Can Bitcoin Truly Become a Global Currency?

[Dunamisx]

Bitcoin already is a global currency, but some are not aware of that, maybe they are only waiting till that time the government will all announce that it has become a legal tender before they can believe its a global payment system, once we can use it to trade and exchange for goods and services, it increases in value and also a good store of value, we don't have to wait for the government to be in support for its use before we can engage.

[SOKO-DEKE]

   
Since Bitcoin was created, many believed it could become a universally accepted currency—borderless, fast, and independent from governments. But in reality, can Bitcoin ever be used for everyday purchases? Issues like slow transaction fees, network congestion, volatility, and merchant adoption remain challenges today. While solutions like Lightning Network continue to improve speed and cost, there’s still a long way to go. Do you think Bitcoin will ever function as a global currency, or will it stay more as an investment and store of value?

Bitcoin is already a global currency. People are already using it for international transactions. People are sending Bitcoin and receiving Bitcoin from different countries, so with that, it is already a global currency.What is happening is that not all countries have legalized Bitcoin, and that has not stopped Bitcoin from being a global currency. Bitcoin is mostly known as a store of value, but at the same time, it still functions as a global currency.

Let say I am living in Nigeria and my family in the U.S. can send me Bitcoin. That means it is already a global currency.for the question, can Bitcoin be used for daily purchases? Yes, it can be used for daily purchases, but that should be for large amounts. Bitcoin is not there to replace fiat currency. If things are purchased in small amounts, they should be purchased using fiat currency.

[BlackBoss_]

Bitcoin is already a global currency. People are already using it for international transactions. People are sending Bitcoin and receiving Bitcoin from different countries, so with that, it is already a global currency.What is happening is that not all countries have legalized Bitcoin, and that has not stopped Bitcoin from being a global currency. Bitcoin is mostly known as a store of value, but at the same time, it still functions as a global currency.

People already used Bitcoin nationally and globally but it has yet become a global currency as there are nations still don't consider Bitcoin as legal currency. There are countries where Bitcoin is still considered as Illegal or Allegal, and even they are not many, this fact makes Bitcoin is not a global currency yet. Positively Bitcoin has gone a very long adventure since 2009 and since 2026 since a day of becoming a global currency is not too far, I really hope so.

It's interesting fact that people can use Bitcoin without any global currency status for Bitcoin, and until that day and milestone come, they can enjoy what is available right now and in the near future by using Bitcoin legally (in most countries), and that is enough.

[JayJuanGee]

Yup Bitcoin despite being already worldwide money, is being used more as Digital Gold than way of payment of normal goods since its value changes too fast to have shops price them fairly. Economically, Bitcoin is at stage of Store of Value when people would prefer to keep it longer to get more profits instead of spending it. Although most investors see it as best financial choice that they can make to protect against rising prices, governments mostly become scared since they lose their power to control amount of money in use. To make Bitcoin day to day money or standard measure, its price should be made more steady such that price of such things as bread or milk does not change on hourly way.

Even if its price stabilizes, I do not think it will become an day to day money or standard measure. What I mean is that volatility is not the main barrier preventing bitcoin from being used as everyday currency.

The real obstacle is the government, they will never accept bitcoin as a replacement for fiat to become the unit of account. They would never accept a currency they do not control as the primary unit of measurement in their economy.

Part of the reason to notice and to accept that there exist fairly strong factions that are both opposed to bitcoin and fighting bitcoin, so the mere fact there is a battle and the opposition is strong, that still does not mean that the opposition is going to win, even though they may continue to battle overtly and covertly for quite some time into the future.

Bitcoin was designed in a way that it does not need consent.

There are also aspects of various status quo institutions that are composed of individuals, that does not support battles against bitcoin.

You don't need government support to have a currency, though likely if bitcoin becomes more widely used, more likely that more governments are forced to bend the knee and bow down to the king... which is the superior system of money, namely bitcoin.

Additionally, I have another question. Currently, people are not only using bitcoin for payments and transactions. Many people are using altcoins like LTC and XRM, so can they be considered global currencies?

