What if Bitcoin never becomes everyday money?

[Mame89]

Even when there was no money, people used to trade. So even if bitcoin does not become a universal currency , daily transactions will not suffer because of this.

I view Bitcoin as similar to gold. Gold to this day cannot be used as money for daily transactions, even though it was once a medium of exchange. Both Bitcoin and gold have advantages as long-term assets. While Bitcoin never became a form of everyday money, it doesn't mean it was a complete failure. In fact, Bitcoin has proven to be a valuable asset in other roles, particularly as a store of value during inflation and many people view this as a major success not a failure in its purpose.

While Bitcoin was created as an alternative to fiat money we also see the reality that Bitcoin is now stronger as a store of value. Its high volatility makes it less suitable for small, everyday transactions. We can even see this in the El Salvador country where despite Bitcoin being legal for transactions many people don't use it as a means of daily transactions. Look at Bitcoin from the other side as an investment and you'll see its success.

[Queen uloma]

Even when there was no money, people used to trade. So even if bitcoin does not become a universal currency , daily transactions will not suffer because of this.

I view Bitcoin as similar to gold. Gold to this day cannot be used as money for daily transactions, even though it was once a medium of exchange. Both Bitcoin and gold have advantages as long-term assets. While Bitcoin never became a form of everyday money, it doesn't mean it was a complete failure. In fact, Bitcoin has proven to be a valuable asset in other roles, particularly as a store of value during inflation and many people view this as a major success not a failure in its purpose.

While Bitcoin was created as an alternative to fiat money we also see the reality that Bitcoin is now stronger as a store of value. Its high volatility makes it less suitable for small, everyday transactions. We can even see this in the El Salvador country where despite Bitcoin being legal for transactions many people don't use it as a means of daily transactions. Look at Bitcoin from the other side as an investment and you'll see its success.

Bitcoin is similar to gold, I agree with you. Gold isn’t as useful as before again in everyday buying and selling but it still have strong value as an asset that people still trust. Same thing with bitcoin, even if it started as a digital money that people use for daily transactions not everyone beliefs or uses it. Bitcoin volatility is too high and it’s not stable for everyday spending. People shouldn’t get comfortable using something that can drop easily within a short period. That’s why many people don’t use bitcoin for their daily transactions. But this doesn’t mean that bitcoin fails instead it proves that it Has strength as store of value. Many people see it like a digital gold, especially when inflation disturbs normal currencies.

[Ab de villiers]

Even when there was no money, people used to trade. So even if bitcoin does not become a universal currency , daily transactions will not suffer because of this.

I view Bitcoin as similar to gold. Gold to this day cannot be used as money for daily transactions, even though it was once a medium of exchange. Both Bitcoin and gold have advantages as long-term assets. While Bitcoin never became a form of everyday money, it doesn't mean it was a complete failure. In fact, Bitcoin has proven to be a valuable asset in other roles, particularly as a store of value during inflation and many people view this as a major success not a failure in its purpose.

Quite rightly said, just as gold is not used in everyday transactions, Bitcoin is also a strong store of value. After all, not every asset has the same purpose and not everything is necessarily used for everyday payments. People mostly keep gold to preserve their wealth, not for everyday purchases, so is Bitcoin and now many investors and institutions are recognizing it as digital gold. Even if Bitcoin is not widely used for everyday transactions, its importance will not diminish. It has become a digital asset that is constantly increasing in both its value and importance.

[Satofan44]

Even when there was no money, people used to trade. So even if bitcoin does not become a universal currency , daily transactions will not suffer because of this.

Did you even read what the topic is about instead of responding to the title? The number of daily transactions will definitely suffer if Bitcoin is not used for payments, unless you want to claim that most of the transactions right now are gambling and remittances?  

First, I don't understand why a forum thread, that is asking a question, which has been asked a million times before got so much merit, but whatever.

The merit distribution here is questionable at best, there is no balance or any logic to it therefore you should never ask this yourself really. It is more of a popularity contest, so start acting fake and overly nice to more people who are closer to merit sources and key DT members and you can get plenty.  

Second, why don't you ask yourself "Why would the merchant start accepting BTC payments?". Will that benefit the merchant in any way, shape or form? Will there be thousands of Bitcoin supporters suddenly deciding to spend their BTC in the shop of that particular merchant, just because he has accepted BTC payments? Just because you want Bitcoin to be accepted by a merchant(or all merchants) that doesn't mean that Bitcoin will be accepted as a payment method.

