Government regulations discourage Bitcoin payments

[SPIDERMAN008]

For example capital gains tax in some countries says that even if Bitcoin is used for payments Bitcoin can be taxed if Bitcoins value has gone up. So of encouraging people to spend Bitcoin these regulations seem to encourage people to hold Bitcoin. Do you think Satoshi would be happy with Bitcoin today or would Satoshi be disappointed that Bitcoins original purpose as peer-, to-peer electronic cash is no longer the focus?

I personally don’t want using Bitcoin for payment because I feel like it is main to be saved for future purposes not to be used just for transactions like the currencies. If everyone who own Bitcoin can just hold Bitcoin or exchange if one want, it will maintain its value even though some people will think that it’s adoption might be slow, but with how people already known Bitcoin, using it to pay bills or to purchase goods can make you pay taxes, it is better to hold on to your Bitcoin and use your fiat for your daily needs.

The more people use bitcoin, the more people's acceptance of bitcoin will increase. And as people acceptance and popularity of bitcoin increase, its demand will also increase. Then the price of bitcoin will increase even more. If everyone holds bitcoin now and there are no transactions then the fundamentals of bitcoin will collapse. Just as you want to hold bitcoin, you do not want to use it for daily life expenses. Similarly someone else who has been holding bitcoin for many years will sell it and meet their necessary expenses. This opportunity to use bitcoin independently among different people is the main ability of bitcoin.

Just as people hold fiat currency as savings then meet their expenses and try to create large assets by accumulating money for a long time ,  people will hold bitcoin in the same way. Those who need will sell bitcoin to meet their expenses. Again long term holders will sell it to create a large asset or fulfill their dreams such as building a house or buying an apartment.

But fiat currency does not have any fixed rules and regulations like bitcoin. And inflation will never be controlled in a fiat system. That's why it's much more convenient to keep assets in bitcoin as holdings.

[Catenaccio]

The more people use bitcoin, the more people's acceptance of bitcoin will increase. And as people acceptance and popularity of bitcoin increase, its demand will also increase. Then the price of bitcoin will increase even more. If everyone holds bitcoin now and there are no transactions then the fundamentals of bitcoin will collapse. Just as you want to hold bitcoin, you do not want to use it for daily life expenses. Similarly someone else who has been holding bitcoin for many years will sell it and meet their necessary expenses. This opportunity to use bitcoin independently among different people is the main ability of bitcoin.

The Bitcoin adoption is very strong and clear enough to realize easily so there are more people with time have known about Bitcoin, Bitcoin market and some of them have already participated in Bitcoin communities in many ways. It's can be investment, trading, speculation, gambling, payment or test for fun but they all together have contributions in Bitcoin adoption, buying and selling demands on the market, as well as through their words of mouth, they would have spread Bitcoin to many people even they're not influencers on social media.

Just as people hold fiat currency as savings then meet their expenses and try to create large assets by accumulating money for a long time ,  people will hold bitcoin in the same way. Those who need will sell bitcoin to meet their expenses. Again long term holders will sell it to create a large asset or fulfill their dreams such as building a house or buying an apartment.

Holding bitcoin is easily, more easily than the other actions such as trading, gambling, exchanging that have more possible legal issues. If you have clean source of money, use it as investment capital, you can buy bitcoin and hold it in non custodial wallets. With only this action, governments will almost never find you and arrest you or imprison you.

For bigger adoption, people need more safety legally and they certainly all have legal concerns on how to use bitcoins legally after purchasing the coin.

[348Judah]

The problem here is that people are fed up of running under government regulation in their financial economy and this is why they have chosen to consistently embraced the use of Bitcoin because it is operated under a decentralized system, this is one thing that the government don't understand because people don't accept the fact that they have to regulate their financial assets for them the way it used to be, we are now living in a more advanced and Free world to control everything all by ourselves.

[PVequalNRT]

The problem here is that people are fed up of running under government regulation in their financial economy and this is why they have chosen to consistently embraced the use of Bitcoin because it is operated under a decentralized system, this is one thing that the government don't understand because people don't accept the fact that they have to regulate their financial assets for them the way it used to be, we are now living in a more advanced and Free world to control everything all by ourselves.

Well, the government will always be the government. As long as you are a law abiding citizens, you will have to comply by the rules and regulations of the governments. However, if Bitcoin is not banned in your country, that's not an issue. If it's not banned or the government does not prohibit the use of Bitcoin, you can use it with your privacy well maintain and the government will not know that you have Bitcoin with you. It's when you use centralized system you can be track.

We just have to face the sad reality, anything that the government can't control, you are not going to have enjoy it with flexibility, there is will be some restrictions but that's not a problem if it's not completely ban.

