Now that Bitcoin is no longer digital cash?

[NotATether]

Have memecoins becomes widely accepted?

Since Dogecoin has no smart contracts and no ordinals on the chain, seems like it shouldn't be as a surprise to anyone that cheap fees and acceptance everywhere have made it top sometimes by 4 to 5 times the transactions on Bitcoin.Even on this forum that starts with "bitcoin" people end up dealing in doge, ltc and usdt because of fees, you can see the usage washing away.

In my opinion people are dealing in alternate currencies because nobody is developing off-chain solutions to move all the junk to.

Every time a large amount of a certain kind of auxiliary transaction is made, people need to be looking into how to best optimize the fees for it.

The problem is that bitcoin protocol development is currently paralyzed so it's basically whatever we have in 2021 to deal with all of these new things.

[Iranus]

With these high fees, btc definitely fails at operating as a currency. For a fee years btc acts more like digital gold rather than a digital currency because of the physical limitations of btc. Are meme coins the answers to this problem though? I am not sure. The only promising coins with a fairly well user adoption is dogecoin. The resr are pure trash. Other than that there is xmr which has nearly zero user adoption because the governments don’t like it and there is litecoin which dominates the currency use case on bitpay. To me it is very clear which coin is acting as digital cash lately.

Many people are still dreaming of a future where bitcoin will become a currency and be used as a means of payment but aside from the high transaction fees plus volatility, I'm also pretty sure it won't become a currency in the future.

Regarding the question related to "Meme", I think this idea comes from Elon, I remember correctly that he once said "whoever controls memes can control the world". Dogecoin could also make that happen if Elon really steps up and promotes Dogecoin support. I also wouldn't be surprised if Doge or Shiba become alternative payment solutions in the future  .

[KiaKia]

I ask this question because I wonder what Bitcoin will become now that the financial institutions and meme coin advocates have taken over.

If Bitcoin is not peer-to-peer electronic cash then how do you see it?

Bitcoin is no longer a digital cash? Maybe in your own world mate, Bitcoin is a digital cash or let me say it can be used as digital cash, if you want to settle a payment you can pay in Bitcoin, it depends if the seller is willing to receive Bitcoin as means of payment.

You can use Bitcoin in anyway that you want, as a store of value, a brilliant way of avoiding devaluation that attacks Fiat most of the time, you can hodl it for future big gains or you can use it to settel payments, the choice is yours.

The existence of memecoins and altcoin did nothing bad for Bitcoin, even if something is created thats better than Bitcoin in terms of payment solution and others, Bitcoin will still remain the No #1.

[kotajikikox]

Have memecoins becomes widely accepted?

I don’t think so. Lots of people still feel strongly against memecoins and their existence here in the crypto world.

Are their used as electronic cash as you assume?

Actually I believe they might be being used more as a p2p currency because there’s not much congestion in their blockchains thus making the transaction fees cheaper than that in bitcoin. Although of course not a lot of memecoins breakthrough.

[yudi09]

I ask this question because I wonder what Bitcoin will become now that the financial institutions and meme coin advocates have taken over.

If Bitcoin is not peer-to-peer electronic cash then how do you see it?

Remains as an electronic currency system that facilitates transactions and as an investment asset. Still, I see these two things even though I have never used Bitcoin as a means of payment in a transaction such as paying for basic necessities in a shop considering that I come from a country that makes Bitcoin a commodity asset that can be traded.

[Gaza13]

I ask this question because I wonder what Bitcoin will become now that the financial institutions and meme coin advocates have taken over.

If Bitcoin is not peer-to-peer electronic cash then how do you see it?

Bitcoin will never change, according to the whitepaper when it first appeared. Bitcoin will remain a medium of exchange according to the dream of its creator and now this has become a reality. Has there been any major impact or influence from institutions or supporters of the meme coin since taking over? Of course bitcoin remains the strongest to date. Of course, all communities on this forum agree that bitcoin as an asset can be converted into currency, which means transactions can be made. Not only can it be converted into currency, however, and you have to see how well-known brands and the country of El Salvador have adopted this asset as a means of payment.

