Bitcoin as a Medium of Exchange

[krishnapramod]

Yesterday a thread was created on Bitcoin discussions section, why is Bitcoin price not dropping when sending fees are so high? Almost all responses were centered around, Bitcoin investors don't care about transaction fees because everybody is holding and that's the reality, Bitcoin has become an investment rather than a medium of exchange. Recently Steam stopped accepting Bitcoin because of high fees and volatility. All the new investors are just obsessed about the price, ignoring the fact that Bitcoins true value lies in its ability to transfer value without permission through a secure global consensus network. With LN implementation, Bitcoin might be used as a medium of exchange, but again there is a psychological barrier that prevents a Bitcoin holder from spending, scarcity, the price will increase, if I spend some coins now it will be harder to gain it back.

For the time being Bitcoin is more a digital gold rather than an alternative to fiat or other existing payment systems.

[goldade]

Many true Bitcoin enthusiasts actually prefer to use Bitcoin as a medium of exchange. They aren’t interested in investment or speculation or trying to sell at a profit.
Instead, they see Bitcoin as a way to engage in free association of trade without the need for governments to regulate the exchange. With Bitcoin, it’s possible to pay for goods and services instantly by transferring the digital money straight from your wallet to someone else’s digital wallet.

This is absolutely true of bitcoin.  Bitcoin can be used as a medium of exchange not only as an investment to make profit, in fact bitcoin as a means of exchange is one of the fundamental uses of bitcoin.
There are a few stores online that accept bitcoin as a means of payment for goods.

[arpon11]

Since I came to know about cryptocurrencies I come to understand that bitcoin was actually discovered in other for us to change from the traditional ways of using money to a more degital ways.  I am surprised that no mainstream online shop has used bitcoin as a medium of exchange for goods and services why we keep on saying bitcoin is going to replace fiat in future and we all see bitcoin as a future of money. Using bitcoin like stocks or commodities kills it original idea of using bitcoin as a medium of exchange for goods and services or measures of value!

[cryptonomics.global]

Well, it was this way at the beginning, when transactions indeed where fast and cheap Unfortunately it changes when amount of usage and users grows.

I believe the biggest advantage is still decentralization and absence of central authority governing it. But it is of course difficult to keep away from speculations when its price rises so rapidly

[shoreno]

bitcoin is a multipurpose tool that can be used anywhere and everywhere whether you used it in buying , selling, trading, investing , mining, gambling, gaming, etc.. everything is possible with bitcoin so in short it does not matter if someone want to use it in their own way because not all the people are the same but in my case i only use bitcoin just to earn a profit by selling and exchanging on our local cuurency. i dont do other stuff like i mentioned above because i dont have the capital and guts to do it. im just happy and contented from what im doing now.

[Sexie]

Many true Bitcoin enthusiasts actually prefer to use Bitcoin as a medium of exchange. They aren’t interested in investment or speculation or trying to sell at a profit.
Instead, they see Bitcoin as a way to engage in free association of trade without the need for governments to regulate the exchange. With Bitcoin, it’s possible to pay for goods and services instantly by transferring the digital money straight from your wallet to someone else’s digital wallet.

.              Eventually, Bitcoin  has been used by many investors  as a medium of exchange, that is free from any government regulations. This  is what we called freedom in the entire world of  Bitcoin. This where  those  involve in digital currencies are free to invest their money to buy Bitcoin  or to mine  Bitcoin or even through exchange and trading without  any government interference.it is just easy to carry out your  assets  through digital currencies or  in electronic system.

[olushakes]

Many true Bitcoin enthusiasts actually prefer to use Bitcoin as a medium of exchange. They aren’t interested in investment or speculation or trying to sell at a profit.
Instead, they see Bitcoin as a way to engage in free association of trade without the need for governments to regulate the exchange. With Bitcoin, it’s possible to pay for goods and services instantly by transferring the digital money straight from your wallet to someone else’s digital wallet.

Based on this, does that mean those who decide to use bitcoin as a store of value are not true enthusiasts? I guess no because without them creating some form of scarcity in the market, the price of bitcoin wouldn't be this valuable and enticing to everybody. The summation is that everyone is working towards the same objective which is making bitcoin better irrespective the category you belong to whether using it as a store of value, measure of value or medium of exchange.