[Luzin]

Well, the government will always be the government. As long as you are a law abiding citizens, you will have to comply by the rules and regulations of the governments. However, if Bitcoin is not banned in your country, that's not an issue. If it's not banned or the government does not prohibit the use of Bitcoin, you can use it with your privacy well maintain and the government will not know that you have Bitcoin with you. It's when you use centralized system you can be track.

This is the risk when we use it. Bitcoin has not been fully accepted as a form of payment but is largely recognized as a commodity asset. This greatly facilitates us. So there is no need to worry, but there are indeed risks we face such as taxation and the decentralized system moving towards centralization when we convert it into fiat money. Regulations are entirely contradictory, but many countries have provided us loopholes to use it. Although we indeed have to sacrifice a lot of privacy. It is different if we do it quietly, but if the state finds out, this could be considered a crime. The state has the right to regulate its citizens. They may even give the opportunity to leave, but state-provided facilities will no longer be given. CMIIW

[Z-tight]

I have seen a story somewhere that a Bitcoiner went to purchase some item in a shop and use his Bitcoin to make payments and the owner of the shop accepted it at first and the transaction was made but a few minutes later he changed his mind saying that it (Bitcoin )has dropped as Bitcoin usually goes up and down so he was expecting the Bitcoiner to make another transaction to him since the first one has dropped and his money has dropped too, so using Bitcoin for payment for the depends on your location and how known it is.

Lol, that is a weird story if i am being very honest.

You'd expect that any merchant who accepts BTC payments would understand that it is volatile and if they want to avoid that, then they would accept BTC through a payment processor that converts the coins into any currency of their choice upon receipt. It is hard to believe that someone would accept BTC on-chain and then complain about the value of the coins after receiving it.

[bitLeap]

Because Bitcoin was originally designed for peer-to-peer transactions I think that as more people use Bitcoin for payments demand will grow and Bitcoins value will rise and eventually people will see Bitcoin as a store of value.

It's already happening now

Now it seems that we are focusing more on Bitcoin as a store of value than on Bitcoin as a payment method. I feel that governments have ruined Bitcoins transaction side with their regulations.

We can use it for any value storage or peer to peer. Governments only perform their duties as control over each of their citizens  finances, but in some specific countries you are free to use bitcoin as a payment transaction.

Do you think Satoshi would be happy with Bitcoin today or would Satoshi be disappointed that Bitcoins original purpose as peer-, to-peer electronic cash is no longer the focus?

Maybe angry and maybe also Satoshi will still be proud of this very rapid growth of bitcoin.

[Findingnemo]

Because Bitcoin was originally designed for peer-to-peer transactions I think that as more people use Bitcoin for payments demand will grow and Bitcoins value will rise and eventually people will see Bitcoin as a store of value.

Now it seems that we are focusing more on Bitcoin as a store of value than on Bitcoin as a payment method. I feel that governments have ruined Bitcoins transaction side with their regulations.

For example capital gains tax in some countries says that even if Bitcoin is used for payments Bitcoin can be taxed if Bitcoins value has gone up. So of encouraging people to spend Bitcoin these regulations seem to encourage people to hold Bitcoin. Do you think Satoshi would be happy with Bitcoin today or would Satoshi be disappointed that Bitcoins original purpose as peer-, to-peer electronic cash is no longer the focus?

Taxing every transaction and capital gains isn't the same tax, and a government can tax every transaction as trade this will discourage users from using it for payments but it doesn't end the bitcoin, people will still use it and we all know it is also possible to buy, hold and sell bitcoins without linking our identity which will become more familiar if more and more government starts doing the same.

[Adiljutt156]

First of all, I want to say that Bitcoin is not anonymous, Bitcoin is pseudonymous. That means that everyone can see all your information on the blockchain publicly, but no one can know your own identity until you publicly disclose it. And besides, Bitcoin is not just something that everyone is holding now, many websites use Bitcoin as a payment method. For example, I myself bought an RDP and paid through Bitcoin. And speaking of Satoshi, I think Satoshi would have been happy. Because Bitcoin is not yet fully regulated. It depends on how you use it. There are various privacy tools that you can use to hide your complete identity.

This argument is going to have enough time, but currently talk of town is that government regulations are discouraging, and I agreed about this because they are always feeling uncomfortable with them and they never try to bring this in to streamline with their regulations, even if it's not anonymous. Bitcoin is going to have a good future despite these concerns and negativity because it is having enough feature that will help and keep bringing more flexibility for people.

It is a matter of time before Bitcoin could be more user friendly because it has enough potential. A few countries are doing well for bringing things more attractive because they are feeling it's good to have this as a payment method and also as tool for reserving their savings because it's bringing more attraction and helpful strategies.

