Why would anyone spend their coins?

[Elleria]

I can see that you can now use Bitcoins to pay for various things, including food, property and even a ride on a Virgin Galactic spaceship, but why would I want to actually spend coins when the value has increased by 30,000% over the last 2 years? Perhaps I don't yet fully understand all the benefits, but holding on to coins (or working to increase the amount you own) seems far more sensible at the moment.

[Gator-hex]

Not forcing people to spend their money before inflation destroys it's value will be better for the environment and retirees.

It will also mean old people won't have to work until they drop dead, which will mean more jobs for young people!

Debt money is a form of slavery. Governments sell the unborn labour of their citizens forward to bond holders who are paid through taxing their labour all their lives. Bondage means "to be born into debt servitude" This is why you have to register your birth and why you cannot get a job without a valid birth certificate!

The Matrix: You are a slave Neo!
http://youtu.be/06WgfAv9LOo?t=1m18s

Richard Branson is a true capitalist who has fought all his life against a corrupt system. He recognises the true capitalism that Bitcoin offers. No bailouts, no corrupt politicians, no plutocrats, no corporate fascism.

[Xenoph0bia]

I can see that you can now use Bitcoins to pay for various things, including food, property and even a ride on a Virgin Galactic spaceship, but why would I want to actually spend coins when the value has increased by 30,000% over the last 2 years? Perhaps I don't yet fully understand all the benefits, but holding on to coins (or working to increase the amount you own) seems far more sensible at the moment.

Because it is not guaranteed the value will increase over the next 2 years. No one know future

[Akka]

I can see that you can now use Bitcoins to pay for various things, including food, property and even a ride on a Virgin Galactic spaceship, but why would I want to actually spend coins when the value has increased by 30,000% over the last 2 years? Perhaps I don't yet fully understand all the benefits, but holding on to coins (or working to increase the amount you own) seems far more sensible at the moment.

If nobody would use their BTC thei would probably be worth nothing. Bitcoin are worth something soely because there is a community that believes they are worth something and accept them for goods and services.

And if you are so sure they will increase so spending them is stupid, why do you still have FIAT money, shouldn't you in that case transfer as much as possible of your income into BTC and have nothing else to spend but BTC?

[xdwingdx]

yes, very hard to imagine spending at this point in time. this still feels like the time to accumulate.

[Elleria]

I have done

I jumped during the April price drop and have limit orders setup to buy whenever there's a significant price drop. I believe in Bitcoin and hope it becomes very successful.

I'm not all in Bitcoin because even though I believe the price will go up next year, I have to be sensible and not risk what I can't afford to lose. I also can't yet pay any of my (many!) bills using Bitcoin (even if I want to), so I'm still forced to hold fiat else I'd be suffering horrible transfer fees constantly moving the money around.

I have an open mind and enjoy hearing other opinions, so thank you for responding

[hilariousandco]

I can see that you can now use Bitcoins to pay for various things, including food, property and even a ride on a Virgin Galactic spaceship, but why would I want to actually spend coins when the value has increased by 30,000% over the last 2 years? Perhaps I don't yet fully understand all the benefits, but holding on to coins (or working to increase the amount you own) seems far more sensible at the moment.

As with any currency or commodity, people are free to buy, sell, trade or save. Yeah, it's wise to hang on to them for a bit, but at some point you're going to need to cash out.

[hashturbator]

Why spend something today that will be worth more tomorrow?

That is the big question many economists will argue as to the validity of using a deflationary currency. Sure, right now it is difficult to imagine parting with our coins while the value increases so dramatically, but that won't be the case forever. At some point, the market will find stability and people will have to decide whether it is of more value to them to obtain a particular good or service now than it is to potentially gain a negligible % more by holding. You might be willing to go hungry today if you can make 50% on your holdings, but are you willing to go hungry tomorrow if your holdings only net you .25% earnings?

Debt money is a form of slavery.

This deserves repeating.

[sealberrder]

These big adoption times with exponential price rise cannot last forever. After few years, the price will be more stable

[tonto]

I buy stuff because no one knows what will happen.  Could it drop to zero? Dunno.  Could it shoot the moon?  Dunno.  What I do know is the value *right now*.  And I've bought various things along the way.  I'm a little disappointed in myself that I'm not sitting on a million bucks right now, but hindsight is always 20/20.  Same with our own country's economy.  I'm a "prepper" and building up some food/supplies in case of economic collapse or natural disaster, because no one can predict the future.  I'd rather have tangible goods than "electrons" or "paper".  
 