[Awaklara]

I ask this question because I wonder what Bitcoin will become now that the financial institutions and meme coin advocates have taken over.

If Bitcoin is not peer-to-peer electronic cash then how do you see it?

Maybe you think because more people now know about Bitcoin as an investment asset and exchanges are campaigning for Bitcoin as a digital asset for future investment that makes you think like that.

Bitcoin will still be called a digital currency. despite government restrictions regarding the use of Bitcoin in certain countries. You can make an analogy of saving US dollars as your investment in a bank, while you use the fiat that applies in your country. Just the things you do will not change the initial nature of the US dollar as a currency into an investment asset.

[Cryptoprincess101]

I ask this question because I wonder what Bitcoin will become now that the financial institutions and meme coin advocates have taken over.

If Bitcoin is not peer-to-peer electronic cash then how do you see it?

Maybe you are actually the first person to let me know that financial institutions and meme coins advocates have taken over Bitcoin, I don't know how this sounds to you but just want to let you know that Bitcoin volatility is not a joke, and it is very ridiculous to say that meme coins and financial institutions have taken over like I don't still understand what you trying to say but maybe you didn't get your information from a reliable source.

Bitcoin still remains peer to peer medium of transactions without interference from a third party just like the motives for which it was created even though we are also using it as an investment platform but yet the sole objective is not defeated as it still remains the top modern day digital currency that is trying to find it's way to become the most preferred monetary system all over the globe as it's adoption continues to grow despite the low percentage.

[shield132]

I ask this question because I wonder what Bitcoin will become now that the financial institutions and meme coin advocates have taken over.

If Bitcoin is not peer-to-peer electronic cash then how do you see it?

Are you trolling? You promote a BTC wallet, name yourself the name of the wallet that you promote and ask if Bitcoin is a P2P electronic cash or not?

Ordinals and Runes have taken over the news cycle.  They have also congested the network and increased the fees to a level that Bitcoin is no longer a valid currency.  When it costs $10 to $30 USD to send and receive Bitcoin in 10 minutes it is no longer an efficient currency.  It is cheaper to use almost any other fiat currency or credit vehicle like Visa.

I'm glad you wrote this. You are right, Ordinals and Runes have taken over the Bitcoin blockchain and that will not end up well. I don't know why but there are too many people in Ordinals, half of mempool transaction is filled by Ordinals transactions and it's not going to end as it looks like.

Most people are buying bitcoin through 3rd parties like exchanges and ETFs and if people are using a 3rd party node instead of hosting their own node it is not a peer-to-peer transaction. All of these Bitcoin transactions are benefiting the 3rd party intermediaries and it is equivalent to the system we currently have.

It's not necessary to run your own node and many people can't afford that. Many people prefer to download lightweight wallet like Electrum and connect that to other nodes. We can't expect majority of Bitcoin users to run node but it's important to run it if we can.

All of these reasons lead to my question: If Bitcoin is not peer-to-peer digital cash then what?

When fees are low, yes and when fees are high - no.

[legiteum]

I think the OP needs to clarify somewhat that Bitcoin is not now, nor will ever be mainstream digital cash.

Satoshi made Bitcoin for one reason, which is to thwart government subpoenas into transactions.

That's it. That's the only reason Bitcoin--and the blockchain architecture--exists in the first place.

Only a tiny, tiny number of people on any given day have the "problem" for which Bitcoin's original purpose is a solution. Most people are perfectly fine using a trading mechanism that can potentially be scrutinized by a government with a legal subpoena. Most people don't need to evade their government, and/or don't want to try.

If Bitcoin never became popular beyond its original purpose, it would only have a few thousand users today, and its price would probably still be around a dollar or two.

But at some point, people--now probably 99% of Bitcoin's users--found a new use for Bitcoin, which is as a speculation instrument.

