Bitcoin is an asset or currency.

[htmcoin]

Bitcoin is still an investment, it will likely be more as a currency in the future to buy and sell goods, but the community and technology must develop bitcoin is likely to be as a currency.

[wack slacker]

Bitcoin is still an investment, it will likely be more as a currency in the future to buy and sell goods, but the community and technology must develop bitcoin is likely to be as a currency.

The current fees for high transaction fees range from $ 13 to $ 20. Bitcoin block size is very small with just 1MB, meaning that transactions are limited. We have seen a bitcoin network pending because many users are sending too many transactions at once. In the future, Bitcoin needs to improve further.

[kofibee12]

I think is both.  Bitcoin  serve as asset like stocks and commodity which can be traded  ,and the same time have all the features  of currency by been used as medium of exchange for payments  and transfers

[ThePresident]

For me  Bitcoin is an asset and a currency, it  serve as asset like stocks ,which can be traded  ,and a currency by means of used as medium of exchange for payments  and transfers.

[sunnydmd]

I think bitcoin is an asset. Because the payment fee is quite high. I spend money to buy goods. I only have to pay for the value of the item, that's what I have to do. Why do I have to pay a high fee for a payment. If the value of the item I need to buy is large, I agree to accept a high fee of about $ 5-15, but I only buy a few dollars worth of goods, that fee is unacceptable.

[dinofelis]

I hear from many sources that btc is used for trading much more than it is for goods and services; doesn't that make it an asset ??
and is that necessarily a bad thing ?? and what can we do about it as a community ??

Bitcoin is a purely speculative asset, that started out with a deceptive narrative of being a currency.  It isn't a currency at all, even though it can be used somewhat to do payments with through bartering.   The reason is that bitcoin is a collectible, which makes its price highly volatile.  A currency (see Nash ideal money) should have a value-stability mechanism to it which a collectible lacks entirely.  A value-stability mechanism adapts currency offer to aggregate demand, which is shear horror in the ears of bitcoin believers ("the FED printing money out of thin air").

On top of that, the devs have made the potential use of bitcoin as a transferable asset difficult with their "we chase Joe Sixpack off the blockchain, only reserved for whales" policy of small blocks.   The narrative is that Joe Sixpack cannot afford a 2 TB disk of $70, but that same Joe Sixpack will have to pay the same amount in fees when he buys 3 coffees.  (yes, yes, the lightning network, sure...).

Bitcoin is a ticket in a large greater-fool game, and the ride may be just beginning.  Enjoy.  There will be winners, and there will be an equal amount of losers.  Pick your side.

[Fractalized]

Well, seeing this 37-page thread, at least I guess it can safely be said that the community has an opinion!

The debate is still going on and has been going on for a long time. You'll hear both sides of the story.

The hard-forks on the BTC Blockchain are related to that debate. Different developers and actors of the comunity disagree on what Bitcoin should be geared towards and how changes should be implemented to reach their goals (for example block size v.s. transaction time)

With all the delays/unconfirmed transactions and high transaction fees right now, it is definitely an obstacle to the mainstream adoption of BTC as a payment system.

The volatility has also always been a problem for that to happen. I unfortunately can imagine your casual mom and pop feeling pretty uneasy when they realise they have lost 30% of their purchasing power in mere hours when trying to purchase some playdough for their grandson with BTC on amazon. Such corrections have always happened now and then.

Heck even the crypto community is all over the place everytime there is a dip, like right now.

I would say that despite being presented essentially like a payment system since the early days, it has been used more as a store of value and hybrid financial instrument as of yet with most of its use as a payment system being related to the Darknet (will I be flamed for saying that?).

We will see what happens with attemps at scaling-up with SegWit, SegWit2x (oh well...) and the Lightning Network, to allow for faster transactions.

Of course there's way more to come that we haven't imagined yet.


Only the future will tell if Bitcoin will be considered more as a store of value / digital gold or a payment system.

[dinofelis]

The volatility has also always been a problem for that to happen. I unfortunately can imagine your casual mom and pop feeling pretty uneasy when they realise they have lost 30% of their purchasing power in mere hours when trying to purchase some playdough for their grandson with BTC on amazon. Such corrections have always happened now and then.

This is the essential reason why bitcoin will never be a generalized currency.  The technical difficulties add to it, but the volatility is essentially making it useless as a currency.

