Bitcoin as a peer to peer method less popular than as an investment

[She shining]

When I first stumbled upon Bitcoin, I was told that if you buy Now you would make more in the future. I got hooked without even knowing its uses and why it was created.

The limited supply of Bitcoin like land has made it turn to an investment opportunity with many not even knowing why it was created and market its meant to satisfy.

Bitcoin, according to the white paper is a peer to peer payment method. It serves as money with no third party or central body involved. Currently, it hasn't fully meant the criteria of money due to certain limitations but it has helped one become their own Bank. Not to mention, Created more uses than satoshi anticipated.
Don't get me wrong I'm not saying it as an investment is bad since it has helped in increasing the community but many people have become so concerned about its price and have forgotten it's inherent uses.

[bittraffic]

People today will consider BTC as an investment as its inherent use case of BTC. It doesn't really matter how a person will treat Bitcoin, they may look at it as a tool to gamble online or simply to send payments off the grid, whichever it is, its adoption of BTC.

If you mean peer-to-peer in a decentralized way where 2 people make transactions with no platform in between, humanity has lost trust in each other.  That's what's happening. Face-to-face transactions would be possible but still risky.

[Amphenomenon]

Yes it's true that bitcoin has lost its inherent use as peer to peer means for making payment to newer adopters of Bitcoin but its still good aside from the point of increasing adoption as stated by you in your post, I believe Satoshi saw this before Creating Bitcoin and so it was not made as a Stable coin, no matter what anything that appreciate in the long run in value will one way or the other be seen by investors and this implies to Bitcoin also. Now everyone has a view of what they see bitcoin as like:a way of being free from government and banks, fast and secure transaction and others but the view of being a means is still included to the other views because nobody will wants to turn down a chance of making more money.

If you mean peer-to-peer in a decentralized way where 2 people make transactions with no platform in between, humanity has lost trust in each other.  That's what's happening. Face-to-face transactions would be possible but still risky.

Actually this has not been a really effect for bitcoin adopters not using bitcoin as a means of payment, there are thousands of people who used it, the risks mentioned is still affecting the physical currency of any country, that's why we have to be cautious of who we do business with

[pixie85]

Bitcoin has a number of uses and there are people who argue which one is best and which one we should be promoting

A peer to peer cash - the original concept of Satoshi
An inflation hedge - this use of bitcoin is popular especially in South America and Africa, where fiat currencies are suffering the most, yet people don't have enough wealth to use it as investment.
A speculative asset - that's what most newbies and traders use it as.
A digital gold - in the eyes of the hodlers.

IMO all these uses are great and you should use bitcoin the way you choose to, yet not all these uses are equal. Transacting in bitcoin is a far better use than trading it on a centralized exchange. At least that's how I see it.

[SamReomo]

To be honest, Satoshi created Bitcoin in intention to get rid of centralized system or at least make a new space where a group of people can send money from one to other without involvement of any third party. His main intention was to create a currency that anyone can use and transfer via p2p route, and surely Satoshi got success with his innovation.

But, later on investors found it a good investment due to its 21 million supply limit and that's why they started accumulating Bitcoin and holding it for longer terms in order to have better returns with their investment. Due to the creative thinking of Satoshi and the investors, Bitcoin has now become a currency as well as an asset which people can invest in and get profits if they hold their investment.

One of the initial testers or you can say inner members of the initial team behind Bitcoin was late Hal Finney(RIP) who speculated that Bitcoin can grow in price and maybe in future a single Bitcoin may reach $10M in value. If we keep those views in picture then surely from the initial days people were sure that Bitcoin can grow in value and it can cross $10k or beyond.

[Accardo]

I don't think so, bitcoin is mainly used as a peer to peer method of transaction. People trade bitcoin at a large number every day. And only a few percent of them hodl bitcoin in form of an investment. Those who do hodl for long are quite the investors of bitcoin and those who hodl for few days should be seen as the peer to peer traders. Aside those trading bitcoin on exchanges the peer to peer market still boom everyday. Most people due to the volatility of bitcoin use it as a form of investment, for profit purposes. And because people hear the massive gains they make through bitcoin, using it as an investment goes viral than trading it peer to peer. They're multiple methods of trading bitcoin peer to peer; swapping bitcoin to other coins, merchants offering products for bitcoin, and selling bitcoin to vendors for fiat. Each and everyone of us who are into bitcoin may have done such transaction, but only a few amongst us have held or have the intention to hold bitcoin for 5 to 10 years without selling. You see why those who hodl for few days or months still fall in the categories of bitcoin peer to peer trade I mentioned above. Given a specific period of loss or profit, they'll go back to sell their coin. Which is not a good functionalities or attributes of an investor. No doubt when bitcoin is mentioned most people would see it, in their perspective, as an investment. Yet practically, the ongoing peer to peer bitcoin transactions is on the increase. Just that it's not fully discussed or popular like when an investor shows the profits they've made from holding bitcoin for 5 years. That's why people are being told to hodl their coin.

