What is Bitcoins Purpose? Or have we Forgotten..

[Joshuar]

Lately I've been seeing a lot of threads ranting on how Bitcoin's prices are falling, how they've "invested" in Bitcoin and the same goes for the alt coins, where dozens are made every day with miners on them trying to get rich along with the devs..

So my question is, What is Bitcoin's true purpose?

1) Is Bitcoin just an investment? As many people seem to think of it as such, we're they invest a few thousand dollars and hope to get 10x returns when the price goes higher.

2) Or is Bitcoin something more? Is Bitcoin simply a way to improve upon existing fiat currencies, the euro, dollar etc? Or a fad?

3) Is Bitcoin both, an investment and a revolutionary currency?

I don't see how something can be an investment as well as a currency, I think that's why the IRS chooses to tax bitcoin as a property, what we need..is for more people to realize Bitcoin as a currency and treat it as such, not just an investment to hold onto and sell off.

The only way to acknowledge Bitcoin as a true currency is to start incorporating it into our daily lives or at least try, try and replace the fiat currencies you use with Bitcoin, then only the mainstream world will start to recognize it as a revolutionary force.. Bitcoin is more than an investment, it's a evolutionary system and should be treated as such.

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[GenTarkin]

Its actually both. Kinda like gold/silver.

Yes, right now its being seen primarily as a speculative investment, but the infrastructure is being built in order to sustain it as a currency.
What it comes down to in reality is if critical mass embrace it as a currency ... this is the hardest thing to pull off and its still very much in its infancy from that perspective.

It functions as a currency regardless, but in order to maintain value, majority people have to want to use it.
Only then will it begin to transform monetary systems on a global scale.

Bitcoins purpose is to truely revolutionize money for the first time in human history.

[Joshuar]

Its actually both. Kinda like gold/silver.

Yes, right now its being seen primarily as a speculative investment, but the infrastructure is being built in order to sustain it as a currency.
What it comes down to in reality is if critical mass embrace it as a currency ... this is the hardest thing to pull off and its still very much in its infancy from that perspective.

It functions as a currency regardless, but in order to maintain value, majority people have to want to use it.
Only then will it begin to transform monetary systems on a global scale.

Bitcoins purpose is to truely revolutionize money for the first time in human history.

Makes sense...draw in the investors looking for a quick buck, then they'll draw in more in hopes of increasing the demand and price of the crypto, leading to wider adoption, until the choice comes down to the majority or rest of the population to accept it as a currency or not, even though it already functions and is used as a currency.

[Alonzo Ewing]

Bitcoin was the fruit borne of 20 years of crypto-anarchist/cypherpunk advocacy.  Its purpose is to carve out a new territory of freedom, as Satoshi himself said.

Don't let any Wall Street bigshot tell you otherwise.
Don't let any venture capitalist tell you otherwise.

It ain't meant to be a slightly better Paypal.  It's mean to obviate the need for the current corrupt financial system.

[skooter]

Its actually both. Kinda like gold/silver.

Yes, right now its being seen primarily as a speculative investment, but the infrastructure is being built in order to sustain it as a currency.
What it comes down to in reality is if critical mass embrace it as a currency ... this is the hardest thing to pull off and its still very much in its infancy from that perspective.

It functions as a currency regardless, but in order to maintain value, majority people have to want to use it.
Only then will it begin to transform monetary systems on a global scale.

Bitcoins purpose is to truely revolutionize money for the first time in human history.

Yep. Humans have never ever revolutionized money before.

Hell, I still barter with clamshells.

[beatljuice]

It has been a way to literally MAKE money. Currently I think it's more of an investment that is, and will continue to become, a currency.

I don't think it would have become an investment vehicle if it hadn't had the miners, in their excitement, mining it first. But now as mining is becoming less profitable the investors are becoming the larger influence on it. But we need the excitement of the investors to move it into adoption as currency. From there it will also become a vehicle for many other things, such as smart contracts.

[durrrr]

It has been a way to literally MAKE money. Currently I think it's more of an investment that is, and will continue to become, a currency.

