To the people who only see the downsides of HODLing Bitcoin

[ranochigo]

We all have our point of view on how bitcoin should be used. Imho you can view bitcoin as whatever you like. Bitcoin can serve as a store of value, a currency or an asset.

I think for most people, bitcoin is an asset more than it is a currency. If a business adopts bitcoin as a payment method and gives a discount for customers who pay in bitcoin, many still wouldn't pay in Bitcoin because they are hodling their bitcoins for the price to increase. I’m saying this from personal experience and I’m sure other members who have adopted bitcoin as payment in their business would agree with me.

Which is quite the problem, don’t you think? For a currency that is widely hailed to be an alternative to fiat, we haven’t made much progress in this aspect. The mindset that you’ve mentioned is precisely the aspect that is detrimental to Bitcoin’s success.

If you were to pitch Bitcoin to someone, you can pitch in the direction that Bitcoin is a good store of value. But for what? Why are people willing to pay more and more money for Bitcoin? Not because of being FOMO, I hope. The answer that we should be giving is that it has the potential to replace financial systems in the far future and thus you should invest in the currency of the future. It doesn’t help if we’re so fearful of spending Bitcoins.

Make no mistake, Bitcoin’s intention is to become a P2P electronic cash system. If people only invest in Bitcoin because they think its going to make them rich, then its a typical sign of a bubble.

[Algominer2]

We only need ordinary people like you and me to start using Bitcoin in any way each person would like.

People aren't really "using" bitcoin and probably never will. As a currency it sucks, but long-term holding as a store of value is where it excels. Everyone should be aiming to just hold a as much as they can afford for as long as possible.

[EL MOHA]

Make no mistake, Bitcoin’s intention is to become a P2P electronic cash system. If people only invest in Bitcoin because they think its going to make them rich, then its a typical sign of a bubble.

Reading the white paper of bitcoin and correlating it with today’s usage of it, I can agree that there have been a paradigm shift of the main problem it was coming to address and that was/is majorly because of the reason that the transaction scalability isn’t smooth as many would want and also the high cost of transaction fees sometimes incurred. To me just like bitcoin is pseudonymous in nature same way that it’s usage can be, you can take the advantage of it been an hedge against inflation and hodl or use it as a currency just like fiat. Personally i will treat it as an alternative to the fiat currency, make use of it when the fiat currency creates hurdles.

People aren't really "using" bitcoin and probably never will. As a currency it sucks, but long-term holding as a store of value is where it excels. Everyone should be aiming to just hold a as much as they can afford for as long as possible.

As a currency it doesn’t sucks just that the use of it as currency hasn’t grown much which I will basically blame on the adoption rate of it, if the rate of it’s acceptance as a payment method grows then you will see more people turn to make use of it more. It is the best when doing cross border transactions

[Text]

Bitcoin needs everyday people like us to start using it in our own ways. It's more than just an asset. Just look at how things have evolved: from being dismissed as a fad to being embraced by major asset managers and financial institutions now investing in Bitcoin. It's a testament to the power of grassroots adoption. Here we are, proving that Bitcoin has come a long way. The more people understand and use Bitcoin, the harder it becomes for those in power to ignore. It's a shift in control, putting the power back into the hands of individuals.

[uchegod-21]

People who only see downsides of HODling bitcoin don't only exist now. They already existed fifteen years ago and have existed all the way through. You only have to compare between those who had that vision and those who had the opposite vision to see which is the better way.

People who only sees downside of HODLing end up being on the regretting lane. It takes just 2 halving to regret grossly. HODLing is a virtue and only the faithful and patient possess the virtue. When I was new in this industry, I was very scared of BTC. Especially the volatility and the rumour that it is a bubble about to burst. But today I am glad to announce to you that I am now seeing bitcoin as an adventure. I am not sure about my next step, but the most interesting thing is that I'll still take the step.

