Does bitcoin need to be a currency?

[Rozita]

Hi, I created a thread two days ago. Here is the link.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5176246
I discussed about the effect of BAKKT on future of bitcoin and one of my concerns was how bitcoin is treated by BAKKT as an investment and store of value.
In some of replies I got, people believe that there is no problem if bitcoin remains an investment forever and won't be a currency.
What do you think? What will happen if bitcoin won't be a currency and it remains an investments like it is today?
I personally believe that people now thinks that bitcoin is a good investment because they believe that bitcoin will be a currency. In other words, bitcoin is the future currency. In my opinion, if bitcoin is not supposed to be a currency, it cannot survive forever as an investment. Why should people invest in something that has not any benefit?
What do you think?

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[Pab]

Despite of physical futures Bakkt will also offer e-commerce
Bakkt count on participation of biggest e-commerce companies
Users will have choice to pay with bitcoin or fiat
Bakkt will provide his service to other than  USA countries later on

[hatshepsut93]

You don't have to think that there's some sort of binary choice that Bitcoin will either be a currency or an asset, Bitcoin is a protocol, it doesn't care how it is used - all transactions are equal. You can't stop people from using it however they like, that's the beauty of Bitcoin. Satoshi described it as peer-to-peer electronic cash, but since then people have discovered other uses, and it's okay. The only thing that Bitcoin really needs is popularity - the more people use it, the more value it has, and the more value it has, the more PoW it can attract, and more PoW means more security.

[Rozita]

You don't have to think that there's some sort of binary choice that Bitcoin will either be a currency or an asset, Bitcoin is a protocol, it doesn't care how it is used - all transactions are equal. You can't stop people from using it however they like, that's the beauty of Bitcoin. Satoshi described it as peer-to-peer electronic cash, but since then people have discovered other uses, and it's okay. The only thing that Bitcoin really needs is popularity - the more people use it, the more value it has, and the more value it has, the more PoW it can attract, and more PoW means more security.

I know popularity makes bitcoin price higher and I know more demand cause higher prices. You are right.
But Assume that today is 2050. People are still hodling bitcoins, But you cannot use bitcoin for your daily payments. Do you think people will still invest in something that has no visible and real benefit after over 40 years of existence? Do you think bitcoin will still remain popular if it is not used for payments?

[dantee1]

Bitcoin should be used for payments. That's the only way it can be viable. Anything outside of that is a waste of time.

I will keep saying it, the current trends of holding and never let go will only cause more harm to Bitcoin. I won't mind becoming an activist in this 

[mk4]

If bitcoin(with the small 'b', as in the currency) fails to be a currency or at least a SoV, then it simply failed in general. But, bitcoin is already being used as a currency now though, just currently not in a global scale as we're aiming it to be. Bitcoin can be both a currency and an investment. In fact, bitcoin needs all the traders and investors for it to have higher liquidity. Higher liquidity is absolutely necessary for it to be stable in terms of price some time in the future; which, a stable price is definitely needed for it to be a successful day-to-day currency for the masses.

[hatshepsut93]

I know popularity makes bitcoin price higher and I know more demand cause higher prices. You are right.
But Assume that today is 2050. People are still hodling bitcoins, But you cannot use bitcoin for your daily payments. Do you think people will still invest in something that has no visible and real benefit after over 40 years of existence? Do you think bitcoin will still remain popular if it is not used for payments?

Gold is not used for payments anymore, yet it's still a hugely popular investing asset. Bitcoin can easily succeed as a digital gold. I'm not a huge fan of bitcoin-as-store-of-value idea, because like I've said in previous post, Bitcoin can easily be many things at once, and I think it's the most likely scenario. I also don't see why it won't be used for payments - maybe it will only be used for big payments instead of cups of coffee, but buying cars, houses or fine art is still payments. Unlike gold, Bitcoin is very suitable for that.

[odolvlobo]

An asset with no utility other than being a store-of-value has very little value. I believe that acting solely a store-of-value would not be enough in order for Bitcoin to sustain itself. The main issue is stability. If Bitcoin is used solely as a store-of-value, then it is nothing more than a speculative bubble, at any price. That makes it an unreliable store-of-value and a poor store-of-value.

Bitcoin cannot succeed solely as a store of value. It must have significant utility in order to sustain its value. Usage as a medium-of-exchange would give it that utility. The utility of a medium-of-exchange is necessary for the success of Bitcoin and will allow it to also be used as a store-of-value.

[Rozita]

I know popularity makes bitcoin price higher and I know more demand cause higher prices. You are right.
But Assume that today is 2050. People are still hodling bitcoins, But you cannot use bitcoin for your daily payments. Do you think people will still invest in something that has no visible and real benefit after over 40 years of existence? Do you think bitcoin will still remain popular if it is not used for payments?

Gold is not used for payments anymore, yet it's still a hugely popular investing asset. Bitcoin can easily succeed as a digital gold. I'm not a huge fan of bitcoin-as-store-of-value idea, because like I've said in previous post, Bitcoin can easily be many things at once, and I think it's the most likely scenario. I also don't see why it won't be used for payments - maybe it will only be used for big payments instead of cups of coffee, but buying cars, houses or fine art is still payments. Unlike gold, Bitcoin is very suitable for that.

Yes, Gold is not used for payments. But it has many other applications and advantages. Gold is a metal having some especial and unique properties that no other metal has them. Gold is shiny. Gold is beautiful. Gold is not destroyed by water or fire. It is not even destroyed over time. I don't want to talk scientifically and I have not enough knowledge.
I agree that gold is also limited and its one of the main reasons of its value but it has many other applications. But bitcoin have no other application than being used as a payment system. I suggest you research about gold, its features and uses.

