Is bitcoin an investment or is a currency ?

[BitOnyx]

Buying bitcoin for very people will be best way just to make easy internet transaction.

[bryant.coleman]

Bitcoin is an investment if you want it to be.

What's wrong in that? We are the early adapters. So we should gain from it, right?

[BigBoy89]

depending how you use it
if you buy BTC and holding it for period of time, it becomes investment
if you buy BTC and spend it for goods/services, it becomes currency
so, answering your question : bitcoin is currency and investment.

so sad my f̶u̶c̶k̶*n̶g̶ central bank banned BTC as currency in my country
but many ppl don't care with that, and still accept BTC payment for goods or services

[precrime3]

It doesn't depend on how you use it. Regular currency if you held, would just lose purchase power. As BTC has a hard limit of 21 mill and is of a deflationary nature, BTC prices tend to go up. I could troll you and say BTC is a property, but I digress I think the most correct answer IMO is a digital commodity. It can be used as a storage of wealth ( pretty volatile right now, but I imagine will stabilize as more business and people adopt), divisible by multiple units so can be used as a convenient payment system unlike gold. In other words, Bitcoin is like a digital gold or any other precious metal, allowing the user to preserve wealth but is not burdensome and heavy like BTC physical counterpart.

[Trongersoll]

Is bitcoin an investment or is a currency ?

There is no reason for these two things to be mutually exclusive. People invest in currencys every day.

[cbeast]

Investing in currency is a new paradigm. It's something nobody of this generation has done. It's called saving.

[franky1]

dont limit yourself to categories of government that can only tax FIAT. you only have to pay FIAT taxes. bitcoin is not taxable, only the excess income you get from fiat when you finally sell bitcoin is taxable.

so do not let governments categorise bitcoin uses.

bitcoin is a store of wealth (investment/asset)
bitcoin is a payment processor (wallets)
bitcoin is a means of trading/bartering
bitcoin is a currency exchanger
bitcoin is a international money transfer system
bitcoin is a method to pay salaries
bitcoin is a scarce item
bitcoin is anything you want it to be

just dont let governments confine it to any definition. and lastly be greatful that bitcoin is not the government term of being a currency, because the only term governments understand for currency, is the ones they and other governments, own, control, and print endless supplies of.
we definitely dont want bitcoin to be a government currency. lets leave it be as a barter currency/peoples currency.

i have nothing big against IRS definition that they class bitcoin as an asset. as long as they confine their taxes to only be a requirement at the point that people sell their assets for FIAT.

[twiifm]

i have nothing big against IRS definition that they class bitcoin as an asset. as long as they confine their taxes to only be a requirement at the point that people sell their assets for FIAT.

you don't understand capital gains tax

[300]

Is bitcoin an investment or is a currency ?

There is no reason for these two things to be mutually exclusive. People invest in currencys every day.

Yup. It's like asking whether JPY is an investment or a currency. For someone who is trading the forex markets, it would be an investment. For someone who exchanges it at an airport because he wants to travel to Japan and use it to get a hotel room, it would be a currency.

[nkocevar]

Its both... Just like any currency. Its value fluctuates... maybe bitcoins more than say the USD but still.

[Bit_Happy]

Bitcoin is an investment if you want it to be.

What's wrong in that? We are the early adapters. So we should gain from it, right?

Yes, BTC is often a good investment.
Speculation is legit: Without speculators BTC would probably still be under 25 or 50 cents each

[tskweres]

How about both a currency & commodity?

You can't shove it in to one box, it's never existed before. There will have to be some clever thinking and new guidelines from the government to cover all aspects of Bitcoin

[zolace]

Yeah I believe that bitcoin can be anything we want it to be, from a currency, product and a investment.