[AmoreJaz]

We only need ordinary people like you and me to start using Bitcoin in any way each person would like.

People aren't really "using" bitcoin and probably never will. As a currency it sucks, but long-term holding as a store of value is where it excels. Everyone should be aiming to just hold a as much as they can afford for as long as possible.

For now, using it as payment method is not rampant so to speak  because of considerations such as high tx fees, duration and convenience. Most are just holding it for the very reason of getting high profits owed to its volatility. But for some people, they will find it convenient to use crypto in some of their payment transactions.

Holding long-term is only good for those people who have other assets to fall back into. Because if you are in a tight position, you will probably make a sell-off even if you are at a loss. So it is better to be a holder if you treat this as an extra asset where you are not totally relying from its potential profits.

[tabas]

We only need ordinary people like you and me to start using Bitcoin in any way each person would like.

Bitcoin is a movement that attracts "The Cabal" to where the people are. Currently, we now have Black Rock and the largest asset managers having investments in Bitcoin, and Trump and other politicians talking seriously about Bitcoin. Ten years ago suggesting that that would happen would be laughable.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

No offense against Trump but I hope that he's walking the talk and truly serious about it. This is a campaign season and that's why he wants to let people hear what they want to hear about, especially in sectors like the bitcoin community. But you're right that we only need people like us to keep Bitcoin running. If we're going to take a look back from where it has started, there were no big fishes on it and it's typically the enthusiasts that have seen the potential on it until it's passed on to the new generation of adopters until these big players and companies have seen the real potential of it and it can cause real threat to them if they won't adopt it or simply, the missed opportunity that they'll have in the future.

[Wind_FURY]

We only need ordinary people like you and me to start using Bitcoin in any way each person would like.

Bitcoin is a movement that attracts "The Cabal" to where the people are. Currently, we now have Black Rock and the largest asset managers having investments in Bitcoin, and Trump and other politicians talking seriously about Bitcoin. Ten years ago suggesting that that would happen would be laughable.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I usually say that I am against HODLing but that doesn't mean I only see the downsides of HODLing and nothing positive. When I say that I am against hodling, I mean that in order for Bitcoin to be successful and massively adopted, it has to be in circulation and massive usage. If we hodl and do nothing, no good or service will be created and it will kill Bitcoin, hodling won't magically make it go to the moon.

At the same time, I want to admit that it's good that some people hodl because the majority of bitcoins shouldn't end up in the hands of corporations like BlackRock and in the hands of centralized exchanges like Binance.

But if you don't HODL Bitcoin as a form of escape from the exploitative nature of fiat, how does Bitcoin itself will be valued if it isn't being valued itself?

Plus ser, do you actually believe that we're HODLing merely to "Go To The Moon"? There are many people that do that, but its effect on Bitcoin is the same. It's being valued and therefore it has value.

[betswift]

We only need ordinary people like you and me to start using Bitcoin in any way each person would like.

People aren't really "using" bitcoin and probably never will. As a currency it sucks, but long-term holding as a store of value is where it excels. Everyone should be aiming to just hold a as much as they can afford for as long as possible.

For now, using it as payment method is not rampant so to speak  because of considerations such as high tx fees, duration and convenience.Most are just holding it for the very  reason of getting high profits.

I agree, but the future moves on and we probably will see improvements in these fields, there are many gateways already for many services, so mainstream adoption would be a great step ahead, in my opinion. The demand is not still there.

[Hewlet]

Bitcoin is a movement that attracts "The Cabal" to where the people are. Currently, we now have Black Rock and the largest asset managers having investments in Bitcoin, and Trump and other politicians talking seriously about Bitcoin. Ten years ago suggesting that that would happen would be laughable

it just goes to show that value and uniqueness will always break through regardless of the competition and resistance it faces. What made Bitcoin to survive at the time most of these cabals where against it till this moment when a lot of them are now advocating for it adoption and getting bullish about it is because of it uniqueness of being decentralized and having no central person they could point hands on to politicize in any way. It's surely a rewarding journey for all bitcoinner that have been in the system this while and now watching it become a serious consideration for most big global figures as a source of preservation of her wealth.