[Sunshine1525]

(Snip)

Bitcoin transactions have been never ruined by governments and if you can see any ruin from this chart, please tell me.
https://bitinfocharts.com/comparison/bitcoin-transactions.html#alltime

Number of transactions in blockchain per day is almost x 4 since 2018, is it an indicator of ruin?

Governments did not succeed with their attempts to filter and censor Bitcoin transactions, together with increasing transactions number daily over years, there is no ruin by any reason, not only by governments.
https://b10c.me/projects/016-miningpool-observer/

I also don't think the peer-to-peer initiative is ruined cause people still transact with Bitcoin globally although it's not like fiat due to lack of global adoption. However, it's true that the regulations discourage some people from transacting regularly but use it as a store of value especially in regions where crypto taxation is take more seriously.

I believe that if Satoshi never liked or wanted Bitcoin to be used as a store of value, he won't make it scarce, scarcity gives room for more value and as it becomes more value, people see reasons to use it as a store of value, so the is indirectly government helping to aid that usecase.

[Hamza2424]

Now it seems that we are focusing more on Bitcoin as a store of value than on Bitcoin as a payment method. I feel that governments have ruined Bitcoins transaction side with their regulations.

Bro, it's not up to us. People are using dollars for reserves and also using them for payments. No one is objecting or raising such comparisons there, but why here? Bitcoin is a commodity in the SEC's eyes, and normally, it had to be a currency, a peer-to-peer payment gateway. But I believe that even if it has to be a currency, it can't become one, but its peer-to-peer nature still exists, bro.

Now, bro, the reason why it can't become a currency is very easy to guess haha. It's the volatility. You don't want to pay someone $5 and after some time see that due to volatility, you paid $10, or the receiver doesn't want to see that what they received is now worth only $3 and all the margin is gone for the receiver.

They can't run their businesses until they have proper cash flow, so don't compare it for now. By the way, the demand is increasing, and you can't say it's not the same as those who hold it.

[BlackHatCoiner]

Capital gains tax is one major problem with merchants accepting Bitcoin payments. However, playing devil's advocate, here are a few more major reasons:

• Merchants don't care about Bitcoin. Very few clients want to pay in bitcoin, if anyone.
• Bitcoin fluctuates in price.
• The merchant will have to convert the bitcoin to fiat currency, unless he wants to HODL the bitcoin. That means currency conversion fees.
• No second layer solution is convenient, tested and liquid enough.

[Nanga Parbat]

These days it’s much cheaper than that – around $0.10. The problem is that if consumers pay by card, they don’t pay any fees, whereas they do when paying with Bitcoin. To get round this, there’s the LN option, but it hasn’t really taken off.

And, yes, in a sense the regulations ‘discourage’ payments in bitcoin, but governments do what they have to do. They’re thinking about raising revenue, not about making the world a better place.

Governments are discouraging people from paying through Bitcoin because they never love to give freedom, they always want to control people through their own regulations, which give them control even if things are still on Bitcoiners' side, but it's always making it hard to go through the use of Bitcoin. Just because of this, Bitcoin now, many other systems are coming with less fees and better flexibility.

Even though they are also having flaws, they are encouraging them because they are having enough revenue and taxes. Things like these are possible through Bitcoin, but they have a mindset that never allows people to go this side, they just want to keep them under their own way, where they always keep an eye and never have freedom and improvement in their way of life, which are now touching good highs.

[mirakal]

The problem here is that people are fed up of running under government regulation in their financial economy and this is why they have chosen to consistently embraced the use of Bitcoin because it is operated under a decentralized system, this is one thing that the government don't understand because people don't accept the fact that they have to regulate their financial assets for them the way it used to be, we are now living in a more advanced and Free world to control everything all by ourselves.

The government is completely aware that we want financial freedom and freedom to keep our bitcoins safe on our own, but they don't like that way. That is why they keep enforcing strict regulations so that they can control our bitcoin, rather than hiding it from them.

However, they can regulate our bitcoin, but they can't completely control what we have, or even ruin the decentralized system of bitcoin. And that's their biggest weakness. Therefore, bitcoin network end up a threat for them.

[Odusko]

Because Bitcoin was originally designed for peer-to-peer transactions I think that as more people use Bitcoin for payments demand will grow and Bitcoins value will rise and eventually people will see Bitcoin as a store of value.

Now it seems that we are focusing more on Bitcoin as a store of value than on Bitcoin as a payment method. I feel that governments have ruined Bitcoins transaction side with their regulations.

