Is bitcoin gradually turning away from its purpose?

[ChiBitCTy]

I fell in love with bitcoin when I discovered it sometime around 2013-2014.  I've been a long time financial advisor, one who's been around long enough to know how corrupt big banks are, and that is what really turned me on to bitcoin.  I am still of the mind that bitcoin should be used as a currency and that it's appeal as a currency is still something making it popular. 

I know a lot of people don't agree with me any more on this, but this is just how I feel, and have always felt.

[Raflesia]

Actually in this case I think it still does not deviate from the original purpose.
Although it is clearer that this goal is used as an alternative but when regulations are held back from the government and the price continues to develop in a better direction, this does make the situation change because it is not wrong when investing in bitcoin in the end but that does not mean the goal has changed because the purpose of creating bitcoin remains the same from the beginning until now.

For more than a decade now bitcoin has been created, it turns out that the benefits are greater than we thought so it is not wrong to take advantage of this as a situation for trading or investing because no one will prohibit it.
As long as it does not interfere with the original purpose where bitcoin functioned as an alternative to means of payment, it is indeed no problem to also add functions that can indeed occur over time because being used as an investment also does not interfere with the original purpose of bitcoin.

[DaNNy001]

Like the title explained it all when sighting towards the speculation or trade discussion section I mostly found out that lots of people are gradually turn away the purpose of bitcoin to mainly investment purposes and I mean to asked, was bitcoin created for investment purpose or it's for peer to peer to alternate fiat?

I would love to see different versions of input.

Transaction fees are ruining the purpose of Bitcoin as an innovative payment network and waiting for it to go down is inconvenient especially to important transactions because who wants to pay higher fees in a smaller transactions right? But if we treat Bitcoin as an investment, fees does not matter at all especially if you are a long term hodler because you can always wait for the lowest possible.

Well to an extent what you are saying is true but even at that I feel the solution to all this has been made but just that the adoption is really really slow  that's why the solution still seems vague to many people that are using and sending Bitcoin for their transactions. The lightning network was a perfect counter for this issue but up till now a lot of Bitcoin users still shy away to its use and I feel maybe it's due to the fact that to use it is quite complicated.

[Natsuu]

Actually in this case I think it still does not deviate from the original purpose.

I agree with this, it might happen that OP is more expose where Bitcoin is being traded in a centralized exchange but nothing in fundamental changed in Bitcoin. Which means that if it happens that centralized exchange fails at some degree, bitcoin can still operate and maintain it's value because it is more likely to operate according to original purpose. There is no middle man or institution in between, only P2P.

[Belarge]

I agree with this, it might happen that OP is more expose where Bitcoin is being traded in a centralized exchange but nothing in fundamental changed in Bitcoin. Which means that if it happens that centralized exchange fails at some degree, bitcoin can still operate and maintain it's value because it is more likely to operate according to original purpose. There is no middle man or institution in between, only P2P.

Bitcoin turn away from its purpose? I could remember vividly that we're the ones that have full access to bitcoin and use it for our measurable means. P2P is very strict and recommendable but for other developing countries, they've watch and observed bitcoin to be huge threat and will denied their citizens access, thereby led to ban. Exchanges ranks first and they've always lead because they've fuel up liquidity. Bitcoin is prioritized by many investors in the space but we should remain mute when it comes to making choices.

[Stablexcoin]

It depends on what you are using Bitcoin for that is what will determine if it is serving its purpose in your life or not. There are various ways people approach Bitcoin and there are several views that they see Bitcoin. if you are using Bitcoin for transactions of course you will feel it is serving its purpose and whenever you stop using it for that purpose or when the fees are high you cannot use them then you start feeling like there is no use for it now. My purpose for Bitcoin is to store my fiat in Bitcoin that is why i see it as a way to give my money value, i don not care if the price drops because i don't have use for that money now and in the future the price will be higher.

