Are we really using crypto as a currency... or just holding it like digital gold

[DariaVPS]

Yeah, I feel this question.  Most people I know treat crypto like an investment, not something to spend.

I used to get hype about the idea of ​​buying coffee with Bitcoin back in the day , but let’s be real — most of us are hodling. Why? Because it’s been going up over time, and spending it feels like burning cash. If I buy something with ETH today, I’m always thinking “what if this coin is worth more tomorrow?”

That said, I *would* spend crypto if it made sense. Like, if I got paid in stablecoins or had a card that automatically converted my crypto at checkout without fees or headaches. Or if there was actual cashback/rewards in crypto for spending it — that’d make me think twice.

So to answer your question directly: 
Right now, I see crypto more as a store of value. But I could see myself using it regularly if the experience was smooth, practical, and actually benefited me more than just holding onto it.

Big fan of what you're building — we need more stuff like that to push things forward.

[osasshem]

To be sincerely speaking, I hold my crypto currencies on the long run, and only make spending of it when there is a need to do so. I have this feeling of letting my online finance remain online until the real world needs some financial support and then I can take out of it, otherwise, I just hold, or do some swapping when demands arrives (i.e when the market is moving downward and the price will affect me, so I switch to stablecoin).

On the other hand, I have not really seen a platform that makes use of crypto as forms of payment and I believe its because I have not searched as well. If I see, and something that is needful for me, either for online activities or offline, and it's worth it, I will buy, otherwise, I don't have plans of spending my crypto funds.

[FortuneFollower]

To be sincerely speaking, I hold my crypto currencies on the long run, and only make spending of it when there is a need to do so. I have this feeling of letting my online finance remain online until the real world needs some financial support and then I can take out of it, otherwise, I just hold, or do some swapping when demands arrives (i.e when the market is moving downward and the price will affect me, so I switch to stablecoin).

On the other hand, I have not really seen a platform that makes use of crypto as forms of payment and I believe its because I have not searched as well. If I see, and something that is needful for me, either for online activities or offline, and it's worth it, I will buy, otherwise, I don't have plans of spending my crypto funds.

Value in crypto would be preserved better than if you turned it all to fiat, so I definitely agree with you here.

And to spend when it's only needed is okay too - you use portfolio as you see fit, and if you convert from time to time, that's how it should be

[satscraper]

~

I actually enjoy spending crypto using my crypto cards ^{(have a few of them from different issuers)}. it gives me a sense of getting something tangible in return for something that feels kind of untouchable. Thus, I use crypto regularly to cover everyday expenses, mostly groceries and other living costs. At the same time, I still keep the stash set aside for the future. So, I view crypto as both stuff, i.e. currency and digital gold.

[john_egbert]

~

I actually enjoy spending crypto using my crypto cards ^{(have a few of them from different issuers)}. it gives me a sense of getting something tangible in return for something that feels kind of untouchable. Thus, I use crypto regularly to cover everyday expenses, mostly groceries and other living costs. At the same time, I still keep the stash set aside for the future. So, I view crypto as both stuff, i.e. currency and digital gold.

But you mostly use USDT on the cards in question, correct?

[satscraper]

~

I actually enjoy spending crypto using my crypto cards ^{(have a few of them from different issuers)}. it gives me a sense of getting something tangible in return for something that feels kind of untouchable. Thus, I use crypto regularly to cover everyday expenses, mostly groceries and other living costs. At the same time, I still keep the stash set aside for the future. So, I view crypto as both stuff, i.e. currency and digital gold.

But you mostly use USDT on the cards in question, correct?

It’s not always necessary to use USDT. I top up my card accounts with ETH most of the time lately. The fees on this network are quite reasonable compared to what I observed a year ago, and the transactions are fast. Since I keep ETH in my wallet, it just makes sense to use it. Sometimes, I even transfer BTC to my cards ^{it really depends on the situation, and honestly, it doesn’t matter much which crypto I use}.

