At what point does Bitcoin become a necessity rather than an alternative?

[Keem]

Hello everyone,

I've been spending time looking into the original whitepaper and the early threads on this forum. A lot of the early discussions focus on Bitcoin as a hedge against currency devaluation and systemic banking issues.
With inflation hitting local currencies hard globally, it feels like the theoretical use cases from 2009 are becoming daily realities for a lot of people.
For those who have been here through multiple cycles: Do you think we are past the point of Bitcoin being a "speculative alternative," or is it still mostly viewed that way by the general public? I'd love to hear some perspectives on how the actual daily utility has shifted (or not) over the last decade.

[hd49728]

I've been spending time looking into the original whitepaper and the early threads on this forum. A lot of the early discussions focus on Bitcoin as a hedge against currency devaluation and systemic banking issues.

Do you think we are past the point of Bitcoin being a "speculative alternative," or is it still mostly viewed that way by the general public?

Bitcoin is a good asset for people who want to avoid inflation and decrease of purchasing power of fiat currency but it can not solve problems at national scale or global scale because these things are governmental and global issues which need to be solved by governments.

Bitcoin only gives people another choice, and if they want, they can choose it to avoid fiat currency. Is Bitcoin still an alternative of fiat currency?
I believe it is like that with many people but does it actually matter?
I don't consider it is too important if people already accepted Bitcoin, whatever they think about Bitcoin and use Bitcoin for, is not too important, as it already good start for Bitcoin adoption.

When people already has bitcoin, experience chaos in the market and Bitcoin price growth with very good ROI over time, their mindset about Bitcoin will naturally change.

[noorman0]

Do you think we are past the point of Bitcoin being a "speculative alternative," or is it still mostly viewed that way by the general public?

While the majority of Bitcoin users remain in that direction, this doesn't mean it has lost its primary function. Many digital services still see Bitcoin as another larger market opportunity, and they do offer Bitcoin payment options to accommodate a diverse customer base that is hindered or uninterested in using conventional payment systems.

[bitbollo]

You will see the difference by yourself. Just imagine how they have changed (bad) some rules in certain countries...
Definetely I woud say: Bitcoin is a necessity for many reason...
- I had the chance to receive payments without chargebacks/interactions from banks
- It allows to have resilient monetary system - convenient and cheap
- It allows to store/save and move money with a very cheap option
- this is an "hobby". I am spending times to reading and studying protocol and understand the deeply implication related to adoption.
 

[Dunamisx]

Do you think we are past the point of Bitcoin being a "speculative alternative," or is it still mostly viewed that way by the general public?

Bitcoin still maintains it's relevance, value and influence as ever before, the way of acceptance has to depend on our individual abilities towards it adoption, and this is the same reason why you could discover someone having different approach to bitcoin because they don't understand the right thing that is meant stressed from it, how it is applicable for our various used depends on the demand we want from it and this is where it will always be speculative and as well an asset for everyone.

[joniboini]

I'd love to hear some perspectives on how the actual daily utility has shifted (or not) over the last decade.

I can't speak for others, but as of now I don't think the usage has changed significantly in my country. Unless you count using it internationally through VPNs and whatnot to pay for stuff like digital subscription (including VPN). Even then, I doubt the volume is big enough to say that majority of people view Bitcoin as a better means of payment. On top of that, for people who enter the market to gain profit, their perception that Bitcoin is a speculative asset won't disappear. Hard to believe they come to that conclusion when their goal is to see Bitcoin prints new ATH every 4 year or so.

[Lucius]

~snip~
For those who have been here through multiple cycles: Do you think we are past the point of Bitcoin being a "speculative alternative," or is it still mostly viewed that way by the general public? I'd love to hear some perspectives on how the actual daily utility has shifted (or not) over the last decade.

How do you think people from BlackRock, Fidelity or Strategy would respond to that? We on this forum can think, write and do whatever we want in an effort to support the idea of ​​BTC as a decentralized cryptocurrency, but it doesn't mean much because we don't shape public opinion.

