What Bitcoin mainstream looks like to me, what's yours?

[Die_empty]

I want to correct some people on here thinking that the involvement of politics/politicians with Bitcoin makes it mainstream, they are wrong, mainstream is a gradual process and we are not there yet.

I have been part of some discussions about Bitcoin and politics. They are saying that Bitcoin going mainstream is wrong. Most people are concerned about Bitcoin being associated with a particular presidential candidate or political party. They don't want politicians to divide Bitcoiners. Bitcoin should be a currency for all governments and people.   

We are almost there, the acceptance of Bitcoin as a medium of exchange in this centralized world is the goal, the real mainstream, having Bitcoin as a payment option around the world is the real definition of mainstream, the moment Amazon, eBay, and others online marketplaces start accepting Bitcoin as they do with Fiat is the mainstream.

The full-fledged acceptance of Bitcoin everywhere is the true meaning of mainstream.

It will be wonderful to have such big firms adopting Bitcoin as a payment option. It will make sense if they are collecting Bitcoin payments to use it as an investment. They can decide to hodl some amount of Bitcoin for the payments. However other factors are discouraging people from using Bitcoin to make payments such as high transaction fees and volatility. 

[Wexnident]

~

In context of what you're talking about OP, it doesn't only involve being accepted, it also involves being used. Now idk which ones is actually holding back people from using it, is it because businesses don't accept Bitcoin payments, or is it because users don't want to spend Bitcoin? Pretty sure it's the latter in most cases. At least in my circle, I don't think there's anyone who's avidly trying to pay for Bitcoin lol. It's only in rare instances where there's no easy available payment method that they rely on paying using crypto.

Still though in essence, I think Bitcoin is already a part of the mainstream. I mean yeah it's not as easy to use as fiat but nonetheless, it is being used. Not to mention the news coverage it has every now and then.

[Crypt0Gore]

Bitcoin is mainstream. There isn't a single person who doesn't heard of it anymore. Everybody knows about it and everybody has a chance to get in. We are not early adopters anymore. Bitcoin is almost as big as gold in terms of market cap. If that doesn't make it mainstream, I don't know what else does. Politicians talk about bitcoin because they can't ignore it. They know if they get the support of the bitcoiners, it will have a positive impact on the election results for them.

Nope it's not
Having a marketcap than Gold in this early stage shows its potential.
Someone have heard of it doesn't mean they know it
It's on its way to been mainstream not there yet.
It becomes mainstream when it's widely adopted and accepted for the utility it entails.
Politicians acknowledging it is a sign we heading in the right direction.

Thank you and God bless you.

Someone who claimed that his grandmother knows Bitcoin, I don't want to ask how old their Grandma really his because older people really don't care if it is not paper money, I would also like to use Gold as an example, many people know what Gold is but haven't for once see real Gold before, till this day it is a dream to them, they just know that it is a valuable thing.

It seems you are on of the very few who really understand what I am talking about, someone even make me look like I  don't know the real meaning of mainstream so I am going to drop the meaning here for anyone before they decide to say their jagon.



Widely adopted and accepted is mainstream for me, like my title said, this is my own meaning of Bitcoin becoming mainstream. /b]

[mamesso]

There are always pros and cons, every individual has a different view or choice on something, no one can force others to follow their will because everyone has their own choices. For this reason, it is difficult to make it mainstream unless a country legalized Bitcoin as legal tender as happened in El Salvador. I really hope that happens, but every decision is in the hands of the government. If other governments have the same mindset as the president of El Salvador, maybe Bitcoin will become more popular due to its status changing from Decentralized to Centralized.

[$weetne$$]

We are almost there, the acceptance of Bitcoin as a medium of exchange in this centralized world is the goal, the real mainstream, having Bitcoin as a payment option around the world is the real definition of mainstream, the moment Amazon, eBay, and others online marketplaces start accepting Bitcoin as they do with Fiat is the mainstream.

Mainstream is the most people talking about Bitcoin every time which has already being happening. Bitcoin is now a big thing to be covered by all news outlets and those in business have kept Bitcoin as one of their most important topics to discuss and currency to cover. I was watching the news last week and Bitcoin charts was all what, the television station was showing. That to me is mainstream adoption. I think there are different stages of mainstream adoption and we are getting to the final stage very soon that Bitcoin will have to be accept as a payment option all over America and the rest of the world. It would not just happen one time but it is going to take some time and I will be waiting for that to happen. But for now we have started experiencing mainstream adoption already.

