How a cashless society could kill Bitcoin.

[davis196]

If the government came out today and declared that Bitcoin cannot be accepted as legal tender for purchases, I believe Bitcoin would find a way. It would find a way only because of the anonymity that today's cash affords people. Cash is the lovely bridge that people use in turning their Bitcoins into value.

Tomorrow though, when there is no longer cash and the only form of payment is electronic, and where all electronic payments are handled by auditable pools of companies, what will happen?

If you want to look how that might look in the future, look at a company that already functions are entirely electronic payments.
Take a look at Amazon: If Amazon was ordered not to accept Bitcoin, and cash no longer existed in the world, how would one be able to use Bitcoin to purchase things on Amazon?

In order for Bitcoin to work in a world that is hostile against it, it needs the anonymity of cash. What happens when that goes away?
Would love to hear anyone's thoughts on this dilemma I've been having.

You are right,but a the cashless society is just a dream.

A cashless society will be a way for the goverment to take full control over our money and our lives.

Bitcoin is an alternative to fiat money,but also an alternative to this idea.

[sportis]

If Amazon and any other multi national is not happy to accept my coins I will buy goods from another one that is friendly with that. But  let speak seriously; do you believe that Amazon will not accept btcs when microsoft, dell and some others have already accepted? When amazon see its sales dive in not only bitcoin but some other altcoins will accept as a means of payment.

[rajasumi3]

No no it will not kill the society at all .as the government may implement digital and go cashless like prime minister narendra modi , that would led to a hike in the price of bitcoins and more and more people will go for investments in bitcoins.

[Botnake]

No no it will not kill the society at all .as the government may implement digital and go cashless like prime minister narendra modi , that would led to a hike in the price of bitcoins and more and more people will go for investments in bitcoins.

Bitcoin is also a digital currency but it is different from what the government is planning to make, they have a similarity as they can be done using online transaction but the decentralized factor of bitcoin will always remain and the government will stick to centralization. Two differences that only people will decide where to adopt, and as what I have seen, people are more fan with bitcoin.

[stomachgrowls]

No no it will not kill the society at all .as the government may implement digital and go cashless like prime minister narendra modi , that would led to a hike in the price of bitcoins and more and more people will go for investments in bitcoins.

Bitcoin is also a digital currency but it is different from what the government is planning to make, they have a similarity as they can be done using online transaction but the decentralized factor of bitcoin will always remain and the government will stick to centralization. Two differences that only people will decide where to adopt, and as what I have seen, people are more fan with bitcoin.

We cant still conclude on where people would switch its either on bitcoin or the coin thats being created by the government. We would definitely switch into cashless society in near future because technology is fast evolving and most transaction on near future would be cashless and government will surely make their own money and they would really not adopt bitcoin because it cannot be control.

[ubitcoin]

I don't understand how cashless society could kill the Bitcoin. This has no sense because Bitcoin represents cashless society, it's digital currency that has no paper banknotes, it exists only virtualy. So Bitcoin can only profit from the cashless world but to my opinion we will have to wait for a while before cash disappears entirely.

In this hyphotetically cashless society, BTC isn't allowed and only official government currency is allowed, but not in paper, only in virtual world. That is mean a virtual currency, but controlled by government, centralized, total oppost of decentralized Bitcoin. Could Bitcoin be killed this way?

But mate how would it affect bitcoins users ? I mean ok let the people use the government apps but how would that make a downfall to our user base ? No chance !
Yeah though the buyers of bitcoins would decrease since they would fear that the government might question those transactions where bitcoins is listed even if buying or if selling.

[upsidedown75]

No no it will not kill the society at all .as the government may implement digital and go cashless like prime minister narendra modi , that would led to a hike in the price of bitcoins and more and more people will go for investments in bitcoins.

Indeed I had the same thought since a cashless society means that people would start accepting new currencies and processors. Moreover people would also have to change their stubborn mentality and hence they would learn about new systems and their working which means we would get more and more users to the bitcoins database.

[Huge Black Woman]

I do not care one Beanie Baby how fluffy a turtle you is, we AS A SOCIETY is going cashless.  Up there in Candida, they already nuked the penny which you need about 10 thousand of jist to purchase a stamp.  Then all these here Oriental countries is 86ing them big bills, an' no one in North America can stand whippin out dolla bills thet you know have been up a stripper g-string more times than anyone could count.  Cashless is clean an' easy.  So how you think that gon' kill bitcoin, which is 'bout as cashless as you kin git?  You tell me.