[franky1]

bitcoin was invented as private property with aims to popularise to become cash
it achieved cash utility technically in 2010
it achieved currency status legally in 2013(no longer private property for tax/regulation purposes)

from 2017 begun the shedding of thinking of it as daily use goods purchase, to become an asset class currency rather than a cash class currency

[Yatsan]

Can it be helped? As you’ve mentioned, Bitcoin and this industry in general still has its limitations. Investors happened to find it more beneficial as an asset because of its profit potential and volatile market value. There’s nothing wrong with it and we cannot force other people to follow its ‘purpose’. We are just simply taking advantage of its characteristic more than its usage and that’s just fine ‘coz it is still having progressive growth over years. Bitcoin became more popular and acknowledged by more people and companies. With countries’ approval, we cannot do about it other than to wait for things to be better. For now, since it is more helpful as an asset due to high transaction fees, then let us allow ourselves on how would we be able to use it as long as it won’t cause any harm to other investors and to ourselves. Adjustments were done on its usage and I cannot see anything wrong from it.

[GeorgeJohn]

When I first stumbled upon Bitcoin, I was told that if you buy Now you would make more in the future. I got hooked without even knowing its uses and why it was created.

Knowing why bitcoin us been created is not a wrong conception because at least someone should be to know exactly what they are investing on, for the aspect of buying bitcoin and it rises to more than your expectations, that have to do with target of buying a bitcoin when the price is low and when the price is also down, so if you are opportune to learn bitcoin that means you will make a profit for the investment because you will be targeting for the time the price increases and when the price decreased.

[Dunamisx]

When I first stumbled upon Bitcoin, I was told that if you buy Now you would make more in the future. I got hooked without even knowing its uses and why it was created.

Maybe this fact is one of the truth that first holds our interest on bitcoin the moment we heard about it, you can see that everyone had always been looking for an investment opportunity like such that could be reliable and trusted, so when you heard about bitcoin and what it offers, it remains irresistible to you to afford going without taking a look if you really want a change.

The limited supply of Bitcoin like land has made it turn to an investment opportunity with many not even knowing why it was created and market its meant to satisfy.

You're free to use any approach for bitcoin as long as you're adopting it's use, i believe it's best applicable on one important aspect of your life.

[Bitcoin_Arena]

There is a reason Bitcoin has a limited supply of coins and why there is halving every 210,000 blocks otherwise if satoshi didn't care about bitcoin being used as a hedge against inflation then there would be unlimited supply of coins just like it is with fiat currencies. The peer to peer nature of the network and the deflationary design are just two of the other important aspects of bitcoin.

People use it for different reasons and money being a very good motivating factor to most humans, then why not invest in it as well?

[odolvlobo]

As adoption reaches its peak, bitcoin will reach its peak value and no longer have much upside potential. Though people may continue using it for savings, nobody will be investing in it. By then we should know how well it works as a currency.

[hatshepsut93]

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying it as an investment is bad since it has helped in increasing the community but many people have become so concerned about its price and have forgotten it's inherent uses.

You can't say that they forgot about Bitcoin's original use if they never cared about it to begin with. And the fact that for a lot of people Bitcoin is only an investment means that those people could and most likely would dump it in the future if Bitcoin stops performing well. I doubt we can convince them to hodl no matter what and believe in financial revolution. They are investors, not idealists.

[TravelMug]

When I first stumbled upon Bitcoin, I was told that if you buy Now you would make more in the future. I got hooked without even knowing its uses and why it was created.

The limited supply of Bitcoin like land has made it turn to an investment opportunity with many not even knowing why it was created and market its meant to satisfy.

Bitcoin, according to the white paper is a peer to peer payment method. It serves as money with no third party or central body involved. Currently, it hasn't fully meant the criteria of money due to certain limitations but it has helped one become their own Bank. Not to mention, Created more uses than satoshi anticipated.
Don't get me wrong I'm not saying it as an investment is bad since it has helped in increasing the community but many people have become so concerned about its price and have forgotten it's inherent uses.