[jrrsparkles]

Like the title explained it all when sighting towards the speculation or trade discussion section I mostly found out that lots of people are gradually turn away the purpose of bitcoin to mainly investment purposes and I mean to asked, was bitcoin created for investment purpose or it's for peer to peer to alternate fiat?

I would love to see different versions of input.

I can't deny that Bitcoin is mostly called as investment rather than a payment but still it's too early and there are places we can pay Bitcoin directly/indirectly as payments, here are some websites you can purchase using bitcoin in the form of BTC itself or via gift cards.

250+ companies & stores that accept cryptocurrency

Bitcoin is decentralized money, so user can do what they want to do it and that's the absolute meaning of decentralization so whether it's used as investment or payment it is not losing it's fame it just keeps growing every day.

[Raflesia]

Actually in this case I think it still does not deviate from the original purpose.

I agree with this, it might happen that OP is more expose where Bitcoin is being traded in a centralized exchange but nothing in fundamental changed in Bitcoin. Which means that if it happens that centralized exchange fails at some degree, bitcoin can still operate and maintain it's value because it is more likely to operate according to original purpose. There is no middle man or institution in between, only P2P.

We dont need to be too idealistic someone who will only consider bitcoin as a medium of exchange because after all if you look at the current conditions , bitcoin is actually becoming more flexible and even sometimes it is not uncommon for people to consider that bitcoin is only for investment or as one of the trading assets .  Thats not wrong because after all it is a condition that occurs now even though there must be a little corrected from his understanding but the fact that currently occurs that bitcoin can indeed be used as an investment or trading.

So,by looking at this we dont have to consider it a mistake because even though bitcoin is functioned as a payment option but with the flexible nature of bitcoin now coupled with the value of prices that are getting better in terms of prospects, IMO its not a mistake if this is considered a good enough asset to be used as investment material and reap the benefits in it .

[Natalim]

Like the title explained it all when sighting towards the speculation or trade discussion section I mostly found out that lots of people are gradually turn away the purpose of bitcoin to mainly investment purposes and I mean to asked, was bitcoin created for investment purpose or it's for peer to peer to alternate fiat?

I would love to see different versions of input.

That's a relevant concern these days. There are some regions where Bitcoin payments are conducted fairly often, so Bitcoin does in a way remain an alternative to fiat. Then there is also the usage of Bitcoin for gambling, where Bitcoin is a good alternative to fiat and successfully functions as such. But it's true that more and more people are talking about Bitcoin as something to hodl, as an investment asset. Bitcoin is ultimately what we make of it, and how we collectively use it. It can be both a form of money and an investment opportunity. These two are not mutually exclusive.

Bitcoin is not only limited to a single purpose, but it can do both as a form of money and an investment, that’s how flexible and useful bitcoin is. And as much as people want to use it for fiat alternative, but as long as investing and hodling seem more profitable than spending alone, then it’s not surprising that people would stick to it more. At the end of the day, people acquire bitcoin for money and wealth, and financial security and independence, that’s the most important about it.

[nelson4lov]

Bitcoin is a fully decentralized network and as much as we'd like to keep everyone confined to discussing the technology alone, everyone is entitled to their own focus and endeavors. That's why the trading and speculation sections were created specifically for folks that solely want to discuss price action and movements. If you want to see and participate in more Bitcoin Network centric discussions, Development and Technical Discussions is a good start.

It's similar to how ethereum opened access to creation and development of smart contracts and now there are memecoins everywhere which are essentially token smart contracts deployed by anyone, anywhere in the world.

[Issa56]

Like the title explained it all when sighting towards the speculation or trade discussion section I mostly found out that lots of people are gradually turn away the purpose of bitcoin to mainly investment purposes and I mean to asked, was bitcoin created for investment purpose or it's for peer to peer to alternate fiat?

I would love to see different versions of input.

