Why Do People Believe Bitcoin Will Replace Fiat?

[umair127]

I am sorry to say but I dont think bitcoin will ever replace fiat, is like saying debit cards can replace fiat or any other idea that was out, it will be just another currency to exchange fiat into, just like when you exchange USD into Euro.  Maybe in 140 years from now it can happen, but not anytime soon.

[1714490401]

1714490401

[1714490401]

1714490401

[1714490401]

1714490401

[1714490401]

1714490401

[PalmerLaura]

There will certainly be a period where they will coexist for a time. This transitionary period could possibly be quite lengthy. But in the end, there will simply be no competing against a deflationary currency. When you throw a deflationary currency among inflationary currencies, it starts acting as a black hole absorbing all the wealth in the world. This doesn't even take into account that bitcoin is more than a currency and cannot be seen in just this light.

Don't forget, but bitcoin is also inherently better. Security (network, system), speed, friction, etc.

[NotAtOld]

But in the end, there will simply be no competing against a deflationary currency. When you throw a deflationary currency among inflationary currencies, it starts acting as a black hole absorbing all the wealth in the world.

Exactly, just like how fiat lost out to the gold standard and we're all on the gold standard now.

[BTCLuke]

This very well-researched article at the Nakamoto institute clearly spells out exactly why and how bitcoin cannot fail to replace fiat: (It's an austrian economics thing)

http://nakamotoinstitute.org/mempool/hyperbitcoinization

[Dawnbreaker]

But in the end, there will simply be no competing against a deflationary currency. When you throw a deflationary currency among inflationary currencies, it starts acting as a black hole absorbing all the wealth in the world.

Exactly, just like how fiat lost out to the gold standard and we're all on the gold standard now.

Transacting in bitcoin is magnitudes easier than transacting in gold, and even USD.

[RappingSniper]

There will certainly be a period where they will coexist for a time. This transitionary period could possibly be quite lengthy. But in the end, there will simply be no competing against a deflationary currency. When you throw a deflationary currency among inflationary currencies, it starts acting as a black hole absorbing all the wealth in the world. This doesn't even take into account that bitcoin is more than a currency and cannot be seen in just this light.

Nicely put. Bitcoin is already a black hole taking most of my money... Ha for better or worse.

[wasserman99]

I guess the entire Bitcoin economy will depend on BitPay, Coinbase and a short list of others that will take all the risk. I guess they are making a tidy little profit eating that risk so it's ok. What if smaller businesses want to accept Bitcoin without the centralized oversight of the Bitcoin Mafia? How can they ring up a sale and let the customer walk out the door without one confirm? Or perhaps the idea is that a couple of enormous companies will be necessary to make Bitcoin work forever?

Wow we've managed to make a currency that's even more centrally controlled than any government fiat except there's no elected oversight. Just a few big boys getting bigger every day. Power to the people. lol

Bitpay and coinbase do have other competitors but they are much smaller.

The reason why companies want to use these kinds of services is because their expenses are priced in fiat and need to be paid in fiat. They accept bitcoin for the convenience of the customer and for the costs involved in accepting it.

A 0/unconfirmed TX is unlikely to be double spent as long as it has a proper fee attached and is sufficiently propagated throughout the network. 

[TimeWatch]

It will be a hard time for BTC to be able to replace Fiat..because most people will deny using BTC as replacement..

More decades to go for BTC to be used in place of fiat.

[Anna Chan]

The worst are the people who have some political cause, claim Bitcoin is part of that cause, and try to imply that anyone who uses Bitcoin agrees with them and supports their cause.

As Andreas says, Bitcoin's political cause is neutrality, while the world's political cause is SEVERELY skewed to the side. So, in that kind of a world, just being neutral seems like being politically radical. Kind of like just being neutral to everyone and treating everyone equally was a radical political stance at a time when some people were slaves.

