If Nobody Spends Bitcoin, Has It Still Succeeded?

[PX-Z]

If people expect Bitcoin to become more valuable, spending it on coffee, rent, or a car feels irrational. But this creates an interesting contradiction:

As if you spend it, it will vanish, it won't and will just literally transfer to another address and ownership.

The more desirable Bitcoin becomes as a store of value, the less people may want to use it as money.

...
If Bitcoin is widely owned but rarely spent, has it fulfilled its purpose—or evolved into something greater than originally intended?

Do you personally spend Bitcoin, or only hold it? What would need to change for you to use it regularly?

As time goes and its value grow larger, price increases, and people consider it as store of value, where holding could benefit more in long term. So yes, people perspective just change. Because if price is just the same as $1k per BTC you will see more millions of transaction per day. Although we have an average of 600k txs per day, but it could be grow if bitcoin price is just an average crypto price.

[hd49728]

As time goes and its value grow larger, price increases, and people consider it as store of value, where holding could benefit more in long term. So yes, people perspective just change. Because if price is just the same as $1k per BTC you will see more millions of transaction per day. Although we have an average of 600k txs per day, but it could be grow if bitcoin price is just an average crypto price.

With time, Bitcoin has some considerable growth and changes.

It has had better adoption that makes its higher value.
It has bigger market cap that makes its harder for manipulation than in the past. Please read it right, there are still manipulations in Bitcoin market.
It has bigger network hashrate, so that its blockchain is more secure.

With investors, these things mean some things like
It's safer to invest money in Bitcoin since 2026 than in the past.
Their investment portfolios will have smaller ROIs compare to portfolios' ROIs of people invested in past years and previous market cycles.

Risk and profit are opposite with each other: In the past, higher risk, bigger ROIs. Now towards future, less risk but smaller ROIs.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

If nobody ever spends Bitcoin it hasn’t fully succeeded as money because money needs to be used for buying, selling, and exchanging value.

It would still succeed as a store of value, like digital gold but if it’s only held and never used it falls short of its original purpose as a peer to peer electronic cash system.

[Catenaccio]

If nobody ever spends Bitcoin it hasn’t fully succeeded as money because money needs to be used for buying, selling, and exchanging value.

Satoshi had very good vision and Bitcoin has grown with bigger transaction during the last nearly 20 years.

In a few decades when the reward gets too small, the transaction fee will become the main compensation for nodes.  I'm sure that in 20 years there will either be very large transaction volume or no volume.

It would still succeed as a store of value, like digital gold but if it’s only held and never used it falls short of its original purpose as a peer to peer electronic cash system.

If it becomes like that, there will be possible problems for Bitcoin miners that play very important role for Bitcoin blockchain operations and transaction confirmations. Their mining income and revenue will be affected and Bitcoin mempools will become overload with less miners to confirm transactions. There will certainly appearance of problems from miners and their confirmations but with Bitcoin difficulty retarget every 2016 blocks, it will reduce negative effects on mempools and users' waiting transactions.

[Bluedrem]

If nobody ever spends Bitcoin it hasn’t fully succeeded as money because money needs to be used for buying, selling, and exchanging value.

It would still succeed as a store of value, like digital gold but if it’s only held and never used it falls short of its original purpose as a peer to peer electronic cash system.

Yes, you are right, people store gold as a reserve asset so that the value of their assets is maintained.
But if gold was only tied up in holdings, I think it would not have any acceptance and value. Since gold is constantly being used and it is changing hands through buying and selling, gold is an ongoing asset without any interruption.
Since Bitcoin is also currently considered gold and currently governments of different countries and various individuals hold Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset, it can be said that it is still a valuable asset for people. If Bitcoin were only a reserve asset by stopping buying and selling, then Bitcoin would have no basis.
Since it has to go through an ongoing process to maintain the value of assets, I would say that it would be better to consider it as a means of constant purchase to maintain the value of Bitcoin.

[Tiaramane]

For the past 5 years I have only been holding BTC, using it as a daily means of transaction isnt visible.

[Ahli38]

It’s impossible for Bitcoin to be held indefinitely without anyone ever spending the Bitcoin they own. There will always be times when people sell their Bitcoin to fund whatever their goals or even what they need to do. And we can see that even gold, where it has the potential for long-term appreciation is still always spent on various needs. So I personally think that Bitcoin will always be spent because it is a highly liquid asset. Transfers or even the movement of Bitcoin from wallet to wallet will continue to occur. There are various trading platforms that allow Bitcoin to be traded through various brokers for a wide range of trading pairs. These platforms are available 24 hours a day with no time restrictions making it possible for anyone to spend their Bitcoin at any time. And Bitcoin can also be exchanged between individuals at any time so the situations, where Bitcoin is spent will continue to occur everywhere. These factors prove that Bitcoin will continue to succeed as money.