Bitcoin is not yet accepted in most countries, and governments are still against it in most countries, which is really affecting bitcoin growth. When bitcoin is accepted in different countries, the companies, and stores will begin to accept bitcoin as a payment method, then bitcoin will start serving its purpose, but for now everyone is making money from bitcoin. People are accumulating so that they can sell when the price is high.
 
I will be using my country as an example. Bitcoin transactions are not allowed by the Central Bank, and accounts connected to bitcoin transactions will be blocked, so don’t expect people from my country to be making transactions with bitcoin daily, because when they try to convert some to fiat, their account might be compromised, so everyone prefers holding their bitcoin.

[wxa7115]

Like the title explained it all when sighting towards the speculation or trade discussion section I mostly found out that lots of people are gradually turn away the purpose of bitcoin to mainly investment purposes and I mean to asked, was bitcoin created for investment purpose or it's for peer to peer to alternate fiat?

I would love to see different versions of input.

While bitcoin has a stated purpose, this does not mean that it is the only thing you can do with it, besides it is not as if this exclusive to bitcoin, every single good out there can be used to speculate with and become an asset in the process.

And when even fiat currencies are subject to speculation, I do not see how it could be possible for bitcoin to not go through the same process as well, so just let it go and accept it, since there is nothing we can do to stop this anyway.

[redsun114]

Asking this question can mean that you are very familiar with BTC, so why still ask if it's built for investment purpose or for peer-to-peer to alternate fiat? Obviously mate it is mainly created for peer-to-peer to alternate fiat. But unlike with the traditional fiats, BTC only has a limited amount of supply and it is decentralized.

Eventually, people figured out that these two are responsible to the continuous increase in the BTC value and that is how they started to treat it like an asset for investment use. Even though many people are like that now, I think we can still say that the rate at which BTC is being used as a currency has increased by some percent.

[Abiky]

Even if they hold the majority of the supply, and that would make bitcoin more centralized, but as long as you and everyone store bitcoin in uncustodial wallets, no one can take our bitcoin. Bitcoin's decentralization will never completely disappear, it will become weaker with the participation of Wall Street investors. But this is inevitable because no one can stop them from doing this, so we need to accept and adapt.

Of course no one can stop "Wall Street". Money talks, right? Our only hope would be to hold as much BTC in non-custodial wallets to help prevent a major takeover from the "Elites". As long as there's a small number of people in defense of decentralization, Bitcoin won't be going anywhere soon.

Fortunately, there's a "Plan B" if all else fails. The community can make a new fork if things start going south. We can thank Bitcoin's open source nature for that. If BTC was centralized and closed source, it would've been doomed by now. Satoshi knew what was coming all along. He was well ahead of his time. Who knows what crypto's future will be once CBDCs are launched?

[legendbtc]

Even if they hold the majority of the supply, and that would make bitcoin more centralized, but as long as you and everyone store bitcoin in uncustodial wallets, no one can take our bitcoin. Bitcoin's decentralization will never completely disappear, it will become weaker with the participation of Wall Street investors. But this is inevitable because no one can stop them from doing this, so we need to accept and adapt.

Of course no one can stop "Wall Street". Money talks, right? Our only hope would be to hold as much BTC in non-custodial wallets to help prevent a major takeover from the "Elites". As long as there's a small number of people in defense of decentralization, Bitcoin won't be going anywhere soon.

Fortunately, there's a "Plan B" if all else fails. The community can make a new fork if things start going south. We can thank Bitcoin's open source nature for that. If BTC was centralized and closed source, it would've been doomed by now. Satoshi knew what was coming all along. He was well ahead of his time. Who knows what crypto's future will be once CBDCs are launched?

Wall Street will find ways to manipulate bitcoin as much as possible but they won't be foolish enough to make it completely centralized because if they did, many people would abandon bitcoin and it would become less attractive. I think they understand that the decentralized nature is the key factor that makes people interested in it. But if they turn it into a centralized asset and people lose interest and even leave it, their control over it will also become useless, IMO.

Regarding CBDC, I don't care much and am not worried because it is just a digital version of fiat. Fiat has no impact on crypto, so I also believe that CBDC will have no impact on crypto either.