[henry_of_skalitz]

It’s not always necessary to use USDT. I top up my card accounts with ETH most of the time lately. The fees on this network are quite reasonable compared to what I observed a year ago, and the transactions are fast. Since I keep ETH in my wallet, it just makes sense to use it. Sometimes, I even transfer BTC to my cards ^{it really depends on the situation, and honestly, it doesn’t matter much which crypto I use}.

Do I understand correctly that it auto-converts any crypto into what is needed to buy said groceries / other small stuff?

[NAM3C_tv]

Believe it or not many people want to spend their Bitcoin online too, and this shouldn't stop them from holding Bitcoin for the long term as well, I spend part of my Bitcoin as money and I hold the remaining.

It would have been cool to check out your platform but I guess you have your reason why you don't want to drop link to the platform, I am a long term BTC holder and I have also use BTC to make some purchases online too so don't let this be reason why you should halt what you are working on..

Don't forget about other coins too, BTC is more of gold than others and I believe that people feels like spending other coins as means of payment more than using Bitcoin.

Hey! I didn’t include the link because I don’t want to spam, and as I mentioned in the first post, the platform is still in development. I’m genuinely interested in your thoughts and feedback. If you’d like, I can send you access to the beta version. Just let me know!

Contacts:

Telegram: NAM3tv
email: bitcuniainfo@gmail.com

[Ishicryptic]

I don't know if Bitcoin transaction fees would ever go down more lower than what we've seen it before because that's exactly the barrier that holds majority of people back to consider it as a full means of payment option. currently people view it more as a store of value and a hedge against inflation,  maybe with time the high cost of its transaction may no longer be an issue in the future, because Bitcoin is still evolving and we're yet to witness it's benefits to the fullest.

Clearly almost everybody prefers to use traditional currencies for financial transactions, it is faster and transactions fees are very small that you will hardly feel it but Bitcoin transaction fees can skyrocket sometimes. I believe that as the adoption is increasing with time there will be more demand for it to make payments but for now only a handful of holders are willing to spend it and not all businesses accepts it. It is more profitable to hold Bitcoin as an investment asset because the longer that you hold it the more profit it will give you on the long term, it has gained the reputation as a store of value and hedge against inflation.

[sana54210]

Unfortunately we are using it as a digital gold. It's an asset now, and people are buying it and holding as much as they can, and not using it as a currency at all. Sure there must be "some" people who does that, but is not that common and we are going to end up with some issues with time, so we need to eb careful about it. I understand this may not be easy to handle, we just need to make sure that we are going to end up with more money if we just hold it, and not spend it, that's what people believe.

If you know you are going to hold, and not sure if the other person would hold or sell, then you wouldn't give it to them, you would give them fiat, something that loses value overtime. That is bigger importance too, if you buy something today with bitcoin, and bitcoin goes up tomorrow, you will regret.

[MusaPk]

To be sincerely speaking, I hold my crypto currencies on the long run, and only make spending of it when there is a need to do so. I have this feeling of letting my online finance remain online until the real world needs some financial support and then I can take out of it, otherwise, I just hold, or do some swapping when demands arrives (i.e when the market is moving downward and the price will affect me, so I switch to stablecoin).

On the other hand, I have not really seen a platform that makes use of crypto as forms of payment and I believe its because I have not searched as well. If I see, and something that is needful for me, either for online activities or offline, and it's worth it, I will buy, otherwise, I don't have plans of spending my crypto funds.

Since there is strictness in my country regarding use of Bitcoin and other crypto, I too have no other option but to hold the Bitcoin as long term investment. Due to government strictness there aren't any merchants available that accept Bitcoin as mode of payment. If you go through this  forum on regular basis then one can easily conclude that majority are holding Bitcoin for long term investment, some are accumulating by adopting DCA technique. If we see how Bitcoin price has evolved over period of time then it also becomes clear that holding Bitcoin for long term is best investment strategy.   