For example capital gains tax in some countries says that even if Bitcoin is used for payments Bitcoin can be taxed if Bitcoins value has gone up. So of encouraging people to spend Bitcoin these regulations seem to encourage people to hold Bitcoin. Do you think Satoshi would be happy with Bitcoin today or would Satoshi be disappointed that Bitcoins original purpose as peer-, to-peer electronic cash is no longer the focus?

Taxing every transaction and capital gains isn't the same tax, and a government can tax every transaction as trade; this will discourage users from using it for payments, but it doesn't end Bitcoin. People will still use it, and we all know it is also possible to buy, hold and sell Bitcoin without linking our identity, which will become more familiar if more and more governments start doing the same.

When we talking about bitcoin transactions being taxed we shouldn't forget how impossible that can be for the government of lost country because of bitcoin decentralized nature, if government want to tax cryptocurrency transactions, stable coins like USDT and the rest will be easily taxed because of their decentralized nature, but bitcoin on the other hand can be transacted unnoticeable or government inability to collect the tax deductions from each user wallet when they send or recieve bitcoin.

[macson]

Now it seems that we are focusing more on Bitcoin as a store of value than on Bitcoin as a payment method. I feel that governments have ruined Bitcoins transaction side with their regulations.

The government just uses all sorts of reasons to try to discourage the use of Bitcoin. We can't expect them to roll out the red carpet for Bitcoin payments. Also, merchants don't seem all that interested in it either. You could say that Bitcoin isn't really supported for everyday payments and more people are choosing to just hold it. But that shouldn't be a big deal because even without government regulation, Bitcoin can still grow and remain a decentralized payment alternative

[Agathamay]

I think, bitcoin has already grown beyond the imagination of satoshi and at this point, wether it is been used for store of value or as a regular currency for our daily  transactions, what would matter most to satoshi now is the fact that, bitcoin is functional and serving several purposes and not just some Pump and dump projects.

Thank you satoshi.

[LUCKMCFLY]

Lol, that is a weird story if i am being very honest.

You'd expect that any merchant who accepts BTC payments would understand that it is volatile and if they want to avoid that, then they would accept BTC through a payment processor that converts the coins into any currency of their choice upon receipt. It is hard to believe that someone would accept BTC on-chain and then complain about the value of the coins after receiving it.

Look, we understand it, but someone who has never seen or used BTC doesn't see it that way. They think the person cheated them and will demand more money. That's more common than we think. It's not easy to reason with those kinds of people; they think they're right, and in the end, we're the ones who have to deal with the decision.

It might seem funny, but given the context of where we live and how business is done, it's complicated. That's why anyone who starts accepting payments in BTC must be clear that BTC is volatile and accept whatever market changes happen.

[arwin100]

Now it seems that we are focusing more on Bitcoin as a store of value than on Bitcoin as a payment method. I feel that governments have ruined Bitcoins transaction side with their regulations.

The government just uses all sorts of reasons to try to discourage the use of Bitcoin. We can't expect them to roll out the red carpet for Bitcoin payments. Also, merchants don't seem all that interested in it either. You could say that Bitcoin isn't really supported for everyday payments and more people are choosing to just hold it. But that shouldn't be a big deal because even without government regulation, Bitcoin can still grow and remain a decentralized payment alternative

Before maybe yes, they try to discourage people and always say Bitcoin is illegal money. Now everything change and many people look at it as good alternative form of currency.

The problem here, many people don't view Bitcoin as currency. Because they rarely use it for that matters. Most of people buying Bitcoin now, use it for investment matters. Then I think this is how we get an issue here.

If this mindset will not be corrected, for sure in future many will still look at Bitcoin as good investment. Not a good form or alternative to their fiat currencies.

[Lexandroove]

Because Bitcoin was originally designed for peer-to-peer transactions I think that as more people use Bitcoin for payments demand will grow and Bitcoins value will rise and eventually people will see Bitcoin as a store of value.

Now it seems that we are focusing more on Bitcoin as a store of value than on Bitcoin as a payment method. I feel that governments have ruined Bitcoins transaction side with their regulations.

For example capital gains tax in some countries says that even if Bitcoin is used for payments Bitcoin can be taxed if Bitcoins value has gone up. So of encouraging people to spend Bitcoin these regulations seem to encourage people to hold Bitcoin. Do you think Satoshi would be happy with Bitcoin today or would Satoshi be disappointed that Bitcoins original purpose as peer-, to-peer electronic cash is no longer the focus?

The problem that must be addressed is that regulations and tax policies make everyday spending unnecessarily complicated, but Bitcoin's payment utility shouldn't depend on everyone spending their holdings on-chain, as payment solutions can help make smaller transactions practical without compromising Bitcoin's base layer.

Satoshi might have concerns about today's reliance on financial institutions, but I doubt the goal was for Bitcoin to remain limited to just one use case.