[kotajikikox]

But at the same time it also has monetary value.

Bitcoin gained its value due to the demand and supply. Bitcoin’s limited supply was used so that it can be protected against inflation. But because it is limited and the demand is high, the value goes up.

If you want proof that it's going in the right direction, look how many people in many under-developed nations are now using crypto to transact because they have no other way.

Bitcoin is very helpful in transactions between different countries because especially in underdeveloped countries, the fees of sending money to a different country is high. It’s also much more convenient and faster to send bitcoin from country to another.

[SickDayIn]

It was created to be an alternative money.

Now that can mean a lot of things. In the day-to-day, we buy things with money, but we also store money to build wealth. Because of the fees, using Bitcoin for all daily transactions is just not going to be possible without adaptations like the Lightning network. However, Bitcoin is still an excellent storage of wealth over the long term. "Long term" is also 7 to 10 years or longer. Not 12 months like some people may think.

[legiteum]

It was created to be an alternative money.

I would add to this:

It was created to be an alternative money for people who could not safely use normal money.

Bitcoin was never created to replace the US dollar, or even be a digital means of mainstream everyday transactions. It was specifically designed to create a means of value transfer for people who could not, for legal reasons, use an ordinary bank.

The blockchain architecture was designed to have one (any only one) unique advantage: to be able to thwart government interference and discovery into transaction. Whatever it might also do today (e.g. be an meme investment instrument), in its inception, that's all Satoshi was trying to do.

(And in the end he didn't really do that since a) Bitcoin has a public ledger and chain analysis allows governments to track transactions; and b) Bitcoin is, defacto, controlled by a small handful of companies that could be--or maybe even are already--controlled by a government).

Bitcoin--and the blockchain architecture generally--cannot scale to even within several orders of magnitude of the volume necessary to handle mainstream worldwide transactions. And it was never meant to: only a tiny niche of users have the "problem" that Bitcoin was designed to solve: most people don't need to avoid their government to make transactions.

[Hamza2424]

Like the title explained it all when sighting towards the speculation or trade discussion section I mostly found out that lots of people are gradually turn away the purpose of bitcoin to mainly investment purposes and I mean to asked, was bitcoin created for investment purpose or it's for peer to peer to alternate fiat?

I would love to see different versions of input.

Hmm, I think by "I would love to see different versions of input." you meant by community perspective, TBH my personal view is Bitcoin was meant to be the best self-controlled payment system but now it's likely, not possible as you better know meme pool is not consistent yup there are some alternatives like L2, still there's nothing if people consider Bitcoin as a mode of investment for long term. You need to know that narratives keep changing. I don't oppose anyone in the Bitcoin community  haha this is my updated view on it as if you love to make transactions with Bitcoin just go for it, if you love to make holding then g for it, if you love to trade only on short frames go for it.

Whereever Bitcoin fiits in your network just go for it.

[Casdinyard]

Like the title explained it all when sighting towards the speculation or trade discussion section I mostly found out that lots of people are gradually turn away the purpose of bitcoin to mainly investment purposes and I mean to asked, was bitcoin created for investment purpose or it's for peer to peer to alternate fiat?

I would love to see different versions of input.

I'd like to think of it as "birthing a new purpose" rather than be very pessimistic about it and call it steering away from what it is intended to do. First off, it's not like everyone's at a disadvantage with the way things work in the crypto industry now, matter of fact, I would say that it is much better if bitcoin remains this way, or at the very least be able to discover and explore new ways it could be used cause it just remaining as a glorified currency remittance system is droll, and had bitcoin stayed like that it would've died in its first few years mind you.

So while some bitcoin purists here say they like bitcoin to go back from being a very important store of value of an ecosystem it has birthed and nurtured from the ground up, to a currency system, I always slap them with the fact that if bitcoin remained that way, there's wouldn't be any bitcoin to look at right now.