[ChiBitCTy]

I mean I guess it really all depends on what one considers to be "mainstream".  I would probably argue that bitcoin has become "mainstream" at this point.  I don't think that bitcoin is as "mainstream" as it will get, by any means but at this point you can ask most people from at least a second or first world nation if they've ever at least heard of bitcoin to which they are likely to respond that they have, which to me is a big part of it becoming mainstream.

 Other factors of course like how many vendors are accepting it, ETFs having picked it up etc.

[m2017]

The full-fledged acceptance of Bitcoin everywhere is the true meaning of mainstream.

Despite the enthusiastic expectations and cries of bitcoiners, I doubt the complete acceptance of the bitcoin everywhere and anywhere.

We are almost there, the acceptance of Bitcoin as a medium of exchange in this centralized world is the goal, the real mainstream, having Bitcoin as a payment option around the world is the real definition of mainstream, the moment Amazon, eBay, and others online marketplaces start accepting Bitcoin as they do with Fiat is the mainstream.

But this point seems quite likely to me, that large service providers (marketplaces) will be allowed to accept bitcoin (regulators will not interfere), unlike small ones (a small cafe around the corner) or P2P sales.

The mainstream will be when it will be possible to buy for bitcoin in large marketplaces, when it will become commonplace, but certainly not everywhere, as bitcoiners would like.

[shield132]

I want to correct some people on here thinking that the involvement of politics/politicians with Bitcoin makes it mainstream, they are wrong, mainstream is a gradual process and we are not there yet.

The first part was when everyone, weak or powerful are doubting if bitcoin will survive, this was the early days of Bitcoin when we can mine using a Pentium 4 CPU to mine BTC.

The second part was when many popular figure started talking trash about Bitcoin, atleast they started saying something, until they slowly start to detect how incredible Bitcoin really is, and few changed their mind about Bitcoin.

The third part is the struggle with centralisation vs decentralisation, banks and co hating on Bitcoin, mind you this happened only because loads of people started showing more interest in Bitcoin than centralised investments, especially the banks.

Now the bigger companies starts investing in Bitcoin, ETF came and the politicians are proving to support Bitcoin, maybe for the greater good or just for power struggle, these aren't the real mainstream yet.

We are almost there, the acceptance of Bitcoin as a medium of exchange in this centralized world is the goal, the real mainstream, having Bitcoin as a payment option around the world is the real definition of mainstream, the moment Amazon, eBay, and others online marketplaces start accepting Bitcoin as they do with Fiat is the mainstream.

The full-fledged acceptance of Bitcoin everywhere is the true meaning of mainstream.

I agree with you, that's how I also perceive the proposal mainstream Bitcoin but it's not completely like you described. Bitcoin's Market Cap is higher than 1 Trillion. We frequently use PayPal and Visa and Master card for buying something online and in real life but their market cap summed together is still lower than Bitcoin's market cap. Bitcoin's market cap makes it stand next to Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Google and Meta.
Stop someone in the street and ask them about Bitcoin. The majority of people know or have heard about Bitcoin.
To be fair, Bitcoin is mainstream and non-mainstream at the same time. Almost everyone knows it but it's not massively used for making payments because it's not suited for that. Look at the size of each block, it's up to 4 MB, how can it become massively used? It's impossible right now.

[Porfirii]

I want to correct some people on here thinking that the involvement of politics/politicians with Bitcoin makes it mainstream, they are wrong, mainstream is a gradual process and we are not there yet.

-snip-

Now the bigger companies starts investing in Bitcoin, ETF came and the politicians are proving to support Bitcoin, maybe for the greater good or just for power struggle, these aren't the real mainstream yet.

We are almost there, the acceptance of Bitcoin as a medium of exchange in this centralized world is the goal, the real mainstream, having Bitcoin as a payment option around the world is the real definition of mainstream, the moment Amazon, eBay, and others online marketplaces start accepting Bitcoin as they do with Fiat is the mainstream.

The full-fledged acceptance of Bitcoin everywhere is the true meaning of mainstream.

In this topic we are talking about the new bets around the presidential debate, as there is one about Trump saying "Bitcoin" in front of millions (maybe not billions yet) of people tonight.

I agree with you that we are not there yet, Bitcoin can't be considered mainstream IMO, but we are at the verge of doing it if things keep scalating like that.

[justdimin]

We are almost there, the acceptance of Bitcoin as a medium of exchange in this centralized world is the goal, the real mainstream, having Bitcoin as a payment option around the world is the real definition of mainstream, the moment Amazon, eBay, and others online marketplaces start accepting Bitcoin as they do with Fiat is the mainstream.

