Do not sell bitcoins for fiat unless you really need to

[An amorous cow-herder]

Buying with bitcoin supports its adoption, so it's all good. I would even say that if you need to buy something and you have an option to pay with BTC, convert your fiat money to BTC and pay with it!

Actually its even worse. If you dont use it, it will eventually become worthless. A block (25BTC) is generated every ten minutes. Daily average for transaction payments doesnt seem to be worth more than 50BTC, or 20 minutes of block generation in other words. Unless bitcoin gets used the network will collapse and no one will be mining (which isnt anything different from signing transactions). And what do you expect a bitcoin that cannot be moved will be worth? So well, i´m pretty sure that old principle that "money must flow" will apply to bitcoin as well. But well, its still like 20 years until all the bitcoins have been mined ...

Or, to put it more simply. If you have goods that can be bought via bitcoin, do so. You dont have to spend bitcoin. Just keep re-buying the bitcoins you spent on your pruchase with fiat. That way the network will grow in importance. And quite possibly, increase the price of bitcoin at the same time, since there are only so many bitcoins that can flow at any given time.

[1715019945]

1715019945

[piramida]

Just thought of this - at this moment, I regret every exchange of bitcoins for fiat that I ever performed, "locking profit", "dollar cost averaging", etc - had all the good reasons back then at $29, $99, $230. You will, too, eventually, if you sell now. So don't. You have been warned.

So if you don't sell bitcoins for fiat and you don't buy goods or services with bitcoins, what kind of value does bitcoins have for you?

I didn't say I do not - "Unless you really need to". For me, until I would need to spend my reserves, bitcoin is a pure store of wealth, an amazing financial experiment to participate in, and a source of several years of entertainment thus far. It also serves very nicely for international transactions, but that is a rare occasion and I also would not call it smooth as educating the other party takes more time than going to a bank, for now.

[An amorous cow-herder]

Imho there are still far to many variables out there.
Lets take a weird constructed example.
Day 1: The Fed gives out a press release they bought 50 PH/s worth of miners and $your_favorite_asic_supplier confirms this. The fed can now do a 51% attack any time they want to. PANIC SELL.
Day 7: The Fed announces it will indefinately buy BTC at a value of $2000 (or any arbitrary value) each giving it a minimum value and announces it will be official currency for (whatever transactions need to be transparent, e.g. would obsolete something like the US-EU Swift Treaty). And bascily screws everyone that sold.

I mean, you can replace Fed with any institution with appropriate financial means, as well as the reason for the "purchase". Startups have already been bought for more than the current value of all BTC combined.
And well, even if the day 1 scenario ever happens there is no guarantee the day 7 scenario happens.
Well, long term sustainability of btc is a fair bet, but definately not guarenteed.

[Coinseeker]

So many of you confirm this writers theory as to why Bitcoin will fail as a transaction currency.  The more expensive it becomes, the less you spend.  Interesting.   

http://www.businessinsider.com/if-you-believe-in-bitcoin-you-should-never-buy-anything-in-bitcoin-2013-11#ixzz2kM39YlIJ

[notme]

So many of you confirm this writers theory as to why Bitcoin will fail as a transaction currency.  The more expensive it becomes, the less you spend.  Interesting.   

http://www.businessinsider.com/if-you-believe-in-bitcoin-you-should-never-buy-anything-in-bitcoin-2013-11#ixzz2kM39YlIJ

Merchant reports claim that spending goes up when price increases.

[kireinaha]

So many of you confirm this writers theory as to why Bitcoin will fail as a transaction currency.  The more expensive it becomes, the less you spend.  Interesting.   

http://www.businessinsider.com/if-you-believe-in-bitcoin-you-should-never-buy-anything-in-bitcoin-2013-11#ixzz2kM39YlIJ

They're waiting for it to "stabilize" before they start spending.   Seems obvious it's not going to stabilize as long as people keep hoarding it, but somehow this fact seems to escape many around here...

[BitcoinAshley]

Just thought of this - at this moment, I regret every exchange of bitcoins for fiat that I ever performed, "locking profit", "dollar cost averaging", etc - had all the good reasons back then at $29, $99, $230. You will, too, eventually, if you sell now. So don't. You have been warned.

I disagree. I don't regret any purchase I've made with bitcoins or any exchange for fiat that was used to make a purchase.

Case in point. I sold about 1.1 bitcoins recently at $280 USD/BTC to buy a transmission jack and a few other handy things. I was low on fiat at the time and needed some dough quick. My clutch is fuxx0red and I don't want to pay someone $900 to fix it. And if I didn't fix it I wouldn't be able to drive to work, and make money with which to buy more bitcoins and watch my net worth increase exponentially. So I'm not sitting here banging my head against the desk thinking "No, that could be worth $445 now! Or $5000 in a month and a half! Nooooooo I've squandered away my retirement fund!" No, I'll just put a few hundred back in BTC in a couple weeks, sure there will be a comparable loss, but not compared to if I was rendered immobile and couldn't go to work.

So you see? No regrets at all.

I bought some gold and silver a while back. Sure, it's in a bear market. But if there was an unknown bug and the bitcoin procotol broke, I'd still have far more than my initial BTC investment. And if I kept cash I'd just end up spending it. Still no regrets. Of course, I'm not buying any more gold or silver right now, but I have just enough so that I wouldn't be jumping off a bridge if Bitcoin broke tomorrow.

