Everyone is free to use Bitcoin as they want

[hatshepsut93]

There's an ongoing debate in and outside of Bitcoin community regarding the economic nature of Bitcoin: is it a currency or an asset, a store of value, settlement layer and so on. The situation with ETF's also sparked some debates, as some argue that ETF's are bad and Bitcoin should stick to its cypherpunk roots and ignore the mainstream.

I think all sides kinda miss the point of Bitcoin. Bitcoin was created so people can send coins directly to others, without any mandatory middleman. Therefore, every use case is as legit as any other use case, it doesn't violate the freedom of any other user of the network. It doesn't even matter if Satoshi wanted Bitcoin to be a decentralized currency that will kill banks, because one of the principles of Bitcoin is censorship resistance, so if some people want to use centralized services, want regulated environments, speculation and so on, it's their right. All those things have no effect on people who want to use Bitcoin as an alternative currency.

So, I think there is no single answer to whether Bitcoin is an asset or a currency, everyone decides for themselves, because freedom is the ultimate point of Bitcoin.

[viyumztf]

The recent network is full of currency or asset discussion, and I think this is not the most important thing at this stage. Perhaps it is our primary task to make bitcoin more valuable, and we should put more energy into our community construction.

[erickkyut]

You have a point there but if Bitcoin losses its value, it will neither be an asset or a currency. I think the purpose of those issues with SEC is not to make Bitcoin centralized but to help it to stop market manipulation and scams. If you are a whale in cryptocurrency, it is very easy for you to control the market. Maybe that is one of the reasons why there are lots of debates regarding Bitcoin and its decentralization.

[Sarel Wolmarans]

Some interesting things going on here!!

[hatshepsut93]

You have a point there but if Bitcoin losses its value, it will neither be an asset or a currency. I think the purpose of those issues with SEC is not to make Bitcoin centralized but to help it to stop market manipulation and scams. If you are a whale in cryptocurrency, it is very easy for you to control the market. Maybe that is one of the reasons why there are lots of debates regarding Bitcoin and its decentralization.

I'm not entirely sold on the idea that the price is only moved by the whales and every big movement is a part of their schemes. The market is simply volatile, immature and speculative, relevant news can move it greatly in short term. It's easy to blame some mysterious whales, but really you should be blaming your average trader who tries to make a profit or a noob who panic buys/sells. I don't doubt that whales exist and try to manipulate the market, but I think their influence is exaggerated.

But this state can't last forever, eventually Bitcoin will stabilize on its own, regardless if there will be regulations or not. At that point Bitcoin's value will be mostly based on it's usefulness.

[mu_enrico]

I think the correct term about this issue is not bitcoin as a currency or as an asset, but bitcoin as a store of value or a medium of exchange. Let's take a look at the history of gold. Before people use gold more as a store of value, people use gold as a medium of exchange. People used to buy things with raw gold and then gold coin. So we are certain that we can use gold anytime to buy anything, therefore it's safe to store it.

The problem with bitcoin is that people try to store (hold) it before it becomes widely used as a medium of exchange. It just doesn't make sense to think that bitcoin can be valuable when only a small percentage of people use it. Yes it's rare, but some baseball card is also rare. Some might want to buy that rare baseball card, but not me.

[dothebeats]

Anyone is free to choose in whatever they want to do with their coins. There are no written restrictions on what things could you use your bitcoins to, or to what purpose would you want your bitcoins serve. There shouldn't be a community divide on that as bitcoin excels as a currency and as an investment. Those questioning are the ones who haven't used bitcoin as both, thus picking sides on the only thing others should use their coins. Freedom is what separates bitcoin from fiat, so there shouldn't be anything to question about someone's preference on where they should use their cryptos.

[ratatat bangbang]

Yes everyone is free to use bitcoin as they want because there is no restrictions. It just a matter on how you handle or manage your bitcoin in order to get high profit. It can also be use as mode of payment and as investment.

[Asawakobana2017]

I think itvis free for all. Bitcoin has no requirements to be used upon any individual in a different continent of the world. Anyone can use it without any hesitation even scammers and terrorist can also use it for their own way of understanding crypto. So then no doubt about it bitcoin is for all kinds of people around the globe we are all free to use it.

[Twinscoin2017]

I think itvis free for all. Bitcoin has no requirements to be used upon any individual in a different continent of the world. Anyone can use it without any hesitation even scammers and terrorist can also use it for their own way of understanding crypto. So then no doubt about it bitcoin is for all kinds of people around the globe we are all free to use it.

Yes I agree on that I believe that it is for all types of kinds of people around the globe we are all free to use it because no company or institution that hold or manage bitcoin. And we don't have any requirement on using it we only need a si.ple investment to use bitcoin for gaining purpose. So I think it is for all.

