Will bitcoin ever succeed as a currency

[exstasie]

I will express an unpopular opinion - but BTC has not achieved any success as a currency. (Not to mention it TPS)
All this time and until now, the entire cryptocurrency has been solely as a gasket between the dollar and the user. After all, so smart people once decided to use BTC as money and shout about it everywhere, on every corner, but at the same time when they saying "Bitcoin" they mean "the number of dollars for 1 coin".

Markets are pretty efficient. They price in speculative probabilities, like Bitcoin's future utility and adoption as a mainstream payment rail. If that's a real possibility, of course people are going to buy them up, knowing the limited supply is going to force the price exponentially higher in any mass adoption scenario. That's just a market being a market. You think everyone is going to wait until Bitcoin is perfect and ready to place their bets? Of course not.

I don't think that means Bitcoin is limited to being a speculative vehicle. It just means speculation comes first, results come second.

[romero121]

Bitcoin as a currency is getting used around the globe. Here, it hasn't got the recognition as a currency. Very few Country around the globe have legalized it, whereas majority have added it to the exchangeable asset and can't be used on payment needs. This scenario need to change. For a change to happen is not a simple thing, it takes years and years.

Bitcoin is very young, but it has reached and crossed several milestones with its multiple usage access. Slowly we can see more and more countries legalizing the usage of bitcoin. By that time bitcoin might succeed as a currency.

[Leviathan.007]

Bitcoin is not a currency and should be used to the daily shopping at supermarkets. Bitcoin is an asset just like gold but in a different way. Just because you can buy/sell stuff using bitcoin you should not call it currency, I see some people buying house or car using golds, so gold is a currency? It's not. It's an asset just like bitcoin. But you can trade your asset for goods freely. Because there are many websites or shops looking to earn some bitcoin by selling goods. In the the first place it was not created to be a normal currency, but none knows about the future.

[RealMalatesta]

Bitcoin has already succeded as a money and as an asset already, but know that bitcoin can be called a cryptocurrency but not a currency. Example of a currency are papar fiat, they have no value, it is money that they are called that make the paper money have value which is the value in them. That said, bitcoin is already an established money and asset, it has become a time of institutions and many whales that are investing in it, it is well circulated all through the world and having a marketcap more than $500 billion now. It is clear about how it is possible bitcoin will hit $1 trillion, it can be next year,  the marketcap will be growing more and more in a way bitcoin will be the most successful money and asset on earth.

Bitcoin could be considered an asset but it was created as a currency, not as an asset, it was us humans who decided to use it like an asset which created all this crypto world, everyone around here is trying to make more money, some people do end up losing money while others get richer but the whole public here trying to make some profit and that's it nothing more.

In reality when it was first created the idea was to have something better than fiat currency, the idea that "fiat is not tied to anything, its worthless paper that others give value to" became a thing for bitcoin as well, bitcoin doesn't have any type of instinct value neither but people have invested into it and made it ballooned to high levels. I am not really complaining because this allowed us to have a bit more money but I would like to also see bitcoin as a currency as well and not just an asset.

[Princejebs]

OMG! 
First time I stumbled upon an account that was registered in 2011, if you have been active or reader, you should be really familiar with Satoshi and early life of bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Newbie with an avatar 

Back to your topic @OP, it's still early to say anything about the success of bitcoin as currency, there were so many uncalculated events that happen in the past that made bitcoin to make lows of price, but institutional are playing there card right now, we can't say how long this will continue and correction.

[francois-cooper]

governments are afraid of bitcoin, ae they gonna let btc succeed as a currency ? They are the biggest threat to bitcoin

[Kong Hey Pakboy]

governments are afraid of bitcoin, ae they gonna let btc succeed as a currency ? They are the biggest threat to bitcoin

No. I don't think that some governments are afraid of bitcoin, even it lacks a central authority, and will be difficult for them to confiscate them because bitcoin has a lot of benefits as a digital currency. Also, if governments do find bitcoin as a threat most countries should already ban their citizens from owning it a long time ago, and big companies have not adapted bitcoin to increase its price today.

