Can Bitcoin ever become its own unit of value?

[rbynxx]

I think it will, if someone is willing to do it without the need for a fiat value. More like a coordination between the two who's having a transaction, but even so, I think it will be difficult to eliminate when there's a lot of other unit of value that exists. I think it's best to have it this way, coexist with other unit of values because the price isn't fixed at all and I'm not doing any hassle that I need to lay something in sats or a millisatoshi.

[Vaskiy]

Everything is a measure of value. Right now we've practiced to value bitcoin equivalent to fiat. Even a satoshi is valued in fiat. From the beginning if the price is measured of its own, now everyone could've followed the same. The reality, bitcoin couldn't have reached this popular. Valuation in terms of fiat made people understand the value of bitcoin in a better way and the same made people focus on it.

Another thing bitcoin is completely on technology parameters, whereas with fiat there'll be gold reserves that back the fiat system. In this way bitcoin doesn't have the real backing. Maybe in the long run if there is official acceptance all around the world bitcoin can be valued of its own.

[AVE5]

Now my question is that will bitcoin itself become an exchange value without fiat currency in the future? Or will fiat currency always exist to explain?

Bitcoin regulations is becoming more friendly with how its utility cases is legally becoming authorized in a global context.
Adoption has also been increasing so fast because of the dynamic supports from the authorities.
The authorities had also been operating as a centralized body and have to exercise their abilities via what's necessary, available and valuable to be controlled which is how the fiats had gain dominance since the origin of politics and values with the essentials for exchange has existed.
The authorities will neither not exit the fiats and looses their strength for decentralization currency. And as bitcoin ever remains a financial value which Satoshi himself describes as alternative to make pay and processes transactions via peer to peer, I doubt if bitcoin can be utilized without traded for exchange.

[Alvin_talk]

Bitcoin is usually compared to USD, may be occasionally with other fiat currencies. Do you realise there are other currencies apart from US dollar but we usually measure all these other currencies relative to the US dollar, that doesn't make other currency less valuable and same applies to bitcoin. The reason USD serves as a unit of measurement is simple, most international transaction are anchored around the US dollar. In short, the chances of bitcoin to stand alone without being compared to currencies like USD looks unrealistic in my opinion, so yes, fiat like the USD will exist to explain.

It is also important to note that "a=b" is thesame as "b=a" so we can as well ask the question the other way round; will bitcoin always exist to explain? So long as bitcoin is still a valuable crypto, the answer is Yes. USD(fiats) and BTC are like two different planet and as a bitcoiner, if you are in the world of USD you will have to convert some of your BTC to USD to be able to coexist with the dollar driven world, their is no way around it because the government of the world do not prioritise decentralisation practices and to convert it you'll need to relate bitcoin to USD (e.g: 1 btc = $64k), so its just a natural way it must be.

[sunsilk]

Or will fiat currency always exist to explain?

I guess that it answers the question itself.

The value of Bitcoin is tied with several factors, supply and demand, how it's mined and that's due to the miners who consumes electricity and that's billed in fiat and so on. So, there's the connection of its value and the pricing of it in fiat based on those factors.

We don't know what can happen in the future though but it's started already as a unit of account long time before in the forum and in the exchanges for its own crypto market. Many pairs are tied with bitcoin/altcoins.

And the same goes in the services section and other transactional activities and just take the example of Pizza for bitcoins?

[HelliumZ]

If I wanted to use Bitcoin as payment for my business. I wouldn't be surprised if someone wanted to give me Satoshi in exchange for Bitcoin but rather if they gave me $50 in exchange for Bitcoin. However many may say that paper money or fiat currency has been devalued since the arrival of Bitcoin but in reality, only some limited aspects of all these currencies, such as inflation, have automatically devalued fiat currency since the arrival of Bitcoin. All currencies that have unlimited supply are sure to devalue in the future. However, in this case, the comparison of Bitcoin with fiat currency will remain for ages.

