Bitcoin can't be used for transactions?

[dothebeats]

At this point, timing your transfers from one address to another seems to be more plausible compared to just sending it blindly without looking at the mempool or any charts similar to that indicating network stats. I know it's a hassle but a huge volume of transactions is coming in the network almost every hour. We've had way worse situations in the past, and just like those instances, this huge volume/wave of transactions will be cleared. For now, it's best to convert to any stablecoins (if it is supported by the service you'll be transferring funds to) and convert to bitcoin once the stablecoins are already in the platform.

I'm not saying that bitcoin is no longer viable for transactions, but at the moment if you are looking for fast and efficient transfers, perhaps converting to something else is the way to go. It still has an excellent fee calculation IMO that is economical in the long run, but due to the large volume of transactions, it's quite shite right now.

[CryptocurencyKing]

Upon seeing your topic, i was first curious on how until i read the content of your thread @OP and you've got a point. Because, due to the fact that, the transfer of bitcoin is from one address to the other takes time, has a direct relationship with fee and the mempool, instantenous confirmation becomes a problem and  merchant isn't really satisfied with cash when it isn't at hand or confirmed in wallet. So, its a real issue for now and future usage in transactions.
On the case of getting transactions done where ever around the globe, nothing does it better than bitcoin.

[just_Alice]

From what I've read, Bitcoin now charges high transaction fee and long transaction wait time so it can't presently be used:

a) for a conversion from Bitcoin to cash?
or b) purchases using Bitcoin?

Right now using btc for money transfer isn't the best option, txn fees are high indeed, and even if you pay $10-15 it might take a while for the transaction to be confirmed.
On the other hand, if you want to transfer a big amount of money - using btc will still be more reasonable and cost you less money. than money transfer with credit cards. Plus, if time isn't of importance to you - you can always pay a minimal transaction fee, even around $1, just be prepared that it might take weeks 

[BurtW]

OK, everyone probably knows about this site but it is the coolest thing I have found in a long time.  It visually shows the mem pool statistics, size, the fees people are paying, etc. over time.  Click here and see the beautiful color graphics for the last three months:

https://jochen-hoenicke.de/queue/#BTC,3m

Yes, look at the third graph down, mem pool size, and notice how high it is (225 MB).  This large amount of transactions has to be squeezed into the limited size blocks - therefore the amount you need to pay to get your transaction in the blocks goes up.

You can adjust the time window.  You can also see the fees being paid on other crypto (ETH, BCH, etc.) to see how they compare to BTC.


So cool.  Donating to the site author now...

EDIT:  I will, of course, donate something other than BTC, probably BCH, since a donation of BTC would cost me too much to send right now

[peter0425]

From what I've read, Bitcoin now charges high transaction fee and long transaction wait time so it can't presently be used:

a) for a conversion from Bitcoin to cash?
or b) purchases using Bitcoin?

If you are looking for a flash transaction then yeah it is not bitcoin that you are looking for , but there are options for the fee to lower and the transaction time be lesses , by using " LIGHTNING NETWORK" but as i believe this is best for small transaction only and not for the much bigger one like more two digits Bitcoin transaction.

[dihari]

Since 2017 I am no longer treat bitcoin as an alternative currency. I am more treat bitcoin as digital asset for some reason;
1. Any transactions using cryptocurrency is banned in my country.
2. Bitcoin is tradable and it's legalize by the government.
3. It's not fast a currency.
4. It is profitable to hold for long time.

[20kevin20]

I'm not saying that bitcoin is no longer viable for transactions, but at the moment if you are looking for fast and efficient transfers, perhaps converting to something else is the way to go. It still has an excellent fee calculation IMO that is economical in the long run, but due to the large volume of transactions, it's quite shite right now.

I think it's actually becoming less viable for transactions than it has ever been. The issue with large volume of transactions has already been going on for months, which I can't remember happening before.. and remember that the more people join the network and the more BTC is being used & adopted, the worse fees and confirmation times become! I just wish this somehow gets solved before someone comes and launches mainstream FUD about the BTC network being basically useless whenever it starts getting used more often.

[masterrex]

From what I've read, Bitcoin now charges high transaction fee and long transaction wait time so it can't presently be used:

a) for a conversion from Bitcoin to cash?
or b) purchases using Bitcoin?

I think its only temporary because of the Network congestion and if the Lightning Network will be widely implemented those slow transaction will be the only thing in the past, But for now that it is not yet widely implemented we can expect more slow transactions and higher transaction fees that directly affecting most of Bitcoin users so for small scale users the fees are high enough and impractical but for the whales its not a problem. 

[Khaos77]

From what I've read, Bitcoin now charges high transaction fee and long transaction wait time so it can't presently be used:

a) for a conversion from Bitcoin to cash?
or b) purchases using Bitcoin?

That is because the bitcoin dev team refused to increase onchain transaction capacity.

If you actually need to transfer coins at decent prices, use Doge or LTC both work great.


 

 

[yhiaali3]

The problem of delay and high fees has become a really annoying problem for many people, recently I sent a Bitcoin transaction that took three days and did not get any confirmation until after I used ViaBtc's acceleration service even though I paid the  3$ transfer fee, while I transferred the same transaction to USDT Sent via Tron network, the process only took 5 minutes and the fee was only 0.1 $.
The high fees make many think of owning bitcoin for investment and trading only.

[amishmanish]

When it comes to transacting money internationally, there is a big game played by international financial institutions. The rules are different for individuals as compared to corporations. The odds really are stacked against the individual as your income will be taxed and levied at every checkpoint.