[tread93]

Seeing bitcoin as a good store of value these days, I can tell that it has already succeeded. Even if people won't spend but will keep on buying and storing bitcoin, bitcoin will surely make its own way towards success.

However, its also impossible that we won't be spending bitcoin. We buy and sell our bitcoin, and repeat the process. And we use bitcoin to buy more bitcoin especially when the price is in dips, so its really impossible not to spend bitcoin along the way most especially if you prefer to have p2p transactions.

Yes I agree, it is not possible to not spend any bitcoin unless you are already rich or you are dead and nobody has access to your keys. At some point maybe in the future, I believe that everyone will at some point cash in or spend some of their coins either P2P or through some sort of website or app in order to use or gain some product or service. It might be a rainy day fund, or simply passed on to their heirs. That would be the best thing I believe if done successfully, passing it on to your heirs for the next generation. Or at least a portion of that.

[ZAINmalik75]

For the past 5 years I have only been holding BTC, using it as a daily means of transaction isnt visible.

For a lot of people, spending or using Bitcoin for daily transactions is not an available option because it is not accepted anywhere around where they live. In my country, you can't find a single place where you can pay using cryptocurrencies, not only Bitcoin but any cryptocurrency, and it is because we currently don't have any laws or legality of cryptocurrencies is not yet done, maybe once they are legal in the country, merchants might start accepting cryptocurrencies as payment, and then we will be able to spend our cryptocurrencies directly without having to convert them to fiat first and then spending them.

So I think we can't blame people for not using Bitcoin but only buying and holding, because people will only use it on a daily basis if it becomes easy for them to do so, but as I mentioned, if people don't even have the option to use cryptocurrencies as payment, they will surely not do it, and since they know they grow in value over time, they buy and hold them and use them as an investment asset which can benefit them over time.

[HelliumZ]

If Nobody Spends Bitcoin, Has It Still Succeeded?

The more desirable Bitcoin becomes as a store of value, the less people may want to use it as money.

If Bitcoin is widely owned but rarely spent, has it fulfilled its purpose—or evolved into something greater than originally intended?

Do you personally spend Bitcoin, or only hold it? What would need to change for you to use it regularly?

If everyone in the world only holds Bitcoin but no one sells Bitcoin, then Bitcoin has not created any kind of utility. We know from common sense that if a product cannot create utility, then that product gradually becomes worthless in the market. If everyone in the world holds Bitcoin and no one sells Bitcoin, then Bitcoin will gradually become worthless.

Perhaps if Bitcoin is only stored as a luxury item by some people and not exchanged for money, then it will gradually lose its popularity due to a lack of utility.

The real purpose of Bitcoin is to create transparency of transactions, privacy of transactions, and a free trade in the world where there will be a currency and any person in the world will create borderless trade based on that currency. But if no one in the world uses Bitcoin as a means of transaction, then Bitcoin will deviate from its real purpose.

In my case, I am doing both, especially when I need it, I am converting Bitcoin into my local currency and using it for my needs. And for future security and so that Bitcoin can give me big profits in the future, I am holding what is not needed.

[SeriouslyGiveaway]

If everyone in the world only holds Bitcoin but no one sells Bitcoin, then Bitcoin has not created any kind of utility. We know from common sense that if a product cannot create utility, then that product gradually becomes worthless in the market. If everyone in the world holds Bitcoin and no one sells Bitcoin, then Bitcoin will gradually become worthless.

Let's clearly differentiate between two holding cases and scenarios.

First, holding for profit while the market has very high and good trading volume, big buying demands so that you as a holder can sell your bitcoin anytime you want in either bear market or bull market. Surely you aim at selling for profit that likely is more possible during a bull market but at least there are good chances for selling anytime.

Second, holding for dear life when you can not sell your coins even if you really want do to that, not only for profit but also for cut loss and save a little bit money at the end. This scenario is very popular with shitcoins, and it's reminder for anyone who love shitcoins. It's fortunate if they hold bitcoins because they will have a better future with a first scenario, being able to sell bitcoins anytime.

[Solodoski]

Bitcoin has really succeeded as a store of value, that's why a lot of people buy it and hold for a long time, because they use it as an investment to make profit in the future.  On it not been spend, I think that's not possible,  because investors buys bitcoin to hold and in so doing its already been spend, because people that sell.are already spending it, so I don't think it's possible for it not to be spent. I think the only difference is that it has has not been spend like a day to day currency,  buy its been spent everyday in a different way.

[serjent05]

If people expect Bitcoin to become more valuable, spending it on coffee, rent, or a car feels irrational. But this creates an interesting contradiction:

As if you spend it, it will vanish, it won't and will just literally transfer to another address and ownership.

I need to think carefully, if people won't spend their Bitcoin or transfer it to anyone, the miners will give up eventually.  Remember the Bitcoin block reward is finite.  When the block reward goes to zero, there is no way the miner will earn unless people transact.  So if no one is spending or making a transaction with Bitcoin, the worst outcome is miners stopping to mine, making the blockchain halt.