So that said, I'll keep spending when I see something cool I want that my wife wouldn't otherwise let me use "real money" to purchase with, such as some sweet guns that I wouldn't have been able to buy otherwise.

[Gabi]

Because tomorrow the bitcoin price can happily crash. When you are in a bubble, you should sell/use the coins before the crash  

Also, the price in the long term increase BECAUSE people use coins.

[MoonShadow]

I've spent or lost 90%+ of my original horde because I happen to like stuff.

[Mondy]

in the near future people will spend but now is a time to save!

[Anon136]

i cant speak for other people but i can speak for myself. anything that i would have bought with fiat anyway that can be bought with bitcoin instead, I buy with bitcoin instead. since i do believe that the price will continue to go up, i buy enough bitcoins to offset the purchases i make with it. So in the end i have no fewer bitcoins than i would if i hadn't spent them.

[raspcoin]

Because tomorrow the bitcoin price can happily crash. When you are in a bubble, you should sell/use the coins before the crash  

Also, the price in the long term increase BECAUSE people use coins.

I would not call it a bubble. Not yet, at least.

As for the actual question, this is a common issue with deflationary commodities. The following post mentions a possible solution to that problem:

i cant speak for other people but i can speak for myself. anything that i would have bought with fiat anyway that can be bought with bitcoin instead, I buy with bitcoin instead. since i do believe that the price will continue to go up, i buy enough bitcoins to offset the purchases i make with it. So in the end i have no fewer bitcoins than i would if i hadn't spent them.

[MicroGuy]

I can see that you can now use Bitcoins to pay for various things, including food, property and even a ride on a Virgin Galactic spaceship, but why would I want to actually spend coins when the value has increased by 30,000% over the last 2 years? Perhaps I don't yet fully understand all the benefits, but holding on to coins (or working to increase the amount you own) seems far more sensible at the moment.

You are making the assumption that the price will not fall over time. I think this is not a really good assumption. One thing that is important is to keep in mind that until this point, Bitcoin has not had much competition. But that is changing: http://coinmarketcap.com/

What this means is that a real potential exists for some of these other coins to take marketshare away from Bitcoin. In terms of the return you referenced in your comments, I think the possibility of Bitcoin seeing a 30K repeat is much much less likely that an altcoin making that type of move.

Max Keiser is now starting to talk about Litecoin and I'm sure he'll find good things to say about other altcoins soon. So in my view, at this point in the game diversifying into some select altcoins has a much more attractive risk/reward profile that having all ones eggs in the Bitcoin basket. IMO.

http://rt.com/shows/keiser-report/episode-526-max-keiser-025/

[Kiki112]

you can get greedy, of course someone wants stuff over money and it's natural that most of people think this way
but a big part of the bitcoin community prevailed this part and that's awesome

[DeathAndTaxes]

For every buyer there is a seller.  The question why would anyone spend their coins is similar to why would anyone sell them?  Obviously if nobody would sell the price would go to infinity but there is always someone willing to sell at some point and likewise there is always someone willing to spend at some price point.

[ScripterRon]

I feel that the price has risen too fast this year and is due to drop off.  But over time, it should continue to increase, hopefully at a slower pace so it can actually be used as a currency.  As a merchant, imagine buying inventory using BTC and then trying to sell the inventory in two weeks when the exchange rate has increased 20%.

Ron

[Elleria]

i cant speak for other people but i can speak for myself. anything that i would have bought with fiat anyway that can be bought with bitcoin instead, I buy with bitcoin instead. since i do believe that the price will continue to go up, i buy enough bitcoins to offset the purchases i make with it. So in the end i have no fewer bitcoins than i would if i hadn't spent them.

Perhaps I'm missing some key info, but say I paid 1 Bitcoin yesterday for a laptop worth $725. Today I take funds out of my bank, which costs me $15 in fees, and then right now I'd have to pay $790 to get my coin back.

If the price is more stable in the future, perhaps this kind of thing will start to make more sense to me, but that seems to be several years away. Right now, it seems that more people are interested in Bitcoin from a get-rich-quick perspective, which makes stability hard because people will start selling if they believe it's no longer making the quarterly % increases they were after.