income more and more as block rewards get halved.

[mkmdoc]

Yes, this is money of a new generation. Of course, they will not become the main single currency in all countries, but they will be a wonderful additional currency.

Exactly, bitcoin is a completely new generation of digital money and new technology based money completely integrated with digital currency, in some countries bitcoin is completely acceptable as a payment method, it indicates that really bitcoin is already treated as money.

[Winchester2211]

Bitcoin is still difficult to call the currency. This means of payment. As cheques. They can pay for goods, but to call their currency is not possible.

[Eebertay]

Bitcoin is still difficult to call the currency. This means of payment. As cheques. They can pay for goods, but to call their currency is not possible.

It is currency (money).

I dont think you have an understanding of what currency is

If lets say 10 friends agree that chicken bones are currency to them and they agree to exchange it for services, then that is currency/money.

Bitcoin is money / currency because someone out there will give you something for it.

This is not to be confused with bartering

[daxiake]

Bitcoin is a money but in a digital form as you can exchange it to real money and you can also buy goods from it moreover you can also receive and send funds across the globe which puts it in the same category of real money.

[SoeNan89]

In my view, the question " is Bitcoin money ? " same like this question " is Gold money ? ".
Yes gold and Bitcoin is a treasure of precious that can serve as a means of payment,
But both is not real money. Bitcoin and gold has value precious which we can exchange it for real money.