Many people think that Bitcoin is not a currency with practical uses

[Alice_Yu5]

"In fact, it is not used much in the legal economy now. Yes, a rich man sells it to another rich man, but this is not the end use. Without these uses, it has no long-term future. ," Rogoff said. In other words, Bitcoin currently exists almost exclusively as a speculative tool.

So, is the Bitcoin bubble about to burst?

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[mk4]

I won't even disagree that bitcoin is mostly used for speculation, because it's a pretty safe assumption. But even so, let's not pretend that it's not being used as a currency and as a store of value. Are we going to totally ignore it's important uses just because a lot of people use it for speculation?

As for the typical I've-seen-this-a-million-times bubble question, sure. It has bursted a couple of times in the past already. But every single time, the price floor has been higher.

[avikz]

As an old bitcoin user, I want to disagree with your statement but unfortunately the current situation is something different than we have expected! Bitcoin has started as a currency system that lives within the internet but slowly it has become an investment asset. The inventor of bitcoin mentioned bitcoin as - "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System". But currently bitcoin is used as an investment asset due to its high volatility and extreme upside potential derived from the historical trend.

I won't say that bitcoin can't be used as a practical cash system but the current transaction fees and waiting time, made it look bad as a currency. People who are transacting in huge volume, may find it practical to use bitcoin. But for common people like us who usually make small amount transactions, bitcoin is an expensive currency option. Definitely Lightening Network is here to help but its adoption is still low.

So what many people think that bitcoin is not a practical currency system - are probably right! At least as per the current trend!

[zanezane]

I won't even disagree that bitcoin is mostly used for speculation, because it's a pretty safe assumption. But even so, let's not pretend that it's not being used as a currency and as a store of value. Are we going to totally ignore it's important uses just because a lot of people use it for speculation?

As for the typical I've-seen-this-a-million-times bubble question, sure. It has bursted a couple of times in the past already. But every single time, the price floor has been higher.

Pretense will only get us so far, I still believe that bitcoin is both a currency and store of value so as not to garner any argument on which is which. I wouldn't really say that it is a bubble because I believe that once a bubble burst, there isn't any way that it can recover back like what happened in South Sea Bubble and Tulip Bubble, there are exceptions when defining a bubble though which is pretty confusing for me because Real Estate bubble burst but it seems to bounce back because of the government backing it up to grow again like what is happening currently in China.

[Coinsfera]

"In fact, it is not used much in the legal economy now. Yes, a rich man sells it to another rich man, but this is not the end use. Without these uses, it has no long-term future. ," Rogoff said. In other words, Bitcoin currently exists almost exclusively as a speculative tool.
So, is the Bitcoin bubble about to burst?

If we think of it as digital gold then itis better to have it now than in the future. Imagine, gold standard lets you have money as much as gold you have. If you stocked gold at home you will get rich immediately when you sell those golds. Here is the same. Try to stock as much as Bitcoin you can, because when Bitcoin is accepted wildly then you will one step ahead of everyone. Buy and hodl still it is relatively cheap. There will be times that Bitcoin will be much more valuable.
Let's not call this bubble. It is the dream of people. If you give them a chance to reach their dreams then of course it will be valuable. Bitcoin offers peer-to-peer, bankless, decentralized,  money transfers. This is why that is valuable.

[mk4]

Pretense will only get us so far, I still believe that bitcoin is both a currency and store of value so as not to garner any argument on which is which.

Yes. Because what Bitcoin really is for will depend from person to person. Just like how some people use smartphones mostly for flaunting their new sneakers and their Starbucks on social media, while some people use smartphones mostly for conducting business, and etc. It's totally subjective.

I wouldn't really say that it is a bubble because I believe that once a bubble burst, there isn't any way that it can recover back like what happened in South Sea Bubble and Tulip Bubble, there are exceptions when defining a bubble though which is pretty confusing for me because Real Estate bubble burst but it seems to bounce back because of the government backing it up to grow again like what is happening currently in China.

And yes. Bubbles doesn't necessarily mean something permanently crashing. A certain asset/asset class being called a bubble mostly just means it's overpriced/overhyped and that it will heavily consolidate at some point.