I don't think it would have become an investment vehicle if it hadn't had the miners, in their excitement, mining it first. But now as mining is becoming less profitable the investors are becoming the larger influence on it. But we need the excitement of the investors to move it into adoption as currency. From there it will also become a vehicle for many other things, such as smart contracts.

this is what it has become a way to make money or an investment. but its not all its become. its starting to become a currency more and more everyday with new ways to use and spend bitcoin

[GenTarkin]

Its actually both. Kinda like gold/silver.

Yes, right now its being seen primarily as a speculative investment, but the infrastructure is being built in order to sustain it as a currency.
What it comes down to in reality is if critical mass embrace it as a currency ... this is the hardest thing to pull off and its still very much in its infancy from that perspective.

It functions as a currency regardless, but in order to maintain value, majority people have to want to use it.
Only then will it begin to transform monetary systems on a global scale.

Bitcoins purpose is to truely revolutionize money for the first time in human history.

Yep. Humans have never ever revolutionized money before.

Hell, I still barter with clamshells.

ok, for the first time in a few centuries...

[GenTarkin]

Also, yes keep in mind when we say 'potential to become a currency' ... we mean in the eyes of the critical mass and how the value it as a currency or not.

Inherently & technologically it already functions as a far superior currency to anything we have today.

[skooter]

Its actually both. Kinda like gold/silver.

Yes, right now its being seen primarily as a speculative investment, but the infrastructure is being built in order to sustain it as a currency.
What it comes down to in reality is if critical mass embrace it as a currency ... this is the hardest thing to pull off and its still very much in its infancy from that perspective.

It functions as a currency regardless, but in order to maintain value, majority people have to want to use it.
Only then will it begin to transform monetary systems on a global scale.

Bitcoins purpose is to truely revolutionize money for the first time in human history.

Yep. Humans have never ever revolutionized money before.

Hell, I still barter with clamshells.

ok, for the first time in a few centuries...

And bitcoin isn't revolutionizing anything.

And bitcoin has already failed at what it was supposedly supposed to accomplish.

A handful of organizations control all the hash power of the network already, and big companies (eg, google) and govt agencies aren't even involved yet.

Could you imagine if the real players of the world got involved? Eg, if intel + google partnered up. Intel made ASIC chips for google to run. Nobody else's hardware would be relevant anymore.

[Joshuar]

Its actually both. Kinda like gold/silver.

Yes, right now its being seen primarily as a speculative investment, but the infrastructure is being built in order to sustain it as a currency.
What it comes down to in reality is if critical mass embrace it as a currency ... this is the hardest thing to pull off and its still very much in its infancy from that perspective.

It functions as a currency regardless, but in order to maintain value, majority people have to want to use it.
Only then will it begin to transform monetary systems on a global scale.

Bitcoins purpose is to truely revolutionize money for the first time in human history.

Yep. Humans have never ever revolutionized money before.

Hell, I still barter with clamshells.

ok, for the first time in a few centuries...

And bitcoin isn't revolutionizing anything.

And bitcoin has already failed at what it was supposedly supposed to accomplish.

A handful of organizations control all the hash power of the network already, and big companies (eg, google) and govt agencies aren't even involved yet.

Could you imagine if the real players of the world got involved? Eg, if intel + google partnered up. Intel made ASIC chips for google to run. Nobody else's hardware would be relevant anymore.

This is true..There are many sides to this story.

1) Having a few people control the majority of a cryptocoin is essential to a coins survival, that's also how it operates in the real world, horrible yes, but the only method we have in Capitalism to allow our economy to function decently.

2) Having a equal way for everyone to earn a set amount of coins, without a few people being in control of the majority of Coins, this way doesn't seem as crazy as the 1st, but it could lead to destabalization of the crypto, this way could be given a try though, would be very interesting to see how it plays out.

[smoothie]

Lately I've been seeing a lot of threads ranting on how Bitcoin's prices are falling, how they've "invested" in Bitcoin and the same goes for the alt coins, where dozens are made every day with miners on them trying to get rich along with the devs..

So my question is, What is Bitcoin's true purpose?

