Bitcoin can't be used for transactions?

[Peter11kz]

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?

[AB de Royse777]

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.

[Peter11kz]

Well then can Bitcoin remain at 50k in the future even with a large number of bitcoin users or will it go down in price with time?
Because now they say a small transfer of say $200 can cost around $30 in transaction fee...so that can't be useful if Bitcoin remains at 50k in the future.

[Oshosondy]

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

If you pay high fee, the wait time will not be long, low fee makes waiting time long.

a) for a conversion from Bitcoin to cash?

It is not much at all, it takes little cost, but if you do not want to pay anything at all for this, you can use p2p.

b) purchases using Bitcoin? Huh

You can also use p2p but the purchase fee is not much but also in percentage.

Well then can Bitcoin remain at 50k in the future even with a large number of bitcoin users or will it go down in price with time?
Because now they say a small transfer of say $200 can cost around $30 in transaction fee...so that can't be useful if Bitcoin remains at 50k in the future.

Do not get that wrongly, transaction fee is not about the amount you are sending, it depends on the weight of the transaction. If $5 can get a transaction of $50 of bech32 address confirmed in less than 15 minutes, also it will get bech32 address having $1 million worth of bitcoin transaction confirmed at the same less than 15 minutes, provided, both address have the same inputs and outputs.

[NeuroticFish]

so that can't be useful if Bitcoin remains at 50k in the future.

The idea for the future should be to transfer such small amounts for really small fees and also almost instantly on Lightning Network and only the big money get transferred with the current methods (for example the money related to the LN channels' creation).
Unfortunately for those who want to transfer money fast and cheap too, LN is not yet widely used (it's considered to be Beta for now).

[cheezcarls]

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?

Although that I liked BTC to be adopted as payment method for offline and online stores, the fee itself is what makes the difference when transferring. Unless you are using the same wallet, that would be fine as long it does not charge you fees. The only problem is that when we are using decentralized wallets for buying products and services, fees always occur.

[avikz]

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.

[kooboat]

Current  situation  with  the  transaction  charges  is worrying  to crypto  enthusiasts  that do transactions involving  small funds. The exchanges  in particular  are not helping matters, traders are paying  around  0.001 btc, which is around $50 for a single transfer. Clearly, sending  a small amount  would  not make economic sense at all.

[BrewMaster]

can't is the wrong word to use here. bitcoin can and is being used as payment all around the world and transactions have the same speed as always. you just have to pay higher fees these days because the price is shooting up and people are panic buying bitcoin which creates a lot of network congestion.
but it is also hard to pay this much fee for bitcoin transactions and something must be done about it.

[20kevin20]

Unfortunately, I've been supporting BTC fees and hoping for them to lower down in time as development advances but all I'm now left with is still a fading hope.

It's truly becoming quite expensive (and not only for the average person!) to move around BTC, and this is going to only keep preventing the average person from joining the club. I feel like BTC has strongly failed as a currency but will continue to remain a great asset for storing value.

It's been so many years and I hear this (and said it myself as well) every time a new ATH comes: comparing the fees with the ones offered by banks, "only if" discussions about SegWit usage etc. But .. during congestion (and it seems like congestion happens nowadays almost every day), fees and confirmation times are way higher than banks offer. Yeah, you can change fees to your liking but.. speaking from experience, ever since 2020 more than 90% of the txs I made on Monday with 1sat/byte fees have only been confirmed after five days!

I sadly believe BTC will become (or has already become) an asset for the rich, just like gold is.. if mass adoption isn't even here and Bitcoin already cannot scale, then I think this is going to become a huge problem in the following years..

[Lucius]

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

It is true that at a time when there is a sharp rise in price, there is an increase in fees, which is due to the fact that users are actually competing to get confirmation sooner and pay higher fees - and of course only crypto miners benefit from this. What is actually a problem with fees is that many users do not know how to properly determine the fee given the time in which they want to get confirmation and the current state of mempool.

Unfortunately, many overpay their fees because they use the suggestions given to them by their crypto wallets - and this leads to the conclusion that you need to pay $50 to send BTC. I would add that an additional problem comes from the fact that users do not realize that the size of the transaction also plays a big role in the final price of fees. Anyone who masters these basics will always be able to save on fees one way or another.

[famososMuertos]

...//...,,,
...so that can't be useful if Bitcoin remains at 50k in the future.

... in the good faith of the developers there are alternatives that tend not to improve bitcoin as many think, but to improve the user experience and merchants.

It is totally absurd to think that the price (up / down) of bitcoin is not useful because it affects sending $ 200 at a fee that does not satisfy you, in reality you must understand that you may be sending a satoshi and paying a fee of $ 30 if it is the one that It corresponds to pay, and that if it is the point, to pay the corresponding rate at the time you send.