Different strokes for different folks. I hope you stop regretting your bitcoin purchases and exchanges! I buy things with BTC when my need for something in the present moment is greater than the potential gain of holding out for the period of time it would take for me to re-invest that same amount in BTC. Simple as that.

[Coinseeker]

So many of you confirm this writers theory as to why Bitcoin will fail as a transaction currency.  The more expensive it becomes, the less you spend.  Interesting.  

http://www.businessinsider.com/if-you-believe-in-bitcoin-you-should-never-buy-anything-in-bitcoin-2013-11#ixzz2kM39YlIJ

Merchant reports notme claims that spending goes up when price increases.

FTFY  

Seriously though, others have made that same statement but there seems no actual proof.

[notme]

So many of you confirm this writers theory as to why Bitcoin will fail as a transaction currency.  The more expensive it becomes, the less you spend.  Interesting.  

http://www.businessinsider.com/if-you-believe-in-bitcoin-you-should-never-buy-anything-in-bitcoin-2013-11#ixzz2kM39YlIJ

Merchant reports notme claims that spending goes up when price increases.

FTFY  

Seriously though, others have made that same statement but there seems no actual proof.

You can start here:
http://blog.bitpay.com/2013/04/bitpay-eclipses-silk-road-in-bitcoin.html

There are other, probably better articles, but I really don't care to prove anything to you when you can do a little legwork yourself.

[An amorous cow-herder]

So many of you confirm this writers theory as to why Bitcoin will fail as a transaction currency.  The more expensive it becomes, the less you spend.

Electricity is becoming more expensive in Germany because of transition to renewables. Online shopping becoming extinct.
Ok, i might have made up the last part.

[Coinseeker]

You can start here:
http://blog.bitpay.com/2013/04/bitpay-eclipses-silk-road-in-bitcoin.html

There are other, probably better articles, but I really don't care to prove anything to you when you can do a little legwork yourself.

We already had a whole thread in the main section of this forum and not one shred of definitive proof so, just because a "Bitcoin" company says it, doesn't make it true.  And this thread certainly doesn't help that argument either.  Just saying.  I personally agree though.  Why spend something today that could be worth a lot more tomorrow?  I regret every Bitcoin spent.  Maybe Bitcoin will defy logic and then again...maybe we'll just make as much money as we can before it implodes.  Only time will tell.  In the end, don't be mad at me, I didn't write the article.

[An amorous cow-herder]

Why spend something today that could be worth a lot more tomorrow?  I regret every Bitcoin spent.  Maybe Bitcoin will defy logic and then again...maybe we'll just make as much money as we can before it implodes.  Only time will tell.  In the end, do be mad at me, I didn't write the article.

Well, i mean, why sell something that could be worth a lot more tomorrow? I mean, nobody would ever consider selling shares in a company, right? A bitcoin is basicly the same as a share in the usefullness of the bitcoin network, since it directly correlates with the maximum transaction amount the network can move around.
That said, given current usage i consider it highly overvalued, but given potential value highly underrated. The actual worth of a bitcoin is basicly irrelevant for a transaction that completes within a day (unless you assume that huge changes within a day are the norm).

[Coinseeker]

So you disagree with the OP?  No wait, this is your quote right?

Unless bitcoin gets used the network will collapse and no one will be mining (which isnt anything different from signing transactions). And what do you expect a bitcoin that cannot be moved will be worth? So well, i´m pretty sure that old principle that "money must flow" will apply to bitcoin as well.

There you go...

[An amorous cow-herder]

So you disagree with the OP?

Already wrote that earlier. I sell half the bitcoins i mine (not that thats much, but well, only started fairly late). Could get huge, could fail miserably, so i´m placing a conservative bet.

[Coinseeker]

So you disagree with the OP?

Already wrote that earlier. I sell half the bitcoins i mine (not that thats much, but well, only started fairly late). Could get huge, could fail miserably, so i´m placing a conservative bet.

Yeah, I saw that after.  That's why I added that quote.  Should have just deleted that first part.   

[An amorous cow-herder]

Well, guess i gonna save up that half for bitcoin friday and see what i can actually get instead of selling for fiat. Probably need to invite a couple of friends around for pizza as far as i can see ...
I mean, a pizza doesnt cost 10k btc anymore.

[FreakNet]

I speculate that bitcoins will rise to 500 and stay their for a few months, before getting even higher. Maybe it will even suffer a crash, but it will recover anyway.

[Marbit]

I speculate that bitcoins will rise to 500 and stay their for a few months, before getting even higher.

kinda like this?


yeah, that's exactly how these things go.

[byronbb]

Case in  point back in May I had run out of fiat due to my job and an injury that kept me from work for a while. Needed about $1000. I could have sold 10 coins but I decided to borrow from the bank. It's cost me about $6 a month and those 10 coins are now worth $4000+.

[oakpacific]

I would say even if you have to, don't sell everything, at whatever price, at least keep a few coins stored somewhere.Should the governments decide to buy as many coins as possible and mine the hell out of it, they could in some timeframe took control of a significant percentage of all bitcoins, if they control the majority of coins we would be enslaved, your hoarding of coins is an essential safeguard to our liberty.