Do you think Bitcoin has an identity crisis now?

[thesmallgod]

But this cut across every market. Even the stock market is also affected. I lived in a country where the major source of revenue if from oil and due to the crises, the economy is affected including importation. The price of crude oil has crash and the government is looking for a way to mitigate the effect of this loss. The same is happening to crypto which is regarded also as an asset. I want to believe reason, why there is a lot of hoax about this, is that people see crypto more as currency rather than asset

[coinfinger]

Bitcoin is none of those things you have mentioned . These were started by some enthusiasts and I don’t have time to believe things like that; I only accept Satoshi's definition of Bitcoin that it is a payment method. He never said that Bitcoin was a replacement for fiat and he never said that it is a store of value, he only called it a payment method and that’s what I see it as.

Since the price fluctuates, I also see it as an investment and I’m always ready for it, knowing that it is volatile, I invest only what I can afford to risk. You got to be careful, stop believing everything you see, though anything can be used as a store for value if you want.

[CHENIEN]

bitcoin is still young and sealed as cryptocurrency, the identity crisis was expected to happen normally that's because of their volatility, aside from that bitcoin involves the exchange of money and consumers which is needed laws in place to protect their assets, unfortunately, the majority are not yet enough and still do not understand and not used digital currency cause of lack of knowledge regarding the cryptocurrency probably bitcoin is very useful need to expand throughout the world especially now many people affected with coronavirus which is digital cash because many people abandon fiat currency as payment for their daily basis.

[seoincorporation]

I think the identity crisis of bitcoin is because it isn't considered transaction money. For the laws, it's a Virtual Active. And that's the problem, you can't make a payment with bitcoin and get a tax bill because, in theory, you are not paying in bitcoin. So, my answer is yes, it's under an identity crisis.

[KrisAlex18]

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?

I don't think that bitcoin would replace the fiat currency because not all people are really used with technology especially those rural places, so it would be hard for them to learn about different cryptocurrency, do not think that the bitcoin has an identity crisis if it is only going down, bitcoin already reaches about the lowest value of it for about 3,000 USD but it turns back again, bitcoin dumping is a normal thing because of its volatility and that feature of the bitcoin makes itself as good for investments and trading because that is how we may earn from the bitcoin.

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

Indeed, they keep on saying that bitcoin will be dead when it reaches for about 3,000 Dollars, and feels like so happy when it reaches for about 10,000 dollars. So basically, they already know that bitcoin is volatile which means it changes its price minute by minute. So stop thinking about that way because bitcoin bumping and dumping is a normal thing.

[maxreish]

It is, somehow. It is formulated as p2p cryptocurrency. But it is said to believe in different ways by others. Thus, this identity  crisis is really happening now. But this will not change the fact this this bitcoin is an advantage to most of us here. In it's overall, it is still bitcoin where in we can do digital payments and transactions like it used to be which also doesn't need any third party.
 
 However, when it comes to the financial freedom. Well, you can control over your bitcoin because they can't have any access to your own digital wallets.

[senne]

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?

My assumption before this corona crisis was that in case of economy slowdown, people will sell off stocks and then they would need some safe haven to park their investments. In that case, crypto can come up as an alternative along with gold, oil and other commodities. But unfortunately, even when the oil prices are halved, money got wiped out of the crypto too.

Th biggest reason could be the small market which can easily be manipulated by a small degree of sell off in such economic condition.

Thus, replacing fiat would need much more than just a use case. It needs volume.

[johnyj]

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?

