What bitcoin adoption really is.

[samuel-sd]

Bitcoin has unique properties that no other asset has, I believe that these properties are the real value of bitcoin. Bitcoin does not need to be backed by anything except its properties. I believe that the main bitcoin purpose is a store of value. Many people say that bitcoin is not used as a medium of exchange and that's true, it's not convenient to use it because transactions are slow and fees are high for small purchases. People don't use bitcoin to buy stuff, people use fiat because it's more convenient, right? We have so many really good mediums of exchange, does bitcoin need to be one of them and compete with them? Hell no.

Let's look at bitcoin from a store of value perspective. How would a new store of value adoption look like? What is the measure of it?
Just two things:
1. Accessibility, convenience of buying and selling bitcoin.
2. Level of people's trust (most important)

More people believe that bitcoin has value, more valuable it becomes; that's a simple rule of a store of value. So, bitcoin adoption is in level of people's trust. The higher level of trust bitcoin has, more adopted it is. I think while bitcoin keeps its properties, it will earn people's trust and become more and more valuable. In 20 years, no one will ever doubt that it has value and the exchange rate will reflect it.

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[famososMuertos]

Trust is the main value of bitcoin.

Its characteristics and usefulness is not at all questionable in fact I create an entire industry called cryptocurrencies.

Adoption should not be a goal of bitcoin, it should be transformation revolution. And so it must be received.


.

[mk4]

2. Level of people's trust (most important)

Trust is the main value of bitcoin.

To be more specific, it's more of the fact that you don't need to trust anything at all. You just need to know the fact that a centralized authority can't fuck up Bitcoin's monetary policy even if they badly wanted to.

This is why the "don't trust, verify" quote is being used a lot in the Bitcoin space.

[Darker45]

So, does that mean to say that when people start buying Bitcoin and HODLing them, keeping them for god knows when, that's enough to consider adoption? Or is it that when people start buying Bitcoin and then use it as a medium of exchange or as a real-life money, that's the time we can only say it has reached a decent level of adoption?

If I'm not mistaken, not once did Satoshi mention Bitcoin as a store of value. But then it has grown into it over time as its price value has shown some really great potential.

[samuel-sd]

This is why the "don't trust, verify" quote is being used a lot in the Bitcoin space.

Come on, how many people have enough knowledge to verify something related to bitcoin?! The believe system is 99.9% based on the fact that bitcoin has never been compromised.

[Eugenar]

Bitcoin is also good for purchasing things we want, that is why there is already existing establishment that allows bitcoin as payment, they know how good and convenient the use of mobile devices as our wallet for payment. Fiat currency is good for daily expenses because bitcoin cannot use to buy small things or cheap prices, using fiat will be good for that. Maybe there are some things that will be suited for the bitcoin as payment.

[samuel-sd]

So, does that mean to say that when people start buying Bitcoin and HODLing them, keeping them for god knows when, that's enough to consider adoption?

Now, bitcoin is considered as a risky asset. Why is that? Is it lack of trust? There are lots of fears about bitcoin and its future. When bitcoin becomes less risky (in people's mind) or even reliable asset we can admit that it is more adopted.

Or is it that when people start buying Bitcoin and then use it as a medium of exchange or as a real-life money, that's the time we can only say it has reached a decent level of adoption?

Using bitcoin as a medium of exchange is just a small bonus that it provides, that's not important.

But then it has grown into it over time as its price value has shown some really great potential.

I believe that the price value growth is mostly related to the trust growth.

[target]

There are businesses accepting BTC not just online casinos therefore BTC can be considered money which is one of the most important properties of it that makes people see it to have a value. Some investors don't even learn what blockchain nor what is behind BTC, they just have to think its value will rise and watch the charts to trade it. Whether we treat it as investment or money, its still going to have value.

[samuel-sd]

Bitcoin is also good for purchasing things we want.

How is bitcoin better than fiat if we are talking about purchasing things we want? In what way is it better?

[Darker45]

So, does that mean to say that when people start buying Bitcoin and HODLing them, keeping them for god knows when, that's enough to consider adoption?

