It's still really hard to use bitcoin as a regular currency

[Esphere.in]

Yes it's hard to use bitcoin as regular currency. It wad quite easy during last year because at that time transaction fees was much lye.

With the increase in transaction fees it is not possible to send small amount of money and if you are planning to use bitcoin as a regular currency then it must have the capacity to send smaller valuation and as long as it is not possible you really cannot consider it as a regular currency.

[SoulBargain]

Yes it's hard to use bitcoin as regular currency. It wad quite easy during last year because at that time transaction fees was much lye.

With the increase in transaction fees it is not possible to send small amount of money and if you are planning to use bitcoin as a regular currency then it must have the capacity to send smaller valuation and as long as it is not possible you really cannot consider it as a regular currency.

It really is a major hurdle to be able to use it as regular currency. With increasing transaction fees, it will make small transactions impossible since the cost to buy would be great than the actual price that is actual price plus transaction fees. Maybe in large amount of transaction would be better though in daily transaction mostly is in small amounts.

[genos]

Bitcoin fees have become too big now for day to day smaller transactions. I paid over ten dollars for a five hundred dollar value transaction and it took also twnety four hours plus to get through to the other side. So Bitcoin is only best used for bigger transactions in my view that is.

Yeah beside many thing advantages from increasing price of bitcoin,  that matter is disadvantages and affect of bitcoin price was going to the moon. Year ago when the price still 400 -  600 dollars only less than 1 dollars for making bitcoin transactions.
I think 10 dollars for once transaction (send 50 dollars) is very expensive.

[BTCLovingDude]

Bitcoin fees have become too big now for day to day smaller transactions. I paid over ten dollars for a five hundred dollar value transaction and it took also twnety four hours plus to get through to the other side. So Bitcoin is only best used for bigger transactions in my view that is.

Yeah beside many thing advantages from increasing price of bitcoin,  that matter is disadvantages and affect of bitcoin price was going to the moon. Year ago when the price still 400 -  600 dollars only less than 1 dollars for making bitcoin transactions.
I think 10 dollars for once transaction (send 50 dollars) is very expensive.

last year around $400 price bitcoin transactions were free! there was no spam attack, there was no backlog, there was no increased fees. these things are only for this year, started from early 2017. back then you could have sent a transaction with 10,000 satoshi (about $0.04) or even less and have it confirmed in next block.

[aTriz]

Yes it's hard to use bitcoin as regular currency. It wad quite easy during last year because at that time transaction fees was much lye.

With the increase in transaction fees it is not possible to send small amount of money and if you are planning to use bitcoin as a regular currency then it must have the capacity to send smaller valuation and as long as it is not possible you really cannot consider it as a regular currency.

The thing is, nobody is going to use bitcoin in real life because of these high fees.

Think about it, are people really going to pay $3 on top of the $2 that they usually pay for their daily cup of coffee? Probably not, that's a 150% markup, and if anyone tried to offer coffee at $5 per cup you'd call them a f****** ripoff!

Although bitcoin can't be used as a regular currency, bitcoin is still very useful. For example, when paying online, bitcoin is absolutely the king. You get 100% no chargebacks if you're selling, fast confirmations if you are a buyer(no need to wait for funds to clear overseas), and the transaction fee you pay does not change no matter how much you send. Maybe we should not look at bitcoin as a regular currency at all, it's a special currency in itself.

[Daniel91]

I don't know for the rest of the world but in my country it's very hard to use bitcoin as a regular currency.
In fact, central bank issued official statement about bitcoin a year ago.
In their opinion, bitcoin is not currency or financial asset and we can't use bitcoin directly for any payment.
If I want to buy something, I first have to exchange bitcoin funds to my local currency.

[Dudeperfect]

Yes, considering the fees are the rate of growth in it I think it will be a tough to use bitcoins for offline transactions. Even as of today in many countries the commodities like milk, bread are available at the price of bitcoin fees so why someone would go with bitcoin if he can get it technically for free (as compared to that of bitcoin transaction). Today, I find bitcoin is still a cost friendly medium for online transaction and we need to keep control on the increasing fees to maintain it.