[ralle14]

There's always a way to make it happen, but it comes at a cost and extra steps because conversions can't be avoided.

This reminded me of how other games would use different cosmetics (clothes, weapons, etc.) as the new baseline, replacing in-game currencies once they start trading at higher values.

Bitcoin being able to stand on its own will probably take at least a lifetime, or once fiat takes a turn for the worse in your country.

[Abiky]

It's sounds like a stupid question, but it's been a tangle in my head for a long time.

Bitcoin definitely implemented a peer to peer ecosystem in this regard, which basically gave us financial freedom and at the same time deflated fiat currency and at the same time anti-bank. And bitcoin it's self has become the most valuable virtual asset in the world. But even then we use USD i.e. fiat currency to measure the value of bitcoin.

Now my question is that will bitcoin itself become an exchange value without fiat currency in the future? Or will fiat currency always exist to explain?

I would like to note here that this topic is not for comparing "bitcoin vs fiat currency", here, the main goal is to discussing bitcoin as a unit of account in the future.

It's almost impossible for Bitcoin to become the standard unit of account (or its own unit of value, per your OP). The world is still stuck with Fiat. Why? Because banks and governments are relevant. The only way this would work is if they're out of the picture for good. Not going to happen now or in another century.

Besides, people want something that's easy for them to understand. It's much easier to handle Fiat, than Bitcoin. BTC is divisible to 8 units, while Fiat has only two decimal points. Most wages are paid in Fiat, too. Which is why, the world will continue to use Fiat as the standard unit of account. At least, BTC makes a great alternative. What more can we ask for?

[BitBlendOfficial]

People focus too much on “quantum will kill Bitcoin” headlines. The real discussion is about timing and coordination. Cryptography has always evolved, and the question is whether the network can upgrade before the risk becomes practical. A decentralized system is only as strong as its ability to adapt

[CryptoHeadlineNews]

It's sounds like a stupid question, but it's been a tangle in my head for a long time.

Bitcoin definitely implemented a peer to peer ecosystem in this regard, which basically gave us financial freedom and at the same time deflated fiat currency and at the same time anti-bank. And bitcoin it's self has become the most valuable virtual asset in the world. But even then we use USD i.e. fiat currency to measure the value of bitcoin.

Now my question is that will bitcoin itself become an exchange value without fiat currency in the future? Or will fiat currency always exist to explain?

As long as Bitcoin exists, then there will always be a fiat currency as a tool to know or measure it's current worth to people in different geographical locations. And in fact, Bitcoin is not the only asset whose value is been measured in fiat currencies, because even gold, silver and real estate. Because these assets all have their values been tagged to a specific amount of fiat currency, simply because fiat currencies is the only legal tender that are been known by the laws of a state as a payment medium that is been known for exchange of goods and services. Because it would have looked weird if Bitcoin was never tagged to any fiat currency, because everybody would have its exact market worth.

[Alpha Marine]

An asset always has to be measured by something. Even gold, stocks, bond is measured by something, so Bitcoin will not be different. As long as fiat is still in existence and it is still the legal tender of the world, it would be measured by that thing. For Bitcoin to be its own unit of value, then it has to be the currency of the world. At that point, every other thing can be measured with Bitcoin. For example, you can say "I bough 2btc worth of Apple stock". Nothing stops you from measuring it this way right now, but we would always want to know the worth of Bitcoin to fully understand how much stock you bought.

Bitcoin is not just a currency; it's a commodity and an asset, and commodities and assets are always measured by a different unit of value, which is fiat.

[free-bit.co.in]

Now my question is that will bitcoin itself become an exchange value without fiat currency in the future? Or will fiat currency always exist to explain?

In fact, fiat currency is not just a piece of paper. Behind it stand the military power and law of state. Every country collects taxes from their citizen in their local fiat currency. So until we can pay income tax in Bitcoin, it is completely impossible for fiat currency to disappear or its need to end.
And the state will never give up its economic control or Monetary Sovereignty to a decentralized network.

