Is Bitcoin Still A P2P Electronic Cash System ?.

[Ruttoshi]

Bitcoin has a great potential which made it to go beyond using it as a payment method but also as a store of value and as a commodity in the passage of time. Hodling bitcoin doesn't mean that you are going against the purpose of its creation and design, because there is no way that one can hodli bitcoin forever.

When you hodli, and it is time to take profit, you must sell it or use it for payment, it depends on what you need the funds for. The challenge that some people are having in using bitcoin as a p2p payment system is that bitcoin is not legal on their country and the only way that they use bitcoin is by hodling it and keep their funds safe from inflation, especially people from the third world countries.

I have seen people from this forum that accepts bitcoin in their businesses as an alternative payment method. As long as traders are still on exchanges, and investors are still buying and selling, I think that will help bitcoin adoption to grow. We all have our choices on whatever that we want to use out bitcoin for, because it must be in a way that will favor us. While you are hodling, another bitcoiner might be using his as an alternative payment system, because it is not everyone that will do the same thing.

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[The Cryptovator]

If I am not mistaken, then you are into Bitcoin for making money; it doesn't matter what way you choose. But it's become the general goal of crypto investors. We just don't forget about the real goal of p2p electronic money, but a major part of the Bitcoin community doesn't know about the primary goal of Bitcoin. They just consider Bitcoin an investment opportunity. If you ask me, I will say yes as well. I am not here to make just a P2P transaction. I am here to make money. However, the theme became like this because of a lack of knowledge. When we introduce Bitcoin to someone, we just brief them on Bitcoin as an investment opportunity. We don't try to explain how Bitcoin was created or why.

[ColdLava40]

The reason there is an orders of magnitude difference between the total holders and those who use it as currency, is due to the fact that bad money drives out good.

Your explanation was brief and worth noting...

[Woodie]

I perceive that most of us have forgotten or should i say don't understand the concept and the primary purpose of Bitcoin.

We live in a dynamic world that has different needs for their valuables and Bitcoin being one such valuable does not have an absolute treatment... especially that Bitcoin means freedom then it's users will recognise it however they like, it can either be an asset or currency or both.. it's all about what it serves you.

I had to made this conclusion after reading several post from different communities including Bitcointalk. Most post I read were meant to promote the use of bitcoin, but failed to apply the primary concept.

No such thing as a primary concept!

As a matter of fact, Bitcoin is like a car others will use it to commute while others can use it as a collectors item that can be sold later for more money.

[hatshepsut93]

In some way it's stil a p2p electronic cash, because nothing stops you from using it that way. But the current incentives push most users to view it as an investment rather than a payment method. There's not a lot of places that accept Bitcoin, and fees might get high sometimes, and price volatility means it's often better to wait for a more favorable price.

Bitcoin's value does not depend solely on its use as a currency. People could avoid using it as electronic cash at all, and it would still be valuable because storing value for long term is also an important property.

[AmoreJaz]

In some way it's stil a p2p electronic cash, because nothing stops you from using it that way. But the current incentives push most users to view it as an investment rather than a payment method. There's not a lot of places that accept Bitcoin, and fees might get high sometimes, and price volatility means it's often better to wait for a more favorable price.

Bitcoin's value does not depend solely on its use as a currency. People could avoid using it as electronic cash at all, and it would still be valuable because storing value for long term is also an important property.

the high volatility factor is the major reason why most users are after for the investment side of bitcoin rather than as a payment method. however, some are already seeing this payment method as cheap and easy, especially those with cross-border payments. they don't need to use the traditional remittance centers which charge a hefty amount and the duration is quite long. so for me, this usage depends on the need of the person, whether he's looking for investment or a good payment method.

[Marvell1]

In some way it's stil a p2p electronic cash, because nothing stops you from using it that way. But the current incentives push most users to view it as an investment rather than a payment method. There's not a lot of places that accept Bitcoin, and fees might get high sometimes, and price volatility means it's often better to wait for a more favorable price.

