Can Bitcoin save us

[moonie]

With global markets headed towards an economic downturn once again, I'm reminded of why Bitcoin was created in the first place... centralized financial institutions cannot be trusted.
But as the fiat currencies like the dollar continue to deteriorate in value, it's becoming increasingly clear we need a real alternative.

It seems Bitcoin Core has embraced the digital gold narrative, which fails to achieve the original goal of P2P electronic cash. Do these developers really know better?

[Upgrade00]

Bitcoin or Bitcoin core has not embraced the "digital gold narrative". Bitcoin has been consistent from when it was created till now, the narrative came about due to features in the network that has always been present. Bitcoin is also not a global solution to economic downturn.

I'm not certain what question you're asking at the end, but this is not a technical question, you can move it to Beginner's & Help board

[ABCbits]

It seems Bitcoin Core has embraced the digital gold narrative, which fails to achieve the original goal of P2P electronic cash. Do these developers really know better?

So how would you propose change which allow decentralization, high TPS (transaction per seconds) and low fee at same time?

[Floxynice]

Bitcoin save us from economic downturn?
Bitcoin will only complement the economic activities in a particular country or region where it can serve as a means of payment, an investment and a source of income to many, but bitcoin alone cannot do the magic. The government still needs to set up policies to make things favourable for its people.

 

[moonie]

Bitcoin or Bitcoin core has not embraced the "digital gold narrative". Bitcoin has been consistent from when it was created till now, the narrative came about due to features in the network that has always been present. Bitcoin is also not a global solution to economic downturn.

I'm not certain what question you're asking at the end, but this is not a technical question, you can move it to Beginner's & Help board

I'm asking why Bitcoin hasn't been scaled to a point where it can be used more widely, which involves technicalities with the Blockchain design. Whether or not the technology could help offer a better alternative to the status-quo certainly is a matter of both technical and subjective debate.

It seems Bitcoin Core has embraced the digital gold narrative, which fails to achieve the original goal of P2P electronic cash. Do these developers really know better?

So how would you propose change which allow decentralization, high TPS (transaction per seconds) and low fee at same time?

"I suspect we need a better incentive for users to run nodes instead of relying solely on altruism"

[Charles-Tim]

It seems Bitcoin Core has embraced the digital gold narrative, which fails to achieve the original goal of P2P electronic cash. Do these developers really know better?

Bitcoin Core is a full clients wallet and not bitcoin itself. Bitcoin network is still decentralized. You can still transfer bitcoin to anyone anywhere in the world. Nothing changed that goal.

"I suspect we need a better incentive for users to run nodes instead of relying solely on altruism"

I will prefer if Satoshi has created some rewards for node runners. More people will have their own full node if it is it is rewarding. It can be an amount of bitcoin that is lower than mining reward. But with node runners not having any reward, the network is still decentralized.

[bitmover]

It seems Bitcoin Core has embraced the digital gold narrative, which fails to achieve the original goal of P2P electronic cash. Do these developers really know better?

Don't you see hundreds of people using bitcoin as a p2p payment method here every day for the last 10 years? How come it failed? Lol

Bitcoin is also important as a reserve of value to protect against inflation. It is both.

[Yamane_Keto]

Currently, the price of Bitcoin interacts with global variables. When the Corona pandemic occurred, the price collapsed completely like the global economies, and today the price is on a sharp decline, just like other economic indicators. At some point in the future, Bitcoin will not be affected by political variables, and then it can be considered a safe haven for countries but for now it is a good long-term investment.

[ranochigo]

It seems Bitcoin Core has embraced the digital gold narrative, which fails to achieve the original goal of P2P electronic cash. Do these developers really know better?

They're developers for a reason, they can only try to optimize the throughput, improve on existing protocols and come up with better ones. We aren't economist and it is risky to make any fundamental changes to the protocol.

"I suspect we need a better incentive for users to run nodes instead of relying solely on altruism"

Money? Then who's paying for it? Taking a cut from the miners is going to discourage a lot of them from mining. Node count isn't too big of an issue, and that is certainly not affecting the goal of "P2P electronic cash". Bitcoin is still very much P2P.

Bitcoin is also important as a reserve of value to protect against inflation. It is both.

Eh, generally it isn't a good investment vehicle or an inflation hedge. It's easily affected by fiscal policies and the financial markets. The only good inflation hedge is probably precious metals. People associate Bitcoin with digital gold mostly because it is valuable.

[Dunamisx]

It seems Bitcoin Core has embraced the digital gold narrative, which fails to achieve the original goal of P2P electronic cash.

Don't get it twisted, bitcoin is not what has changed overtime, its has been on the same narrative in which it developer Satoshi made and all its protocols as well have been the same as well till now, we should stop confusing ourselves with electronic cash of a thing with bitcoin, we should know bitcoin for what it is and stop making early developers intentions on creating an electronic cash as with the same on the bitcoin decentralized network.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

With global markets headed towards an economic downturn once again, I'm reminded of why Bitcoin was created in the first place... centralized financial institutions cannot be trusted.
But as the fiat currencies like the dollar continue to deteriorate in value, it's becoming increasingly clear we need a real alternative.

It seems Bitcoin Core has embraced the digital gold narrative, which fails to achieve the original goal of P2P electronic cash. Do these developers really know better?

Lets just say that when Satoshi created bitcoin, he or they never imagined that Bitcoin will become what it is today, they created it with a goal or idea of it becoming an internet medium of exchange where users can send value abroad to different parts of the world easily, fast and at a very minimal fee, instead of having to spend a huge sum of money in fees, just to send a small amount of fiat abroad, and at the same time, the reciever will have to wait days and weeks before the money is received.