For a small portion of people, Bitcoin represents financial freedom, for everyone else it is an investment that should produce a profit. For approximately 95% of people in the world, Bitcoin is what is presented by the mainstream media, and there you can choose between various ideas such as a huge consumer of electricity, a tool for money laundering, financing terrorism and similar things.

[Awaklara]

Do you think we are past the point of Bitcoin being a "speculative alternative," or is it still mostly viewed that way by the general public?

I think the situation is different for everyone. From what I see right now, using Bitcoin as a transaction tool probably hasn’t changed much. People still prefer to hold Bitcoin as an asset. I guess this view is still strong among many people, especially newcomers.
Bitcoin is traded on exchanges, and exchanges promote making money from trading. More people come and invest in Bitcoin for profit, not for use.

[Israelgogo]

Many view BTC as alternative after the real life but for those who have spent time on crypto, either inflation or devaluation of currency does not make any difference of the effects of what life is. BTC can only be necessarily necessity to individuals who make adequate time factor to clone exchange in the crypto market. New users still maintain good prestige over what happen to btc either with value or no value.

[YOSHIE]

At what point does Bitcoin become a necessity rather than an alternative?

An asset like Bitcoin was previously considered an alternative digital currency and over time Bitcoin became a necessity, at the point where people no longer have confidence and trust in the local currency, that's when Bitcoin is no longer seen as an alternative, on the contrary, it is seen as a necessary currency for the community itself.

Therapy if you look at the current condition of society, in general it can be said that it is being hit by an extreme economic crisis and also high inflation, Many people no longer believe in the value of local money, so many companies are now switching to Bitcoin as an investment reserve asset and also in developing countries.

You can see for yourself that currently Bitcoin and gold have become a real need to hedge against inflation. I think that currently Bitcoin is no longer seen as an alternative, instead it is seen as a real need for digital currency.

[aoluain]

Do you think we are past the point of Bitcoin being a "speculative alternative," or is it still mostly viewed that way by the general public?

I think the situation is different for everyone. From what I see right now, using Bitcoin as a transaction tool probably hasn’t changed much. People still prefer to hold Bitcoin as an asset. I guess this view is still strong among many people, especially newcomers.
Bitcoin is traded on exchanges, and exchanges promote making money from trading. More people come and invest in Bitcoin for profit, not for use.

I agree thats the outlook is different for different people but the "speculative alternative"
will always be a draw for a certain cohort of people. That will remain as long as the Bitcoin
market continues to produce Bull and Bear markets and offer 50% discounts every cycle.
And it will continue as long as there is FOMO close to the ATH's and FUD when the market
drops. One thing feeds another.

Re: At what point does Bitcoin become a necessity rather than an alternative?

About 17 years ago!

[Ayers]

Do you think we are past the point of Bitcoin being a "speculative alternative," or is it still mostly viewed that way by the general public? I'd love to hear some perspectives on how the actual daily utility has shifted (or not) over the last decade.

we are going through a transition period. it is both a speculative asset and a practical monetary network. how you treat it is up to you

speculation still rules the roost in price discovery. because large institutions, etf and traders move huge amounts of capital here. but does that mean that bitcoin’s real world utility has been erased?

are we using bitcoin in the hope that its price will suddenly increase 10 times? at least i am not
i use it because it is a scarce asset. i can keep it in my own custody and send it around the world without any permission

i won't deny that the average person still see bitcoin primarily as something that will go up in price and make them millionaires. this will slowly change as more people face issues like currency debasement, banking sanction & financial censorship firsthand

[Franklyn-wood]

Do you think we are past the point of Bitcoin being a "speculative alternative," or is it still mostly viewed that way by the general public?

I think the situation is different for everyone. From what I see right now, using Bitcoin as a transaction tool probably hasn’t changed much. People still prefer to hold Bitcoin as an asset. I guess this view is still strong among many people, especially newcomers.
Bitcoin is traded on exchanges, and exchanges promote making money from trading. More people come and invest in Bitcoin for profit, not for use.