Nowadays, I think Bitcoin is mainly successful as Store of Value. Just as we measure the price of land or gold in dollar, the same is happening with Bitcoin and may happen in future. Just as gold has not been able to become main unit of account for daily purchases despite maintaining its value for thousand of years, the future of Bitcoin may be exactly same.

However, if a major disaster occurs in the world, meaning if something like 3rd World War occur, only then can an environment be created for end of fiat currency.

[ZAINmalik75]

If we talk about whether it is possible or not, then of course, it is possible, because any asset or currency can become the universal unit used to measure the exchange value of goods and services, but, things can't be the same after that. For example, how will the value of Bitcoin itself be determined if there will be no fiat currencies to measure it against? Right now, we know that 1 Bitcoin is equal to $63k, for example, so when we go for making a payment with it, we measure how much we need to pay based on that, but if there is no USD, as you said, how will that be determined?

Even if we use the currently available fiat prices, and then abandon all fiat currencies, hypothetically, then after that, the scarcity of Bitcoin will probably have no importance because when there is no other asset to compare it with, you wouldn't know that it's value is increasing or decreasing, how will you measure that exactly? How will people acquire Bitcoin is another question?

So basically, there are a lot of questions and issues with this, and apart from all that, fiat currencies are going nowhere because governments won't let this happen in the first place.

[Dunamisx]

Now my question is that will bitcoin itself become an exchange value without fiat currency in the future? Or will fiat currency always exist to explain?

The future has begun already because you can use Bitcoin in many applicable channels as you like; there are smaller fragments of Bitcoin you could achieve by having sats and mBTC.

You don't need to always convert your bitcoin to Fiat before you could make use of it, some platforms accept Bitcoin and you can also use it in payment directly, Fiat may exist together with bitcoin but not a must to exchange for Bitcoin, other unit of Bitcoin are what I have stated above and you can as well convert your Bitcoin to smaller units as you want.

[Chinesebaby]

It's sounds like a stupid question, but it's been a tangle in my head for a long time.

Bitcoin definitely implemented a peer to peer ecosystem in this regard, which basically gave us financial freedom and at the same time deflated fiat currency and at the same time anti-bank. And bitcoin it's self has become the most valuable virtual asset in the world. But even then we use USD i.e. fiat currency to measure the value of bitcoin.

Now my question is that will bitcoin itself become an exchange value without fiat currency in the future? Or will fiat currency always exist to explain?

Every item that have been used as a currency all had an exchange value in the society, even when "trade & barter" system existed long time ago, and secondly, since we are in the 21th century where every item is been measured with respect to fiat which is a general legal tender in the society. Bitcoin, gold and all other assets wae able to adopt it's value with fiat currency for easy undergrounding by all. So there is nothing wrong with Bitcoin having dollar as a fiat through which it's value can be measured. Because even cars, houses, aerospace, ships and all other assets all have their values in fiat, so Bitcoin doing the same was never a crime, or neither does it stop the asset from being valuable amongst them all.

[Danish Ali]

Bitcoin definitely implemented a peer to peer ecosystem in this regard, which basically gave us financial freedom and at the same time deflated fiat currency and at the same time anti-bank. And bitcoin it's self has become the most valuable virtual asset in the world. But even then we use USD i.e. fiat currency to measure the value of bitcoin.

Basically there are three functions of a currency: first is store of value, second is medium of exchange and third is unit of account. Bitcoin is strong in store of value but in unit of account it is still depending on USD (like we say 1 BTC = $65,000, not 1 BTC = 1 BTC). And this is only due to price volatility.

Now my question is that will bitcoin itself become an exchange value without fiat currency in the future? Or will fiat currency always exist to explain?

El Salvador is a real world example. They legalized Bitcoin but in reality most prices are still written in USD. Bitcoin is only used as a payment method.

