Bitcoin can't be used for transactions?

[Kong Hey Pakboy]

With the Bitcoin's price today surely there are lots of transaction happening globally but some actually don't suffer from that. There are actually bitcoin wallets application that has many functions; and you can even process different types of transactions.

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.

I use the same app and it is really good actually because transactions are faster than the others. Converting from fiat to btc and vice versa is smooth in the app.

[kryptqnick]

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?

No system can be flawless and bitcoin is no exception! So the fees and waiting time are real challenges at this moment. And the fees is expected to go up in case the price goes up further. So we have something called lightening network. Which is a side chain transaction Facilitator and where you can send bitcoins using low fees and the transactions are usually instant.

I think, people should start using LN more and more now because of these challenges! Otherwise, you will have to constantly look at the mempool volume and time your transaction for the optimum period.

The LN might be a solution, but it's been years and the adoption is still very low, so I'm not feeling optimistic about it. And while it's true that no system is flawless, I feel a bit sad about IOTA with the DAG technology not gaining enough attention and popularity. AFAIK, DAG solves the scalability issue which Blockchain cannot solve. With Blockchain, more transactions means more problems, whereas with DAG it's the other way around. But there are big problems with DAG at the beginning, especially with it being almost impossible to properly confirm transactions in a decentralized way. However, it could be a long-term solution (or a part of it). As for Bitcoin, it could be used for bigger transactions or when there's low traffic and thus reasonable fees.

[shield132]

Yeah, it can't be used for small transactions but there are always ways to solve this problem.

1. If you use wallets like Binance, XAPO, etc, you can transfer without fees between Binance -> Binance, Xapo -> Xapo.
2. You can use the Lighting network if it's supported by the service providers you are going to use (you need segwit address for that).
3. You can convert bitcoin into XRP and get transactions confirmed in seconds with the smallest fee.

[abel1337]

With the Bitcoin's price today surely there are lots of transaction happening globally but some actually don't suffer from that. There are actually bitcoin wallets application that has many functions; and you can even process different types of transactions.

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.

I use the same app and it is really good actually because transactions are faster than the others. Converting from fiat to BTC and vice versa is smooth in the app.

There are so many features that coins.ph has and it makes the user very comfortable of converting from btc to fiat and vice versa, PHP transactions in that wallet is instant and free but on BTC it needs confirmations first before it appears to your wallet and you should pay for the fees, of course, It's good that coins.ph let you choose the transaction speed which can make your transaction fee cheaper.

It's a custodial wallet but it offers a very comfortable feature for Filipino users.

[GeorgeJohn]

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 from my perspective can be use for series of things, in terms of transaction, nothing Bitcoin can not purchase, what ever thing fiat can can do, cryptocurrency can do it more better,converting any crytocurrency to cash is easier now due to adoption of banking system but the aspect of fees is quite annoying that bitcoin fees is now becoming ambiguous with transaction fees, which I don't the Genesis of it's regulations with charges.

[khaled0111]

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

That's not true and I don't know from where you did get that number (2k sats)!
Transactions fees did not increase only because of the surge of bitcoin price but also because of the increase in the number of transactions sitting in the mempool and waiting to get confirmed.
The more unconfirmed transactions there are the higher fee rate you have to pay for a faster confirmation.

[best123]

I consider chargers most times based on the quantity of the token that I am transferring. Paying $20-$50 to move$5000 and above is not much to me. To me ETH is the worst in transfer now.

[yazher]

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

1 BTC is around $50k now.
Consider tranfering $50k to someone in a foreign country. The amount of time and fees you will pay is still way less than the fees you are paying for Bitcoin. And time? You can send it over in even less than 10 minutes. Consider this bringt side.

This is actually right and I can vouch for it since I had a transaction from Binance last year which was the biggest earn I ever had in the crypto industry. In the crypto industry, you don't need to have some complex documents where you need to prove you are the owner of those huge amounts of altcoins. All you need is just one KYC and everything is good to go and even you don't complete the KYC in some of the exchanges you can still move your BTC or any other altcoins without worry and Yeah! moving cryptocurrency is way more convenient than moving those fiats.

[SaShiRaJaVu]

. 1. If you use wallets like Binance, XAPO, etc, you can transfer without fees between Binance -> Binance, Xapo -> Xapo.
 

Is it possible to transfer without fees from Binance to Xapo and vice versa ?. This is the first time i am hearing this option. In the past i used Xapo but then the fees stopped me from using them and there are many options to hold the coins if you are not using micro amounts. I just installed the Xapo wallet and i could not find any option to send the coins without fees to Binance, if you could help me out it would be great.
@OP whats the delay in conversion, there is a delay in confirmation but if you have the patience there is nothing much to worry.

[Shasha80]

Regarding the problem of transaction fees, which are quite expensive, it is indeed one of the obstacles most often experienced by Bitcoin users.
Actually there is a solution using the Lighting Network, but people still rarely use it. Maybe because it's still a beta version, so people are still
a little hesitant about using it.  There is one more way to solve the problem of expensive Bitcoin transaction fees. By converting Bitcoin to altcoins
which do have a much cheaper transaction fee. This method is easier to do and is mostly used by crypto users to move their funds.

[In the silence]

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're referring a conversion from bitcoin to cash, there's some exchanges that regulates P2P. It helps you to convert your cryptocurrency to any fiat, also, there would be an escrow for the transaction you'll do for the safety of your funds. It's still the same for P2P if you purchase bitcoin on the exchange platform and Binance is an example for this.

[Dutchyyy]

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?