For the first time in history, Bitcoin gives you an option to avoid that, if used correctly. Fees is something you have to manage at present. How LN changes that remains to be seen.

If you are talking about the fees that exchanges charge or when you want to FOMO into something and convert BTC and find that the fees for instant transfer are insane, then unfortunately, that is just how blockchain stays worth the mining effort and secure.

Authorities everywhere will disagree to everything written above and want their hand in the pie. It is an evolving situation.

[Wenbing]

The efficiency factor should be factored in to make this discussion more comprehensive. This is what i mean, it takes a fraction of the time needed to send cash through a bank to send btc, that time saved could actually be quantified monetary.

When you sum everything, you will discovered that it is far better than the traditional banking transactions.

When it comes to transacting money internationally, there is a big game played by international financial institutions. The rules are different for individuals as compared to corporations. The odds really are stacked against the individual as your income will be taxed and levied at every checkpoint.

For the first time in history, Bitcoin gives you an option to avoid that, if used correctly. Fees is something you have to manage at present. How LN changes that remains to be seen.

If you are talking about the fees that exchanges charge or when you want to FOMO into something and convert BTC and find that the fees for instant transfer are insane, then unfortunately, that is just how blockchain stays worth the mining effort and secure.

Authorities everywhere will disagree to everything written above and want their hand in the pie. It is an evolving situation.

I think the Lightening network will be a very profound innovation since the value proposition is mainly to help reduce the charges for transaction and also reduce delay.

But, do we have these applications already in use? What are the software made up of? are they blockchain?

[moderator's note: consecutive posts merged]

[Lucius]

Bitcoin and Ethereum are useless for small and everyday transactions.

Please read my previous post, it's not all as black as some try to show when it comes to fees - of course it doesn't make sense to send $5 and pay the same for a fee, but at a time when the price is going up it's quite normal that fees get bigger. But as I wrote earlier, users are also partly responsible for this increase because they pay completely unnecessarily large fees.

I often look at mempool, and sometimes it is not clear to me that someone pays up to 10x more than the fee that is enough to confirm the transaction in the next block.

[paxmao]

From what I've read, Bitcoin now charges high transaction fee and long transaction wait time so it can't presently be used:

a) for a conversion from Bitcoin to cash?
or b) purchases using Bitcoin?

It helps to think as it a gold, you can potentially use it for transactions, at least in Utah , but it does not make much sense to do so unless it is a large amount.

It also helps to think of it as diamonds in times of war. You have your keys, you can carry them around, you do not depend on a bank or a state to back it... just consider that you were a doctor in Siria 5 years ago. You have some bitcoin - even on a exchange. You leave your country with your family and whatever you can carry in your car. The mafias strip you of whatever money you have on you and you manage to get to e.g. Germany. If you want to survive now you need either diamonds, which could have been stolen from you at this point, or you keys.

[Matimtim]

Since I started making money using bitcoin I never encountered trouble using bitcoin in any transactions that I made for four years. I use my bitcoin to buy mobile phone loads  and its take a seconds to get successful, and if I need to buy my basic needs I converted my bitcoin in to cash.

You dont need to worry, bitcoin is very convenient to use in any transactions you need to do.

[btc-facebook]

From what I've read, Bitcoin now charges high transaction fee and long transaction wait time so it can't presently be used:

Actually bitcoin transaction fees are cheap because it's only around 2000 satoshis, but because bitcoin prices have gone up very high, the transaction fees based on fiat are very expensive, but actually if based on bitcoin it's still around 2000 satoshis, I use blockchain.com wallets.
If the transaction time for bitcoin is indeed quite long, especially when compared to XRP or Minter ,,, the delivery time is only 5 seconds.
but even so, in my opinion bitcoin is still worth using for daily transactions.

[virasog]

From what I've read, Bitcoin now charges high transaction fee and long transaction wait time so it can't presently be used:

a) for a conversion from Bitcoin to cash?
or b) purchases using Bitcoin?

The transaction fee is high if you want to do very small transactions but for the big transactions, bitcoin is still the best medium. Also fee is not a big hindrance in adoption of bitcoin. For most people who want to deal in big transactions, the fee does not matter at all.

[ubercool]

From what I've read, Bitcoin now charges high transaction fee and long transaction wait time so it can't presently be used:

a) for a conversion from Bitcoin to cash?
or b) purchases using Bitcoin?

Bitcoin and Ethereum are useless for small and everyday transactions.

But you could always use or exchange them to USDC/USDT/Tron and pay whatever you want with crypto through a debit card or payment service.

I agree... For transactions from a country to another or if the amount is too large then Bitcoin is the best way.
But within the city or when you try to do some physical shopping, I think TRX or XRP would be much faster, easier, and with fewer fees.

It will be really hard to implement BTC for these type of transactions.

[mparab82]

I have been through a transaction as a buyer on newly launched domain auctions portal i.e. 48hr.com.

The transaction escrow process was smooth. Since it was a very low priced transaction I had to pay 60% transaction fees to the processor while transferring amount to escrow.

I think this ratio will be much lesser for large transaction. What do you think?

[isaac_clarke22]

From what I've read, Bitcoin now charges high transaction fee and long transaction wait time so it can't presently be used:

a) for a conversion from Bitcoin to cash?
or b) purchases using Bitcoin?

Well there are some apps that provided me the convenience for those. I can convert mine easily to cash.
Purchasing using Bitcoin isn't that much of a problem because I can't pretty much just do the conversion then pay through the converted amount.
If you reside in PH, you can use Coins.ph app.