Bitcoin's value does not depend solely on its use as a currency. People could avoid using it as electronic cash at all, and it would still be valuable because storing value for long term is also an important property.

the high volatility factor is the major reason why most users are after for the investment side of bitcoin rather than as a payment method. however, some are already seeing this payment method as cheap and easy, especially those with cross-border payments. they don't need to use the traditional remittance centers which charge a hefty amount and the duration is quite long. so for me, this usage depends on the need of the person, whether he's looking for investment or a good payment method.

That's right, even if people turn bitcoin into an asset, bitcoin will not lose its P2P feature. I am a bitcoin investor and I hold most of my bitcoins with the goal of finding profits. But sometimes if I need to transfer money to another country, I will ask my partner or relative to use bitcoin instead of transacting from the banking system.

You're right, how bitcoin is used depends on each person's needs and each situation. Just because people consider it an investment doesn't mean it can't be used for payments or P2P transactions.

[adaseb]

These days people rarely use P2P because there are so many exchanges with low fees and continence’s that you might as well trade with them.

You can still P2P but it comes with risks. You need to know who you are buying or selling from because you might get robbed and due to this is why many just use a CEX and just deposit withdraw the money to a bank account.

[Blitzboy]

Bitcoin has a great potential which made it to go beyond using it as a payment method but also as a store of value and as a commodity in the passage of time. Hodling bitcoin doesn't mean that you are going against the purpose of its creation and design, because there is no way that one can hodli bitcoin forever.

When you hodli, and it is time to take profit, you must sell it or use it for payment, it depends on what you need the funds for. The challenge that some people are having in using bitcoin as a p2p payment system is that bitcoin is not legal on their country and the only way that they use bitcoin is by hodling it and keep their funds safe from inflation, especially people from the third world countries.

I have seen people from this forum that accepts bitcoin in their businesses as an alternative payment method. As long as traders are still on exchanges, and investors are still buying and selling, I think that will help bitcoin adoption to grow. We all have our choices on whatever that we want to use out bitcoin for, because it must be in a way that will favor us. While you are hodling, another bitcoiner might be using his as an alternative payment system, because it is not everyone that will do the same thing.

Absolutely agree with your point! Bitcoin's many uses in the global economy are a resounding “yes” from me. Lets be clear: no one can tell you how to use bitcoin. Period. This is the core of decentralisation and financial autonomy.

Geographic BTC usage disparities, especially given legal limits, are formidable but not insurmountable. Your advice on hodling to protect value, especially in shaky financial systems, may revolutionise third-world economies. We must promote the idea that bitcoin is a lifeline for financially struggling people, not just an investment. I appreciate your contribution to this lively discussion and believe that diverse BTC uses will promote worldwide adoption.

[Grizzly888]

I think that Bitcoin is for everyone a different thing. You may consider Bitcoin as a payment method/system/ecosystem, but (for example) I don't consider Bitcoin as A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System because it has huge disadvantages as a currency for everyday payments, starting from the costs of the payments, finishing the time it takes to receive your coins. I believe that we are going to have another coin/token that will be used as a payment method for every day transactions. For me Bitcoin is a new gold, but it is limited (gold is not limited), Bitcoin is limpid, it does not require any extra expenses to store it and Bitcoin is possible to hold by yourself, without keeping it in the bank or other storing place. And yes, it's just very stupid to spend Bitcoins on the food, basic goods etc. because no one with a sobriety of the mind will spend limited, unique asset, which may significantly increase in the value after mass adoption of crypto assets, on the daily expenses. It's just my viewpoint, I know that here are many of Bitcoin anarchists, who believe in the future of BTC like a substitute of USD, but it's crazy (in my eyes), because you are literally comparing digital gold with a dollar (I recommend to read why people went out from the using gold backed money to the money which is not backed by the gold). But life shows that sometimes even crazy ideas might be right, therefore let's just wait and see by our own what is going to be in the future.