[Younggiant2018]

Many true Bitcoin enthusiasts actually prefer to use Bitcoin as a medium of exchange. They aren’t interested in investment or speculation or trying to sell at a profit.
Instead, they see Bitcoin as a way to engage in free association of trade without the need for governments to regulate the exchange. With Bitcoin, it’s possible to pay for goods and services instantly by transferring the digital money straight from your wallet to someone else’s digital wallet.

Yes. Its true that some of the bitcoin enthusiast uses bitcoin as the medium of exchange but this only in the world of cryptocurrency and is only limited to those business establishments that are accepting bitcoin for payments of goods and services. Bitcoin will be the universal mode of payment like USD which is convertible to any kind of paper currency.

[imadmirer]

The whole point of bitcoin was that it would become most efficient and cost less means of financial transaction. However, this goal is yet to be achieved and certainly the bitcoin enthusiasts and responsible members of our cryptocurrency ecosystem are striving to reach that end.

But now because of the huge potential and the ever increasing demand, it has turned into a definite investment. And with the soaring value it seems that for sometime now it shall remain more as an investment and a commodity for trading. There are plenty of enthusiasts who want to make bitcoin as efficient as possible and keep it as a rule to transact only in terms of bitcoin. And of course they do not mind the high transaction fee because they either can afford it or simply accept it with a grin for their passion. The newbies however do not transact, they just hold and watch. And you cant blame them as they seriously wish to make more out of their investment. There are a few who also wait especially when their investment was made for a long term use.

What course will Bitcoin take only time will tell. There are many who prefer altcoins like Ethereum or Nem for their transaction. Ethereum has recently hit the $700 mark. It is fast approaching as an alternative to bitcoin transaction. The transaction fee and time are less burdensome with Ethereum when compared to that of bitcoin transaction. The lightening technology seems to bring hope by speeding up the transaction with bitcoin. We must wait and watch. Once the transaction speed and volume go up and are managed then naturally due to the ease, transaction fee comes down. Then things become interesting! In fact the number of bitcoin transaction will exponentially increase with time.

[CHENIEN]

As we all know, money is a medium of exchange. When i was born all i knew is money used as a medium of exchange. But as of this moment  their are people access bitcoin and used it as a medium of exchange by way of payment for something or some other's purchasing valuable thing's and properties. So i really agree that bitcoin is now used as a medium of exchange but not totally, percentage only because not all people access bitcoin like in a rural areas without any signals and wifi,  they cannot access bitcoin. Only people access bitcoin are living in urban areas and cities because they are capable to bring wifi or some other's using simcards data connection.

[CoPil]

Many true Bitcoin enthusiasts actually prefer to use Bitcoin as a medium of exchange. They aren’t interested in investment or speculation or trying to sell at a profit.
Instead, they see Bitcoin as a way to engage in free association of trade without the need for governments to regulate the exchange. With Bitcoin, it’s possible to pay for goods and services instantly by transferring the digital money straight from your wallet to someone else’s digital wallet.

That's true. Especially online of course. Digital transaction exchanges commonly relies to digital currencies ...as e-wallets became popular together with the expansion and popularity growth of cryptocurrencies. Many see bitcoin as a good or 'great' medium of exchange. Majority of the people today see the efficiency and reliability of Bitcoin as a medium of exchange.

[ReLieD]

I don't think that buying other currencies with Bitcoin is much preferable. Like you so see , the increase in btc price will give you more profit if you hold that amount rather then buying small cyrpto currencies whose growth would be comparatively very slow. This is why using Bitcoins as  a medium of exchange is not a good idea.

[dothebeats]

Isn't it the purpose of bitcoin before it came big? An efficient medium of exchange capable of being sent and received instantly? Sadly bitcoin has dwindled into just being an investment asset and being a medium of exchange is far from being a reality for bitcoin, at least in the current times.

[BillCoin]

I think that probably 90% of the people buys bitcoin because they want to earn money for it, and not because they are interested in the coin or what its represents.

I believe that the people who actually uses the coin and are not here for manipuilation are those who are actually promotes bitcoin and makes it go bigger.