This question is often answered wrongly, even by big names here like d5000. Bitcoin's existence alone is beneficial to everyone in the world, including those who do not understand its benefits or do not have it. The same thing is said for merchants. Because of their addiction to fiat we tend to narrow down the benefits directly to sales volume, but seriously fuck sales volume already. Even if it did bring a lot of extra sales, how would such a merchants adoption at all help Bitcoin significantly? The merchant in that case would adopt it like he adopts Paypal, he does not care at all for it -- he remains a fiat slave, completely uneducated and continues to push forward the wheels of the scam legacy system. The right way to adoption is educating merchants on the general benefits of Bitcoin and then adopting it regardless of whether it brings extra sales or not. If the cost to keep it adopted is $0, which for anyone who knows how to use a smartphone in most cases it will be, then it can be adopted regardless of whether it will bring sales or not.

I don't know about Satoshi wanting to make Bitcoin an offline everyday currency just like paper cash. BTC is supposed to be a digital asset, not a replacement of paper cash.

When not affected by draconian KYC and AML laws relating to payments, i.e., when primarily used in P2P transactions Bitcoin is already superior to cash. It seems to me that you have never had to pay anything significant using cash and thus do not have the experience of carrying around several hundred bills in many stacks. Counting, verifying, checking for damage, checking for authenticity. It takes a lot of effort, requires safety in handling and many issues can go wrong. With Bitcoin, whether you are paying $1 or $100M the process it the same. There are no counterfeit bills, there are no damaged bills, there is no counting. Bitcoin is superior to cash in almost every way except privacy which it does not have. You could see it as an iteration in the development of cash, therefore a next generation cash so to speak.

[Abiky]

I view Bitcoin as similar to gold. Gold to this day cannot be used as money for daily transactions, even though it was once a medium of exchange. Both Bitcoin and gold have advantages as long-term assets. While Bitcoin never became a form of everyday money, it doesn't mean it was a complete failure. In fact, Bitcoin has proven to be a valuable asset in other roles, particularly as a store of value during inflation and many people view this as a major success not a failure in its purpose.

While Bitcoin was created as an alternative to fiat money we also see the reality that Bitcoin is now stronger as a store of value. Its high volatility makes it less suitable for small, everyday transactions. We can even see this in the El Salvador country where despite Bitcoin being legal for transactions many people don't use it as a means of daily transactions. Look at Bitcoin from the other side as an investment and you'll see its success.

Not only volatility, but also scaling issues. Because the main Blockchain network doesn't have enough capacity to handle large transactions per second. This alone, disqualifies BTC to be used as a currency. Money has to be fast, cheap, and practical to use. Altcoins are better suited as "digital cash" due to the way they're designed. Not only they're faster and cheaper to use than BTC, but most of them have inflation built into the protocol.

Such inflation is what encourages people to spend the coin to prevent losing purchasing power in the long run. Such is the case with Fiat. If Fiat would've been "finite" like Bitcoin or Gold, it would've never been used as money. Only as a store of value. You can correct me if I'm wrong. Just my opinion.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

BTC can never become 'everyday money' for one simple reason: you need to have it to spend it. Unless you are always paid in BTC or get it in some other way, you have to buy it with fiat. If you always have fiat then there is no need to always use BTC for everyday transactions.

[tread93]

In the Bitcoin Whitepaper the first line states

A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly
from one party to another without going through a financial institution.

This doesnt necessarily mean that we should be able to buy a coffee with Bitcoin. Although it can be interpretited
as such buy the "allow online payments".

To me it reads more like payments for services [and goods online perhaps] and storage/transfer of wealth.


For Bitcoin to become everyday money everyone interested in that concept would need to receive their salary
- for example in Bitcoin and this would in turn be an incentive for more merchants to offer payments in Bitcoin.


Michael Saylor once said that FIAT is perfect for buying coffee's and everyday items, its terrible as a means
of saving or wealth preservation. Bitcoin isnt necessarily great for buying coffee's but is great as the other stuff.

Yeah so I like to think about the fact that Bitcoin is an investment and also an asset. Most people don't want to pay in bitcoin becsue they would rather hold on to their coins and honestly using card or cash vs bitcoin at checkout is just so much easier. We are just not quite there with adoption in the  population  for people to all understand bicoin cohesively and by that I mean like what it is, how it works, and how to buy and sell items with it.

[Rockstarguy]

BTC can never become 'everyday money' for one simple reason: you need to have it to spend it. Unless you are always paid in BTC or get it in some other way, you have to buy it with fiat. If you always have fiat then then there is no need to always use BTC for everyday transactions.

You can't rely on Bitcoin as everyday money for purchasing because of its volatile nature. There are other good purposes for Bitcoin, in which it plays a very important role. Bitcoin is more of a store of value that you invest in and don't plan to use in the short term.

If you intend to use Bitcoin as everyday money, you must be ready to accept its volatile nature, which means that whatever the movement of Bitcoin's price, you don't need to panic.