I have some bitcoins using my coinbase wallet yesterday, fees seems revised. Fees for the transaction has been turned down to 0.0008 btc for transacion. I hope all the others wallet providers are not giving this low amount as minimum amount for transaction. It will be mine via 6 blocks there for it will get transaction in 40 minutes maximum.

The web wallet services (not exchanges) usually auto adjust fees according to the current network requirement so yes if you are not altering the fees recommended by the service provider then transaction hardly takes 20 minutes to get confirmed (3 blocks). I have also noticed that many exchanges have revised the fees for withdrawal and the average fee is 0.0015 btc including transaction and exchange fees.

[squatz1]

See this is going to be the issue when it comes to a decentralized internet currency like the one that we're the ones that are using it right now. The problem with being decentralized is that we're going to be facing a fight from the gov due to a burden of regulations from not being able to be taken over / centralized so we're going to be under fire at all times. It's not going to be easy to get adoption from people, but the only thing is that if we're all going to band together to help get bitcoin to be abloe to get mainstream adoption it should be able to happen.

We just need to get everyone on board and to get them an incentive to get on board, people aren't going to join in for nothing. We need to fix TX fees and remove the undue regulations on the BTC industry from the gov by calling our reps and senators to get them on board. Get people with power and money on board with something and they'll be no looking back.

[MetalGear]

I think it is not really hard to use bitcoin as a regular currency.I think the transition would be a little hard but with bitcoin I dont think that it will be hard to use it as a regular currency. Bitcoin is a people-friendly electronic money so it is necessary.

[jc89]

This is the major reason why some people are seeing Bitcoin as an investment more than as a currency. The transaction fees are mainly the major reason why others does not use Bitcoin to purchase a good or a service. Bitcoin is so valuable now and even losing some mBTC for a fee would make some people feel disappointed.

This interaction proved to me that the bitcoin network is very supportive of one another.

This one, on the other hand, would make you feel delighted. 

[lisa255]

This is the major reason why some people are seeing Bitcoin as an investment more than as a currency. The transaction fees are mainly the major reason why others does not use Bitcoin to purchase a good or a service. Bitcoin is so valuable now and even losing some mBTC for a fee would make some people feel disappointed.

This interaction proved to me that the bitcoin network is very supportive of one another.

This one, on the other hand, would make you feel delighted. 

Yes, almost every user bitcoin is thinking about how to save his coins for the future. Some forecasts of analysts say that the price can be very exaggerated. Therefore it is necessary to select every Satoshi   

[scout5]

It's definitely very difficult and very not cost effective to use bitcoin right now due to high fees and long transaction times. But guess what? BIP148 will be on August 1. Just have to wait a bit. 

[skorupi17]

The usage of Bitcoin as a regular currency is so impractical. First, Bitcoin's price changes so much and there is no consistency in it. This may form confusion to some person. Another issue is the transaction confirmation time, some take minutes, hours and even days. So using Bitcoin as a mode of payment is impractical for offline stores. Last is the transaction fees, over time, transaction fees also increases and using Bitcoin for micro transactions is very impractical. Who would pay for a good with twice the price using Bitcoin, I would rather use fiat if that would be the case.

[angaper]

I see that the main complain is against the transaction fee, which is undoubtedly its main disadvantage by ostensibly increase the price to be paid for each item. But the saddest thing about this situation is that this fees increase will end up discouraging businessmen from accepting bitcoin as ordinary currency, and bitcoiners from spend it in a regular basis. It may just be used to carry out large transactions, otherwise I do not see the bitcoin being used as a currency of everyday use.

[Intersan]

It might be hard to use bitcoin as a regular currency but it was harder about a few years ago. Bitcoin is still new to a large number of people and it's evolving and gaining popularity slowly but surely. I still believe bitcoin has a very good future and it has the potential to replace fiat currencies. The only problem it has nowadays is high fee which I hope will be resolved soon. Bitcoin is there to stay and over the years the usage of bitcoin by masses has increased. Bitcoin will surely succeed in achieving the goal which it was created to achieve

Since bitcoin had gained more popularity, its usage has been extended and increased. Bitcoin is far fit to be used for online transactions and it can be use anonymously. Bitcoin cannot be used as a regular payment for day to day expenses and it needs internet connection in order to perform transactions.
   