There are all kinds of currencies all around the world, and to the extent that two parties can transact then that would seem to fit a definition of global currency - yet there still can be questions regarding which ones are more liquid and recognized, so it could take time to play out. Gresham's law suggest that the value is going to continue to flow into the strongest of the currencies, yet it still seems likely that we would not necessarily end up with only one, so various currencies are going to continue to exist, even while most of the value is going to continue to flow into bitcoin, since it remains the soundest of monies, at least so far there does not appear to be any currency more sound than bitcoin... even though opinions vary.

Since Bitcoin was created, many believed it could become a universally accepted currency—borderless, fast, and independent from governments. But in reality, can Bitcoin ever be used for everyday purchases? Issues like slow transaction fees, network congestion, volatility, and merchant adoption remain challenges today. While solutions like Lightning Network continue to improve speed and cost, there’s still a long way to go. Do you think Bitcoin will ever function as a global currency, or will it stay more as an investment and store of value?

If Bitcoin cannot become a global currency, then its investment value and store-of-value narrative will ultimately collapse, because without abundant on-chain transaction activity there will not be sufficient incentives for miners.

In the end, Bitcoin would lack adequate security and could fall victim to 51% attacks, leading to its failure. In other words, Bitcoin must become a global currency in order to survive—just as Satoshi predicted years ago: either massive adoption, or zero.

Yes.. bitcoin remains a work in progress, and is continuing to expand.. so in the process  of massive adoption, it takes time to get there - which should help to establish that the trajectory has been and continues to be ongoingly upward (until it is not - in the case of failure).

[edited out]

Im not saying that bitcoin is not an investment. What I want to say is Satoshi made it very clear in the whitepaper that Bitcoin was designed as a peer to peer currency system. He created it with the intention of making it a currency, and that is why Bitcoin has already become a global currency. As for how people choose to use Bitcoin and for what purposes, that is up to each individual's decision. And today, most people prefer to use Bitcoin as an investment.

Thats why I say that bitcoin is a versatile financial tool, not limited to its role as a currency or investment asset.

As other members have mentioned, it seems hard to escape that bitcoin has to be both an investment and a means of transacting.

It seems to me that the original design already attempted to account for the investment angle based on understandings of what is are the characteristics of money and various ways of creating bitcoin in a way that it would contain the strongest of the monetary attributions.. and trying to minimize the need for any third party intermediaries.. so it seems a wee bit superficial if guys are emphasizing a few words that satoshi used to describe transaction intentions since transaction intentions witha strong and/or valuable money seem to be more important than trying to transact with some thing that does not necessarily hold its value either for the transaction purposes or while holding it...

and sure maybe it is a bit of a problem that bitcoin holds its value so well and appreciates so much as compared with other assets and/or currencies, yet the world has never seen an asset so valuable and/or scarce as bitcoin that still has a fungible nature that allows it to be transacted and to be liquid and to be recogized anywhere.  It is not so easy to transact with your rare piece of real estate or your rare piece of art, and even if they are valuable, they don't make good money since they are hard to transact in.

[Promocodeudo]

Bitcoin already is a global currency, but some are not aware of that, maybe they are only waiting till that time the government will all announce that it has become a legal tender before they can believe its a global payment system, once we can use it to trade and exchange for goods and services, it increases in value and also a good store of value, we don't have to wait for the government to be in support for its use before we can engage.

Yea it is but may be because it is not like printed tissue paper as fiat some people think that it is not global currency, if Bitcoin is not a global currency, why do people use for payment of bills and many different transactions globally, anyone that's expecting the government to announce Bitcoin as such, is wasting his or her precious time, the government themselves are making use Bitcoin and many government officials have Bitcoin as an investment, to me, am not expecting anything else from the government, people should understand that there are some statements the government can never make, Bitcoin has overcome some challenges and bullying from the government of several nations but the good thing now is, we now have some nations that have bitcoin as their national reserve, doesn't that say it all about Bitcoin being a Global currency.

[Akuma_]

It already a global currency. Btc is a valuable coin it's not only coin it a mother coin. Bitcoin holds a strong support in cryptocurrency because may crypto coin and tokens price depend on Bitcoin. Beside you can see those countries highly developed and technically developed countries legalize Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.On the other hand  you can see those countries legalize btc they improve their country easyly their economy strong. Because of those reasons in future every country of world allow btc and they will use it for their main currency.