[so98nn]

P2P is still in place but you forgetting major roadblock that caused disruption of p2p System: The Government. We have no problem using it, in fact we would love to have old days coming back to us right away. Unfortunately there were mega platforms who used to be our p2p escrows but slowly governments started imposing the strict regulations on such platforms. Now they all ask us for KYC thus it breaks the rule of independent third party transaction as written by the creator of Bitcoin.

Moreover someone might say that we can just ask someone to do the transaction on local levels. However, there is increased threat of getting exposed to unwanted peeps or criminals too. This is one of the major reason why peeps just buy and sell over an exchanger, hold them, profit and stay happy.

[Rruchi man]

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Bitcoin already functions as a P2P electronic system, although it has not achieved this description and purpose fully, but it will as soon it gets recognized generally, accepted and then adopted by more vendors for transaction purposes. Satoshi saw the future, we are not yet in that future where bitcoin is already serving this purpose.

We are the early adopters that are witnessing the growth and maturity of bitcoin into what it will become, and for the now we are just taking advantage of it to invest and make profit from it's present volatile nature.

[BlackHatCoiner]

finishing the time it takes to receive your coins.

The time it takes for a Bitcoin transaction to finish is about 10 minutes, or a couple of hours if you set a low fee. The time it takes for a bank transaction to finish can take up to 4 days in my country. Let alone if financial institutions like Paypal are involved; in that case, it can take up to half a year.

P2P is still in place but you forgetting major roadblock that caused disruption of p2p System: The Government.

While the government fights it, I don't think it's the main obstacle. Rather, I think it has to do with the skill set required to setup various software, the time required to learn how it works, and the Gresham's law which makes it more appealing as a store of value.

[hugeblack]

The fate of the price is to stabilize and adoption to increase so that it does not need to be converted into cash. Then people must return to the basics, which is the use of Bitcoin in P2P trading. Therefore, I do not see any difference between talking about that now or in the future, since the nature of the use of Bitcoin is what determines the type of discussions about it and that it is still among the issues. It is possible to use Bitcoin as P2P, even if many are not ready to use it, but the reason for not using it is not related to Bitcoin, but rather to challenges associated with accepting Bitcoin.

[Lanatsa]

I perceive that most of us have forgotten or should i say don't understand the concept and the primary purpose of Bitcoin. I had to made this conclusion after reading several post from different communities including Bitcointalk. Most post I read were meant to promote the use of bitcoin, but failed to apply the primary concept.

Interestingly, almost every bitcoin promotion article we see today contains HODL, Investment, Bull Market, 2024 Halving, etc, but only few talks about the basics.

You must be wondering what the primary concept is all about ?. The bitcoin white paper which was released far back had the answers to what bitcoin was primarily meant for. The heading of the white paper  stated Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. While reading through, the writer's primary intentions was to fix the issue of third party transactions, by making Bitcoin another form of transaction entirely. The most interesting part was how the writer explained vividly how the transaction would work in relation to security matters.

HODL, bull market, etc isn't bad, but how many of us still talk about using bitcoin as a regular medium of transaction ?.

Don't get this wrong, I am not against HODL or others because everyone deserves to make profit. but if everyone chooses to hold, then how do we promote ?, Just by using our mouth ?, Who believes what is not seen ?.

I think we are very lucky with satoshi's brilliance, but sadly, majority now consider bitcoin as an investment only, which makes me wonder if Bitcoin is still a p2p electronic cash system.

My opinion...

Well you do get a point on which this is really truly happening on which people dont really see its utility but rather they are really that seeing on that investment side of things or in speaking about opportunity on which it cant really be able to deny that this is indeed the truth.It do really just turns out that people are really that interested when it comes to earning opportunity that into its utility which i couldnt really blame them and even myself is really that guilty with this on which we are really that interested on holding bitcoin because we do really know its potential. Well, there's nothing we can do about it if people would really be deciding in terms of holding their coins instead on using it.

There's no point on doing so or something not that beneficial if we are really gonna be able to do such thing. Somewhat there are places in the world like El Salvador on which they did really utilize up that
functionality of Bitcoin which is really that great to look at. Dont worry which we know that adoption is really that on the move and recognition which is something that we are really that
gradually seeing on every corners of the world.It is really just that dont make yourself that too optimistic or something that would really be making yourself in a rush.