We only need ordinary people like you and me to start using Bitcoin in any way each person would like.

Bitcoin is a movement that attracts "The Cabal" to where the people are. Currently, we now have Black Rock and the largest asset managers having investments in Bitcoin, and Trump and other politicians talking seriously about Bitcoin. Ten years ago suggesting that that would happen would be laughable.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I usually say that I am against HODLing but that doesn't mean I only see the downsides of HODLing and nothing positive. When I say that I am against hodling, I mean that in order for Bitcoin to be successful and massively adopted, it has to be in circulation and massive usage. If we hodl and do nothing, no good or service will be created and it will kill Bitcoin, hodling won't magically make it go to the moon.

I don't think that most HODLers just make a single buy and leave it that way, it most times involves making multiple of buys at several timeframe and in some way, we can't say they just HODL and do nothing with it. I get the point you're saying and to a large extent, Bitcoin will experience a larger scale of adoption if we focuse more on it decentralized nature more than it volatile nature but with what it has come to be, the attention of investors have shifted more into holding Bitcoin for the profit they stand to get from it and it's difficult for the big institutions to consider adopting Bitcoin for an alternative reason other than what they stand to gain from thier investment in the future.

[Iranus]

We all have our point of view on how bitcoin should be used. Imho you can view bitcoin as whatever you like. Bitcoin can serve as a store of value, a currency or an asset.

I think for most people, bitcoin is an asset more than it is a currency. If a business adopts bitcoin as a payment method and gives a discount for customers who pay in bitcoin, many still wouldn't pay in Bitcoin because they are hodling their bitcoins for the price to increase. I’m saying this from personal experience and I’m sure other members who have adopted bitcoin as payment in their business would agree with me.

Which is quite the problem, don’t you think? For a currency that is widely hailed to be an alternative to fiat, we haven’t made much progress in this aspect. The mindset that you’ve mentioned is precisely the aspect that is detrimental to Bitcoin’s success.

If you were to pitch Bitcoin to someone, you can pitch in the direction that Bitcoin is a good store of value. But for what? Why are people willing to pay more and more money for Bitcoin? Not because of being FOMO, I hope. The answer that we should be giving is that it has the potential to replace financial systems in the far future and thus you should invest in the currency of the future. It doesn’t help if we’re so fearful of spending Bitcoins.

Make no mistake, Bitcoin’s intention is to become a P2P electronic cash system. If people only invest in Bitcoin because they think its going to make them rich, then its a typical sign of a bubble.

I agree that the purpose of creating bitcoin was for it to be a peer-to-peer currency that does not depend on any 3rd party but as of now, I don't think we can make that happen. Although we have turned bitcoin into a speculative asset for profit, even if we had not turned it into an asset, it would hardly have become a currency. The biggest barrier is the government because they will not allow a currency that is not under their control to be widely circulated and used. So it's not so bad that people turn bitcoin into an asset.

Bitcoin has useful use cases, it's not like tulips so I don't think there will be any bubble here. The Bitcoin ETF is probably proof of that, because if it were truly useless then I don't think an ETF would be proposed and passed.

[dzungmobile]

I agree that the purpose of creating bitcoin was for it to be a peer-to-peer currency that does not depend on any 3rd party but as of now, I don't think we can make that happen. Although we have turned bitcoin into a speculative asset for profit, even if we had not turned it into an asset, it would hardly have become a currency.

There are third parties to confirm Bitcoin transactions, find Bitcoin blocks but they are decentralized around the world and it's better with decentralization compares to banks that are centralized.