[bangjoe]

Bitcoin already is a global currency, but some are not aware of that, maybe they are only waiting till that time the government will all announce that it has become a legal tender before they can believe its a global payment system, once we can use it to trade and exchange for goods and services, it increases in value and also a good store of value, we don't have to wait for the government to be in support for its use before we can engage.

It can be said yes or no at the moment because there are still few who do it and it has not been officially announced in international trade, or recognized as a means of payment in groups or transactions in an international trade record that is legally validated.
Actually, I am a little doubtful because the government likes control which makes the government have the power. If the Bitcoin decentralized system is in control, they will not have any control in canceling transactions or carrying them out, this is not easy for the government to manage things like that, especially those that are sensitive to criminal acts or crimes.

[JayJuanGee]

Bitcoin already is a global currency, but some are not aware of that, maybe they are only waiting till that time the government will all announce that it has become a legal tender before they can believe its a global payment system, once we can use it to trade and exchange for goods and services, it increases in value and also a good store of value, we don't have to wait for the government to be in support for its use before we can engage.

It can be said yes or no at the moment because there are still few who do it and it has not been officially announced in international trade, or recognized as a means of payment in groups or transactions in an international trade record that is legally validated.
Actually, I am a little doubtful because the government likes control which makes the government have the power. If the Bitcoin decentralized system is in control, they will not have any control in canceling transactions or carrying them out, this is not easy for the government to manage things like that, especially those that are sensitive to criminal acts or crimes.

It is difficult to overly generalize, yet it seems that these days many governments have become overly excited in the various ways to control and monitor citizens rather than preventing (or solving) crimes, so in some aspects controlling your value and/or trying to be private about it have become criminalized and even ways of communicating have become criminalized..,. so we likely have to be skeptical about claims for needs to control and monitor transactions based on legitimate policing concerns.

[Ziskinberg]

Bitcoin becomes a global currency the moment it made successful international transactions. It does not need to be called as a legal tender so that it can act as a global currency, but the fact that its already used worldwide and has countless transactions, then its not called just a local one but indeed a global or international currency.

However, for those who are not aware about bitcoin, they can't really tell that its already turns global, except for those who silently follow the moves of bitcoin as a currency.

[Johnlomape]

Bitcoin already is a global currency, but some are not aware of that, maybe they are only waiting till that time the government will all announce that it has become a legal tender before they can believe its a global payment system, once we can use it to trade and exchange for goods and services, it increases in value and also a good store of value, we don't have to wait for the government to be in support for its use before we can engage.

Maybe you don't understand what op meant by Bitcoin becoming a global currency that is accepted everywhere without any restrictions from a country trying to disabilze the adoption and acceptance of Bitcoin in various places. There are countries that allow their citizens to accept Bitcoin as payment but that do not mean that it will replace the local currency that is been regulated by the government.
Bitcoin is a global currency partially and not fully because not all nations of the world would want to allow Bitcoin as a digital currency to replace their local currency so that their fiat will still have some values.

[Abiky]

Bitcoin is already a global currency because Satoshi original purpose when creating it was to be a P2P currency, not an investment.

Moreover, we cannot impose traditional standards on it, such as requiring government recognition or becoming a standard unit of account. Because from the beginning, Bitcoin was designed not to conform to those frameworks and to exist independently of the traditional financial system.

Bitcoin is not just a global currency but a versatile financial tool, and how it is used depends on each individual, IMO

I know. But Bitcoin's limitations is what's keeping it from being used as a global currency. Things like wild price swings (volatility) and limited transaction capacity is what "kills" it. It's why many people have chosen Bitcoin as an investment (store of value), instead of a real currency (digital cash) for day-to-day payments.

As for Bitcoin becoming a standard unit of account, I'd say that's a distant dream. Governments will never allow it because that would mean the end of Fiat for good. They want to keep control over the economy, so Fiat would remain the standard unit of account forever. Bitcoin can do fine as an alternative to Fiat than a replacement. What really matters is decentralization and censorship-resistance. If BTC's decentralization is compromised, it would be game over for good. We'll see what happens in the long run.

[Jobbe]

Really I don't think Bitcoin can replace normal money. the chances are slim.

---first. bitcoin as we all know, is very volatile..very unstable. and we can't use something as unstable as Bitcoin for our everyday buying and selling. it just won't work.