[jrrsparkles]

It's true that if crypto community considers bitcoin as an asset the future of bitcoin as a currency will not be that great and at some point, it can even fall apart too but you can't conclude anything based on the discussions cause the actual fact is bitcoin is keep evolving and finding the efficient way it to be while using it as currency, for example, the implementation of segwit which aimed to decrease the size of the TX so the fee paid by the user will decrease and it happened after the network congestion at the time of bull market then we also developed L2 layer basically Lightning network.

The development of LN paves the BTC users to transact BTC at almost zero TX fee without compromising the security and its basic so gradually the users are actually using BTC and also the returns from BTC lure new people into the market after every cycle.

[Woodie]

As much as we want to stick to Bitcoins original purpose, unfortunately it's users will pretty much determine how best it can serve them and remain relevant!!!
Btw, If we are going to talk about Bitcoins p2p intentions originating from the whitepaper, then we might as well unfork whatever has been done to Bitcoins all in the name of originality !!

Besides, alot of factors have influenced the change of course of our cryptocurrencies such as regulation which was over looked ,and crypto is adapting to the change .

[gunhell16]

HODL, bull market, etc isn't bad, but how many of us still talk about using bitcoin as a regular medium of transaction ?.

To be honest, most of the communities are talking about Bitcoin, and even bitcoin undelivers are talking about it and its critics. How much more can bitcoin enthusiasts do?

Don't get this wrong, I am not against HODL or others because everyone deserves to make profit. but if everyone chooses to hold, then how do we promote ?, Just by using our mouth ?, Who believes what is not seen ?.

Yes, it may be true that most of our communities here believe that there are many people who say that it is good to hold bitcoin long-term, but most of those who say that do not hold bitcoin but they just know, or others have holdings but just a little.
Because for me, it's okay to hold Bitcoin if you can hold it for at least one or more, especially since the bull run is coming next year, so it's not true that most people want to hold it long-term; instead, most people want to have profit in the short term only because it is brought about by their needs in life.

I think we are very lucky with satoshi's brilliance, but sadly, majority now consider bitcoin as an investment only, which makes me wonder if Bitcoin is still a p2p electronic cash system.

That is not true; the majority of people who believe that Bitcoin is a good long-term investment also believe in p2p transactions, and others even use it if they want to make a transaction with it.

[Z-tight]

I don't consider Bitcoin as A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System because it has huge disadvantages as a currency for everyday payments, starting from the costs of the payments,

BTC tx's are not too expensive, especially when the mempool isn't congested and you have consolidated inputs. BTC is surely a p2p electronic cash and it makes cross-border payments easier to make.

finishing the time it takes to receive your coins.

Tx's are confirmed ~ 10 minutes on average, it doesn't mean that it has to be exactly 10 minutes but that is the average time, your tx's can even be confirmed in seconds, if you get into a block that is just about to be mined. Your tx would only be stuck in the mempool if you don't know how to use https://mempool.space/ or you don't just want to pay an appropriate fee.

This is one of the major reason why peeps just buy and sell over an exchanger, hold them, profit and stay happy.

There are still enough p2p solutions: https://kycnot.me/
You can buy and sell on p2p exchanges of your choice, or if you want to swap coins, you can use https://exch.cx/ but make sure you move your funds into your self custodial wallet and stay happy and safe.

[tabas]

I don't see it as a sad thing when the evolvement of Bitcoin's use coming from P2P e-cash system turned into a major investment globally. Yes, in the whole world and this is a better achievement for satoshi because he/she sees everyone talks about it and what will be the future of it. With that words of mouth, that's already a great thing that a project has been achieved and this is no longer a project anymore, this is a revolutionary financial technology that has disrupted the finance sector. The introduction of Bitcoin as a p2p e-cash system has been its way to its pavement to where it is right now. Like the other technologies, it starts somewhere and goes up to an unexpected growth like sky is the only limit of it.