And to answer the OP directly, my answer is: please treat Bitcoin for what it is, not what people fantasize it is. It's not going to "take over" sovereign currencies. It's absolutely evil to lobby your government to force Bitcoin on people in order to make the price go up (aka "legal tender").

Bitcoin works perfectly fine as a meme investment and it arguably the biggest one in the world. There's nothing wrong with that.

And as for true "digital cash" for a mainstream audience, as I have myself built such a system that can scale to millions of transactions per second, the trick is to not try to solve the very narrow problem of thwarting government subpoenas, and instead focus solely on creating a system with low latency and low cost. This must necessarily be done without blockchain, which is an architectural impediment to any kind of mainstream scale as it was actually designed to be slow and expensive to transact in on purpose.

[serjent05]

All of these reasons lead to my question:

When fees are low, yes and when fees are high - no.

I believe Bitcoin will always be a peer to peer digital cash whether the fee is high or low.  It is the structure of Bitcoin and is yet to be modified ever since.  There maybe some institutions that integrate Bitcoin into their system and make it centralized like centralized exchanges and other centralized applications but the very core of Bitcoin is still peer to peer digital currency.

If Bitcoin is not peer-to-peer digital cash then what?

Sadly this question is invalid,IMHO, because as far as I know Bitcoin will always be a peer-to-peer digital cash whether it is integrated into a centralized system or works as decentralized network due to the meaning of peer-to-peer being:

peer-to-peer
adjectiveCOMPUTING
denoting or relating to computer networks in which each computer can act as a server for the others, allowing shared access to files and peripherals without the need for a central server.

[stompix]

In my opinion people are dealing in alternate currencies because nobody is developing off-chain solutions to move all the junk to.

There are plenty of places those could go, the problem is that no matter what solutions you offer, what are you going to do if they DON'T WANT to move there?

-Hey bear, look, nice woods, I put food there in the forest, no cars, no stupid people
-Nope, I like trash, I feel fine in your yard!

As long as sidechains are not that profitable for ordinals and posers like bitcoinmagazine which is putting every single month one huge 4mB cover in the chain you won't get rid of them!
So, when somebody is blocking the way and doesn't want to move, what would a normal guy do? Chose another way to get to work, and in this case people who want to make cheap trsanctions migrate to either LN or accepted altcoins like USDT or doge.

but yet the sole objective is not defeated as it still remains the top modern day digital currency that is trying to find it's way to become the most preferred monetary system all over the globe as it's adoption continues to grow despite the low percentage.

If we have adoptions as you claim but we have less p2p transactions and more inscriptions and transactions to CEXs, then, well, it means exactly what the title about this is.

Edit: just saw stompix's post above mine and I agree, in the real world, everyone else might see Bitcoin differently, but I still tend to think those like me who found Bitcoin as a solution to every day problems like cross-border payments and remittances still see Bitcoin serve the same purpose. Yes, a lot more people I know online ask for payment in doge, ltc etc. But these are people who see and use crypto as cheaper alternatives to debit card or bank deposits for, say, gambling. Crypto was never a solution for them but a better alternative.

I always said that Bitcoin is the perfect tool, it gives you the freedom to use it as you want.
The only problem arises when the way some users want it affects others.
Much like your freedom rights end where my rights begin!

[Khoirul1902]

a good project is very good and does not disappoint and always be the best I will always support this project until it becomes a big and famous project
🚀🚀🚀🥰🥰🥰😍

[LeGaulois]

So let me summarize nowadays and 10 years ago:

step1: Bitcoin is digital cash, freedoom, decentralization!!!

step 2: people praise corporations and institutions saying how it will be good for the bitcoin's price

step 3: corporations enter the market and centralize the ecosystem.

step 4: people praise how good it will be if the market is regulated by laws from governments

step 5: governments force laws against cryptos

step 6: finally bitcoin is digital gold and not digital cash

So, people on the step 1 were only interested by the money to feed their pocket. And they helped to have the system we have nowadays.
It can be called bitcoin or sugar, people do not care as long they make money with it.