---Also, Bitcoin is very slow. if a lot of people were to use it all at once, it becomes to slow and very expensive too.

---it consumes too much electricity and looking at it properly, majority of the electricity it runs on aren't doing anything useful. because not all of it processes transactions or anything like that. so it's somehow a waste of electricity.


---Of course the government won't allow it. the government are very keen on having total control when it comes their country's economy (finances).
Bitcoin takes that power away from them and gives you total control over your finances.
so they won't allow it.

We are all aware that Bitcoin can't function as a normal currency can. but Bitcoin is still unique in its own way.

---you can always view Bitcoin as a place to invest. ( a risky investment tho..but most times, it's always worth it☺️)

--- citizens surviving in a country with a failing economy can always have Bitcoin as an alternative and escape route.

--- Bitcoin is also very helpful for sending money globally (without banks).
so Bitcoin is just 'you' having total control and dominance over your finances.

There are all kinds of currencies all around the world, and to the extent that two parties can transact then that would seem to fit a definition of global currency - yet there still can be questions regarding which ones are more liquid and recognized, so it could take time to play out. Gresham's law suggest that the value is going to continue to flow into the strongest of the currencies, yet it still seems likely that we would not necessarily end up with only one, so various currencies are going to continue to exist, even while most of the value is going to continue to flow into bitcoin, since it remains the soundest of monies, at least so far there does not appear to be any currency more sound than bitcoin... even though opinions vary.

i totally agree with you when you say multiple currencies can co-exist. but I want to be clarified on some things.
sir, you said something about Bitcoin being the soundest of monies. in other words, you're saying Bitcoin is the "soundest money" out there. but sir, don't you think that's the title 'sound money' should be given to a more stable and reliable currency?.. Bitcoin is very wild, (via volatility). making it less "sound" than the actual currencies we use in our daily transactions.even with the problems we are experiencing with our currencies and banks, majority still trust them. because they are stable and reliable. Bitcoin must have this consistent long-term stability for it to be given that title "soundest money".

Also sir..based on the Gresham's law, no offense sir but what you stated regarding the Gresham's law, or what you thought it suggested is wrong sir.
the Gresham's law says "bad money drives out good money". and that's how it is if we take our time to look around us. people are always looking out for ways to spend the small or weak currency and save the huge or big one. so you can just look at it this way..if Bitcoin were to be as you said, the "soundest of monies" out there,why would people focus more on saving it and spending actual currencies?
that's to let you know that Bitcoin is better seen as an investment rather than a currency.. currencies are always on a constant exchange (via physical buying and selling transactions).


You also said something about value flowing into Bitcoin..feels more like a prediction to me☺️..i stand to be corrected.
look around. Bitcoin is like the least to be considered when talking about financial assets globally. Bitcoin still has real estate, bonds and stocks to worry about.
yes Bitcoin is valuable..but it needs 'stability' (consistent stability) to be the best money out there. having value or being a good asset isn't enough.

Bitcoin is already a global currency. People are already using it for international transactions. People are sending Bitcoin and receiving Bitcoin from different countries, so with that, it is already a global currency.What is happening is that not all countries have legalized Bitcoin, and that has not stopped Bitcoin from being a global currency. Bitcoin is mostly known as a store of value, but at the same time, it still functions as a global currency.

Let say I am living in Nigeria and my family in the U.S. can send me Bitcoin. That means it is already a global currency.for the question, can Bitcoin be used for daily purchases? Yes, it can be used for daily purchases, but that should be for large amounts. Bitcoin is not there to replace fiat currency. If things are purchased in small amounts, they should be purchased using fiat currency.

sir I don't think what you're describing is global currency. what you're describing is something that is just transferable (globally). the difference really means a lot. yes it's true you can send Bitcoin to someone living in another country or continent even. but that doesn't mean it is, or can be used as the official currency of a country.

An actual currency recognized globally is used for consistent economic activities. like buying and selling.. paying of taxes etc. Bitcoin literally can't do these things I just mentioned. ok,you even gave an example of you living in Nigeria with your family in the United States. when Bitcoin is sent to you how do you go about it? how do you receive it? do you spend it as it is? (As Bitcoin). or do you convert to Naira before spending.