The *whole idea* of a currency is to be an intermediate fluidifier of economic interaction, that is:

when I want to offer good or service A and I want to obtain good or service B, deemed of equal value in the market, the direct bartering is a difficulty.  So the use of a currency is that I can exchange good or service A against X currency, and I can pay for good or service B with X currency, because A and B are equal value in the market, so they should have equal price X in currency.

This requires the currency to be stable between my acquiring X when I sell A, and my paying X when buying B.   X should be neutral.   So X should have stable value.

Anything that is volatile, cannot be used as a currency in this respect.  

A currency is also a unit of account, which is related to its value stability.

Suppose that in beginning 2017, I wrote a contract for 2 years with the maid: she cleans the house twice a week, and I'll pay her $500 a month for that.  Suppose that I wrote the contract in bitcoin.  At that time, 0.5 BTC per month seemed a reasonable pay, right ?

If I would have written that contract, I would pay the cleaning woman now about $5000, and in December, I paid even $9000.  Very expensive cleaning !

So BTC is not useful in contracts either.

It is not a currency, because it is very volatile.  And it is very volatile because it is a collectible.

[TonyMark]

Basically, Bitcoin is an asset as well as currency. Because when we store our bitcoin for a long time then it gives us a huge return. In another side, we can use bitcoin on daily basis as well.

[boddy.dy]

Bitcoin for me is a currency definitely I cannot say that this can be an asset, this is a thing that the value is fluctuating. This may come so high in a blink and can rapidly decrease its value. But somehow we can also make this as an asset because this thing has a “value”. The only problem if you will make this as an asset is bitcoin has no fix value. We cannot make sure that if we have a great number amount of bitcoin we also have a great amount of money as its value varies. 

[adsadsx]

Bitcoin is not an asset because it does not generate cash flow for those who own bitcoin (unless you sell it). It is not a commodity, because it is not a raw material and can be used to produce useful things. The only exception I can think of is that if it becomes an integral part of a smart contract, it can assume the role of a commodity.

[letecia012]

Basically, Bitcoin is an asset as well as currency. Because when we store our bitcoin for a long time then it gives us a huge return. In another side, we can use bitcoin on daily basis as well.

That is what i' m thinking also it  is a liquid asset where in anytime you like to convert to real money you do anytime and at the same time a currency since it is known as virtual currency which can be used to purchase goods or services as long as companies accept bitcoin.

[Alexis.Nick]

it a currency or a cash unquestionably I can't state this can be a benefit, this is a thing that the esteem is fluctuating. This may come so high in a matter of seconds and can quickly diminish its esteem.

[josephpogi]

Originally bitcoin is intended to be a currency, not an asset of profit. However, we can see that it has been widely used as a form of profitable asset rather than currency which its original purpose is. In my honest opinion, I wanted bitcoin to be treated as a currency because it will help towards developing cryptocurrencies in the long run.

[rxtwo]

if bitcoin is used for scamming then most people will think that bitcoin is a scam and will stay away from it then there will be no new investors or not entrepreneurs that will use it. And with the law of economics if there is no demand then most probably the price will drop.

[Mazda17]

Although bitcoin is created as a digital currency but because of the functionality and specialty of this bitcoin can certainly turn it into the most valuable commodity so almost everyone in the world is working hard to be able to get bitcoin with their various efforts. certainly a way that doesn't harm others.

Good thinking and I like what you think.
If bitcoin is a currency that can change something becomes more valuable then those who use bitcoin always work hard to get what they get even the experience they get by sharing the business they do, hence bitcoin may be a valuable asset for the use it.

[burnato]

it is an asset because by owning a portion of it allows us to acces on different transactions through its application like playing bills, tradings etc.
I think both. I'ts an asset to invest becaouse of the growing price is increasing day by day. but both of them are similar and important to us as a human being.

[bjjobg55206]

Bitcoin for me is a currency definitely I cannot say that this can be an asset, this is a thing that the value is fluctuating. This may come so high in a blink and can rapidly decrease its value. But somehow we can also make this as an asset because this thing has a “value”. The only problem if you will make this as an asset is bitcoin has no fix value. We cannot make sure that if we have a great number amount of bitcoin we also have a great amount of money as its value varies. 

Bitcoin is a virtual currency, bitcoin in the market have a higher recognition, the recent appreciation of larger.

[Lingesh]

Bitcoin is the currency because the vaue is fluctating. If we save for our kids it will be definitely asset for our kids for their future.

[LambertDon]

I think the price of bitcoin is unstable.
Holding bitcoin can now be an investment.
Bitcoin may become a fiat currency in the future.