I agree thats the outlook is different for different people but the "speculative alternative"
will always be a draw for a certain cohort of people. That will remain as long as the Bitcoin
market continues to produce Bull and Bear markets and offer 50% discounts every cycle.
And it will continue as long as there is FOMO close to the ATH's and FUD when the market
drops. One thing feeds another.

Re: At what point does Bitcoin become a necessity rather than an alternative?

About 17 years ago!

Yes inflation is the one of the reasons why Bitcoin will be seen as a necessity rather than an alternative, because at this point fiat seems to be seen as having less value in the market to those who knows more about Bitcoin, so they switch from fiat to Bitcoin for the fear of high tax rate.
Speculations of Bull and bear also contribute to how Bitcoin becomes a necessity as FOMO sets in when there is an ATH everyone already in the system wants to take advantage of the season.

[Die_empty]

For those who have been here through multiple cycles: Do you think we are past the point of Bitcoin being a "speculative alternative," or is it still mostly viewed that way by the general public? I'd love to hear some perspectives on how the actual daily utility has shifted (or not) over the last decade.

Bitcoin is gradually maturing, and this has made it less volatile. The level of volatility has reduced; this is why the price is not skyrocketing as it was at its early stages. However, Bitcoin is still a speculative asset as various economic and political policies affect the price. But there are predictions that the coin will become stable in the future. With the rate of institutional investors that are drawn to the industry and government interest in making it a reserve currency, its speculative nature might reduce.

[dzungmobile]

Bitcoin is gradually maturing, and this has made it less volatile. The level of volatility has reduced; this is why the price is not skyrocketing as it was at its early stages. However, Bitcoin is still a speculative asset as various economic and political policies affect the price. But there are predictions that the coin will become stable in the future. With the rate of institutional investors that are drawn to the industry and government interest in making it a reserve currency, its speculative nature might reduce.

Bitcoin has already gone very far in its own pathway to adoption, success, and more. Since 2009, the Bitcoin Genesis Block, the first Bitcoin halving, first P2P transaction, first exchange, and many milestones till 2026, Bitcoin has been very strong now and it won't die easily.

It's different than in past years when Bitcoin was very young like a newborn, it was very sensitive to fail, die or to be abandoned, in 2026 towards the future, I see no longer existence of such risk.

If newbies are unsure, they can read these resources and build up their knowledge as well as belief in Bitcoin.
The bullish case for Bitcoin.
Bitcoin: an accounting revolution.
Bitcoin: The accounting revolution that shook the world.

[Chinesebaby]

Hello everyone,

I've been spending time looking into the original whitepaper and the early threads on this forum. A lot of the early discussions focus on Bitcoin as a hedge against currency devaluation and systemic banking issues.
With inflation hitting local currencies hard globally, it feels like the theoretical use cases from 2009 are becoming daily realities for a lot of people.
For those who have been here through multiple cycles: Do you think we are past the point of Bitcoin being a "speculative alternative," or is it still mostly viewed that way by the general public? I'd love to hear some perspectives on how the actual daily utility has shifted (or not) over the last decade.

The moment you no longer want to be affected by your fiat currency inflation due to poor government policies and likewise start having full control over their finances and asset is exactly the moment when investing in Bitcoin becomes a necessity. Because just as you read in the white paper about how systemic banking issues was one of the factors that gave birth to Bitcoin, and even after 17 years of Bitcoin being in existence, it's core fundamentals still remains the same without changing over time. Hence, the view about Bitcoin been an hedge against currency inflation still remains a valid point viewed by the global Bitcoin enthusiast around the world. So one thing I will like to tell you is that Bitcoin has come to stay, and it's not going anywhere anytime soon.

[Hyphen(-)]

For those who have been here through multiple cycles: Do you think we are past the point of Bitcoin being a "speculative alternative," or is it still mostly viewed that way by the general public? I'd love to hear some perspectives on how the actual daily utility has shifted (or not) over the last decade.