[virasisog]

We could only see it happens when the price of Bitcoin become stable, when that time comes people would see it only as a currency to be used as a payment method not as a tool for investment or gaining profit.
But even though the price of Bitcoin keeps on fluctuating we could see some merchant that accepts it as a payment method for their products or services, and honestly it all depends on us if we would like to use it as a currency for payment method or see it as an investment tool.

[Blaq_e12]

Then it doesn’t matter. If Bitcoin never becomes everyday money, it just means it stays what it already is for most people: a store of value, a speculative asset, or a hedge against inflation. You don’t buy coffee with gold bars either. The real question isn’t whether Bitcoin replaces cash it’s whether you’re chasing it because you believe in a future that may never come, or because you’ve decided enough is enough with the traditional system. Either way, don’t let the chase for “the next big thing” become the same endless chase for money dressed in new technology.

[Luzin]

BTC can never become 'everyday money' for one simple reason: you need to have it to spend it. Unless you are always paid in BTC or get it in some other way, you have to buy it with fiat. If you always have fiat then there is no need to always use BTC for everyday transactions.

Why do so many people still hope that Bitcoin can be used as a means of payment? Honestly, I am not very interested. Look at how the network becomes congested, the network when transaction fees are expensive. Yes, I think Bitcoin is not very suitable as a means of payment until the shortcomings it has disappear. In other words, I think Bitcoin is not practical and many people in the world still trust the government and fiat because it is indeed easier. 
I don't think much about Bitcoin becoming money; so far I am quite comfortable with the current situation. Bitcoin might be more suitable as a commodity and a store of value investment. Although its value is indeed very unstable. Currently, many people invest in Bitcoin because of its value, not because of the possibility of Bitcoin becoming a means of payment. I don't think there will be many people complaining about Bitcoin being used as a means of transaction.

[Negotiation]

When various types of Visa cards with Bitcoin are available around the world and any type of payment can be completed by depositing Bitcoin on those cards, then we can say that Bitcoin is in the first stage. However, it may take some more time to be established as a major currency, but in the future Bitcoin will gain fame as the world's major currency, but it will take time. When all the transactions in the world become online-based, then Bitcoin will act as the major currency, but here it takes a little longer to complete Bitcoin transactions. When the payment time decreases further, I think that Bitcoin will eventually prevail as the major currency.

[Ishicryptic]

BTC can never become 'everyday money' for one simple reason: you need to have it to spend it. Unless you are always paid in BTC or get it in some other way, you have to buy it with fiat. If you always have fiat then there is no need to always use BTC for everyday transactions.

What you said is one way to look at it, you need to buy Bitcoin or it is gifted to you because there are very few employers that pays in Bitcoin and that is one of the reasons why it's not popular as a currency for payments. But I think that the main reason why Bitcoin is not yet popular as a payment medium is because it is volatile. Business people who need day to day money to run their businesses will prefer a currency that is stable so that they will not fear whether the value will dip before they will make new orders. If Bitcoin were very popular to use in making payments people wouldn't have a need to buy it first before owning it or wait to be gifted it first. Hopefully in the future everything will change and it will be more accepted by sellers but before then let most of us continue to hold it for profit.

[BitBakerr1]

BTC can never become 'everyday money' for one simple reason: you need to have it to spend it. Unless you are always paid in BTC or get it in some other way, you have to buy it with fiat. If you always have fiat then then there is no need to always use BTC for everyday transactions.

You can't rely on Bitcoin as everyday money for purchasing because of its volatile nature. There are other good purposes for Bitcoin, in which it plays a very important role. Bitcoin is more of a store of value that you invest in and don't plan to use in the short term.

If you intend to use Bitcoin as everyday money, you must be ready to accept its volatile nature, which means that whatever the movement of Bitcoin's price, you don't need to panic.

Bitcoin volatile nature does not stop it from being used as every day money for purchase these days we have a lot of supermarkets and stores that are accepting bitcoin as a means of exchange and when you go to buy anything, they tell you the price in bitcoin and you pay in bitcoin, volatility is not something we should be afraid of when it comes to bitcoin, you can be afraid of volatility when it comes to another different cryptocurrency not bitcoin because bitcoin has proven himself over the years when the price of bitcoin goes down we all know it will actually go up so you can use bitcoin to purchase anything day in day out as long as you have enough bitcoin to do that.

[fuguebtc]

You can't rely on Bitcoin as everyday money for purchasing because of its volatile nature. There are other good purposes for Bitcoin, in which it plays a very important role. Bitcoin is more of a store of value that you invest in and don't plan to use in the short term.

If you intend to use Bitcoin as everyday money, you must be ready to accept its volatile nature, which means that whatever the movement of Bitcoin's price, you don't need to panic.