Good observation. And this pandemic already demonstrated that when in panic, everything is sold for USD, which is long been regarded as a worse currency than BTC by people here

The root for this is planted long long ago in everyone's mind: Since we were born, we got used to use USD to measure value, USD is like foot to measure length or lbs to measure weight, it is a standard unit to measure value, and its value never changes, just like foot or lbs. We received  this concept from our parents and grand parents, and there is no way to get rid of this way of thinking easily, unless you travel a lot between countries and use many different currencies

So, in panic, BTC would only be kept by those people who don't use fiat money to measure value, they are highly knowledgeable in economy and money theory, and they are very few

If people can measure value without using fiat money, e.g. they can understand that everything's value is relative and fluctuating, including fiat money, then BTC will become fiat money independant. For example, if people start to use energy unit like kwh to measure value (since everything valuable essentially are some form of energy or made by input some energy), then bitcoin's value will be related to its mining energy input, instead of USD

On the other hand, you can see that the idea of a standard unit of value (fiat money) have deep effect on people's prespective and behavior, so that no matter how much more USD is printed, people still regard its value unchanged, they actually become a life-time slave of that cognition

[hatshepsut93]

My assumption before this corona crisis was that in case of economy slowdown, people will sell off stocks and then they would need some safe haven to park their investments. In that case, crypto can come up as an alternative along with gold, oil and other commodities. But unfortunately, even when the oil prices are halved, money got wiped out of the crypto too.

Th biggest reason could be the small market which can easily be manipulated by a small degree of sell off in such economic condition.

Thus, replacing fiat would need much more than just a use case. It needs volume.

Well, now we know that cash is actually the safe haven that most investors choose. People here often hate fiat, especially the US dollar, but in short term it's very stable and predictable, and inflation really doesn't mean much on a scale of weeks and months.

And as for volume, it's a closed loop problem - there's little volume so the price is volatile, and because the price is volatile volume doesn't want to come - less people want to adopt it or trade it.

[OrangeII]

I think the identity crisis of bitcoin is because it isn't considered transaction money. For the laws, it's a Virtual Active. And that's the problem, you can't make a payment with bitcoin and get a tax bill because, in theory, you are not paying in bitcoin. So, my answer is yes, it's under an identity crisis.

I also think like that. however, although it is still in a state of crisis, there are still many people who are optimistic about prices, and also make asset investments, because they are speculating for greater prices. if this is a time of crisis, I think this is a good enough situation to immediately do a large stock.

[eli113]

due to CV i have plenty of time to think
i changed my standard procedure about how i read posts in our beloved forum
now i am reading just the OP only if it is small enough
but i am reading such posts at least ten times before i decide to reply

from my POV exclusively ,here is my reply (green letters within the quoted OP)

First the dominant narrative was that Bitcoin brings a financial revolution
BTC already set in stone the best so far paradigm capable to support a financial revolution

and soon the whole world will abandon fiat
fiat is necessary evil ,BTC has space to grow in separate and really help human race

and use it instead.
this is still the main idea

Then, the problems with scaling started to arise
did your coffee or your pizza payment delayed that much? (a bit sarcastic i can admit)
layering efficient ways to reduce unnecessary traffic is what all capable programmers and analysts must think all day
however we are in the rush to build the next 'provably fair casino' or 'KYC facility of any kind'

the narrative shifted to store of value and digital gold.
we humans are always translate what we do not understand
most of times we are just complicating things

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?
x% crash against what ?
if the ultimate goal/dream/utopia of us BTCers is 'fiat must die' ...
why we calculate equity against fiat i wonder
recalculate equity against healthy assets like pizzas and anything else is my humble suggestion

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?

Elias Ch.
*please do not merit my post here, since i am 50+ years old i love to stay SENIOR member of our forum
*i do not feel the need to be Hero or Legend of any kind.

[fiulpro]

Well honestly one cannot expect bitcoins to increase in price of get all that positive impact due to the Halving when you see the economic condition the world is in.
Everything is breaking , people are dying , governments are collapsing therefore I do think there is no way that bitcoins would increase at a time like this , what one can wish is all of this to be over really really soon and us finding a vaccination which is completely effective .
You know , people are using bitcoins now more than ever therefore I do think there is nothing wrong with bitcoins .