1) Is Bitcoin just an investment? As many people seem to think of it as such, we're they invest a few thousand dollars and hope to get 10x returns when the price goes higher.

2) Or is Bitcoin something more? Is Bitcoin simply a way to improve upon existing fiat currencies, the euro, dollar etc? Or a fad?

3) Is Bitcoin both, an investment and a revolutionary currency?

I don't see how something can be an investment as well as a currency, I think that's why the IRS chooses to tax bitcoin as a property, what we need..is for more people to realize Bitcoin as a currency and treat it as such, not just an investment to hold onto and sell off.

The only way to acknowledge Bitcoin as a true currency is to start incorporating it into our daily lives or at least try, try and replace the fiat currencies you use with Bitcoin, then only the mainstream world will start to recognize it as a revolutionary force.. Bitcoin is more than an investment, it's a evolutionary system and should be treated as such.

I think many of the same thoughts and events applied to the internet when it was still young can be applied to Bitcoin also.

Many people made a ton and lots lost a ton in the early days of the Internet. Lots of speculation.

[~Coinseeker~]

Makes sense...draw in the investors looking for a quick buck, then they'll draw in more in hopes of increasing the demand and price of the crypto, leading to wider adoption, until the choice comes down to the majority or rest of the population to accept it as a currency or not, even though it already functions and is used as a currency.

That's called a pyramid scheme and that's why Bitcoin's not working.  You can't have a currency with the mantra of "buy and hold", when they need to "buy and spend".  Otherwise, Bitcoin is not useful and it remains poorly distributed.  Doesn't matter how many business jump on the free advertisement hype, people can't spend what they don't have.  I'm not sure what Bitcoin's purpose is other than "to the moon".  Good for speculators (maybe) useless to the general public.

[skooter]

Its actually both. Kinda like gold/silver.

Yes, right now its being seen primarily as a speculative investment, but the infrastructure is being built in order to sustain it as a currency.
What it comes down to in reality is if critical mass embrace it as a currency ... this is the hardest thing to pull off and its still very much in its infancy from that perspective.

It functions as a currency regardless, but in order to maintain value, majority people have to want to use it.
Only then will it begin to transform monetary systems on a global scale.

Bitcoins purpose is to truely revolutionize money for the first time in human history.

Yep. Humans have never ever revolutionized money before.

Hell, I still barter with clamshells.

ok, for the first time in a few centuries...

And bitcoin isn't revolutionizing anything.

And bitcoin has already failed at what it was supposedly supposed to accomplish.

A handful of organizations control all the hash power of the network already, and big companies (eg, google) and govt agencies aren't even involved yet.

Could you imagine if the real players of the world got involved? Eg, if intel + google partnered up. Intel made ASIC chips for google to run. Nobody else's hardware would be relevant anymore.

This is true..There are many sides to this story.

1) Having a few people control the majority of a cryptocoin is essential to a coins survival, that's also how it operates in the real world, horrible yes, but the only method we have in Capitalism to allow our economy to function decently.

2) Having a equal way for everyone to earn a set amount of coins, without a few people being in control of the majority of Coins, this way doesn't seem as crazy as the 1st, but it could lead to destabalization of the crypto, this way could be given a try though, would be very interesting to see how it plays out.

Having an equal way for people to earn coins is indeed crazy.

It's either one of the 2 following situations:

1) Cost to mine coins > value. This is a bit tricky. If total cost > value, but marginal cost (electricity) < value, people who already own hardware will continue to mine, but no new investment will occur. If marginal cost > value, then the network will die because only stupid people will continue to mine.
2) Total cost to mine coins < value. People/institutions will make ASIC farms to mine and cash in on the profit potential.

So unless you manage to control the value so that it's always in a state where total cost > value && marginal cost < value (even then, there's plenty of institutions that have idle hardware they could put to use), it'll either die or people will buy tons of specialized hardware to control a big part of the network.

[GenTarkin]

Dont understand why you guys are focused on the mining sector so much. Mining always follows Bitcoins "popularity" or current price.
Speculators on price hardly care about the mining sector. They only care as long as Bitcoin works the way its supposed to.