Definitely Bitcoin is still not the best coin to make small payments or transfer funds to someone. In my opinion, the best application at this stage for Bitcoin is to use it as a purely investment asset. Let's leave aside the fact that very few people accept Bitcoin as a means of payment.

[bryant.coleman]

Definitely Bitcoin is still not the best coin to make small payments or transfer funds to someone. In my opinion, the best application at this stage for Bitcoin is to use it as a purely investment asset. Let's leave aside the fact that very few people accept Bitcoin as a means of payment.

Bitcoin is being used primarily as an investment asset nowadays. If some asset gives me 1000x returns in 8 years, then I will think twice before using it as a payment. And that said, Bitcoin can be used as a payment almost anywhere. In cases where direct payments are not possible, you need to search for indirect options. You can easily purchase gift cards using Bitcoin, and use it for shopping in supermarkets and retail stores where direct payments with Bitcoin are not accepted.

[blckhawk]

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, you should expect that the fees and transaction fees are going to increase as the market becoming more active. It will only back to normal once the market calms down for a little bit.
These transactional fees are the most common problem faced by everyone but there are some ways to reduce the fees like using a lighting network or convert it into altcoins like XRP which have lower fees.

[matchi2011]

Definitely Bitcoin is still not the best coin to make small payments or transfer funds to someone. In my opinion, the best application at this stage for Bitcoin is to use it as a purely investment asset. Let's leave aside the fact that very few people accept Bitcoin as a means of payment.

Bitcoin is being used primarily as an investment asset nowadays. If some asset gives me 1000x returns in 8 years, then I will think twice before using it as a payment. And that said, Bitcoin can be used as a payment almost anywhere. In cases where direct payments are not possible, you need to search for indirect options. You can easily purchase gift cards using Bitcoin, and use it for shopping in supermarkets and retail stores where direct payments with Bitcoin are not accepted.

That's how many investors and holders are seeing this system, instead of using it as means for payment transactions
they are more concern with long term investment.

Using it as token for future investment, knowing that by history bitcoin provide a lots of proftis, those early holders
really enjoy the big benefits that this investment currency brings them..

[Swopon]

Why not? Bitcoin can be used for making transaction for sending funds to others as payment or other purposes. I believe that you send your crypto funds to others to make it cash. By following this way, you can send it as making transaction and you can send it anywhere in the world. So no hassle there as I think.

[Altcoinsintel]

It seems the technology most cryptocurrencies are based on is not efficient or cheap at all. Because blockchain systems can't scale, they scale on the side of fees and the fees will be even higher as transactions compete to be chosen by miners. This fact is common in all blockchains and you may see some being today fast and cheap, however, once they will be used they will quickly meet rising fees into sizes nobody could imagine. In the beginning, it was thought that Bitcoin could be used for everyday transactions on a large scale, perhaps worldwide. It was quickly found by researchers that Bitcoin would not be able to scale, thus in 2016, Mike Hearn left the project and others tried to push bigger blocks, which in my opinion wouldn't be any solution, but would have created centralization issues. The decisions taken were not to change a lot but the bigger problem was that there wasn't a consensus to change Bitcoin and try bigger blocks as scaling solution. Anyway, as said above today it can be used to buy a Tesla and nobody would care a lot to give $30 more. What will happen in the future? If Bitcoin keeps the same level of adoption it will mean that fees will keep rising. Who will use Bitcoin when fees will reach $1000 and who can say they won't?

[MWesterweele]

Why not? Bitcoin can be used for making transaction for sending funds to others as payment or other purposes. I believe that you send your crypto funds to others to make it cash. By following this way, you can send it as making transaction and you can send it anywhere in the world. So no hassle there as I think.

Bitcoin could be used in any transaction if ever the company, or the person he/she were going to transact with are okay with it. It should be mutual decision in both parties especially today which there is no third party that will interconnect with the two main concern of transactions like in real businesses, the remittance center or the exchanger where available on their area or where does both parties could easily access with.

[carlisle1]

Regarding the problem of transaction fees, which are quite expensive, it is indeed one of the obstacles most often experienced by Bitcoin users.

Indeed! this problem are mostly the concern of all Bitcoin users, fees are likely increase as the value of Bitcoin continue
to rise high, though currently some correction is happening but the fact that the current value is really high and if you
are just a small users then the fees really affects your transactions.

Actually there is a solution using the Lighting Network, but people still rarely use it. Maybe because it's still a beta version, so people are still
a little hesitant about using it. 

Still not being used by most people around, they are still in doubts but if things went right and most do understand things then expect users to ride along.

There is one more way to solve the problem of expensive Bitcoin transaction fees. By converting Bitcoin to altcoins  which do have a much cheaper transaction fee. This method is easier to do and is mostly used by crypto users to move their funds.

Most crypto players are using this common ways, in order to transact with much lower fees converting your bitcoin to another alts
will help you to process avoiding the higher fees.

[Casdinyard]

Why not? Bitcoin can be used for making transaction for sending funds to others as payment or other purposes. I believe that you send your crypto funds to others to make it cash. By following this way, you can send it as making transaction and you can send it anywhere in the world. So no hassle there as I think.

We would be biased to answer why Bitcoin should be used on transactions since we are in this industry. But we cannot change the fact that despite of the growth in this technology, there are still businesses, areas and institutions wherein cryptos are not acknowledged as a mode of payment. The trust in those places are still low and we cannot force them to adopt this technology if they are not interested. Let us keep it slow. Based on what is happening recently, huge names or networks are now considering this technology which will more likely trigger a domino effect. So just wait.