[crypto_elle]

I think that the whole economy in crisis and cryptoeconomy too

[johnyj]

Well honestly one cannot expect bitcoins to increase in price of get all that positive impact due to the Halving when you see the economic condition the world is in.
Everything is breaking , people are dying , governments are collapsing therefore I do think there is no way that bitcoins would increase at a time like this , what one can wish is all of this to be over really really soon and us finding a vaccination which is completely effective .
You know , people are using bitcoins now more than ever therefore I do think there is nothing wrong with bitcoins .

The ironic thing is, at such a critical time, with tons of helicopter money, banks are refusing to loan to the company that most needed money, simply because their forecast showing that those companies are losing order dramatically and are on the brink of bankrupt

Similarly, commercial banks in my country are not interested in getting those QE loans from central bank, since central bank asking for collateral, and they have to buy collateral from central bank at an unfavorable rate, means central bank want to get a cut from this crisis too

It is totally corrupt at the top in today's financial system, and that's why people are embracing bitcoin and self managed cash flow, instead of becoming killed by the bankers at such a moment

[DooMAD]

The ironic thing is, at such a critical time, with tons of helicopter money, banks are refusing to loan to the company that most needed money, simply because their forecast showing that those companies are losing order dramatically and are on the brink of bankrupt

Similarly, commercial banks in my country are not interested in getting those QE loans from central bank, since central bank asking for collateral, and they have to buy collateral from central bank at an unfavorable rate, means central bank want to get a cut from this crisis too

It is totally corrupt at the top in today's financial system, and that's why people are embracing bitcoin and self managed cash flow, instead of becoming killed by the bankers at such a moment

Yeah, it's pretty disgusting that newly printed money is being used as yet another bailout for billionaires, despite the fact that numerous studies have shown it to be a weak method of providing stimulus to the economy.  Maybe that's why they don't refer to them as 'stimulus packages' anymore?  The term seems to have fallen out of use.

In fairness, though, even though we'll probably never agree with how QE is utilised by central banks, it's not like Bitcoin is capable of providing loans to the companies that need it either.  They'll need an entrepreneurial whale for that.  The totally debt-free nature of Bitcoin is absolutely the right path for what we're setting out to achieve, but it does mean we aren't really in a position to "save" the ones who are already in debt.

[jacafbiz]

No, Bitcoin do not, it is some people that do not understand what they want form Bitcoin. I can assure you Bitcoin is coming out of this crisis stronger, remember most of these new money printing is going somewhere and some of it will find its way into Crypto. Fed just printed more than $1 trillion which is far more than the whole Crypto marketcap

[Shasha80]

With the current economic crisis caused by the corona virus does not make bitcoin replace the role of fiat, because according
my opinion it was too quick to conclude that bitcoin is able to replace fiat with network lighting. It is true currently using
bitcoin is very effective as cross border payments, because it can prevent transmission of the corona virus. But on the other
hand there are still many reasons bitcoin still cannot replace the role of fiat as a whole. For now I feel that bitcoin is still better
as an investment compared as payment.

[johnyj]

In fairness, though, even though we'll probably never agree with how QE is utilised by central banks, it's not like Bitcoin is capable of providing loans to the companies that need it either.  They'll need an entrepreneurial whale for that.  The totally debt-free nature of Bitcoin is absolutely the right path for what we're setting out to achieve, but it does mean we aren't really in a position to "save" the ones who are already in debt.

This crisis just told everyone that do not hope that banks will bailout you in a crisis, you should start to save/invest a security buffer against economy shock, and cryptocurrencies are one of the best saving medium

[davide72]

This is a very difficult period for the world, most likely there will be a global recession, I don't think there is any problem with bitcoin but if world finance suffers, unfortunately, bitcoin also suffers a lot about this situation.

[desertfox470]

This is a very difficult period for the world, most likely there will be a global recession, I don't think there is any problem with bitcoin but if world finance suffers, unfortunately, bitcoin also suffers a lot about this situation.

This is what I believe as well. I don't think its necessarily a bitclin issue, but right now a world issue. I don't think bitcoin is mainstream enough for people to choose to put their money in rkght now compared to things like fiat. Especially during a recession.