[Indrawan77]

I totally agree, bitcoin was created to make our lives easier and we can have the freedom to used it, it makes the transaction become more transparent, bitcoin was created to become a currency that can be used in all over the world, it doesn't matter whether the person want to store it as an asset or currency, the most important is they not used it for bad things

[AlexAtom]

There's an ongoing debate in and outside of Bitcoin community regarding the economic nature of Bitcoin: is it a currency or an asset, a store of value, settlement layer and so on. The situation with ETF's also sparked some debates, as some argue that ETF's are bad and Bitcoin should stick to its cypherpunk roots and ignore the mainstream.

I think all sides kinda miss the point of Bitcoin. Bitcoin was created so people can send coins directly to others, without any mandatory middleman. Therefore, every use case is as legit as any other use case, it doesn't violate the freedom of any other user of the network. It doesn't even matter if Satoshi wanted Bitcoin to be a decentralized currency that will kill banks, because one of the principles of Bitcoin is censorship resistance, so if some people want to use centralized services, want regulated environments, speculation and so on, it's their right. All those things have no effect on people who want to use Bitcoin as an alternative currency.

So, I think there is no single answer to whether Bitcoin is an asset or a currency, everyone decides for themselves, because freedom is the ultimate point of Bitcoin.

Yes, bitcoin is decentralized, it means freedom. You can use it as a currency or as an asset.
Because bitcoin price is expensive, peoples tend to use it as an asset to save. And the volatile price make us hard to use it as a currency.

[julielyn]

There's an ongoing debate in and outside of Bitcoin community regarding the economic nature of Bitcoin: is it a currency or an asset, a store of value, settlement layer and so on. The situation with ETF's also sparked some debates, as some argue that ETF's are bad and Bitcoin should stick to its cypherpunk roots and ignore the mainstream.

I think all sides kinda miss the point of Bitcoin. Bitcoin was created so people can send coins directly to others, without any mandatory middleman. Therefore, every use case is as legit as any other use case, it doesn't violate the freedom of any other user of the network. It doesn't even matter if Satoshi wanted Bitcoin to be a decentralized currency that will kill banks, because one of the principles of Bitcoin is censorship resistance, so if some people want to use centralized services, want regulated environments, speculation and so on, it's their right. All those things have no effect on people who want to use Bitcoin as an alternative currency.

So, I think there is no single answer to whether Bitcoin is an asset or a currency, everyone decides for themselves, because freedom is the ultimate point of Bitcoin.

Yes, as I all say is free to use bitcoin many sites how to bitcoin and many crypto currencies and data exchanges you can go to so you bitcoin so I can say that anybody is free to bitcoin.

[aileenc]

There are no restrictions. It only depends how you handle your bitcoin.

[pooya87]

in my opinion the "debate" is not about what people want and what is their right. but it is about what majority of them are focusing on these days. and sadly what they are focusing on is the "investment" part of bitcoin and how much money they can make with it and then with ETF they are also focusing on bringing in all that centralization into bitcoin. that can not be always good and also it can not end well if people start forgetting that bitcoin is this decentralized currency that they are responsible for and should contribute like by running a node,... and they seem to be forgetting that.
and i don't think it is a bad thing to remind them about what bitcoin really is and what it was designed to it from time to time so that they are not completely lost because of focusing on SEC decision for example!

[Lagunaloire2]

"A major determinant of the ‘fundamental’ value of bitcoin is whether it will be widely adopted," says Kets. "Once bitcoins become ‘too valuable’, either substitutes will be created or people will stop using it for transactions and instead will hoard it, rendering it useless as a currency."

[hatshepsut93]

in my opinion the "debate" is not about what people want and what is their right. but it is about what majority of them are focusing on these days. and sadly what they are focusing on is the "investment" part of bitcoin and how much money they can make with it and then with ETF they are also focusing on bringing in all that centralization into bitcoin. that can not be always good and also it can not end well if people start forgetting that bitcoin is this decentralized currency that they are responsible for and should contribute like by running a node,... and they seem to be forgetting that.
and i don't think it is a bad thing to remind them about what bitcoin really is and what it was designed to it from time to time so that they are not completely lost because of focusing on SEC decision for example!

It's okay to try to educate people about Bitcoin's roots, but you shouldn't pressure them into being cypherpunk, hating banks, governments, regulations, because I don't think that those things will make Bitcoin centralized. I think the beauty of Bitcoin is that the protocol doesn't care how it's being used, it will work and be decentralized even if governments will try to regulate it. The only requirement is that no one try to change the network rules to something centralized.

[Alns]

This is true but you can not already say the things like that in India and in the country is he who would decide to put cryptocurrency under regulations and ban. So you are free but it is conditionally.

[IndigoRed]

Of course you can do what you want with your bitcoin. Aren’t we doing it now with our money/cash? We either spend it, or invest it in bonds or stocks. Same scenario, right?

[kerremy]

Exactly! I agree with you!
I think people no longer need to debate whether bitcoin is an asset or a currency.
Everyone has the right to determine what they want for their bitcoin because bitcoin is financial freedom.