Do you think Bitcoin has an identity crisis now?

[hatshepsut93]

First the dominant narrative was that Bitcoin brings a financial revolution and soon the whole world will abandon fiat and use it instead. Then, the problems with scaling started to arise the narrative shifted to store of value and digital gold. Now Bitcoin had its first test as those things and it failed it miserably with 50% crash.

So, how will we justify its value in the future? Cross-border payments? Go back to its roots - immutability and personal freedom? Or maybe Lightning Network will bring back the hopes of a widely adopted currency?

What do you think the people will be saying in the near future and what you personally believe in?

[1714930272]

1714930272

[Pffrt]

As I mentioned it a few times, nothing is going to be changed till we can't take it as 1 BTC = 1 BTC, we everyone take it as investment, including me. I doubt we have a single person here who is here to accomplish the goal of BTC as a currency. So, how can it be?

[rdluffy]

I think you guys are overreacting about this
All markets crashed this week, look at stocks, oil, countries are suffering

There's nothing wrong with BTC and the fundamentals, a week ago everyone was happy and BTC will be first coin in the world bla bla bla, and now a lot of people are worried?

It's simple, some people sold their coins to create this panic, and weak hands sold and keep selling at this price, so there's people doing money and being prepared for the next months, I don't have any doubt about this
Another thing to consider, all the world are suffering and maybe worried about having food, medical care etc, so some people sold to be prepared for eventual crisis

[20kevin20]

I don't think Bitcoin was meant to be a revolution against fiat, nor was it supposed to replace it. BTC was designed to eliminate third parties and I am more than sure Satoshi did not create it with the idea of fiat replacement in his mind. It was meant to be just a revolutionary asset you can transfer with mandatory transparency and with no need of trust.

Part of those who have invested months ago and have now lost a significant part of their money are not going to believe in BTC again and will turn into Peter Schiff-like investors throwing only negative opinions and news off the cliff. The other part of investors is those like me, who believe this is not the end of BTC and is just a normal market move in the crypto markets. I am in no way affected as soon as I don't sell.

Bitcoin is safe imho. There's always going to be a mass of investors and they'll split into two during market cycles: those who turn into strong believers and those who turn into non-believers and FUD spreaders.

[mahilchii]

The problem is BTC has seen some insane price over the past several days however despite the bearish mode BTC will solidly bounce back after somedays, the market price now looks completely bloodbath and the entire crypto forum are worried about this situation. I think the big impact might be the deadliest virus where the maximum number of countries are literally scared of this disease, guys let's believe the price will go.

[XCANA]

Let's not forget that; Bitcoin is immutable and a store of value, this doesn't make it withstand the pressure of sell or panic sell as we have seen few days ago which actually resulted to the major crash of Bitcoin. The Bitcoin community has one of the  very weapon or weapons to fight this drastically drop, they should not be force to sell, holding Bitcoin will make Bitcoin  stand in times like this and not forcefully selling because of sell pressure, we'll should be holders and not panic sellers.

[betty11]

This week has been a brutal week, I fear about what will happen in my country because my currency has lose value against the USD because we heavily depend on crude oil for our economy and now crude oil has crashed, we are going to have a budget deficit, meaning my government must borrow to finance the budget otherwise there will be a major crisis, this is not just bitcoin alone, the panic in the world caused all these, humanities are scared.

[royalfestus]

It is still a sign that the space is young, now we have some other things to add to our list on bitcoin price reaction and prediction. we have seen few financial seasons that could determine the price movement of the coin and this is new, pandemic disease can give different reaction of traders. It is a yardstick to explain how to prepare for any financial crisis in world but this does not change the fact that wealth just change hands with fiat holders.

[Nalbo]

Bitcoin is already considered as a coin for freedom and cross border payments. People are using it to save their wealth securely away from prying eyes.
As of the decrease in price, bitcoin has been very volatile in almost of its history and current time is not one of the best ones as we can see almost every markets are decreasing.
Gold decreased 30% a day. That doesn't mean gold has failed.

[dothebeats]

Bitcoin's identity as a crytpocurrency is already sealed. A safe haven perhaps wouldn't be too fitting as its title due to its susceptibility to rapid changes in prices but at the least, it can still retain value no matter what.

We have had similar bad beats in the past but bitcoin recovered as if nothing happened. It will still continue being a currency that transcends borders and can be used by people regardless of their country of origin. While there might be added hindrances and processes such as KYC before getting some coins, P2P still exists, and always has for bitcoin. Forget about bitcoin being the digital gold in its time; as long as it works as intended, everything shuld be fine.