[jaysabi]

It’s very hard to imagine a scenario where bitcoin is ever a functioning currency. It has never fulfilled the most important aspect of a useable currency and that’s price stability. An inability to hold a consistent value makes bitcoin a poor currency. It’s a speculative asset.

[hatshepsut93]

It really depends on what you count as "succeed". I don't think governments will ever allow it to replace fiat. But in my book, even if a few percent of the population will use it on a daily basis for their personal transactions or business, that will be a success. We're actually extremely far even from that point. High volatility makes people view it only as investment. Its main selling point - control over your money, is actually not that interesting to most people, because most people don't see problems with banks.

[omar]

Wow, I never expected so many replies. I really appreciate everyone providing such thoughtful comments and staying on topic. Great to see this forum is still so active; reminds me of the early bitcoin days. I think I'll be posting more often here. I'll try to address some of the replies in this post:

@Casdinyard
> The question is "How do you define a currency's success?"

Something is successful as a currency if those who are selling goods and services prefer to accept it and hold it until they can also use it as payment. If many potential customers are holding it, a merchant will accept it. But the merchant will only hold it if the price is stable. Otherwise the merchant would risk not being able to pay suppliers. So when merchants accept bitcoin they immediately convert it to fiat. So by this definition my original post is asking when and if ever we will reach a point where merchants will not only accept bitcoin, but hold it knowing they can use it to pay their expenses and suppliers.

@Silberman
> Most of that volatility is created by incoming money. Once the market is mature enough and the incoming money is a tiny fraction of the money already present then we could begin to see bitcoin flourishing as  a currency.

Very well said. However, bitcoin is still an experiment and we have yet to see how people will perceive it when the incoming money dries up. Will price stabilize or will it implode. I don't think it will ever implode to zero since it has a production cost. It may stabilize, but still go up or down in value based on the population size holding bitcoin. If there are twice as many people as before, each can have 1/2 as much bitcoin as before and the cost of a hair cut would have to be 1/2 as much. But this would be a very gradual change when the population size holding bitcoin is everyone in the world.

@Mauser
> The demand for bitcoins is growing every year and we are seeing a higher number of institutional investors from around the world to switch into the crypto world. With all these new players the pressure on FIAT currencies will rise too.

That's actually a bit scary. Bitcoin may trigger the collapse of fiat currencies (as everyone rushes to convert fiat to bitcoin), while it has not yet matured to the point of being stable. So we could have a period of time when people are not sure what to use as yardstick for value.

[Mauser]

governments are afraid of bitcoin, ae they gonna let btc succeed as a currency ? They are the biggest threat to bitcoin

Bitcoin now at 35,000 USD is already a great success. In my opinion the governments will eventually realise that fighting crypto currencies is no solution. Long term all countries need to arrange themself with it's people having access to bitcoins and alt coins. Governments shoulldn't be afraid anymore.

[jubalix]

nothing is stable unless it is the denominator.

Once everything is denominated in BTC, then everything else looks unstable.

This myth of stability had to go.

[Bitbtc8]

Probably not because bitcoin is now a valuable asset that is over gold right now, people tend to treat bitcoin as gold than payment currency, I don't blame them though, too much of bad economics is different part of the world and bitcoin have safe the live of many including mine, I would rather hold for more ROI than to use as means of payment, there are other altcoins that are more suited for means of payment than bitcoin

[jostorres]

The problem is not even that BTC will not always become more expensive and will not always become more and more popular, but that everyone who uses it sees it exclusively as an intermediary between themselves and the dollar, arguing that it is "secure" and "anonymity".
Believe me, in the 21st century, it still possible to be anonymous and to do shady things if you use clean and official tools, mixing somewhere in the depths of some rare and totally impersonal transactions (big crimes in the world still do with fiat) or for real privacy they can use ZEC/XMR .
Until cryptocurrencies begin to act as money by themselves, in isolation from the dollar/euro/etc-they will remain as just another investment instrument of currency for geeks

Unfortunately people swayed away from the real purpose of bitcoin because of how much it values and that created something both great and horrible at the same time. Bitcoin being around 30k means that there are more and more people interested in bitcoin, and that is something we would want right? I would want everyone in the entire world to be interested in bitcoin, I would want everyone to own some, even if only few satoshi, because I want it to be adopted everywhere.