Also on what you said on using Bitcoin for large amounts and fiat for small. don't you think if Bitcoin is used for only large or huge transactions, it's not operating fully as an actual currency?...rather it's been used as a transfer system.

Real currencies can be used for the purchase and payment of anything (no matter how little or big). so I don't think you using Bitcoin for only large transactions doesn't mean it's now fully functioning as a currency would. even if the transaction is global.

[Rustam Meraj]

Bitcoin becomes a global currency the moment it made successful international transactions. It does not need to be called as a legal tender so that it can act as a global currency, but the fact that its already used worldwide and has countless transactions, then its not called just a local one but indeed a global or international currency.

However, for those who are not aware about bitcoin, they can't really tell that its already turns global, except for those who silently follow the moves of bitcoin as a currency.

Yes Bitcoin has basically become global money due to its wide use in world trade and largest money transfers in history, and it is seen that status of legal money is only political name. On one hand, Bitcoin is increasingly being seen as shaky investment by public, but on other hand, it is slowly becoming global standard in background, with many money tech apps and companies using it as back room payment layer to ensure that slow networks like SWIFT are skipped.

I think at least, that Bitcoin is already past being test of a small group; when a shopkeeper in Tokyo and a tourist in Berlin can instantly send money through air without help of bank, goal of money without borders is already achieved. Finally, its biggest strength is its quiet growth since it is turning into global tool so trustworthy that one will one day be using it as easily as they use the internet. Issue of legal money is more of distant issue in 2026. I believe that use is driven by usefulness other than government permission. Fact that Bitcoin is world money, which is already known truth, is same since it still has to handle billions of dollars of hidden across border value every single day, no matter whether every nation officially admits this fact.

[ultrloa]

Bitcoin already is a global currency, but some are not aware of that, maybe they are only waiting till that time the government will all announce that it has become a legal tender before they can believe its a global payment system, once we can use it to trade and exchange for goods and services, it increases in value and also a good store of value, we don't have to wait for the government to be in support for its use before we can engage.

It can be said yes or no at the moment because there are still few who do it and it has not been officially announced in international trade, or recognized as a means of payment in groups or transactions in an international trade record that is legally validated.
Actually, I am a little doubtful because the government likes control which makes the government have the power. If the Bitcoin decentralized system is in control, they will not have any control in canceling transactions or carrying them out, this is not easy for the government to manage things like that, especially those that are sensitive to criminal acts or crimes.

It is difficult to overly generalize, yet it seems that these days many governments have become overly excited in the various ways to control and monitor citizens rather than preventing (or solving) crimes, so in some aspects controlling your value and/or trying to be private about it have become criminalized and even ways of communicating have become criminalized..,. so we likely have to be skeptical about claims for needs to control and monitor transactions based on legitimate policing concerns.

There's existing trend with authorities on which they always says or use transaction monitoring and surveillance to fight possible criminal action, but they exceed on their implementation that's why everything they do became questionable. To protect the privacy of individual and also financial freedom is right of each people, but sometimes government violate it due to their suspicions .

Skepticism is normal if their action is justifiable, but also its true that excessive actions might criminalize those normal behavior of people and this can destroy the trust of people. The big challenge here is to balance on how they could protect their people without compromising individual rights.

[JayJuanGee]

Bitcoin is already a global currency because Satoshi original purpose when creating it was to be a P2P currency, not an investment.

Moreover, we cannot impose traditional standards on it, such as requiring government recognition or becoming a standard unit of account. Because from the beginning, Bitcoin was designed not to conform to those frameworks and to exist independently of the traditional financial system.
Bitcoin is not just a global currency but a versatile financial tool, and how it is used depends on each individual, IMO

I know. But Bitcoin's limitations is what's keeping it from being used as a global currency. Things like wild price swings (volatility) and limited transaction capacity is what "kills" it. It's why many people have chosen Bitcoin as an investment (store of value), instead of a real currency (digital cash) for day-to-day payments.

Have you ever thought about regulatory attacks affecting bitcoin negatively?  KYC requirements.  Jailing privacy developers.  And/or other attacks on bitcoin in the press with convolution of ideas of crypto and bitcoin?

I doubt that actual technical bitcoin limitations, price volatility, or store of value ideas about bitcoin are as great as you are making them out to be.