[tomahawk9]

Bitcoin having an identity crisis? More like some people can't figure out what narrative they will use next to fuel their own narrative.

Bitcoin is still the same thing it's been since 2009, if someone doesn't what that is then they need tor read some more. Those who think that btc is having an "identity crisis" are those who don't know what premise they should stick to in times of crisis.

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

So, how will we justify its value in the future? Cross-border payments? Go back to its roots - immutability and personal freedom? Or maybe Lightning Network will bring back the hopes of a widely adopted currency?

What do you think the people will be saying in the near future and what you personally believe in?

How many times we will see a post like this. It's not that this is the first time we have seen this much ups and downs for Bitcoin.

We had $19k and then $3.2k, what did we tell others about it?
What did we say when it went $14k from $3.2k?
What did we say when it went down $7k ish from $14k?
What did we say when it was @ $11k from $7k?

I think you guys are overreacting about this

Absolutely!

[gentlemand]

I've usually regarded it as a speculative instrument. It has the potential to be much, much more but that takes time, education and circumstance. Sometimes it fulfils the other things people are projecting onto it, other times it shits all over it.

It's still outrageously young compared to anything else out there. There'll be many stages before the world has decided what it wants it to be.

From looking at all the comments out there it should be pretty clear what most current owners REALLY think. More than anything they want more dollars.

[stompix]

I think you guys are overreacting about this
All markets crashed this week, look at stocks, oil, countries are suffering

That is exactly what the OP is trying to say, that a lot of people though bitcoin is not affected by a market crash, that bitcoin will grow if something bad happens to the market and it didn't. It acted just like stocks!!!
And at the moment I'm posting, guess what S&P 500  is up by 9,29 %!!!

We have had similar bad beats in the past but bitcoin recovered as if nothing happened. It will still continue being a currency that transcends borders and can be used by people regardless of their country of origin. While there might be added hindrances and processes such as KYC before getting some coins, P2P still exists, and always has for bitcoin. Forget about bitcoin being the digital gold in its time; as long as it works as intended, everything shuld be fine.

Yes, we had bad moments, we had dropped a lot of times but those were mainly overpriced bubbles popping and bad events related to bitcoin itself.
This time it was something from the outside that make it crash!!

Remember how everyone was telling that bitcoin is a safe haven for Venezuelans? That is helping Iranians? That people in turkey are buying BTC to hedge their crashing economy? Seriously, how many topics do you think I can find on how an economic disaster will be good for bitcoin?
And yes, bitcoin failed to do its supposed job in these times, but that's because people were expecting something that wasn't there, the network is still working, the coins are still there, transfers are going on, the coin works still flawlessly, the problem is with the users, it's them who have lost the thing that gives value to BTC , confidence. Without it, the price goes down even if nothing fundamental has changed, and it's not the coin fault.

We will simply have to deal with it, in times of panic, a lot of the so-called "investors" will act just like they dow with stocks, drop and run to the hills like headless chickens, while we stay there and wonder, why the hell are they doing this?!?

[DooMAD]

Bitcoin having an identity crisis? More like some people can't figure out what narrative they will use next to fuel their own narrative.

Those are the words I was trying to find.  Thank you. 

Bitcoin's "identity" is that it's going to find another block in the next few minutes.  That's all it knows or cares about.   

[adzino]

First the dominant narrative was that Bitcoin brings a financial revolution and soon the whole world will abandon fiat and use it instead. Then, the problems with scaling started to arise the narrative shifted to store of value and digital gold. Now Bitcoin had its first test as those things and it failed it miserably with 50% crash.

So, how will we justify its value in the future? Cross-border payments? Go back to its roots - immutability and personal freedom? Or maybe Lightning Network will bring back the hopes of a widely adopted currency?

What do you think the people will be saying in the near future and what you personally believe in?

Yeah, bitcoin was made to be used as a regular currency that can be used to make payment for our day to day transactions. Unfortunately, it wasn't suitable (you don't want to be waiting for more than 10 minutes for confirmation of your transaction just to buy a cup of morning coffee) to be used as a regular currency replacing fiat. Thus, people realized that it can be used as a store of value, which will reward user greatly in the long run but with more risks in short term investment.
Bitcoin might have identity crisis, but do keep this in mind it is the currency that gave birth to other altcoins and the idea of blockchain.

[pixie85]

OP you're only repeating the FUD from some Internet trolls. I also saw those comments that "bitcoin was promoted as currency and then the narrative shifter do digital gold" You're repeating words of some other clueless frustrated wannabe investors who thought they'll buy Bitcoin at 10 thousand, go to bed and wake up millionaires.