Also, as much as I hate the thought of Bitcoin mining becoming centralized ... the fact remains, the rules of the network cant be changed as long as noone controls more than 50% of the hashrate.
Those miners are still bound by the laws of the protocol. Not the other way around.

[Joshuar]

Makes sense...draw in the investors looking for a quick buck, then they'll draw in more in hopes of increasing the demand and price of the crypto, leading to wider adoption, until the choice comes down to the majority or rest of the population to accept it as a currency or not, even though it already functions and is used as a currency.

That's called a pyramid scheme and that's why Bitcoin's not working.  You can't have a currency with the mantra of "buy and hold", when they need to "buy and spend".  Otherwise, Bitcoin is not useful and it remains poorly distributed.  Doesn't matter how many business jump on the free advertisement hype, people can't spend what they don't have.  I'm not sure what Bitcoin's purpose is other than "to the moon".  Good for speculators (maybe) useless to the general public.

If you think about it, the usd/fiat system is a pyramid scheme too..

[whtchocla7e]

Makes sense...draw in the investors looking for a quick buck, then they'll draw in more in hopes of increasing the demand and price of the crypto, leading to wider adoption, until the choice comes down to the majority or rest of the population to accept it as a currency or not, even though it already functions and is used as a currency.

That's called a pyramid scheme and that's why Bitcoin's not working.  You can't have a currency with the mantra of "buy and hold", when they need to "buy and spend".  Otherwise, Bitcoin is not useful and it remains poorly distributed.  Doesn't matter how many business jump on the free advertisement hype, people can't spend what they don't have.  I'm not sure what Bitcoin's purpose is other than "to the moon".  Good for speculators (maybe) useless to the general public.

If you think about it, the usd/fiat system is a pyramid scheme too..

If you think about it harder, the whole human existence is a pyramid scheme too...

The strong pray on the weak.

Some pyramid schemes are just necessary for our survival.

[GenTarkin]

Makes sense...draw in the investors looking for a quick buck, then they'll draw in more in hopes of increasing the demand and price of the crypto, leading to wider adoption, until the choice comes down to the majority or rest of the population to accept it as a currency or not, even though it already functions and is used as a currency.

That's called a pyramid scheme and that's why Bitcoin's not working.  You can't have a currency with the mantra of "buy and hold", when they need to "buy and spend".  Otherwise, Bitcoin is not useful and it remains poorly distributed.  Doesn't matter how many business jump on the free advertisement hype, people can't spend what they don't have.  I'm not sure what Bitcoin's purpose is other than "to the moon".  Good for speculators (maybe) useless to the general public.

If you think about it, the usd/fiat system is a pyramid scheme too..

If you think about it harder, the whole human existence is a pyramid scheme too...

Some pyramid schemes are just necessary for our survival.

And fiat, luckily, aint necessary for survival =)

[~Coinseeker~]

If you think about it, the usd/fiat system is a pyramid scheme too..

Assuming that's true, does that justify the pyramid promotional model of Bitcoin?  More importantly, is this model sustainable?

As for USD, I don't have to buy-in at higher and higher prices to get them.  They are issued for the work we do and thus, everyone has access to them.  Complete opposite with bitcoins.

[GenTarkin]

If you think about it, the usd/fiat system is a pyramid scheme too..

Assuming that's true, does that justify the pyramid promotional model of Bitcoin?  More importantly, is this model sustainable?

As for USD, I don't have to buy-in at higher and higher prices to get them.  They are issued for the work we do and thus, everyone has access to them.  Complete opposite with bitcoins.

Hrm ... not sure where you are getting the higher and higher prices buy in.... in case you havent noticed bitcoin has been going down.

Also, sure w/ USD everyone has access to them ... the sad part is hardly anyone gets enough of them and if they do, they become more worthless as time passes ...

Bitcoin is far from a pyramid scheme ... lol

If your the type of person that looks at Bitcoin and says "oh its a pyramid scheme" ... then ur the type of person that looks at EVERYTHING that way.