Using bitcoin right now for payments do not make sense at all, not many people do it and I do not think that they will keep on doing it, feels like it's not a smart way to go on and I think that's going to be something that will take a while. I believe that we are going to see this changing long term, and it's going to take a lot of time as well. I believe that the best thing to do right now would be just something that will not be too simple and we can't really make it work any other way, we shouldn't really be worried about it and we can't make this one work without holding long term as well.

Bitcoins only advantage is profit making during investment right now, if we can do that then we are going to be fine, but using it doesn't make sense at the moment. As long as it's not a good thing to use, people will not end up with that much stuff that easily, we can't really see this becoming something that will benefit everyone, but if fee drops and pace gets faster, we can see this get greater.

[dzungmobile]

In this topic we are talking about the new bets around the presidential debate, as there is one about Trump saying "Bitcoin" in front of millions (maybe not billions yet) of people tonight.

I agree with you that we are not there yet, Bitcoin can't be considered mainstream IMO, but we are at the verge of doing it if things keep scalating like that.

Bitcoin adoption grows very well since 2009 and it gives us very good opportuinities over recent years to join and become early adopters then take advantage of cheaper Bitcoin price than late comers.

Main stream or not, I don't care because it will come very naturally and any big call from any influencer or country will not help us to achieve that milestone instantly.

Moreover, if there is no big upgrade on Bitcoin protocol, people will not be able to use Bitcoin daily and for small transactions, so it is big barrier for Bitcoin mainstream. I know there are Bitcoin Lightning Network and side chains but not simple enough for non tech people to use it at least at the moment.

[serjent05]

I want to correct some people on here thinking that the involvement of politics/politicians with Bitcoin makes it mainstream, they are wrong, mainstream is a gradual process and we are not there yet.

True but involving influential people may hasten the process. Since these people will possibly sit on one of the position in the government and with people behind Bitcoin that has an authority to influence his nation will greatly help Bitcoin to be adopted by that nation.

The full-fledged acceptance of Bitcoin everywhere is the true meaning of mainstream.

If this is the mainstream Idea, I think Bitcoin will have a hell of a time to become mainstream.  I would love to see it happen though.

[Gladitorcomeback]

If it's about being accepted as a payment option, then we do have many places around the world where Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are accepted as a payment, doesn't that make it mainstream then? I think it does, it's just that it's not accepted everywhere as of now, and we will definitely have to wait a lot for that to happen, but in terms of it becoming mainstream, it has become mainstream already. People from all around the world have access to Bitcoin even if it's not only about spending it.

If you say it should be as widely accepted as fiat currencies are for it to become mainstream then that isn't correct. Companies and places that accept Bitcoin are increasing in number over time, so technically, it has already become mainstream, all it needs is more time to become more widely accepted around the globe.

[Abiky]

I want to correct some people on here thinking that the involvement of politics/politicians with Bitcoin makes it mainstream, they are wrong, mainstream is a gradual process and we are not there yet.

The first part was when everyone, weak or powerful are doubting if bitcoin will survive, this was the early days of Bitcoin when we can mine using a Pentium 4 CPU to mine BTC.

The second part was when many popular figure started talking trash about Bitcoin, atleast they started saying something, until they slowly start to detect how incredible Bitcoin really is, and few changed their mind about Bitcoin.

The third part is the struggle with centralisation vs decentralisation, banks and co hating on Bitcoin, mind you this happened only because loads of people started showing more interest in Bitcoin than centralised investments, especially the banks.

Now the bigger companies starts investing in Bitcoin, ETF came and the politicians are proving to support Bitcoin, maybe for the greater good or just for power struggle, these aren't the real mainstream yet.

We are almost there, the acceptance of Bitcoin as a medium of exchange in this centralized world is the goal, the real mainstream, having Bitcoin as a payment option around the world is the real definition of mainstream, the moment Amazon, eBay, and others online marketplaces start accepting Bitcoin as they do with Fiat is the mainstream.

The full-fledged acceptance of Bitcoin everywhere is the true meaning of mainstream.

I concur. This is only the beginning. Some people say Bitcoin is already mainstream because of the recent surge in market prices. Especially the approval of spot ETFs in the US and abroad. But what they don't know is that the vast majority of the world's population is still out of the game. Only a small number of people have either heard about or used BTC before. I guess limited Internet access in certain regions of the world is the main culprit.