The more desirable Bitcoin becomes as a store of value, the less people may want to use it as money.

...
If Bitcoin is widely owned but rarely spent, has it fulfilled its purpose—or evolved into something greater than originally intended?

As long as it is used as an alternative to fiat currency, I believe it has fulfilled its purpose.

[Hamza2424]

The beauty about the market is that there is always someone willing to sell at a certain price or buy at a certain price, and this is applicable to the Bitcoin market too. While there are people who hold the coins for years, there will always be those who sell or spend them every day.

I personally spend my Bitcoin a few times in a month.

Yep, me too, or maybe I am addicted haha, because it's like money now for me. Like how I can't save fiat, I can't save BTC now haha.

Anyway, that's just me being silly, but we should definitely use our coins for buying and selling because holding them for too long and dying without even using them means we just wasted our money. But we should not overspend.

[Renampun]

If you mean it as "money," it probably wouldn't succeed since more people chose to hold it like you said, so it became more successful as a store of value. But I don't think there won't be anyone spending Bitcoin.. there will definitely still be people transacting with their Bitcoin.. whether it's P2P, deposit to a casino, lots of other things where using Bitcoin is much more practical compared to fiat. So you don't need to worry that transactions in Bitcoin will stop happening, it will still happen every second, even when many people choose to use it as a store of value.

[lombok]

The beauty about the market is that there is always someone willing to sell at a certain price or buy at a certain price, and this is applicable to the Bitcoin market too. While there are people who hold the coins for years, there will always be those who sell or spend them every day.

I personally spend my Bitcoin a few times in a month.

Yep, me too, or maybe I am addicted haha, because it's like money now for me. Like how I can't save fiat, I can't save BTC now haha.

Anyway, that's just me being silly, but we should definitely use our coins for buying and selling because holding them for too long and dying without even using them means we just wasted our money. But we should not overspend.

Indeed, financing daily activities by digital Bitcoin presents a fantastic transactional liberty. Keeping your funds throughout your lifetime without putting their value into practice will definitely be a source of regrets.

Allocating yourself an amount for spending avoids the formation of a tendency that is detrimental to your portfolio’s balance. Ensuring that you can access your funds from time to time will allow your assets to serve the purpose of transaction and security.

[Sonia_123]

Yes it stills succeeds and the scarcity will be more than how since Bitcoin remain a store of value and that is why alot of persons involved themselves in accumulation and holding of Bitcoin for a long period of time .

Storing of Bitcoin now and not spending it for future purpose also means you will be spending it because after your overaccumulation period you still ends up spending it, and so there is no buying without spending, it will only not succeed in the aspect of exchange as a medium but remains firm in other aspect.

[Big Dirams]

The beauty about the market is that there is always someone willing to sell at a certain price or buy at a certain price, and this is applicable to the Bitcoin market too. While there are people who hold the coins for years, there will always be those who sell or spend them every day.

I personally spend my Bitcoin a few times in a month.

Yep, me too, or maybe I am addicted haha, because it's like money now for me. Like how I can't save fiat, I can't save BTC now haha.

Anyway, that's just me being silly, but we should definitely use our coins for buying and selling because holding them for too long and dying without even using them means we just wasted our money. But we should not overspend.

I guess we are of one mind but it just that I only have issue with saving one and can’t save one. I find it difficult to save Fiat, if I can see and access it then I’ll touch it no matter what but when I moved the Fiat into either any cryptocurrency maybe bitcoin or stable coins then rest assure I can stay away from It for as long as I wish.

However, If we just keep accumulating bitcoin for a long term with our DCA strategy and at the end we don’t have the plans of using the money even in the future then what exactly have we been investing for?  If we wanted saving then we could have used our fiat currency for saving. Investing is far different from what we are doing if we don’t have the plans on using our investments profits.

[X-ray]

Nobody spending Bitcoin is impossible to happen, there will always people who send and receive, but if what you mean is nobody, but if that happens regardless as long as bitcoin still appreciates in value, have liquidity, still can be used, it has already succeeded in my book.

You can still use it anytime without problem, the blockchain doesn't need to adhere by certain daily tx target for it to succeed. What matters is it exist and it gives you alternative over the traditional finances.

Tho, I believe future of Bitcoin is high value transaction to dominates the blockchain activity, some kind of institutional settlement layer that moves millions and more.

[Peanutswar]

I say that still considerable because if bitcoin still its essence to make a transaction anonymously and you can send a large amount of money, now if still the same that most of the establishments, businesses and other companies supported bitcoin you can use this a payment method if ever the bitcoin has still its value. We are shifting into web3 which people can now conduct payments with the use of their wallets in their browsers and have the products and services so basically for me still bitcoin has a potential but well not for the hodl possible its now become less volatile at the same time.