[Z_MBFM]

I don't know if Bitcoin transaction fees would ever go down more lower than what we've seen it before because that's exactly the barrier that holds majority of people back to consider it as a full means of payment option. currently people view it more as a store of value and a hedge against inflation,  maybe with time the high cost of its transaction may no longer be an issue in the future, because Bitcoin is still evolving and we're yet to witness it's benefits to the fullest.

Clearly almost everybody prefers to use traditional currencies for financial transactions, it is faster and transactions fees are very small that you will hardly feel it but Bitcoin transaction fees can skyrocket sometimes. I believe that as the adoption is increasing with time there will be more demand for it to make payments but for now only a handful of holders are willing to spend it and not all businesses accepts it. It is more profitable to hold Bitcoin as an investment asset because the longer that you hold it the more profit it will give you on the long term, it has gained the reputation as a store of value and hedge against inflation.

True, since Bitcoin's transaction fees are very high, no one will try to use Bitcoin for any small transaction. Because it will increase the price of the product for which it will be paid. Everyone uses Bitcoin only as an investment currency and holds it until he gets a good amount of profit. I myself also hold Bitcoin with the aim of getting a good amount of profit from it. However, I cannot hold it for a long time because I am not very strong financially, due to which I constantly need a lot of money for daily expenses and some special expenses, due to which I do not have the opportunity to save from my income. Bitcoin will be used as a payment method, but it will take a longer time and each country will need a centralized wallet from which internal transactions can be made, avoiding high fees. This is a long process that will take several years.

[BITCOIN4X]

I am not a user of bitcoin as a means of payment, but I am a holder who hopes to profit from it in the long term. My country hasn't legalized bitcoin as a means of payment, so I won't break those rules just to satisfy a desire. Even if I could use it, so far I will not spend this bitcoin on anything and I intend to hold it longer until the target is reached.

Real use cases for bitcoin may have increased in various countries, but unfortunately you can't use it in my country yet. You still need to convert any crypto to fiat if you want to transact, this is actually regulated by law. To this day, no one forces me to use bitcoin as a means of payment, I don't want to use it.

[serjent05]

True, since Bitcoin's transaction fees are very high, no one will try to use Bitcoin for any small transaction.

Have you made a transaction with Bitcoin recently?  It seems your perspective on Bitcoin transaction fees is stuck during the days of the hype of the ordinals.  The recent transaction fee for Bitcoin transfers is less than a dollar, and it is at least 31 cents.  Where is the very high fee in there?  Did you know that many interbank transfers are higher than the current Bitcoin transaction fee?  Others are way higher and what worse is other bank fiat transfers are dependent on the amount to be transferred since they charge by percentage.

[coolcoinz]

I'm spending bitcoin only when it goes up in value. I just feel more relaxed about it in bull market and always go into a saving mode in bear market.
When bitcoin loses 30% of its market price I never spend it. I hold for dear life and buy more.

When it goes up, or even better reaches a new high, I tend to get into good mood, I buy some stuff, gifts for my family, do the things I neglected because I thought some of these things can wait for better times. For instance, I had to service my car in March, but the price was $80k and I thought I'd wait up to 6 months. When we went past $100k again I used bitcoin to pay for it.

[finaleshot2016]

/

To be fair, it's both nowadays, some people can spend Bitcoin as for payment and using for gambling transactions while others are holding into it as digital gold. Bitcoin is diverse right now, it can be used in everything, that's why the growth of Bitcoin is pretty consistent is because of the infinite use case it can give.

Also if you're worrying about the fees, there are L2 that can give you lower fees and can transfer BTC is just small fees, so people are free to do with it anytime. So yes, again and again, bitcoin have various utility and it's not specifically used for a single usecase only.