There is a friend who always tells me, don't be in a hurry, send to 1sat / B, now if you are in the emergency room and you want to use bitcoin  "send".

We have to learn and "learn" about bitcoin, believe me it happens to all of us sometime.

Nice day.

[Pmalek]

If you do a lot of business via international bank transfers, you will notice how bitcoin is cheaper even in today's congested state of the market. Bitcoin has no international borders, bank transfers do. Bitcoin fees aren't related to the amount you send, bank transfers are. Learn how the total fees change depending on how many UTXOs you are dealing with, like Lucius mentioned, consolidate when the fees are low, and you will notice a change. It's not perfect and it is not fast, but it works.

I receive money from international clients 2 times a month. My local bank doesn't have a direct connection (via bank accounts) to the bank the senders use. All transactions go through a 2nd intermediary bank. That intermediary bank takes €12-15 as routing fee + my bank takes 1% of each incoming transaction. Count those two together, I am losing €25-60 in fees per transaction. Now multiply that by 2 (for 2 transactions each month). Each transaction takes takes 2-3 days to reach my account.

If you think bitcoin isn't doing good, have fun dealing with banks.

[bounceback]

Bitcoin only as investing and become trading assets and not any function as transaction currency because my country not give space for bitcoin become legal, I am enjoy although bitcoin illegal as payment transaction still give many feature how bitcoin very worth and profitable as investment assets, during government not banned bitcoin and exchange market I am happy and keep waiting for investing with bigger fund in bitcoin for my future assets.

[xceltoken_plus]

In 2017, the price of a bitcoin rose from around $1,000 to $20,000, then lost two-thirds of its value in the first half of 2018. These violent fluctuations make Bitcoin unsuitable for day-to-day payments. This is partly why very few merchants and retailers accept it as a method of payment.

- There are several ways to convert bitcoin to cash and ultimately move it to a bank account: Sell bitcoin on a cryptocurrency exchange, such as Coinbase or Kraken. This is the easiest method if you want to sell bitcoin and withdraw the resulting cash directly to a bank account.

- More and more retailers are setting up payment systems that enable Bitcoin transactions. Among the biggest are Microsoft, AT&T and Home Depot. Additionally, apps in the Apple and Android stores make it possible for crypto-connoisseurs to pay for airline tickets by converting Bitcoin to fiat money in real time.

[bakasabo]

speaking from experience, ever since 2020 more than 90% of the txs I made on Monday with 1sat/byte fees have only been confirmed after five days!

I have a bit different experience. I've made some transaction with 2-4 sat/byte fee and it took weeks for them to be confirmed. Each 4-6 days transaction was resend to mempool and longest time I've waited for BTC to reach receiver was 20 days.
Now I have a little different experience. Transaction with 5sat/byte was made on February 11, has 0 confirmation and is not being resend. I'm not in a rush, but this "always a new experience" when doing transactions starts to be a bit annoying.

[imstillthebest]

i think i know where you read it because i also read it earlier . it was from this topic didnt you https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5319711.0  . your letter "a" in your choice dont work like a traditional transaction or sending , paying of btc  because converting are mainly instant but it do have a charge depending on the wallet and exchange that you are using  .
 its the letter "b" that needs waiting but paying a high fee is optional because you can process a transaction with less than the recomended fee but as long as you agree to wait for a little longer .
 btc is completely useable but its up to you if you avoid it temporarily because of the fees and network congestions  .

[masterzino]

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.

[batang_bitcoin]

a) It can still be used to convert into cash but fees are high and you need to set how much you'll be paying. If you're not in a hurry, you can always change it to a lower priority until it gets confirmed. This is another reason why most are just holding it and not willing to pay for that much fees.
b) That's still the same as converting in cash because you have to send it to the receiver for you to purchase goods.

[milewilda]

Well then can Bitcoin remain at 50k in the future even with a large number of bitcoin users or will it go down in price with time?
Because now they say a small transfer of say $200 can cost around $30 in transaction fee...so that can't be useful if Bitcoin remains at 50k in the future.

Simple economics subject will definitely able to answer this one out.If we do talk about price then it would always matter in demand and as you mentioned with large number of bitcoin users in upcoming years
then that do simply means that demand is on rise too which means it do increase its price also. Price isnt the solid indication for assuming that fees would be high because it all matters with the network
condition if its congested or not or simply talks that if there are lots of transactions that do happen at the same time which would really result into high fees but if not then
you can able to transfer millions of usd with just paying off less than 1 buck. Isnt that great?