Yes, you are correct, the initial design of Satoshi is that it will become a payment system, an alternative to what we have right now. But you have to understand that when Bitcoin was traded initially, The New Liberty Standard Exchange, and then we have the Mt. Gox exchange the whole game play has change. And more than a decade, we have hit $69k as our last all time high. So it has evolved, not that it's bad, but it now become an asset that can be traded in many exchange now. But we can still go back to it's grassroots if you can. You can send anyone for anywhere as bitcoin is borderless. And then there are groups who saw it as money, so they spend as regular fiat. And when the pandemic happens, Bitcoin become a hedge and store of value. So it's really up to you on how you are going to treat and use BTC.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

Bitcoin, according to the white paper is a peer to peer payment method. It serves as money with no third party or central body involved. Currently, it hasn't fully meant the criteria of money due to certain limitations but it has helped one become their own Bank. Not to mention, Created more uses than satoshi anticipated.

OP, Bitcoin has fulfilled so many purposes for which it was created, and it has also fulfilled the purpose that was not mentioned when it was created, and that purpose is Bitcoin as a means of investment. Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer transaction process without third-party involvement is what I have used Bitcoin for and am still doing. I have paid different kinds of people in Bitcoin, and that's a peer-to-peer transaction. I have also bought and paid for something in Bitcoin, and that's still p2p. So what more has Bitcoin not fulfilled? Bitcoin is not centralized; you don't need the authority of anyone to withdraw and deposit some bitcoin into your wallet.

Bitcoin has made some people millionaires and billionaires today because they bought it at an early stage and held it until the price skyrocketed. Bitcoin is a store of value, and the value and price increase over time, and that's why people invest in it. Our currencies (local currencies) are losing value, and Bitcoin has become a cool asset to invest in because the value of our investment will always appreciate during the bull season of Bitcoin. It's not a bad idea at all.

[oktana]

You are extremely right on this. Bitcoin was not created as an investment opportunity, in fact, I do not think Satoshi thought it could blow up this much (or maybe he did, who knows). Bitcoin’s purpose is to be another form of money, money that respects privacy, money that has no middleman, money where you’re totally in control of you own, money that can be sent to anyone anywhere at anytime. I like to think that the price increase which calls as investment opportunity is just coincidental.

[serjent05]

I agree that Bitcoin is indeed popular because many people make huge profits investing in it.  People jump into Bitcoin not to use it as a peer-to-peer method of transaction but rather buy Bitcoin to hodl and sell it when profit is seen.

I think only a few percentage of people who are into Bitcoin use it as intended.  

As adoption reaches its peak, bitcoin will reach its peak value and no longer have much upside potential. Though people may continue using it for savings, nobody will be investing in it. By then we should know how well it works as a currency.

I think there will be some people who will be investing in Bitcoin even after it reaches its peak.  When Bitcoin adoption is everywhere and Bitcoin can be used to purchase items in the store nearby, people who want the convenience Bitcoin gives will invest money to buy Bitcoin.  No one can use Bitcoin if they don't buy it to begin with ( if they are not into mining).

[sheenshane]

Bitcoin, according to the white paper is a peer to peer payment method. It serves as money with no third party or central body involved. Currently, it hasn't fully meant the criteria of money due to certain limitations but it has helped one become their own Bank. Not to mention, Created more uses than satoshi anticipated.

I tend to agree and that's the fact of the white paper of Bitcoin, it supposedly didn't promise gains.
However, people see that Bitcoin has gained recognition as a digital store of value because of its limited supply that becomes Bitcoin's price is also influenced by speculative trading and traders may buy and hold Bitcoin with the expectation that its value will increase over time, allowing them to sell at a profit.

That's their perception now instead of following the main purpose of Bitcoin why it was created.

[wallet4bitcoin]

You'd notice on a closer watch that people get to hear about Bitcoin while searching for alternative form of finance or transaction rather than they hear about it as a peer-to-peer system. A part of the cause of this is the slow pace of global adoption. Anything you hear about, your brain is wired to think thats's the core and possibly only reason why that solution exists except you are sold out to research.

Not everyone cares to further research on the multiple uses of Bitcoin after they have come across it as a form of finance, they just proceed with the basic understanding. This further means that we have more work to do in terms of global adoption and sensitisation towards Bitcoin and the Blockchain technology.

[Agbamoni]

Bitcoin is obviously a means for sending payment from one person to another. Which is one of the main features in the whitepaper. However, it is also considered as a store of value because the price increase in value and people now anticipate it. Allocating capital to a store of value with expectation to generate a huge return in future or appreciation of the underlying asset is quite literally why it is generally called investment. So, if it doesn't increase in value or have the potential to, people won't invest in it.