Bitcoin is probably the best medium of exchange, as it is good to store value, fast transfers and also low transfer fees compared to other transferring methods, I think that once people realizes that, the amount of people who actually uses bitcoin and are not here for speculation will grow.

[/GeertJohan]

Many true Bitcoin enthusiasts actually prefer to use Bitcoin as a medium of exchange. They aren’t interested in investment or speculation or trying to sell at a profit.
Instead, they see Bitcoin as a way to engage in free association of trade without the need for governments to regulate the exchange. With Bitcoin, it’s possible to pay for goods and services instantly by transferring the digital money straight from your wallet to someone else’s digital wallet.

Indeed. Bitcoin is used as a medium of exchange.Noway most of the bitcoin users are used to get a profit basis only.
But in my knowledge some countries are only accepting those things like buy or selling goods used by bitcoin.

[btcbonanza]

Many true Bitcoin enthusiasts actually prefer to use Bitcoin as a medium of exchange. They aren’t interested in investment or speculation or trying to sell at a profit.
Instead, they see Bitcoin as a way to engage in free association of trade without the need for governments to regulate the exchange. With Bitcoin, it’s possible to pay for goods and services instantly by transferring the digital money straight from your wallet to someone else’s digital wallet.

Indeed. Bitcoin is used as a medium of exchange.Noway most of the bitcoin users are used to get a profit basis only.
But in my knowledge some countries are only accepting those things like buy or selling goods used by bitcoin.

Countries? Which country sells goods for bitcoin? None in my knowledge.
No doubt bitcoin is being used as medium of exchange by some businesses but their number is limited to very low. Moreover, due to high fees and transaction delay, businesses are now deleting bitcoin from their payment option. One such setback was Feverr this year.

[brushtooth]

Many true Bitcoin enthusiasts actually prefer to use Bitcoin as a medium of exchange. They aren’t interested in investment or speculation or trying to sell at a profit.
Instead, they see Bitcoin as a way to engage in free association of trade without the need for governments to regulate the exchange. With Bitcoin, it’s possible to pay for goods and services instantly by transferring the digital money straight from your wallet to someone else’s digital wallet.

You are right that many true bitcoin enthusiasts do that but I don't think that there is too many of them about, most bitcoin owners now are just guys and girls who want to gain FIAT by holding their bitcoin.

[bitcad4u]

Many true Bitcoin enthusiasts actually prefer to use Bitcoin as a medium of exchange. They aren’t interested in investment or speculation or trying to sell at a profit.
Instead, they see Bitcoin as a way to engage in free association of trade without the need for governments to regulate the exchange. With Bitcoin, it’s possible to pay for goods and services instantly by transferring the digital money straight from your wallet to someone else’s digital wallet.

You are right that many true bitcoin enthusiasts do that but I don't think that there is too many of them about, most bitcoin owners now are just guys and girls who want to gain FIAT by holding their bitcoin.

Bitcoin is a digital currency system and it's a online transaction process ,the rate of bitcoin is very high and it varying daily ,the today rate of bitcoin is $18700 and it increased in future and due to rate increased so the exchange of bitcoin is some what low previously.But as of now the the exchange was very high as compared to other.Not only the girls will hold the bitcoin,all the people need money will hold.

[paul00]

maybe some people have been interested in bitcoin due to this fatcor, the lack of government medling on it. They see that things are becoming easier with bitcoin and I personally think that bitcoin as medium of exchange will not be a bad idea. However, it will depend on the acceptance of the merchants with the risk that bitcoin accompanies.

[777asianinvasian]

Many true Bitcoin enthusiasts actually prefer to use Bitcoin as a medium of exchange. They aren’t interested in investment or speculation or trying to sell at a profit.
Instead, they see Bitcoin as a way to engage in free association of trade without the need for governments to regulate the exchange. With Bitcoin, it’s possible to pay for goods and services instantly by transferring the digital money straight from your wallet to someone else’s digital wallet.

Well yeah you can transfer it quickly but the confirmation and the network being not up to par is what is causing problems at the moment. Whenever lightning network gets instituted into bitcoin then you will have quick transactions will next to no fees and that is when bitcoin will be viable for everyday use. I look forward to the day where I can live only off bitcoin and have more or less let fiat money go for the rest of my life.