Worried about the direction of merchants adopting Bitcoin

[williamevanl]

I nearly decided to get out of Bitcoin in the short term because I'm concerned that there will be a lot of sell pressure coming from all of the new merchants accepting Bitcoin. They aren't actually 'dealing' in Bitcoin but rather getting it from people and immediately converting it into fiat.

I've decided not to, but someone explain to me how this will, play out positively in the short term? I believe Bitcoin will be huge someday in the future but what happens when all companies that accept Bitcoin immediately sell it in exchange for dollars. How can this not drive the price down? As a community I think we are wanting to reward merchants for accepting Bitcoin but if they return the favor only by driving the price down, that can't be a good outcome. 

[TERA]

Liquidity - Merchant adoption increases the overall liquidity of bitcoin - meaning there are more avenues for me to receive value on my bitcoins. I am no longer restricted to the dangerous task of sending my bitcoins to some foreign exchange, selling for fiat, and wiring to my bank. Even if I don't want to use exchanges I can immediately and safely realize value by using a merchant. This makes bitcoin more attrative to hold as less people feel trapped by the exchange system.

Legitimacy - The more things that bitcoin is being used for besides buying drugs and assasins, the more credible it appears to the public and the more green lights are willing to be given by the government, agencies, and wall street.

Visibility - The option to use bitcoin as a form of payment at checkout is seen and eventually attracts new users into using it. The press releases help also.

Networking Effect - The business that adopted bitcoin encourages and helps additional surrounding/related businesses to adopt bitcoin too.



Adoption is a neccessary part of growth and should never be discouraged.

[Benjig]

The buying power driven from the popularity, legitimaze and several reasons surpass alot the "selling" of the merchants, think this; if someone wants to spend/convert the bitcoin it will do it with the merchants or without them.

We dont want to be tagged as the currency used to hire hitmans only

[Raystonn]

Anyone using Bitcoin to buy something will generally replace the lost Bitcoin rather quickly.  The net result is a wash, no buying or selling pressure on the market.

[freedomno1]

Liquidity - Merchant adoption increases the overall liquidity of bitcoin - meaning there are more avenues for me to receive value on my bitcoins. I am no longer restricted to the dangerous task of sending my bitcoins to some foreign exchange, selling for fiat, and wiring to my bank. Even if I don't want to use exchanges I can immediately and safely realize value by using a merchant. This makes bitcoin more attrative to hold as less people feel trapped by the exchange system.

Legitimacy - The more things that bitcoin is being used for besides buying drugs and assasins, the more credible it appears to the public and the more green lights are willing to be given by the government, agencies, and wall street.

Visibility - The option to use bitcoin as a form of payment at checkout is seen and eventually attracts new users into using it. The press releases help also.

Networking Effect - The business that adopted bitcoin encourages and helps additional surrounding/related businesses to adopt bitcoin too.



Adoption is a neccessary part of growth and should never be discouraged.

Wow I was about to go with a list similar to that but you covered it well

Will add a bit more

S-Curve increasing usage in relation to the networking effect will result in an increase in overall usage which leads towards an upward pressure, that said converting to fiat is the downward pressure but in the long term the growth factor of Bitcoin is the increasing merchant and adoption usage.

Besides a flat 1% fee keeps it competitive ^_^

[oda.krell]

A classic. The answer has been given more than once in here:

1) Merchant adoption, or at least: some form of adoption that lends legitimacy is necessary for Bitcoin price to reach the lofty heights we like to dream of.

2) In the short to mid term however, merchant adoption could depress price because of increased selling pressure from merchants liquidating coins that they received from previously "hodling" early adopters.

[Raystonn]

Generally the early adopters who buy goods and services with Bitcoin will replenish what they spend with another exchange purchase.  The price action will be a wash.

[RodeoX]

Bitcoin was not designed as an investment. It is a currency and the direction your are worried about is exactly what bitcoin is supposed to do.

[serenitys]

+1 to everything they said, plus my 2mbtc

(heeey did I get that right?   )

Bitcoin adoption is going to happen regardless, in stages. Don't get spooked between the horse and the cart. It's perfectly fine for merchants or any of  us to continue exchanging back and forth, or at least exchanging fiat for btc and spending btc on goods and services, or trading btc back to fiat for immediate purchase of bigger ticket items that btc currently has no solid infrastructure for *for now*.

For now is only a minor short term stage in the overall evolution.

There was a time when a merchant got told by a techno geek sales person that the time is now to get online, get their business online, do business online, get set up with social networks online...and always a middle of the road approach as new merchants, unsure overall whether this internet thing would catch on, went ahead and got an email address that for awhile nobody ever used. Websites were overhauled and they still had low traffic...most of their "real" business was offline. The web in those days for most merchants was little more than a glorified digital sales brochure.

The merchants had to sit through the overall infrastructure being built around it to make the web more accessible to Joe Blow. Amazon was laughably n00b when it first erupted...ebooks? Phhhft, nobody's gonna do that shit. Netflix didn't exist for a long time simply because it'd take 2 weeks to upload a few mbs of video, provided you could find a place that'd host it...and several days to download an mp3? (And Metallica had the nerve to feel violated? They never sat through a 3 day download of Nothing Else Matters!) Gradually the entire network of internet enthusiasts and marketing geniuses built it up, made it possible to stream video and music,  and read books and make transfers through Pay Pal online, and VOIP...

Once that happened, BAM it shot up to literally owning every single one of us. The doomsayers proclaiming that computers would enslave us all were dead on right..we can't even imagine, just 10 years later, what the hell we'd do if the lost the laptops and tablets and cell phones. Our business would come to a grinding halt.

So let merchants baby step into bitcoin and trade it all right back out for fiat. It's only temporary...once enough adoption happens, the world will be far more educated *then* that bitcoin is as safe as the internet, good and bad, taking measures to protect their interests, and a safe haven for when governments drop the ball. The day is coming that a massive "all in" exodus to bitcoin takes place.

We're just not there yet...don't sweat it.

[CJYP]

You buy something - Merchant converts to fiat - drives price down slightly - you buy bitcoin cheaper than you spent them - you profit.
Why is this bad?