[Baki202]

Unfortunately we are using it as a digital gold. It's an asset now, and people are buying it and holding as much as they can, and not using it as a currency at all. Sure there must be "some" people who does that, but is not that common and we are going to end up with some issues with time, so we need to eb careful about it. I understand this may not be easy to handle, we just need to make sure that we are going to end up with more money if we just hold it, and not spend it, that's what people believe.

And people are falling seriously for digital assets because your secret of what you own is safe, so what are the reasons why you would not want to try it? Because people want returns, and aside from the return, people want something trending, and I will love it when you try investing because this is something you will not regret, and the main reason why Bitcoin was created was for it to be seen as an asset, not even as a currency, but because of its value, people are giving it as much value as money. And instead of seeing it as a currency, it will be better to just hold it than to choose it as a currency.

If you know you are going to hold, and not sure if the other person would hold or sell, then you wouldn't give it to them, you would give them fiat, something that loses value overtime. That is bigger importance too, if you buy something today with bitcoin, and bitcoin goes up tomorrow, you will regret.

As long as there is money when you hold it for sure, a lot of people will definitely want to hold it because what is the essence of holding if it is not for profit? The profit is usually what drives the intention, but the truth is that it is not as easy as we think because if only what you rely on is the investment, then it won't be easy because of the bills that are meant to be paid, so this is why we need to consider more important things.

[peter0425]

Unfortunately we are using it as a digital gold. It's an asset now, and people are buying it and holding as much as they can, and not using it as a currency at all. Sure there must be "some" people who does that, but is not that common and we are going to end up with some issues with time, so we need to eb careful about it.

I believe that at some point we will see people finally using bitcoin when adoption has spread. Right now despite being popular we still are not seeing maximum adoption, in my opinion.

I understand this may not be easy to handle, we just need to make sure that we are going to end up with more money if we just hold it, and not spend it, that's what people believe.

This is true anyway. If you continue to hold, you will end up earning more money than you started with. This applies to bitcoin of course and not to anywhere else. In other cryptocurrencies you never know since they’re extremely volatile and can end up crashing in the long term.

[satscraper]

It’s not always necessary to use USDT. I top up my card accounts with ETH most of the time lately. The fees on this network are quite reasonable compared to what I observed a year ago, and the transactions are fast. Since I keep ETH in my wallet, it just makes sense to use it. Sometimes, I even transfer BTC to my cards ^{it really depends on the situation, and honestly, it doesn’t matter much which crypto I use}.

Do I understand correctly that it auto-converts any crypto into what is needed to buy said groceries / other small stuff?

Correct. When you make payment at POS terminal using your crypto card any eligible cryptocurrency in your account is automatically converted into fiat currency which is the default for your card. This happens if your card balance is insufficient to cover the purchase. The fiat is then converted into the local currency ^{if it is needed}. This entire process occurs in a twinkling of an eye. However, it's often a good idea to convert your crypto into the card’s currency in advance considering whether the market is in a bull or bear phase.

[Pi$$]

👉 Do you personally see crypto more as:

A long-term store of value (something to hold)?

Maybe at the start, the idea wasn't for it to primarily be a long term store of value but at the present, it obviously has become a store of value and the majority of holders use it for that purpose rather than using it for frequent transaction. Because of the potential of some crypto expecially bitcoin, selling it too soon looks like a wrong investment strategy and the narrative we've been seeing has been mostly towards that direction. Using it as a long term store of value doesn't take out the fact that it cold also be used as an alternative currency but factors like increased transaction fee makes it deficult to use It for such purpose.

And if you don’t spend your crypto — what would it take to make you start?

Maybe if bitcoin becomes less volatile and there's no indication that it will get bullish in the future I might reconsider holding it further than this but as long as things continues to get better and the market continues to be favourable to most holders, I will opt for holding it rather than spending It. The advantages with holding your coin is that you can decide to spend it at whatever time you want to but once you've spent it, regardless of how bullish the market later gets to, you're never going to benefit from it again.