However I also realize that just because bitcoin worths a lot, that also made people get in and be interested because they want to get rich, not because they care about bitcoin, people would literally let the whole bitcoin be destroyed if they would get rich from it. So right now we are in a bad situation out of something good, I don't know how it could ever be saved from this position neither.

[YOSHIE]

But will bitcoin ever succeed at being used as a stable currency?

No, Bitcoin is Bitcoin, cannot be used as a currency in general, Bitcoin is not a dollar, GBP, JPY and so on.

Bitcoin digital currency, which is currently traded all over the world, if you dream that Bitcoin will become one of the stable currencies and transactions like the dollar, your dream will disappear, never achieved.

Actually the reason Bitcoin cannot be used as a currency like the country's currency is very simple: "Bitcoin is not real, it cannot be held and printed" whereas money like dollars can be printed every year, Bitcoin has no real place, money like dollars has a real place.
Bitcoin is like a dream for you, but it sure is.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

Actually the reason Bitcoin cannot be used as a currency like the country's currency is very simple: "Bitcoin is not real, it cannot be held and printed" whereas money like dollars can be printed every year, Bitcoin has no real place, money like dollars has a real place.
Bitcoin is like a dream for you, but it sure is.

I'm disappointed in hearing a bitcoiner (community member) boldly saying bitcoin isn't real. Bitcoin is more of a currency than the fiat can even be. For starters bitcoin isn't just printed from thin even when ever the economy (price) is down to boost it unlike the fiats that the government body abuse for their selfish interest claiming it's for the good of the masses.

Bitcoin has a finite supply and been purely backed also very transparent unlike the fiat system that doesn't have any of this. Now between a currency that it's mode of operation is visible and can be verified by all with the required knowledge than a system where only the banker make the important discussion, which is qualifed to be called real money?

Bitcoin is very young, the fiat currency are centuries old, therefore you don't expect bitcoin to just come into the spotlight and start dominating every aspect of the economy, it's a gradual process that'll take time to happen.

[oliviarobert]

Because of its characteristics, the chances are in favor of success being decentralized, immutable, resistant to censorship, limited, borderless, neutral, independent from central banks and governments, etc. Since its inception, Bitcoin has been up 99.99% of the time and has worked and is the world's most secure network. This is why I believe bitcoin is going to succeed.

[Reid]

It's still a baby. Don't rush it.
I am sure it is the world that is not yet prepared for a change.
Then, there is volatility. For now. That will stop but maybe not in our lifetime but for our kids.

I hope I am still alive looking at that moment where Bitcoin is being used as a normal currency. (widely) But, I know it will be.

[so98nn]

Do you think there is room for another currency to provide the use case for daily transactions; or will bitcoin eventually succeed at this? If you think bitcoin will succeed, how long do you think it will take?

My stakes are on bitcoin really but with little overconfidence I guess. The reason for overconfidence is due to one major fact, bitcoin cost is very huge and the fractions are getting impossible to buy. The smallest bits won't be possible after few years when BTC will cost you more than 50K USD which is gonna be talks of future.

Imagine buying a cup of coffee and you can't buy it because you can't pay that less amount (bits = mega price fraction). Then it will be impossible to say bitcoin as currency or will turn into currency.

But I believe it would be because its popular and publicly recognised now. Easily getting accepted by everyone which means easy access, high demand giving high prices too in terms of investment.

[davis196]

If you need a stable currency,then just use stablecoins like USDT,or fiat money.You obviously have a choice.
Whining about Bitcoin being volatile is pointless.People have been whining about this subject since 2013.
I don't know how the Bitcoin market will "mature"?Can you explain this to me?Markets are driven by fear and greed.The cryptocurrency market isn't different.If Bitcoin becomes a stable currency,all the greedy risk loving crypto traders will just leave the market.This will create lower market liquidity and a lower BTC price.Do we want this to happen?