[seoincorporation]

I ask this question because I wonder what Bitcoin will become now that the financial institutions and meme coin advocates have taken over.

If Bitcoin is not peer-to-peer electronic cash then how do you see it?

The right answer is: As a digital asset.

Simple as that, and if bitcoin isn't money or digital cash in your country, then you always have to option to move to another country that considers Bitcoin as money, a good option is El Salvador. But the question here is, do we really want to use bitcoin as money? if you want to buy a coffee cup, would you be happy to pay more than $1 in fees for that coffee cup? Bitcoin was made to move big amounts of money and not for daily use. That's his role. Just like gold, i want to see you paying a coffee cup with gold or with diamonds, you cant.

[Kemarit]

I ask this question because I wonder what Bitcoin will become now that the financial institutions and meme coin advocates have taken over.

If Bitcoin is not peer-to-peer electronic cash then how do you see it?

Are we just talking here because of the transaction fees again? And Bitcoin and meme coin on the same sentence? Hmm. I don't have the numbers but as per my speculation, average joe like you and me and the regulars here are far greater than this financial institutions.

They could have been here as early as 2017, but still though in the beginning, Bitcoin was for the masses and will remain that way.

And it still peer-to-peer electronic cash as far as I know, we even have Lightning Network for small and faster micro-payments.

[Cryptomultiplier]

I ask this question because I wonder what Bitcoin will become now that the financial institutions and meme coin advocates have taken over.

If Bitcoin is not peer-to-peer electronic cash then how do you see it?

It depends on how you see it yourself. You determine how you want to take advantage of Bitcoin. Do you want to use Bitcoin as a currency to buy goods internationally or pay for services and products locally?
Do you want to invest your funds into Bitcoin as an asset and watch it grow to become very significant in some years when it can only be affordable by the large pockets and businesses who receive payments with it?

Bitcoin is still cash, just as much as it is an asset after the launch of the ETF and since it can be traded on the exchange market. I don't need to talk about the countries that use it to pay taxes or for purchase and payments of service, because they exist and the numbers is climbing and the world is becoming more aware of cryptocurrency and the pairs that are cheaper to trade with.

[Belarge]

a good project is very good and does not disappoint and always be the best I will always support this project until it becomes a big and famous project
🚀🚀🚀🥰🥰🥰😍

The market is inversely important for each other. We have trends projects and they're very tactical when dealing with the affairs of the market.  We should be extremely catty with the market and be in a tight corner to ensure there's presence of huge fire. Promising projects have come and go in the market, it doesn't the current condition of the market, what matters is Bitcoin is worth the hype and have always been trending in bull and bear season.

[oktana]

What you should understand is that Bitcoin doesn’t care if there are other altcoins being used for other purpose or even being misused. No matter what, Bitcoin is always the same Bitcoin that Satoshi wrote in the whitepaper. Nothing can stop it from being the peer-to-peer electronic cash, not even if it were to be banned in many countries. You can’t stop being a human being. Right? It’s the same thing here.

[johnsaributua]

For me bitcoin is a suitable currency, whatever the owner functions, be it as a p2p sarapa investment with barter or with other valuable payments. with a reputation as great as bitcoin and can be called a crypto legend, it is certainly difficult to imagine if that happened because the innovation of this currency is so good and accepted by most countries in the world. even the fundamentals are learned by many people with more and more ease. I don't like the way any financial institution works but since bitcoin is truly decentralised it's the opposite of function and authority, and I still choose bitcoin. Maybe you mean there are developers who make trading instruments like etf? they are whales who register themselves on exchanges and resell their bitcoins for fun. I prefer the bitcoin that I have.

and bitcoin a fair unit of exchange, including not being affected by economic turmoil in various countries. because everyone gets the best and the same price.