[Tanic]

I am from Russia and recently I was reading on bitcoin news that our gowertment plan to make a commitment to pay the tax to government for all bitcoin users. So they going to count bitcoin as profit. Isn't that mean that Russia is planning to admit bitcoin as currency?

[nara1892]

I do not think cashless society will kill bitcoin but increase its price. Imagine a society without any currency notes the only method of paying is online. Since bitcoin transaction is fast and cheap and anonymous hence it would be preferred.

probably it is right. I have ever seen on TV a community who do not have any currency. they only eat from plants where they live. and no internet connection there. they even do not have any electronic stuff. but they are fine and do not think to use bitcoin. so I think OP's opinion is better.

[machinek20]

I think cashless society is a bit scary, depending too much with internet is too risky, i admit that having online payment is far more efficient than cash and it is easier to used, but there are so many threat using online payment

[Positid]

I think cashless society is a bit scary, depending too much with internet is too risky, i admit that having online payment is far more efficient than cash and it is easier to used, but there are so many threat using online payment

I think it will not even happen, we cannot live in a cashless society as all people has no idea with online transaction. In some part of the world, there are still people who do not have an idea of what is computer and internet so they will not adopt for sure. Only people in the rich countries will be adopting a cashless society.

[coinplus]

No no it will not kill the society at all .as the government may implement digital and go cashless like prime minister narendra modi , that would led to a hike in the price of bitcoins and more and more people will go for investments in bitcoins.

Bitcoin is also a digital currency but it is different from what the government is planning to make, they have a similarity as they can be done using online transaction but the decentralized factor of bitcoin will always remain and the government will stick to centralization. Two differences that only people will decide where to adopt, and as what I have seen, people are more fan with bitcoin.

Yeah actually government like in India are trying to make their own apps and hence more and more transactions would be under their eye and hence they will catch the tax scammers easily.

The problem here is that we would need to give information about each transaction since its done with the govt. app and hence we would have to tell that we bought bitcoins which the government would never appreciate

[Kevin77]

No no it will not kill the society at all .as the government may implement digital and go cashless like prime minister narendra modi , that would led to a hike in the price of bitcoins and more and more people will go for investments in bitcoins.

Bitcoin is also a digital currency but it is different from what the government is planning to make, they have a similarity as they can be done using online transaction but the decentralized factor of bitcoin will always remain and the government will stick to centralization. Two differences that only people will decide where to adopt, and as what I have seen, people are more fan with bitcoin.

We cant still conclude on where people would switch its either on bitcoin or the coin thats being created by the government. We would definitely switch into cashless society in near future because technology is fast evolving and most transaction on near future would be cashless and government will surely make their own money and they would really not adopt bitcoin because it cannot be control.

Yeah it is a win and loose situation because people would for sure get used to new processors.

But at the same time they would be more prone to using the legal or I should say local government appreciated systems.

Though there won't be a decrease in the bitcoins users for sure, and the only possible thing is that the population of btc users would increase but the worry is that how would shops accept bitcoins when they would have some legal systems built fort hem by the local government ?

[sportis]

I am from Russia and recently I was reading on bitcoin news that our gowertment plan to make a commitment to pay the tax to government for all bitcoin users. So they going to count bitcoin as profit. Isn't that mean that Russia is planning to admit bitcoin as currency?

I am afraid your thought is wrong. In my country the tax legislation says that an investor with a portfolio of stocks and bonds when sells a part of these stocks pay a percent of fiat money as tax. Although I don't live in Russia I believe that your government considers bitcoin as a similar asset as a stock. Maybe you have the same rationale in Russian tax legislation.

[Doamader]

The only way to kill bitcoin i do know is turn internet off, without internet there is no bitcoin, but with such act we will start world warIII, and will be people against their governments. Since isnt going to happen, the only way to kill bitcoin would become into control the 51% hash or buying all the coins at all exchanges, and then expose the adress in control and the total coins, but this would be a waste of resorces.