In the long term, if the volatility of Bitcoin reduces, then theoretically it can become a unit of account. But this will take much longer time because at this stage, a price swing of 2 to 5% daily is normal.

[Lida93]

Now my question is that will bitcoin itself become an exchange value without fiat currency in the future? Or will fiat currency always exist to explain?

If bitcoin becomes an exchange value in itself, what then would will we be using in measuring the value for what we're using to make exchange with bitcoin. For example I want to buy a tuber of yam, how do I know the value of that yam tuber in BTC if I don't first get the value in fiat. Well! Honestly, It's really stupid a question to ask just as you sincerely said, because I don't see how we get to agree that 1 full BTC is worth buying this yam tuber or not if it's exchange value isn't measured in something as fiat.

[DanWalker]

We don't know what can happen in the future though but it's started already as a unit of account long time before in the forum and in the exchanges for its own crypto market. Many pairs are tied with bitcoin/altcoins.

And the same goes in the services section and other transactional activities and just take the example of Pizza for bitcoins?

No, Bitcoin has never really been used as a unit of account. Most transactions involving Bitcoin simply use it as a means of payment. Even Laszlo's pizza purchase was simply Bitcoin being used to pay for a pizza priced in USD, not a pizza priced in Bitcoin.

Even most signature campaign on the forum, while paying out in Bitcoin, calculate payment based on USD value. To this day, Bitcoin is still simply used as a means of payment in most cases.

The future is unpredictable, but personally, I don't think Btc will ever become a unit of account for the economy. Simply because government don't want that and will never let it happen.

[OsaiEmma]

It's sounds like a stupid question, but it's been a tangle in my head for a long time.

Bitcoin definitely implemented a peer to peer ecosystem in this regard, which basically gave us financial freedom and at the same time deflated fiat currency and at the same time anti-bank. And bitcoin it's self has become the most valuable virtual asset in the world. But even then we use USD i.e. fiat currency to measure the value of bitcoin.

Now my question is that will bitcoin itself become an exchange value without fiat currency in the future? Or will fiat currency always exist to explain?

I would like to note here that this topic is not for comparing "bitcoin vs fiat currency", here, the main goal is to discussing bitcoin as a unit of account in the future.

I think this will be difficult to achieve and here is why: If you work in South Africa and earn in Rand then you migrate to the US where they use dollar, most merchants and business owners won't accept your Rand because their goods and services are priced in US dollars. Even if they'll accept it, they'll first equate it to the dollar before giving you the bill.

The world is priced in fiat, only a tiny fraction of businesses will bill you in Bitcoin, and trust me, no one wants to be billed in Bitcoin because it is very volatile. So the possibility of this happening in the future will still be difficult because right now, most Bitcoiners and Bitcoin investors don't see the numbers of satoshis, they only see the dollar equivalent and thus treat Bitcoin as an investment asset rather than money.

[sunsilk]

We don't know what can happen in the future though but it's started already as a unit of account long time before in the forum and in the exchanges for its own crypto market. Many pairs are tied with bitcoin/altcoins.

And the same goes in the services section and other transactional activities and just take the example of Pizza for bitcoins?

No, Bitcoin has never really been used as a unit of account. Most transactions involving Bitcoin simply use it as a means of payment. Even Laszlo's pizza purchase was simply Bitcoin being used to pay for a pizza priced in USD, not a pizza priced in Bitcoin.

Even most signature campaign on the forum, while paying out in Bitcoin, calculate payment based on USD value. To this day, Bitcoin is still simply used as a means of payment in most cases.

While you're right for telling that the campaigns these days are priced in based on dollars but I guess for that pizza to be priced in 10k bitcoins.

Isn't that a unit of value? because the value is measured through the worth of bitcoin at that time and was priced in bitcoin. Or I've probably not considering the slight difference of it with unit of value.

But one thing we agree with, the future is uncertain. We don't know what can happen, a government can be an enemy today but might be a friend tomorrow for Bitcoin..