[figmentofmyass]

What do you think? What will happen if bitcoin won't be a currency and it remains an investments like it is today?
I personally believe that people now thinks that bitcoin is a good investment because they believe that bitcoin will be a currency. In other words, bitcoin is the future currency.

what do people mean by currency? like a medium of exchange? paying for goods and services with it?

it seems to me that bitcoin already is---and will continue to be---used as both a medium of exchange and an investment/store of value. how important either use case is to any one person boils down to speculation and rational greed. some people are happy to spend coins at any price, others wait for higher prices, others will hoard for years and years. i don't see a problem with any approach. why does it need to be one or the other (currency vs investment)?

[kawetsriyanto]

In my opinion, if bitcoin is not supposed to be a currency, it cannot survive forever as an investment. Why should people invest in something that has not any benefit?

If you think Bitcoin has not any benefits, then why people trust to invest in it for years?
For me, Bitcoin has value and benefits, that why it can be converted to Fiats. You are no need to compare it to Gold because they are incomparable. As long as people agree that Bitcoin is a legitimate digital investment, then it has value, right?

In some of replies I got, people believe that there is no problem if bitcoin remains an investment forever and won't be a currency.

It is a personal opinion, mate. They can state everything based on their understanding. But Bitcoin is created with a purpose, we can read it on the whitepaper: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf. Based on the WP, for me, the ultimate purpose is to make it be the world's electronic cash used for online payments on various purposes.

[pooya87]

bitcoin is an "investment" right now because it is a "currency".

people don't invest in bitcoin, and the price doesn't go up, just because they see some virtual numbers and hashes on their computer screen. bitcoin has value and gains value because they can use those "virtual" numbers to buy "real" stuff. that is what makes bitcoin real and gives it utility and the value.

Gold is not used for payments anymore, yet it's still a hugely popular investing asset.

gold has at least 50 other use cases. so even if it is not used as a "currency" it still is used for a lot of other things. what is the other usages of bitcoin other than being a currency?

[HODL2090]

For Bitcoin to be accepted as a currency it has to go through strict regulations. Not many people what to entirely responsible to the safe keeping and management of their total assets as it is with cryptocurrency and wallets.
We would have cryptocurrency banks and what not.
I don't know whether this would be good or bad for the currency.

[qwertyup23]

<snip....>

According to investopedia.com¹, the definition of currency is a medium of exchange for goods and services, which is usually issued by the government and generally accepted at its face value as a method of payment.
In order to satisfy the conditions of bitcoin being a currency, it must FIRST be issued by the government and SECOND being accepted as a medium of exchange of its face value.

Being decentralized and free from any control, bitcoin has a volatile and unstable price that is determined by law of supply and demand. Being a medium which is also limited in supply, the price may vary considerably when it starts to reaches its supply count. From those scenarios alone, I doubt that bitcoin would be regarded as a 'national currency' of every country.

Nevertheless, bitcoin is being used as an investment alternative which has the potential of earning large amounts of returns in a relatively short amount of time. Regardless, I personally think that bitcoin does not need to be a currency but remains as to what it is performing currently.

^{1 https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/currency.asp}

[Kasabus]

It needs to be a currency in order to be a good investment, that is for long term, though it's already good now but price just rise because people speculate and they believe that bitcoin is gonna be mainstream in the future, if that will not happen, then BTC will not be a good investment as no demand means no price increase.

[Kakmakr]

I think people should not put Bitcoin's use case in a "box" and should rather promote it's multi functionality. Why should Bitcoin only have to be one thing, why not have it do several things? You can use cash as a payment option, but you can also trade cash on Forex as an investment option, so why should Bitcoin be any different that cash or fiat currencies?

People use Gold for different things too and nobody is complaining about that, so let's give Bitcoin wings to fly and let it be what people wants it to be. 

[SquallLeonhart]

If bitcoin is to be used alone as store of value, it may never really function well and may crash along the line because it is not designed to be so, what makes bitcoin what it is now is actually the constant demand for it, and if we are to use it for investment alone, the level of constant demand will reduce, because if I feel $1000 is what I want to invest in bitcoin, that is what I will invest and waiting for increase.

If I am using it as currency, I could take that $1000 through the market several time, maybe I need to pay for an imported goods that will cost me about $100,000, I imagine how much bitcoin I will demand for at that time just from a single transaction and from a single person, so because demand is what drives bitcoin price, it needs to be used often.

[stadus]

Bitcoin has to be a currency so it will be able to retain it's demand and will continue to be valuable.
Why are people investing in bitcoin? That's the question everyone should know, and the answer is very simple, they invest because they believe that bitcoin is gonna be the best online currency in the future, and that would not happen if adoption will not grow.

Now, the next question, how did we rate the adoption of bitcoin? for me, I think the adoption rate is moving at a positive rate because more people are now aware of bitcoin, this attracts them because at the same time they can also use it an investment and a currency.

[phamminhtan]

Bitcoin is an investment for me, but I still think Bitcoin is a currency used on enternet, but unfortunately, too few people know about Bitcoin.

[muhhentuhhen]

It needs to be a currency in order to be a good investment, that is for long term, though it's already good now but price just rise because people speculate and they believe that bitcoin is gonna be mainstream in the future, if that will not happen, then BTC will not be a good investment as no demand means no price increase.

Well, the possibility of the emergence of Bitcoins as a new world currency becomes even more important, given that at present, China insists on using Bitcoin as a reserve. I would also like to note that Bitcoin is not controlled from a military point of view, its decentralization makes this direction irrelevant.

Cryptocurrency cannot be limited to any party, which completely excludes the imposition of any sanctions.