[MingLee]

The only way to kill bitcoin i do know is turn internet off, without internet there is no bitcoin, but with such act we will start world warIII, and will be people against their governments. Since isnt going to happen, the only way to kill bitcoin would become into control the 51% hash or buying all the coins at all exchanges, and then expose the adress in control and the total coins, but this would be a waste of resorces.

You don't need to kill the internet to kill Bitcoin, you just have to be effective with preventing people from using it through whatever means possible. A cashless society would be one way to prevent the money from getting in an out of Bitcoin via exchanges.

Cashless societies make everything more difficult, but it is entirely possible to work around the issues presented.

[Przemax]

If bitcoin is to be chocked financialy by financial institution, there would need to be some special corporate law that allows banks to refuse its services. Right now the corporate law protects itself from government not helps governments. Thinking there is an outright cooperation and could be an outright cooperation outside of a pseudocoruption by lobbing is thin foil hatting.

Right now corporation is a king and governments are their hostages. Corporation would not help or cooperate with governments. They own them to some extend, but goverment needs to pretend its for the people. In theory it is, but its a dog that have two masters. Us and corporations.

[Zadicar]

No no it will not kill the society at all .as the government may implement digital and go cashless like prime minister narendra modi , that would led to a hike in the price of bitcoins and more and more people will go for investments in bitcoins.

Bitcoin is also a digital currency but it is different from what the government is planning to make, they have a similarity as they can be done using online transaction but the decentralized factor of bitcoin will always remain and the government will stick to centralization. Two differences that only people will decide where to adopt, and as what I have seen, people are more fan with bitcoin.

We cant still conclude on where people would switch its either on bitcoin or the coin thats being created by the government. We would definitely switch into cashless society in near future because technology is fast evolving and most transaction on near future would be cashless and government will surely make their own money and they would really not adopt bitcoin because it cannot be control.

Yeah it is a win and loose situation because people would for sure get used to new processors.

But at the same time they would be more prone to using the legal or I should say local government appreciated systems.

Though there won't be a decrease in the bitcoins users for sure, and the only possible thing is that the population of btc users would increase but the worry is that how would shops accept bitcoins when they would have some legal systems built fort hem by the local government ?

If that online payment processor would developed in the future then people will surely use that because they know that it is implemented or regulated by the government which means it is safe to use and i think people will more use that rather than bitcoin but there would be still users on bitcoin because they know that advantages of a decentralized and a centralized coin.

[BobK71]

If the government came out today and declared that Bitcoin cannot be accepted as legal tender for purchases, I believe Bitcoin would find a way. It would find a way only because of the anonymity that today's cash affords people. Cash is the lovely bridge that people use in turning their Bitcoins into value.

Tomorrow though, when there is no longer cash and the only form of payment is electronic, and where all electronic payments are handled by auditable pools of companies, what will happen?

If you want to look how that might look in the future, look at a company that already functions are entirely electronic payments.
Take a look at Amazon: If Amazon was ordered not to accept Bitcoin, and cash no longer existed in the world, how would one be able to use Bitcoin to purchase things on Amazon?

In order for Bitcoin to work in a world that is hostile against it, it needs the anonymity of cash. What happens when that goes away?
Would love to hear anyone's thoughts on this dilemma I've been having.

My theory is that, if the government wanted Bitcoin dead, it would be dead by now.

Not only was Bitcoin legalized in 2013, you can argue that its rise in value is also due mostly to support by state actors rather than real-economy demand.  (Sure, Chinese have been piling into Bitcoin to escape the yuan, but that is also due to the above-mentioned support.)

The reason governments want Bitcoin to stay alive is simple: since their monetary-financial system is inherently unstable, they don't know when they will have to support their own currencies by pegging them against a 'hard' money, like gold or Bitcoin.  At that point, the alternative is a total collapse of their financial power.

Compared to gold, Bitcoin is cheaper to acquire and less embarrassing to embrace, from the governments' point of view, since they can claim they are modernizing the system by using crypto.  (Compare that to having to increase the pegged price of gold to God-knows-what from the last price of $35/ounce!)

As Mervyn King (last Bank of England governor) wrote, central banks need to hedge their bet between paper and gold.  Bitcoin is just a new gold.  In an all-electronic world, you might sometimes be forced to pay tax on Bitcoin, but its value should basically hold.