Now, bitcoin is considered as a risky asset. Why is that? Is it lack of trust? There are lots of fears about bitcoin and its future. When bitcoin becomes less risky (in people's mind) or even reliable asset we can admit that it is more adopted.

Lack of trust follows fear. Fear follows ignorance. The moment the majority of the people finally understands Bitcoin, not even all of it, just at least the most fundamental parts, their fears will surely begin to subside. And that's the moment that they begin to trust Bitcoin. But this does not take the risk away from Bitcoin especially in terms of its being a store of value. The risk remains there.  

Or is it that when people start buying Bitcoin and then use it as a medium of exchange or as a real-life money, that's the time we can only say it has reached a decent level of adoption?

Using bitcoin as a medium of exchange is just a small bonus that it provides, that's not important.

I was taken a little aback with this statement.

Bitcoin as a medium of exchange should be the rule rather than the exception. I believe it is what Bitcoin essentially is. On the other hand, it is a tiny bonus that Bitcoin becomes a trusted store of value, although, of course, a good medium of exchange must be able to keep its value strong. Otherwise, if it loses value fast, it is not really a nice medium of exchange.

But then it has grown into it over time as its price value has shown some really great potential.

I believe that the price value growth is mostly related to the trust growth.

If by trust you mean people trust that its price is going to fly rather than dive. This should not necessarily be equated to trusting Bitcoin itself.

[anu1908]

Come on, how many people have enough knowledge to verify something related to bitcoin?! The believe system is 99.9% based on the fact that bitcoin has never been compromised.

90% of the time you just have to understand how to sign message and confirm it, or see the wallet balance before you make a deal with someone claiming to have 100 BTC, or require proof for their claim etc. it's as simple as that. maybe you don't know how blockchain works, but at least you should know how to avoid scam.

[Latviand]

For me, once we make the bitcoin's reputation good, we can achieve adoption that easily. The reason why people are not engaging into the use of bitcoin is because of those news that bitcoin was reportedly used in a scams.

How can we achieve people's trust with those kind of bad influence towards bitcoin? That's the reason why it should've starts with us, to shape the good reputation and benefits of bitcoin to anyone. Being ignorant towards bitcoin will lose a person's opportunity to adopt and grow as an individual who uses the best cryptocurrency, bitcoin, as his asset.

Adoption is confidence in manipulating a bitcoin and dealing with the market.

[pooya87]

I believe that the main bitcoin purpose is a store of value. Many people say that bitcoin is not used as a medium of exchange

bitcoin is a store of value because it is a medium of exchange. otherwise you would be storing some virtual numbers in a very expensive database without any value.

transactions are slow and fees are high for small purchases.

bitcoin transactions are super fast. it takes literary 1 second, or 3 worst case scenario to propagate a transaction throughout the entire bitcoin network that is spread across the globe. and fees aren't that high most of the times  but i agree that they should be lower.

People don't use bitcoin to buy stuff,

that is your assumption.
millions of dollars worth of transaction is being processed by BitPay alone which means people are using bitcoin "to buy stuff" and that is not even considering other payment processors such as Coinbase, etc or even the merchants that accept bitcoin directly both in online and offline shops.

[Chesuta123100]

I believe that the main bitcoin purpose is a store of value. Many people say that bitcoin is not used as a medium of exchange

bitcoin is a store of value because it is a medium of exchange. otherwise you would be storing some virtual numbers in a very expensive database without any value.

transactions are slow and fees are high for small purchases.

bitcoin transactions are super fast. it takes literary 1 second, or 3 worst case scenario to propagate a transaction throughout the entire bitcoin network that is spread across the globe. and fees aren't that high most of the times  but i agree that they should be lower.

People don't use bitcoin to buy stuff,

Well some though use them at their local shops. Others get paid in Bitcoin and use it to shop online. So it merely depends on the the persons interest in using them.


that is your assumption.
millions of dollars worth of transaction is being processed by BitPay alone which means people are using bitcoin "to buy stuff" and that is not even considering other payment processors such as Coinbase, etc or even the merchants that accept bitcoin directly both in online and offline shops.