Bitcoin volatile nature does not stop it from being used as every day money for purchase these days we have a lot of supermarkets and stores that are accepting bitcoin as a means of exchange and when you go to buy anything, they tell you the price in bitcoin and you pay in bitcoin, volatility is not something we should be afraid of when it comes to bitcoin, you can be afraid of volatility when it comes to another different cryptocurrency not bitcoin because bitcoin has proven himself over the years when the price of bitcoin goes down we all know it will actually go up so you can use bitcoin to purchase anything day in day out as long as you have enough bitcoin to do that.

Would you be willing and comfortable buying Bitcoin at $120k and using it to pay your bills when it drops to $71k? That means your purchasing power could be reduced by almost half in just a few month

Volatility can be a good thing in investing, but it would be a disaster if we used Bitcoin as a currency.


Moreover, paying with Bitcoin can be quite inconvenient if you have to wait for the seller to calculate and inform you of the amount of Bitcoin needed for payment at that time. Why complicate thing when you can simply use fiat currency instead?

[Maiconbtc973]

The world is vast and in Bitcoin and so many innovations and strategies are introduced in our life's. For me since Bitcoin is not controlled by any third party or government I don't think it's usefulness will be stopped. Unless network and services, I dont think if there is anything stopping Bitcoin for our daily life purchase infact it's mores safe for some people than making purchases with money. If becomes maybe doesn't become our every day money, we can still trade it and get the physical money and use it to gett anything we want or do anything we like to do with it.

[bangjoe]

Fluctuations in prices are indeed a major problem if used every day for transactions, especially the bearish season like now which really makes me quite afraid if the exchange rate decreases because goods will have prices that are not easy to change quickly in a long time but bitcoin with a short time is still very volatile and that is a problem.
But even though it's like that Bitcoin can still be used for transaction tools every now and then to avoid slow and complicated transactions if such as cross-country trade, for example I buy property in Australia, if using local currency it will be very complicated and slow, here bitcoin can be the best solution for making transactions.

[Youngrebel]

Fluctuations in prices are indeed a major problem if used every day for transactions, especially the bearish season like now which really makes me quite afraid if the exchange rate decreases because goods will have prices that are not easy to change quickly in a long time but bitcoin with a short time is still very volatile and that is a problem.
But even though it's like that Bitcoin can still be used for transaction tools every now and then to avoid slow and complicated transactions if such as cross-country trade, for example I buy property in Australia, if using local currency it will be very complicated and slow, here bitcoin can be the best solution for making transactions.

A merchant might price goods today, only for the value received to drop significantly tomorrow, that kind of instability makes it hard to use Bitcoin as a reliable medium of exchange, most especially in economies where price adjustments do not happen quickly. That said, where Bitcoin really shines is in situations like cross border transactions but in reality, Bitcoin today functions better as a transaction alternative for specific use cases like international transfers or large settlements, rather than a stable everyday currency.

[juttsab@]

Fluctuations in prices are indeed a major problem if used every day for transactions, especially the bearish season like now which really makes me quite afraid if the exchange rate decreases because goods will have prices that are not easy to change quickly in a long time but bitcoin with a short time is still very volatile and that is a problem.
But even though it's like that Bitcoin can still be used for transaction tools every now and then to avoid slow and complicated transactions if such as cross-country trade, for example I buy property in Australia, if using local currency it will be very complicated and slow, here bitcoin can be the best solution for making transactions.

A merchant might price goods today, only for the value received to drop significantly tomorrow, that kind of instability makes it hard to use Bitcoin as a reliable medium of exchange, most especially in economies where price adjustments do not happen quickly. That said, where Bitcoin really shines is in situations like cross border transactions but in reality, Bitcoin today functions better as a transaction alternative for specific use cases like international transfers or large settlements, rather than a stable everyday currency.

Bitcoin have made a history when it was recognized by people and governments but with time their focus was on the illegal activities as they did not give support to traders and investors and they applied taxes which were high paying and that was burden on people and people invested in that and their assets were safe and transfered but didn't  gave info to other people. No people want to accept the Bitcoin in the store and mall but many governments banned Bitcoin which is folly step of government and they don't want to grow their country because growth will be more when Bitcoin transactions will be more in the country. Bitcoin has high scope in transactions but many people are different point of view about that.

[Renampun]

Nothing will change if it doesn't become everyday money, as long as it can still be used for transactions or investments, that's the most important thing, I think.. because Bitcoin isn't really meant to be everyday money since its network isn't reliable enough to handle large daily transaction volumes quickly, but it can still be an alternative payment method that doesn't require fast settlement, such as cross-border transactions, that's very helpful. and it's also useful for providing financial freedom to its users.