Bitcoin serves many use cases and we don't actually need Bitcoin to become legal tender as a currency, to use it as Store of Value or as a mean for exchange. If government in your country don't make fund transfers through Bitcoin blockchain is illegal, you can do it without fear that government don't accept it as a currency.

There are no KYC exchanges to use too if you are concerning about privacy.

[ranochigo]

I agree that the purpose of creating bitcoin was for it to be a peer-to-peer currency that does not depend on any 3rd party but as of now, I don't think we can make that happen. Although we have turned bitcoin into a speculative asset for profit, even if we had not turned it into an asset, it would hardly have become a currency. The biggest barrier is the government because they will not allow a currency that is not under their control to be widely circulated and used. So it's not so bad that people turn bitcoin into an asset.

Bitcoin has useful use cases, it's not like tulips so I don't think there will be any bubble here. The Bitcoin ETF is probably proof of that, because if it were truly useless then I don't think an ETF would be proposed and passed.

Anything can be a currency so long as there is a value to it. Your seashells, your stones can be a currency if people are willing to put a value to it. You are confused with the difference between a legal tender and a currency. There are no laws within most jurisdictions that prohibits Bitcoin to be used as a currency. It is purely up to the merchants and the consumer preference.

I’m not sure what’s the comparison is with tulips. Bitcoin ETFs are formed solely because it is volatile, and speculative. It does not attest to its utility. People who are managing the ETFs are concerned primarily with the profits and anything else really doesn’t matter to them.

Your post probably also alludes to how the general public perceives Bitcoin. Over time as the popularity dies down, then you’ll be aware of what truly matters to investors.

[dzungmobile]

Anything can be a currency so long as there is a value to it. Your seashells, your stones can be a currency if people are willing to put a value to it. You are confused with the difference between a legal tender and a currency. There are no laws within most jurisdictions that prohibits Bitcoin to be used as a currency. It is purely up to the merchants and the consumer preference.

Yes, everything can be used as currency or in other words as mean of exchange, if people in that community accept to use it like this. Value of a thing depends on how people assess it and accept it.

The history of Stone money in the Yap island.

One of the amazing facts about the stone money, or Rai as they are called in Yapese, is that these gigantic stone discs were not quarried on the island.

Being legally, legal tender will help its legality status but even does not reach to this level, people can use bitcoin as a mean of exchange many things in society. They of course have to consent with lawyers or read legal regulation documents by themselves, to avoid legal problems.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

We only need ordinary people like you and me to start using Bitcoin in any way each person would like.

Bitcoin is a movement that attracts "The Cabal" to where the people are. Currently, we now have Black Rock and the largest asset managers having investments in Bitcoin, and Trump and other politicians talking seriously about Bitcoin. Ten years ago suggesting that that would happen would be laughable.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Well, ten years ago, suggesting that those things you mentioned will happen, was simply seeing or predicting the future for me.
Yeah, in terms of price, I believe no one, or not very many persons believed that Bitcoin will become this valuable as it is today, but in terms of utility, even satoshi himself or theirself did not create bitcoin to end up in the hands of just a few persons, but to grow to become a wide spread means of transferring value across the world easily, fast and cheap.
What would have become laughable is and was if this dream of bitcoin becoming a global means of internet transactions wasnt achieved.

But all the same, i understand the angle you are coming from though, and lets just say that it feels good seeing how far bitcoin has come, and all the milestones it has shattered, bitcoin is not there yet if compared to assets like gold and the rest, and this is why investing and holding bitcoin now is still one of the best decisions anyone can make for him or herself.

[lovesmayfamilis]

Make no mistake, Bitcoin’s intention is to become a P2P electronic cash system. If people only invest in Bitcoin because they think its going to make them rich, then its a typical sign of a bubble.

The worst thing is when people with this kind of thinking perceive Bitcoin as a panacea for poverty, selling their valuables and waiting for the hour X when their investments will make the owners rich. There are many calls on the forum not to sell bitcoins under any circumstances, thereby depriving themselves of a lot, and as a result, such people are often disappointed, if not ruined. The volatility of Bitcoin sometimes plays against such fanatics, while if people used Bitcoin more often as a means of payment, they would receive more benefits than blindly storing it without specific goals.