[mk4]

Come on, how many people have enough knowledge to verify something related to bitcoin?! The believe system is 99.9% based on the fact that bitcoin has never been compromised.

I mean, verifying if a Bitcoin transaction is legitimate through multiple block explorers is easy enough(though of course it's not completely trustless unless you use a full node). Never said people need to verify literally everything in the first place.

[Lorence.xD]

Bitcoin is also good for purchasing things we want, that is why there is already existing establishment that allows bitcoin as payment, they know how good and convenient the use of mobile devices as our wallet for payment. Fiat currency is good for daily expenses because bitcoin cannot use to buy small things or cheap prices, using fiat will be good for that. Maybe there are some things that will be suited for the bitcoin as payment.

Having that model for spending bitcoin is a very nice balance, unlike other bitcoin purist who try to push bitcoin as the sole currency for any transaction, this thread is a nice breath of fresh air to all the other thread that are dominated by purist, I like this concept even more, maybe the mass adoption that we need is that bitcoin will become a nation's reserve currency aside from gold and USD. In my opinion, the adoption that we should aim for is free market and liberty to use cryptocurrency everytime we buy or sell things.

[Finestream]

Let's look at bitcoin from a store of value perspective. How would a new store of value adoption look like? What is the measure of it?
Just two things:

2. Level of people's trust (most important)

I will answer this number 2 first as that is the most important.
In order for people to trust bitcoin, it has to be safe and in order for it to be safe, it has to be regulated and we need the government to accept bitcoin not only in a certain country but it has to be globally as bitcoin is a global currency where we can use it to transact from border to border of the world.

1. Accessibility, convenience of buying and selling bitcoin.

With proper regulation, this would grow as people will be confident to use bitcoin, it will be like a digital currency that we can spend anywhere and anytime we want, of course exchanges are still very important as it's not possible fiat will be obsolete even with bitcoin's mass adoption happening.

[jademaxsuy]

adaptation is not really needed for bitcoin because it can support itself and not needed for the government in its operation. But the problem are those individual abusing bitcoin system. This is where the government could do something implementing rules and regulations needed for the safety of the consumers. This is where cryptocurrency could not be use in its full potential because it will become centralized in a way being regulated by a centralized system like government.

[Wexnident]

People trust bitcoin in the fact that there's no need for trust when transacting with it. Why? Simply because there's no power behind it, it's like that imaginary world where everyone is equal, the same idea is placed upon Bitcoin. It doesn't have to bow to anyone, nor does it need to lord above anyone, it's like its own separate world.

I will answer this number 2 first as that is the most important.
In order for people to trust bitcoin, it has to be safe and in order for it to be safe, it has to be regulated and we need the government to accept bitcoin not only in a certain country but it has to be globally as bitcoin is a global currency where we can use it to transact from border to border of the world.

It's already safe without regulations of the government though. There's simply no need for government to even accept it, they just have to acknowledge it's existence and let it be that. It's not like they can arrest anyone that owns Bitcoin when they state that its usage is illegal when Bitcoin itself can be the definition of freedom. Even in the past, when the government didn't notice Bitcoin, global transactions were already made and the like.

~

it is indeed a negative influence, but honestly? They just stem from ignorance. Just a bit of studying would prove that the System of Bitcoin hasn't really been compromised in the past, most were just people entering the crypto scene blindly, believing it to be an easy way and their path to making money.

[Debonaire217]

One thing I see bitcoin as a store of value is just like this:

I use bitcoin to store mainly some of my funds, but when I need money for daily transactions and needs, I am not directly transacting using bitcoin. That is because, the transaction fee of bitcoin is relatively high compared to other crypto, and there are some stores that could not accept bitcoin. Bitcoin as a store of value works just as simple as the term, Hodling, you hold bitcoin, wait for it's price to somehow give you profit and sell it. In reality, bitcoin doesn't really have a physical value, or what they called, intrinsic value, but as of today, many people are already treating bitcoin the same way as gold, thus, what the most important is that bitcoin has characteristics better than fiats that suffice its lack of intrinsic value.