Bitcoin never failed as a payment solution! It's used like that many stores in Japan and Korea. The adoption is very slow and that's why you think it's not happening. Travel a little and look for stores that accept it. You'll be surprised by the number of them.
2 years ago there were almost no businesses accepting it on the map and now you can find ATMs in most big cities and places to spend your coins.

It also works as digital gold. The problem is that gold is tanking along with everything else.

[NotATether]

It also works as digital gold. The problem is that gold is tanking along with everything else.

I think it's time everyone gets straight on what they want to use bitcoin for. If they want to use it as a store of value, that's fine with them. There's nothing wrong with doing that, it just guards you from political events in individual countries, but not global events like things that are happening now.

If however they want to use it as a payment solution then that's also OK, we just need to fix a proper price in BTC for one commodity such as soft drinks and furniture, there's no way merchants can continue adjusting the BTC price of their items according to the exchange rate. Nobody changes the cost of things priced in euros of Japanese yen because the exchange rates of those against the dollar changed.

But I admit it's easier for foreign currencies to get away with this because they are only used locally, not globally. Bitcoin, trying to be accepted globally, has more price-conscious people in different countries using it, any political activity in one of them affects the bitcoin price because it's listed on exchanges.

In other words, if you're going to lease a jeep for 0.03 btc/month, then do it and ignore movements of the exchange rate. If you're going to buy a Mercedes roadster at 9 BTC then keep it at that rate. It may be more expensive than buying it in other currencies, but it at least gives bitcoin merchants a chance to get more customers (the ones who are wary of buying something at 2x the price it will be tomorrow, like what just happened today).


While we're on the subject of identity crisis, bitcoin was clearly not intended to be used solely at exchanges, casinos, darknet websites, Ponzi schemes and P2P trading at bitcointalk. And yet that's where the majority of the activity is happening. See these listed cars?



It would be nice if they had starting price was in BTC as well as dollar. And I think that's where we're stuck. No business wants a starting price in two different currencies, that would interfere with its listed value (MSRP). They don't want two different listed values. All but one of the currencies must move aside.

[minersday]

First the dominant narrative was that Bitcoin brings a financial revolution and soon the whole world will abandon fiat and use it instead. Then, the problems with scaling started to arise the narrative shifted to store of value and digital gold. Now Bitcoin had its first test as those things and it failed it miserably with 50% crash.

So, how will we justify its value in the future? Cross-border payments? Go back to its roots - immutability and personal freedom? Or maybe Lightning Network will bring back the hopes of a widely adopted currency?

What do you think the people will be saying in the near future and what you personally believe in?

From my personal observations, I don't really agree with you on the fact that you think Bitcoin has an identity crisis.  The market value bitcoin has always been ups and downs. It is true that the true purpose of Bitcoin has shifted from being an option of being a digital fiat to becoming a digital gold which people will rather store than using it as a payment option. The basic challenge of  bitcoin has always been the lack of knowledge and  understanding of majority of people in the crypto space on what bitcoin is and its purpose in the financial ecosystem.  Once people don't know and understand Bitcoin, bitcoin can't be adopted as a currency.

[hatshepsut93]

OP you're only repeating the FUD from some Internet trolls. I also saw those comments that "bitcoin was promoted as currency and then the narrative shifter do digital gold" You're repeating words of some other clueless frustrated wannabe investors who thought they'll buy Bitcoin at 10 thousand, go to bed and wake up millionaires.

Bitcoin never failed as a payment solution! It's used like that many stores in Japan and Korea. The adoption is very slow and that's why you think it's not happening. Travel a little and look for stores that accept it. You'll be surprised by the number of them.
2 years ago there were almost no businesses accepting it on the map and now you can find ATMs in most big cities and places to spend your coins.

It also works as digital gold. The problem is that gold is tanking along with everything else.

Well, I'm not debating what Bitcoin is objectively, I want to know how people view it and will view it.

Those are the words I was trying to find.  Thank you. 

Bitcoin's "identity" is that it's going to find another block in the next few minutes.  That's all it knows or cares about.   

By "identity" I mean how the community views it.

How many times we will see a post like this. It's not that this is the first time we have seen this much ups and downs for Bitcoin.

It's not about just ups and downs, because this time it was a test for Bitcoin as a hedge. I think everyone remember how people were constantly viewing any negative economic news as bullish for Bitcoin, how people were waiting for a recession to come - well here it is.