The person or group, Satoshi nakamoto never expected that Bitcoin will become as big as it is today, so let's just agree that Bitcoin, aside the fact that it still can serve as a medium of exchange and transfer of value abroad, it's also have become a digital gold, one who's value have appreciated greatly and made lots of early adopters multi millionaires and billionaires.

[Casdinyard]

Here's the thing, I don't want you to go out there thinking that bitcoin's gonna be the solution to your poverty or your financial issues, because while it can definitely do that, it puts unnecessary pressure and strain upon yourself that it comes to a point where you self-destruct on you and everything that you've built up from that point forward that's related to bitcoin or cryptocurrencies for that matter, when things don't go your way. I've seen this happen one too many times with a lot of people who assume that just cause they've invested in cryptocurrencies, they're already bound to be rich or whatever.

I still suggest you get into some sort of employment, and use investments and cryptocurrencies to slowly build your wealth up, and don't just focus on one facet, employ as much ways to earn as you can, only by then will you really achieve financial freedom.

[Die_empty]

I'm asking why Bitcoin hasn't been scaled to a point where it can be used more widely, which involves technicalities with the Blockchain design.

Bitcoin adoption has increased over the years. The currency has become a key player in the global economic and political space. However, some conditions have slowed the speed of adoption..Price volatility could be one of the reasons why many people are not using it as a medium of exchange. Unfavorable government policies such as bans, fines, and other restrictions have also affected the spread of the use of Bitcoin.

Whether or not the technology could help offer a better alternative to the status-quo certainly is a matter of both technical and subjective debate.

Bitcoin was not created to replace fiat. Rather, it is meant to be a viable alternative, and it Is achieving that gradually. If not for this periodic attack of the mempool by ordinals, Bitcoin transactions is cheaper than fiat transactions.

[JohnCena45]

Bitcoin was indeed created as a response to the mistrust in centralized financial systems, especially during economic crises. The idea was to provide an alternative, decentralized form of money that couldn't be controlled by governments or banks. However, as Bitcoin has evolved, it's leaned more towards being treated like "digital gold" rather than a practical day-to-day currency. This shift has frustrated some who see it as a move away from its original goal of being peer-to-peer electronic cash.

[bubilas]

With global markets headed towards an economic downturn once again, I'm reminded of why Bitcoin was created in the first place... centralized financial institutions cannot be trusted.
But as the fiat currencies like the dollar continue to deteriorate in value, it's becoming increasingly clear we need a real alternative.

It seems Bitcoin Core has embraced the digital gold narrative, which fails to achieve the original goal of P2P electronic cash. Do these developers really know better?

Once upon a time, everyone believed that digital cryptocurrencies were what would bring freedom. But look now at how distorted all the truths we believed in before have become: we trade on exchanges with the KYC, and we can do nothing about hiding our data. We were forced to come out of the shadows.
We also all use completely centralized stablecoins, which their creators freeze at their own expense. It's all sad.

[anarkiboy]

It seems Bitcoin Core has embraced the digital gold narrative, which fails to achieve the original goal of P2P electronic cash. Do these developers really know better?

No, they just want to earn money from Lightning Network but it failed. 

[ABCbits]

It seems Bitcoin Core has embraced the digital gold narrative, which fails to achieve the original goal of P2P electronic cash. Do these developers really know better?

So how would you propose change which allow decentralization, high TPS (transaction per seconds) and low fee at same time?

"I suspect we need a better incentive for users to run nodes instead of relying solely on altruism"

Altruism isn't the only reason people run Bitcoin full node though. For example,

• Improve privacy and security since you don't depend on other node/server.
• Need whole blockchain to run block explorer or analytic service.

Although currently there's no financial reward when someone run Bitcoin full node.

[kryptqnick]

Bitcoin is okay as a form of electronic cash. The issue right now is, IMO, the lack of adoption of Bitcoin. Transaction fees are acceptable, confirmation time is okay for most online purchases and transfers, but there aren't enough providers and customers who are interested in Bitcoin as a form of money rather than something to hold on to.
Bitcoin often correlates with the stock market, so it is not completely immune to perturbations of the traditional economy. But it can recover faster because it is mainly affected by FUD rather than objective hurdles (as was the case when the pandemic started in 2020).

[dzungmobile]

Don't you see hundreds of people using bitcoin as a p2p payment method here every day for the last 10 years? How come it failed? Lol

The Bitcoin decentralized network has been operating lively since 2009, and it has lasted 15 years already. No failure of P2P transactions through Bitcoin blockchain over the past years.

Bitcoin is also important as a reserve of value to protect against inflation. It is both.

The inflation rate of Bitcoin drops 50% every 210,000 blocks or equivalently about every 4 years. Since Covid-19, inflation rates of many fiat currencies in many nations increase a lot, sharply and even exponentially. It's not hard to realize big differences in inflation rates among Bitcoin and fiat currencies.

Money Printing and Inflation: COVID, Cryptocurrencies and More. The inflation waves globally continue in 2024 and have yet stopped.

[legendbtc]

Bitcoin is also important as a reserve of value to protect against inflation. It is both.

Eh, generally it isn't a good investment vehicle or an inflation hedge. It's easily affected by fiscal policies and the financial markets. The only good inflation hedge is probably precious metals. People associate Bitcoin with digital gold mostly because it is valuable.

It cannot be denied that gold is still the best inflation hedge because it is almost unaffected by economic instability and is even beneficial when people always turn to it when the economy is unstable.  
Bitcoin is very sensitive and can have strong volatile due to fiscal policies or the financial markets as you said. However, those are just short-term volatile, but if we zoom out and look at the bigger picture in the long term. I think bitcoin is still a good inflation hedge.

Looking at the chart, we see that bitcoin's growth rate is impressive over the long term, and if we think it's not a good inflation hedge, that's not fair to bitcoin.