[joniboini]

So, is the Bitcoin bubble about to burst?

Honestly, I don't see the correlation between the quote you posted and this question. This kind of opinion has been around for years already, so it should not be that surprising to see (and most of the time they turn out wrong). If anything, it gets mentioned more and more when the bear strike back.

There's a lot of stuff going on on the background, new use cases being found, new technology being adopted etc to solve whatever problem is popping out. Even bitcoin-powered stores is still going strong today.

[Kakmakr]

"In fact, it is not used much in the legal economy now. Yes, a rich man sells it to another rich man, but this is not the end use. Without these uses, it has no long-term future. ," Rogoff said. In other words, Bitcoin currently exists almost exclusively as a speculative tool.

So, is the Bitcoin bubble about to burst?

The thing is... you want to present Bitcoin as a "Rich Man" toy and that is wrong. A lot of people are buying say $5 worth of bitcoins every week and that makes it affordable for the people that are not wealthy. (Go buy some shares for $5 ....not Penny stocks)  

The thing people are missing about Bitcoin's use is this... It is no different to other currencies (People trade on Forex with other currencies and they use currencies daily for commerce and the same thing is happening with Bitcoin)

Now, did we not have several other Bubbles in other financial instruments in the past? (Real Estate / Stock Market Bubble / Dotcom Bubble....) and guess what, they bounced back and people are still using them.  

That is just the nature of any financial instrument out there, so pointing fingers at Bitcoin is just wrong.  

[pooya87]

"In fact, it is not used much in the legal economy now.

In fact, it is used in a lot of legal economy now.

Yes, a rich man sells it to another rich man, but this is not the end use.

Bitcoin is for everyone from all around the world. From poor people in third world countries such as Africa, Venezuela, ... to rich people or even the corrupt banks can use bitcoin.
Saying it is only used "among rich men" is short sighted and verges on being FUD.

Rogoff said.

You mean the same guy who has been spreading FUD about bitcoin and calling it a bubble for years repeated the same old stuff again? Good to know they still keep at it

So, is the Bitcoin bubble about to burst?

Bitcoin is not in a bubble to burst. In fact it is at least $400000 away from being a bubble.

[electronicash]

it's not just a speculative asset but isn't it been used in buying stuff, some even illegal stuff that includes as practical use of BTC.  but it's usually used by people like us who keep trading BTC for speculation, there is nothing wrong with it though, it's been that way even the gold or any other fiat currency as well is used that way. the difference is that if we have BTC, it's ours not controlled by banks or nor government, and these BTC qualities can't be compared to any assets.

[Lorence.xD]

it's not just a speculative asset but isn't it been used in buying stuff, some even illegal stuff that includes as practical use of BTC.

I don't get how they do not consider bitcoin as a currency because as the quote above says, bitcoin can be used to buy stuff. Are there like some arbitrary numbers that bitcoin needs to reach before being considered a currency because if that was the case then I think that we have reached that a long time ago. Isn't fiat money the same as bitcoin, they do not have any inherent value in the first place, fiat were given their own value AFAIK. Practical uses is just a matter of perspective and those who think that there is no practical uses for bitcoin, they should get their head out of their asses.

[zanezane]

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And yes. Bubbles doesn't necessarily mean something permanently crashing. A certain asset/asset class being called a bubble mostly just means it's overpriced/overhyped and that it will heavily consolidate at some point.

I wouldn't necessarily consider bitcoin as a bubble though, it is not backed by any government like real estate bubble which can be popped and blown all the time. Considering that some people overhypes bitcoin but at the same time the prices are going strong despite the speculation that a burst will come is enough evidence for me to say that bitcoin is not a bubble or if it is, it must be a new kind of bubble.

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

"In fact, it is not used much in the legal economy now. Yes, a rich man sells it to another rich man, but this is not the end use. Without these uses, it has no long-term future. ," Rogoff said. In other words, Bitcoin currently exists almost exclusively as a speculative tool.

Well bitcoin has evolved in the last couple of years, yes, I do agree that it has become a speculative tool, but there are still people around who treated it as a money and uses it for micro payments.

So, is the Bitcoin bubble about to burst?