[Obim34]

We only need ordinary people like you and me to start using Bitcoin in any way each person would like.

People aren't really "using" bitcoin and probably never will. As a currency it sucks, but long-term holding as a store of value is where it excels. Everyone should be aiming to just hold a as much as they can afford for as long as possible.

For now, using it as payment method is not rampant so to speak  because of considerations such as high tx fees, duration and convenience.Most are just holding it for the very  reason of getting high profits.

I made a topic one time as to the major reason why investors, firms, business owners and government are beginning to get involved into Bitcoin, which is valued on the profits to be made. Aside this profits, we won't have as much investors interested in Bitcoin because as you stated not an absolute idea for making payments on trades and services due to tx fees which isn't something stable, goes up and down to a point where the fee can sometimes be unbearable.

If it weren't legit, Bitcoin wouldn't have succeeded to where it is now despite the criticism from when and how it started, surprisingly Bitcoin has been a merit to anyone who has participated and likely has to put those negativity ablaze.

[m2017]

We only need ordinary people like you and me to start using Bitcoin in any way each person would like.

This is already happening. Ordinary people like you and me have been using bitcoin for a long time as each of us wants. But more often than not, it turns out that people use bitcoin not as a means of payment (I suppose that's what you meant?), but as a means of speculation (buy cheaper - sell more expensive) and as a result, they adhere to the HODL strategy (up to a certain point).

Bitcoin is a movement that attracts "The Cabal" to where the people are. Currently, we now have Black Rock and the largest asset managers having investments in Bitcoin, and Trump and other politicians talking seriously about Bitcoin. Ten years ago suggesting that that would happen would be laughable.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Expecting this 10 years ago was ridiculous, but the community wanted it, expecting an rapid price increase as a consequence. Now we have all waited for this moment, but whether the BTC-community will be happy about it is a good question.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

We only need ordinary people like you and me to start using Bitcoin in any way each person would like.

Bitcoin is a movement that attracts "The Cabal" to where the people are. Currently, we now have Black Rock and the largest asset managers having investments in Bitcoin, and Trump and other politicians talking seriously about Bitcoin. Ten years ago suggesting that that would happen would be laughable.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yea, I think you are right; no one would have ever believed this if it was suggested ten years ago. But what I am thinking right now is that if really Trump is now in support of Bitcoin and if everything they say about Bitcoin is meant by them, it might not remain like that for ever. What if another US President emerges in the future and he is not a Bitcoiner? It probably will also cause another effect on the market then. 

Bitcoin is cool if we use it as we please (I don't mean in a bad way). Bitcoin doesn't need the government help for it to stand out; even when the price of Bitcoin started off at $1, it was not the help of the government that made it reach $100; it didn't make it reach $1000 or $10, 000, but all of a sudden their interest has all been aggravated. I don't accept the idea of the government holding a large sum of bitcoin. 

[Dunamisx]

We only need ordinary people like you and me to start using Bitcoin in any way each person would like.

Bitcoin is a movement that attracts "The Cabal" to where the people are. Currently, we now have Black Rock and the largest asset managers having investments in Bitcoin, and Trump and other politicians talking seriously about Bitcoin. Ten years ago suggesting that that would happen would be laughable.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Life is sometimes unpredictable, some will go against something they knew nothing about, all because they are following strict order from the centralized authorities over that same thing, this is one of the first mentality in which many were having towards bitcoin in the first place, it couldn't have been this same achievements on bitcoin we could have been talking about with the political elites and giant financial institutions assuming bitcoin wasn't successful to this day, but the result in it were evident enough to the public and all those who adopted for its use, which is why many now couldn't afford to underestimate the influence from bitcoin.