Why a Stable BTC Price is Good

[StewartJ]

Here is a real-world example of why I like a stable bitcoin price:

The other day I was researching web sites that have online sports-betting, cause I like to bet on NFL Football. For these regular sports-book web sites, it's a real pain to sign up and get funds and they charge you outrageous fees to withdraw money.

But lo and behold, there is now a bitcoin sports book, btcsportsbet.com. Last week it only took me 10 minutes to get setup with them, when I sent my BTC over from my trading account, and I placed bets on last Sundays games. It's anonymous, there are virtually no fees to speak of, and it's instantaneous.

Now having the BTC price stable in the $3 range makes it worthwhile for me to sports-bet; but if the price is very volatile, I can't rely on that currency while I'm sports-betting. I would imagine most merchants would want a stable BTC currency before adopting it.

Your thoughts?

[1714879080]

1714879080

[1714879080]

1714879080

[1714879080]

1714879080

[StewartJ]

Another thing.

When I tell folks who are new to bitcoins what it's all about, it's so nice to be able to say that the value has settled this last month into the $3 range.

[ThomasV]

I do not think that it has "settled", but I believe that volatility will be lower in the future than it was so far.

[Raoul Duke]

You only notice the volatility if you think that xBTC are worth xUSD/EUR.

Just think that xBTC=xBTC and there is no volatility. It's as simple as that.

[proudhon]

You only notice the volatility if you think that xBTC are worth xUSD/EUR.

Just think that xBTC=xBTC and there is no volatility. It's as simple as that.

But why would I think like that?  For lots of people getting xBTC means giving somebody xUSD, and most people are concerned with at least preserving the purchasing power they started with when going from one to the other.

[Gabi]

Stable price is not good, it means no more people adopt bitcoin.

A such low price, means that few ppl use it.

[teek]

Stable price is not good, it means no more people adopt bitcoin.

A such low price, means that few ppl use it.

doesn't it mean that there is adequate demand for the 7200 coins per day being printed right now, and that people in fact ARE adopting bitcoin?

[StewartJ]

Stable price is not good, it means no more people adopt bitcoin.

A such low price, means that few ppl use it.

Funny, I think the exact opposite.

Why would a merchant want to adopt bitcoins if the price was volatile? Too risky.

Think about it...
If you buy $30 sunglasses with 10 bitcoins today, and then bitcoin lost $1 in value the next day, merchant only has $20 nopw and lost all his profit.

[adamstgBit]

Stable price is not good, it means no more people adopt bitcoin.

A such low price, means that few ppl use it.

doesn't it mean that there is adequate demand for the 7200 coins per day being printed right now, and that people in fact ARE adopting bitcoin?

a good % of the 7,200 coins that are "printed" each day are not sold on the market right away, (some might be waiting years)
but in any case, almost always there is over 10,000 coins traded pre day.
so ya their is in fact more and more people adopting bitcoin

and with the projects like bitcoindeals.com - i think we'll start seeing more and more people really using bitcoin for gift buying and stuff

lets look at how facebook adoption came about



just wait in a few years their will be 4billion coins traded daily  
and not one will be traded of USD

 

[adamstgBit]

Stable price is not good, it means no more people adopt bitcoin.

A such low price, means that few ppl use it.

Funny, I think the exact opposite.

Why would a merchant want to adopt bitcoins if the price was volatile? Too risky.

Think about it...
If you buy $30 sunglasses with 10 bitcoins today, and then bitcoin lost $1 in value the next day, merchant only has $20 nopw and lost all his profit.

the market is very young... and very volatile, but this will change, once things like derivatives are introduced, volatility will be meaningless to merchants

besides most merchants are more then willing to take a 10% hit if it means more customers

you don't see any merchant charging more when you use VISA and not cash.

[StewartJ]

Stable price is not good, it means no more people adopt bitcoin.

A such low price, means that few ppl use it.

Funny, I think the exact opposite.

Why would a merchant want to adopt bitcoins if the price was volatile? Too risky.

Think about it...
If you buy $30 sunglasses with 10 bitcoins today, and then bitcoin lost $1 in value the next day, merchant only has $20 nopw and lost all his profit.

the market is very young... and very volatile, but this will change, once things like derivatives are introduced, volatility will be meaningless to merchants

besides most merchants are more then willing to take a 10% hit if it means more customers

you don't see any merchant charging more when you use VISA and not cash.