The idea of creating Bitcoin then was to bring an alternative to banking system and to solve the problem of currency devaluation and other financial institutions problems that always gives people problems in terms of their investment, and from the time Bitcoin was created, we have seen how useful it was because in reality, we have currency devaluations which made our fiat investments not profitable anymore because the value is not more there after some time, and people that embrace Bitcoin in it early days as an alternative has made a lot of profits from their wise decision to invest in Bitcoin.

Now, it’s time to take as the main investment and not alternative investment anymore because currency devaluations is real, and other physical investments come with some risks that Bitcoin investment doesn’t have.

No third party in Bitcoin investment and no fake documents in case of real estate, and no fake gold in case of gold investment too.
As long as you can keep your seed phrase safe, you are good to go.

[snowpega]

Hello everyone,

I've been spending time looking into the original whitepaper and the early threads on this forum. A lot of the early discussions focus on Bitcoin as a hedge against currency devaluation and systemic banking issues.
With inflation hitting local currencies hard globally, it feels like the theoretical use cases from 2009 are becoming daily realities for a lot of people.
For those who have been here through multiple cycles: Do you think we are past the point of Bitcoin being a "speculative alternative," or is it still mostly viewed that way by the general public? I'd love to hear some perspectives on how the actual daily utility has shifted (or not) over the last decade.

Why is that so? This is because literate people don't like the traditional finance and banking system, and also those who really understand how it works. And at the same time, when such people start to notice and understand the idea of bitcoin technology, they start to move their savings and investment funds into bitcoin rather than holding them in banks for a long time.

And in my point of view, those who still hold their money in banks without any reason then they are really stupid. If you do a little more research and start from the very first day of bitcoin in the digital space history, then you will get the answer to your own question about how much ROI bitcoin has already returned to many of its investors and believers. DYOR!

[Finestream]

Do you think we are past the point of Bitcoin being a "speculative alternative," or is it still mostly viewed that way by the general public?

While the majority of Bitcoin users remain in that direction, this doesn't mean it has lost its primary function. Many digital services still see Bitcoin as another larger market opportunity, and they do offer Bitcoin payment options to accommodate a diverse customer base that is hindered or uninterested in using conventional payment systems.

Right, majority are still seeing bitcoin as a speculative asset but because of its growing mainstream acceptance, now we are starting to see bitcoin as a store of value or what we call as digital gold, and despite of its high volatility nature, bitcoin advocates remain to trust bitcoin more compared to the traditional cash or asset.

Financial institutions are slowly looking forward for bitcoin. And in the long run, even though bitcoin will remain as a speculative asset, what's more important is that the general public is slowly accepting bitcoin as a long-term store of value.

[Alphakilo]

Do you think we are past the point of Bitcoin being a "speculative alternative," or is it still mostly viewed that way by the general public?

While the majority of Bitcoin users remain in that direction, this doesn't mean it has lost its primary function. Many digital services still see Bitcoin as another larger market opportunity, and they do offer Bitcoin payment options to accommodate a diverse customer base that is hindered or uninterested in using conventional payment systems.

Right, majority are still seeing bitcoin as a speculative asset but because of its growing mainstream acceptance, now we are starting to see bitcoin as a store of value or what we call as digital gold, and despite of its high volatility nature, bitcoin advocates remain to trust bitcoin more compared to the traditional cash or asset.

Financial institutions are slowly looking forward for bitcoin. And in the long run, even though bitcoin will remain as a speculative asset, what's more important is that the general public is slowly accepting bitcoin as a long-term store of value.

The general public have come to the realization that Bitcoin can both serve as a speculative alternative or as a daily utility based on their location and geographical laws.
Bitcoin has survived worse case scenarios like hard forks, regulatory crackdowns and it still stands that it has gained more adoption starting from even the unbanked and to those who are facing serious monetary distress in form of devaluing currency.
The world sees Bitcoin as a true currency and that's why items called digital gold in many cases because it is a hedge against inflation and a great investment with great returns overtime not like fiat that devalues while in storage.