Last time yes, 2017, the bubble has been pop, but it's cyclical, so maybe this year we might see it bubble again or not as bitcoin narrative has completely made a U-turn, store of value and hedge by bigger companies.

[thecodebear]

Bitcoin is obviously a currency, but when you compare its algorithmically decreasing inflation rate and supply cap to its 5 or so transactions per second, its monetary features as hard money (the hardest money ever known to humanity) obviously outweighs its ability to be used to purchases.

Its usage to buy things will obviously increase as PayPal adds Bitcoin transactions and eventually banks do as well. And as more and more txs move off-chain through these third parties, or perhaps even Lightning Network, there will be more and more options to spend bitcoin for things with low fees without congesting the blockchain. But it still makes far more fiscal sense to save your Bitcoin rather than spend it.

Also, since when is a store of value not a practical use?? Transactions are only one practical use of a currency. The other main use of currency is to store value, and Bitcoin will continue to do that better than any other currency ever created. Gold was a terrible transactional currency but a good store of value currency. Fiat is a great transactional currency but a bad store of value currency (it only take 35 years to lose half your buying power from 2% annual inflation). Bitcoin is a bad transactional currency though that is improving and will continue to improve with more txs going off-chain, but it is the ultimate store of value currency, so good in fact it completely overrides the point of using it as a transactional currency.

People can decide for themselves if they want to save or spend any given currency. The monetary policy of Bitcoin's design just makes it much wiser to save it rather than spend it.

[buwaytress]

Should I feel special that I'm not a rich guy buying from another rich guy, and have never actually BOUGHT Bitcoin? And only sold to people to pay my bills? Or bought and sent to countless people and services accepting Bitcoin?

Am I so special and unique to have at least 1 tx a day on average, and to unique people? To actually spend Bitcoin for very practical reasons like the weekly food delivery (okay, I admit, it's been 2 or 3 times a week now since lockdown), the money transfers to family and friends, the shopping from UK that doesn't deliver here so needs reshipping paid in BTC, the discounted online shopping from BTC-bought vouchers, the gaming paid with BTC, the flight tickets (okay, not since 2020 haha), the hotel bookings that cost less when paid with BTC.

I'm not. I talk to lots of people like me, more than me, and they're not even active on this forum.

Is it ironic the ones calling out Bitcoin are the ones who don't have practical use for it because they're just so rich?

[hahay]

But in reality, with them continuing to buy and sell bitcoins, bitcoin continues to grow and develop until now. But indeed, buying and selling is not an end use but the activity has become the main thing that makes bitcoin more widely accepted, because its practical use requires a lot of support but unfortunately that is not the case.
Whether the hard rise and fall in price isn't an explosion, the popularity of bitcoin has proved an explosion in itself.

[matjas]

Most of us belives, that bitcoin is not ready yet for mass payment adoption since there are still many flaws out there, but blockchain can offer new solutions which would make cryto more practical, we are still in early years of adoption. But i agree, for now there are still not that many practical uses as we would like.

[yazher]

"In fact, it is not used much in the legal economy now. Yes, a rich man sells it to another rich man, but this is not the end use. Without these uses, it has no long-term future. ," Rogoff said. In other words, Bitcoin currently exists almost exclusively as a speculative tool.

So, is the Bitcoin bubble about to burst?

Of course, after all these years and Bitcoin has been into a lot of improvement in terms of popularity and it fixed all of its misconceptions, you cannot flee from such kinds of comments. maybe they have their own reasons but you have your own mind. You can use it to follow what they're thinking or you will use it to find the truth as you wish. As you can see, it's not speculations anymore as it's kinda right here in front of us happening you can go to the crypto market if you want to check it. I mean, if you keep taking those words from them, you will lose your chance to earn from this prosperity which we are all waiting for.

[naomi-the-cat]

My transaction fee is more than 150 usd for 130 sat/byte because i have a lot of uxtos. Of course, its not a currency with so big fees. Just means of investment

[ashmodeus]

well, if that soo, why early buyer doesn't sell it, for me its more than speculative tool , or to be clear, i do not really care about people think bitcoin its not currency or whateva. u know what , even JP Morgan has saying to Allocate 1% to Cryptocurrency Assets which mean its clearly can be investement assest.