I totally agree, with you.  I was just pointing out that a stable price, like what we have been experiencing the last few weeks, would make merchants more inclined to trust BTC more as a valid currency.

[adamstgBit]

Stable price is not good, it means no more people adopt bitcoin.

A such low price, means that few ppl use it.

Funny, I think the exact opposite.

Why would a merchant want to adopt bitcoins if the price was volatile? Too risky.

Think about it...
If you buy $30 sunglasses with 10 bitcoins today, and then bitcoin lost $1 in value the next day, merchant only has $20 nopw and lost all his profit.

the market is very young... and very volatile, but this will change, once things like derivatives are introduced, volatility will be meaningless to merchants

besides most merchants are more then willing to take a 10% hit if it means more customers

you don't see any merchant charging more when you use VISA and not cash.

I totally agree, with you.  I was just pointing out that a stable price, like what we have been experiencing the last few weeks, would make merchants more inclined to trust BTC more as a valid currency.

agreed.

what a merchent would like to see, would be stable prices with high volume.

if we could see a 50k coin DUMP that would be quickly picked up and not effect price much. that would be cool

[proudhon]

Stable price is not good, it means no more people adopt bitcoin.

A such low price, means that few ppl use it.

Funny, I think the exact opposite.

Why would a merchant want to adopt bitcoins if the price was volatile? Too risky.

Think about it...
If you buy $30 sunglasses with 10 bitcoins today, and then bitcoin lost $1 in value the next day, merchant only has $20 nopw and lost all his profit.

the market is very young... and very volatile, but this will change, once things like derivatives are introduced, volatility will be meaningless to merchants

besides most merchants are more then willing to take a 10% hit if it means more customers

you don't see any merchant charging more when you use VISA and not cash.

I totally agree, with you.  I was just pointing out that a stable price, like what we have been experiencing the last few weeks, would make merchants more inclined to trust BTC more as a valid currency.

agreed.

what a merchent would like to see, would be stable prices with high volume.

if we could see a 50k coin DUMP that would be quickly picked up and not effect price much. that would be cool

We did see that not too long ago.  There was a 40,000BTC bid at 2.9.  It got sold into.  There was a brief fall below 2.9 and then it quickly bounced back up.  It was impressive, and that was one of the events that persuaded me to be a bit less bearish, at least for the short term.

[Gabi]

Stable price is not good, it means no more people adopt bitcoin.

A such low price, means that few ppl use it.

Funny, I think the exact opposite.

Why would a merchant want to adopt bitcoins if the price was volatile? Too risky.

Think about it...
If you buy $30 sunglasses with 10 bitcoins today, and then bitcoin lost $1 in value the next day, merchant only has $20 nopw and lost all his profit.

If bitcoin will be adopted by more people, it's price WILL increase, because more people will buy btc for their needs

So that stability is only temporary

[JohnOliver]

Stable price is not good, it means no more people adopt bitcoin.

A such low price, means that few ppl use it.

Funny, I think the exact opposite.

Why would a merchant want to adopt bitcoins if the price was volatile? Too risky.

Think about it...
If you buy $30 sunglasses with 10 bitcoins today, and then bitcoin lost $1 in value the next day, merchant only has $20 nopw and lost all his profit.

If bitcoin will be adopted by more people, it's price WILL increase, because more people will buy btc for their needs

So that stability is only temporary

When people say "volatility is bad for merchants", they actually mean "price drops are bad for merchants".

Volatility can be managed by hedging, so it's not detrimental to merchants.

[realdos]

I do not think that it has "settled", but I believe that volatility will be lower in the future than it was so far.

hmm..

[Bitcopia]

Volatility will be back in the next days.

I hope so!

Anyway, merchants can use BitPay or Coinbase for a 1% fee (much cheaper than traditional payment processing service fees) to get guaranteed USD prices for their products/ services. Volatility is really more of a concern for consumers than for merchants who understand their options.

[blueberry]

Another reason stability is good is because less time is spent on price speculation which leaves more time to focus on innovating and building Bitcoin businesses/infrastructure.

[El Dude]

Litecoin has also been stable this is a good thing.

[Dalmar]

You need a huge market cap for truly stable prices à la forex. The current BTC/LTC stability is just a temporary farce, volatility will be back soon.