Bitcoin Is Getting Easier To Purchase, But Harder To Truly Own.

[sunsilk]

So this as raise an interesting question; Are we increasing the number of bitcoiner users or are we increasing the number of bitcoin owners? These two are not necessarily the same thing.

I think it's both. We're increasing both users and owners. Because someone who's owning bitcoin is also a user and somehow they'll like to spend it even a little of it for some things.

IMHO, the time is coming that your title is right that it's going to be harder to own it.

Why? the price will become more expensive, we'll have lesser supply in the circulation and at point that the exchanges will start to limit the purchases when they also see the demand increases.

[UchihaSarada]

Once upon a time to purchase Bitcoin was not very easy back then.

It's because in the past, the Bitcoin adoption was very small, and there were very little people who are sellers and buyers. It was like big barrier to find sellers and buyers for a Bitcoin trade but fortunately the Bitcoin pizza trade changed many things for Bitcoin adoption.

Pizzas for bitcoins?
Did Laszlo Hanyecz exchange 40000 BTC for 8 pizzas, not 10000 BTC for 2 pizzas?

1.The idea of buying versus owning Bitcoin is not the same thing as before.

It's the same with people who buy bitcoin and store bitcoin in their non custodial wallet, nothing changed, nothing prevented them doing that if they want to be their self custodians.

2: Convenience Is Replacing Self Custody.

It's people change, not Bitcoin change. When people understand risk of online sites, centralized exchanges, custodial wallets, they will decide storing their bitcoins in self-custodial wallets.

3. More Bitcoin Users, Fewer Bitcoin Owners?

Don't care about it, pay attention on your bitcoin accumulation, storage and security.

[Bastketsrus]

The phrase "Not your keys, not your coins" shouldn't be taken lightly, as it teaches an important lesson regarding the importance of safeguarding our crypto (Bitcoin) privately (without third-party interference). Storing Bitcoin with a centralized party carries double the risks compared to storing it independently.

Several cases have occurred with several exchanges, one of which is Mt. Gox. While there is a possibility of a refund from the exchange due to the issues, but wouldn't that be a very lengthy and time-consuming process Furthermore, if a similar case occurs in the future, there is no guarantee of a refund, right? Maybe, it will be lost forever.

I don't mean to scare anyone here; I am simply explaining the risks, and I don't expect a similar case to happen again. I simply want to advise us all, not to place too much trust in third parties, or centralized entities. That is all.

I agree. Exchanges are fine for trading, but not for storing long term. Mt. Gox is a reminder that if you don't control the keys, you also don't fully control the coins.

[rat03gopoh]

Bitcoin adoption has been steadily increasing, but how many of these new adopters are "in control of their coins?

"Adoption" itself is still debated, with some arguing that Bitcoin must be accepted, used, and implemented to reach adoption. Owning it simply involves believing in its future based on intrinsic value (limited supply, unlimited value) or opportunism (buy low, sell high), and sometimes, as you said, they don't actually own it.

[BlackBoss_]

"Adoption" itself is still debated, with some arguing that Bitcoin must be accepted, used, and implemented to reach adoption. Owning it simply involves believing in its future based on intrinsic value (limited supply, unlimited value) or opportunism (buy low, sell high), and sometimes, as you said, they don't actually own it.

The adoption for Bitcoin is clear and it has actually become bigger and better with time. I see the ongoing debate is whether Bitcoin has reached mass adoption, achieved mainstream level or not, and if not yet, when it will achieve that "mainstream adoption" milestone.

Honestly I really don't mind too much about it, as I care more about my accumulation as I am not rich, I don't have abundant money and investment capital for bitcoin accumulation. That means I need more time for my accumulation so if mainstream adoption won't come too soon, it's not big problem with me. I consider it as a gift for me and my bitcoin accumulation. More time means I will be able to accumulate more bitcoins while price will be still low and cheap for my future entries.

[michellee]

Although to purchase Bitcoin was not very easy in the past, we learned something value which is how to secure our Bitcoin and other important things, that is knowledge that people now may not apply. New people should aware this and must learn more because the situation changed and many scams programs watching them and waiting them to make a mistake.

But if we talks about owning Bitcoin, that means we really owns and keeping Bitcoin in our wallets and we will not storing in the exchanges especially in a long term. We should remember that anything can happens to the exchanges so we must keep that in our own wallet avoiding the bad things happen.

We can't let the exchanges do that, that means we don't own our Bitcoin fully because that will be Not your keys, not your coins - that is the thing that we must remember so keeping in our wallet will be necessary.

[davis196]

There's always risk involved when you own a financial asset. Relying on third parties has the risk of your crypto trading platform going bankrupt or getting hacked. Keeping all your crypto in your cold wallet has the risk of losing access to your passwords and seed phrase, there's also a risk of someone stealing your hardware wallet of your hardware wallet getting broken. 100% safety cannot be achieved, it doesn't matter if you truly own your BTC or not. I don't think that it's "harder to truly own" your BTC in the current day and age. The process is pretty much the same as it used to be 5 or 10 years ago. Setting up a cold wallet isn't rocket science. We have to bear in mind that most crypto noobs start using hot wallets and centralized services before switching to cold wallets later on.

[ejikeme24]

Yeah,  these aspect you're talking about is where most of us don't understand. Personally i see exchange as a place where we can easily purchase bitcoin then after making our purchase it's advised to transfer it in non custodial wallet where we can have full control over our asset. If you hold your Bitcoin in an exchange the third party will be in your control, they have right to ask you when to withdraw and when not to withdraw they can even decide to seize your assets or profit and you can't do anything about it, it is more like our traditional bank that controls your funds.  Bitcoin is a Long term investment so for that we need to make a separate wallet for it where there will be no challenges like missing or funds or the platform being hacked or something like that, non custodial wallets are the best wallet to use for long term holdings.

[JoyMarsha]

The truth of the matter is that not all newbies get all the information about how to buy and save up their Bitcoin in a way that it will be good for them without issues.

I remember a time when I was a newbie, I made the mistake of not writing my seed phrase and storing it in a safe, which later cost me a lot. I also stored my Bitcoin in exchanges which I found out later that I have no complete ownership of it.

All these findings were later discovered after spending a year or so on Bitcoin investment. Immediately start to take the right step to own and take responsibility for my Bitcoin by myself not on an exchange