Rest assured, that once the infrastructure is in place, mainstream adoption for BTC will rise like crazy. Some countries are already joining the crypto/Blockchain bandwagon. Russia, El Salvador, the UAE, and even Hong Kong are opening their arms to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This is the future whenever you like it or not. I know BTC won't replace Fiat currencies anytime soon. But it will become a viable alternative for those who need it the most. Hopefully, Bitcoin lasts well beyond its last block reward halving. Here's to a brighter future for BTC.

[Darker45]

Well, whatever definition we attach to the term mainstream, if even politicians are talking about it then perhaps it isn't anymore in the margins. If politicians are already courting those who support it, campaigning to them and making false promises to them, then perhaps it has become sufficiently noticeable already.

Bitcoin hitting mainstream doesn't necessarily have to do with everybody using it the way it should be used. If everybody has heard of it, discussed about it, then it has somehow reached the mainstream.

[michellee]

Bitcoin is on the way to become mainstream as many eyes now is on Bitcoin. They watch how Bitcoin move, grow and participate like what others do. Even if politicians support Bitcoin, we can not say that they are truly do that as they may want to get public attention.

Bitcoin mainstream for me is when people know about Bitcoin and they use Bitcoin for many reason. While the government accept the existence of Bitcoin among their people and give their people chance to use Bitcoin. Besides that, we will see many store, offline and online start accepting Bitcoin and other crypto currency as additional payment transaction besides fiat.

But we are still far from that reality and Bitcoin and other crypto need to be spread like before. Maybe not in this near but in the future when more people realize the benefit of Bitcoin for them.

[yhiaali3]

I am not sure if the centralized world will accept a decentralized payment method, even if Amazon, eBay and other online marketplaces accept Bitcoin as a payment method as they do with fiat currencies, they will impose KYC and we will lose the luster of decentralization and privacy.

So I see it as difficult for Bitcoin to be accepted as a means of exchange in the centralized world unless it is contained by governments through KYC and anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism regulations which will make Bitcoin lose its distinctive features such as decentralization and privacy.

[Smack That Ace]

Another reason to say that we are early is the price of bitcoin. I think every Bitcoin enthusiast here believes that bitcoin will one day get to thousands of dollars in six figures or even million for one, imagine someone that got bitcoin at the price it is today wouldn’t that be seen as been super early on it? So I think with these we can say we are still early

But we're not, that's the reality.

People are setting their expectations too high and in my opinion are somewhat delusional about bitcoin. People want to see bitcoin worth millions of dollars and want bitcoin to become a global means of payment. But I don't think bitcoin can be both, bitcoin can only be one of the two. Imagine if bitcoin was worth millions of dollars, what would the transaction fees be? And how could it become a popular means of payment when the transaction fees are so high?

I would not be greedy and more practical, and I would choose bitcoin as an asset, an investment instead of a means of payment. I think bitcoin is an asset that will bring more benefits to people than just being a means of payment.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

The full-fledged acceptance of Bitcoin everywhere is the true meaning of mainstream.

Why do we think that Bitcoin is not being accepted every where in the world? I can agree that there are a large population of people in the world who doesn't know about Bitcoin, but the truth is that Bitcoin is also known and used by wide population all over the world. So many of these people that knows about Bitcoin are using it for their daily transactions. I believe that Bitcoin is being used on a daily based by so many individuals all over the world but not everyone is using it in those places.

The fact that every living individual around the world is not using Bitcoin does not means it's not mainstream. Bitcoin is everywhere, even in those countries that Bitcoin is ban, there are people that are secretly transacting with it every day but the truth is that you can not make everyone to use Bitcoin. Even in  the next 10 years, I don't think it will be possible to make Bitcoin a legal tender all over the world.

[davis196]

We are almost there, the acceptance of Bitcoin as a medium of exchange in this centralized world is the goal, the real mainstream, having Bitcoin as a payment option around the world is the real definition of mainstream, the moment Amazon, eBay, and others online marketplaces start accepting Bitcoin as they do with Fiat is the mainstream.

The full-fledged acceptance of Bitcoin everywhere is the true meaning of mainstream.

Amazon and eBay accepting BTC payments? Good luck with this. The blockchain will get clogged, the transaction fees are going to hit the moon and confirmation time will increase. And no, the off-chain solutions like the Lightning Network probably won't work.
So you think that the people around the force should be forced by the governments, banks and corporations to use Bitcoin? This is quite the opposite of the ideas of freedom and decentralization, which are the core foundation of Bitcoin(and crypto in general). Bitcoin is already accepted in most countries around the world. The people are free to use BTC if they want to. Nobody is forcing them to use BTC. If they don't like Bitcoin, they are free to use altcoins or fiat money. This is true acceptance, if you ask me.