As for Bitcoin becoming a standard unit of account, I'd say that's a distant dream. Governments will never allow it because that would mean the end of Fiat for good.

Bitcoin is not asking permission from governments.

if folks agree to transact in bitcoin, then a third party (such as the government or even banks/financial institutions) is not necessary.

Currently, bitcoin's prices are floating against various other currencies and/or assets - to the extent that such currencies and/or assets have trading pairs... so in some sense bitcoin already has unit of account attributes based on individuals using the exchange rates to figure out their transaction amounts.. It is already happening, in spite of your "never" proclamation.

They want to keep control over the economy,

Sure governments, financial institutions and status quo rich want to keep control over money and they consider bitcoin as an obstacle in their having control, yet it does not mean that they are going to be successful in their abilties to stop bitcoin from happening.

Bitcoin is already here and operational, so in some sense governments, financial institutions and status quo rich have already lost some of the battle in allowing bitcoin to get to the point that it has already gotten and bitcoin cannot be dismissed and/or downplayed.

so Fiat would remain the standard unit of account forever.

The fact that fiat (such as the dollar) is used as a peg, that does not mean that it will be used as a peg forever.  You live in a fantasy world, and it seems that you are in denial about what bitcoin already is.

Bitcoin can do fine as an alternative to Fiat than a replacement.

Yes.. both is already going on, and bitcoin is continuing to grow, and laregly eating the lunch of all fiats and all places where money is stored.

Bitcoin is more efficient as a money.. do we have to go over these again?  verifiability, transportability, scarcity, divisibility, fungibility, low costs for transacting and/or storing and other monetary attributes. 

You can try to proclaim that bitcoin is OK as long as it stays in its lane.. yet at the same time, bitcoin does not care what you think in terms of what is fine for it, since value will continue to gravitate into bitcoin since it is the best money known to man (at least so far)... and you better get something at least 10x better than bitcoin if you are going to want  some other money to prevail rather than bitcoin.  In terms of soundness of money attributes, Bitcoin is more than 10x better than its closest competitors such as fiat and gold.. and don't get distracted by short term price moves.

What really matters is decentralization and censorship-resistance. If BTC's decentralization is compromised, it would be game over for good. We'll see what happens in the long run.

Sure.. decentralization and censorship resistance are good monetary attributes that bitcoin has too, and they have been attacked and are likely continuing to be attacked, since the powers that be would like to figure out any vulnerabilities that bitcoin might have that are able to be undermined.. So in some sense, you are correct that we will see how it goes and if bitcoin is meaningfully undermined in terms of its decentralization and censorship-resistance.

In the meantime, for your own good, it probably would be advantageous for you to be making sure that you are ongoingly stacking some of it instead of being overly worried that bitcoin is not good enough to continue to be a valuable asset that is likely to be ongoingly increasing in value in the future.  What are you doing in terms of your own holding and/or accumulating of bitcoin?

By the way, I see that you have been registered on the forum since November 2014 - almost as long as me.

Surely over the years, you have been able to build a bitcoin position?  or have you been whining about bitcoin for the past 11.5 years and so now you are bitter about your historical failures/refusals to stack sats?   There are a lot of guys who have fucked up over the years, since there is nothing wrong with being skeptical about the likelihood of success of something like bitcoin, so skeptical folks could have still taken a smaller position as compared with guys who had been more bullish about bitcoin. 

Historically the more bullish folks have done better than the more skeptical folks so long as they errored on the side of stacking bitcoin and holding it, and if they did not overdo it, trade, use leverage or get sucked into shitcoins.  So most folks would do quite well as long at they just regularly stacked sats, so even a person who might have just taken a modest position of $50 per week into bitcoin since November 2014, he would have had invested around $29k by now and accumulated around 17.5 bitcoin, which truly would give him quite a few options, whether such guy were to choose to try to transact in bitcoin or not.  He would have options to transact in bitcoin at pretty much any place in the world as long as he could find a counter-party to his transaction. It seems that right now it would be easier to find counter-parties at various locations around the world as compared with the options available in 2014 or even 2019... so maybe it still is not easy to find bitcoin counter-parties at all locations of the world, yet anyone who downloads a bitcoin wallet at any place in the world would be able to transact within minutes with any other person using bitcoin.