I also believe that bitcoin will be successful and that it would become a much better currency than others. Bitcoin is still not recognized by many countries but let us be patient. Bitcoin’s time is not yet now, we do not know what will happen in the future but I believe that bitcoin would be greater and better than what it is now.

[avikz]

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/14/despite-its-record-setting-surge-this-year-its-still-really-hard-use-bitcoin-as-a-regular-currency.html

With all the hysteria around bitcoin surging to records and possibly being the currency of the future, CNBC decided to put it to the test. Can one person live off of bitcoin for a week?

New York City may have thousands of restaurants and bars, but only a handful accept bitcoin. We made a lot of calls and reached out to several vendors to see if they accept the digital currency. We also leveraged "bitcoin maps" online which were not entirely accurate.

However, we did find a few eateries in the city who accept the currency directly - two of which are French restaurants in lower Manhattan – Le Village and La Serine.

Another option was using Gyft.com, a site which allows you to purchase gift cards to Whole Foods, Starbucks, CVS, etc with bitcoin. This ended up being tremendously helpful, but also highlighted the reliance one must have on third parties to get by just on bitcoin.

Another big takeaway? Using bitcoin can be costly. Checking out at vendors that accept bitcoin is relatively easy, but I ended up spending on average 40 percent more versus paying with dollars or credit card because of unfavorable conversion rates and additional transaction fees. For example, my ice cream sandwich at Melt sold for $5, but with bitcoin I ended up spending the equivalent of more than $9. The gift cards also come with additional fees.

Transportation is also a challenge. As a reporter, I am constantly on the go, traveling around the city to meet sources, attend conferences and coming on air from different studios. The subway is typically how I get around town. Unfortunately subways do not accept bitcoin. Same story for yellow taxis.

The third option (besides walking) was ride-sharing apps. I was able to buy an Uber gift card via Gyft.com. I ended up spending more time and money taking this roundabout way, but at least I could travel from downtown to the upper west side without walking.

After a couple days, I started reaching out to folks in the NYC bitcoin community. I found a bitcoin investor online who was wiling to sell me a subway card in exchange for bitcoin. I met him at Penn Station the following day and he gladly helped me out. This interaction proved to me that the bitcoin network is very supportive of one another.

It is true that bitcoin is really hard to use as a normal currency and due to the current situation, it became even more harder. The slow network and increased transaction processing time, it makes even harder. Once you make the payment, you need to wait till the time it gets confirmed. Imagine waiting for an uncertain time for making the payment when you are out to grab a quick bite.

So bitcoin looks even more attractive as an investment destination. Bitcoin price is still strong and lot of people are still investing in it. The public trust is not broken yet. So it is better to invest and trade on bitcoin, but don't take it as a regular currency to buy your daily things.

[xuan87]

It is still hard to used bitcoin in daily life, the fee is still high and sometimes the transaction is slow and not all item can be purchased using bitcoin, but in the future when most of the shop already implemented bitcoin then we can feel the ease of using bitcoin as currency

[Russlenat]

It is still hard to used bitcoin in daily life, the fee is still high and sometimes the transaction is slow and not all item can be purchased using bitcoin, but in the future when most of the shop already implemented bitcoin then we can feel the ease of using bitcoin as currency

Yes that is true! in every bitcoin transaction there is a fee and network confirmation so there's a delay if you buy thing if that store accept bitcoin.
I hope when this be happen in near future when all store accept bitcoin this delay will be not the issue then or they can find a solution to easy the transaction.

[Oxydarck]

I think this is why bitcoin will perhaps act as the 'gold' backing to other currencies and the other altcoins will provide more real world functionality
At least that would be nice if that happened

Yeah bitcoin will perhaps act as the gold because he is so importent and we must  good at exploiting it .

[aTriz]

The point of bitcoin isn’t really to be used in day to day purchases like groceries or etc. Bitcoin is a ONLINE currency which means to point of it is to be used online. For most transactions there is only a small fee of 2 or less dollars.
 
Right now I just don’t think this will be possible in the near future, since bitcoin is decentralised the price is very unstable. This and the long confirmation times is the main reason why bitcoin will not be used for any in real life circumstances anytime soon. No one would like to buy groceries for 0.01 Bitcoin one day and the next 0.002 Bitcoin, that would be way to outrageous
 
I feel these questions is being answered quite often, maybe go search for posts like this since they may already be answered