There is a big difference between a radical political stance and going around acting like a screwball.  If the goal is to increase the usage and importance of Bitcoin then you are not going to achieve that goal with a bunch of hyperbole and nonsense.  That drives people away and makes it difficult for people trying to increase adoption.  Using Bitcoin in itself is not a political stance of any kind.  Now you may want to use Bitcoin as a tool to achieve some goal because it has more options than other payment instruments but it does automatically meant you agree with anything.  That is like saying that everyone who uses the USD agrees with the policies and politics of the USA.
[/quote]

I agreed with that people use currencies doesn't mean they stand with any political side. I think everyone has the right to fight for their interests. If use coins could make my property safer, I would like to use them.

[hhhat]

Not only the security of bitcoin exchange is a concern.  Similarly, the security of any financial institution is a concern too.  Just read this article and would like to share.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/jpmorgan-hack-spanned-months-via-090000032.html

[thecast]

It can never happen, as long as goverment exist.

[Mightycoin]

I have a hard time following the logic when people make a statement that Bitcoin will replace all fiat currency.  In my world view, they coexist and will continue to coexist.  I can see where some fiat currencies die and Bitcoin fills in the gap, but not on a global level.  Your thoughts?

It will never replace fiats but it will get more engaged into the real life and will be more widely accepted in near future

[Wealthy]

Bitcoin might possibly never be able to replace fiat, since people are more comfortable with fiat specially the middle class.

Rich people might switch over to BTC earlier.

[CreamyPie]

Bitcoin might not be able to replace fiat since people trust physical things more than digital!!

[collinstar]

But in the end, there will simply be no competing against a deflationary currency. When you throw a deflationary currency among inflationary currencies, it starts acting as a black hole absorbing all the wealth in the world.

Exactly, just like how fiat lost out to the gold standard and we're all on the gold standard now.

Transacting in bitcoin is magnitudes easier than transacting in gold, and even USD.

Resource wise, it isn't. Those old batch systems are orders of magnitudes more efficient on a per transaction basis than bitcoin is. A lot of this has to do with the rewards system of bitcoin, which encourages miners to keep adding on more hashing power even when there is already astronomically more than is needed to run the network.

When VISA for example gets enough processors to run its network it stops adding them because there is no reason to keep piling them on, bitcoin miners on the other hand keep right on adding because they want higher returns. Bitcoin's reward system incentivises mining inefficiency. The network could be run on a few old desktops at its current transaction volume, but instead it's being run on untold amounts of ASICS with huge processor farms chewing up money and energy to keep going.

[Heutenamos]

Resource wise, it isn't. Those old batch systems are orders of magnitudes more efficient on a per transaction basis than bitcoin is. A lot of this has to do with the rewards system of bitcoin, which encourages miners to keep adding on more hashing power even when there is already astronomically more than is needed to run the network.

When VISA for example gets enough processors to run its network it stops adding them because there is no reason to keep piling them on, bitcoin miners on the other hand keep right on adding because they want higher returns. Bitcoin's reward system incentivises mining inefficiency. The network could be run on a few old desktops at its current transaction volume, but instead it's being run on untold amounts of ASICS with huge processor farms chewing up money and energy to keep going.

Big fail thinking. You can doublespend some altcoins very easily. Now try this with Bitcoin... The more hashpower, the more secure your just confired transaction is.

[superbd]

Resource wise, it isn't. Those old batch systems are orders of magnitudes more efficient on a per transaction basis than bitcoin is. A lot of this has to do with the rewards system of bitcoin, which encourages miners to keep adding on more hashing power even when there is already astronomically more than is needed to run the network.

When VISA for example gets enough processors to run its network it stops adding them because there is no reason to keep piling them on, bitcoin miners on the other hand keep right on adding because they want higher returns. Bitcoin's reward system incentivises mining inefficiency. The network could be run on a few old desktops at its current transaction volume, but instead it's being run on untold amounts of ASICS with huge processor farms chewing up money and energy to keep going.

Are you paying those costs, or are they?
Mining isnt about processing transactions, it is about fairly distributing coins and preventing anyone from cornering the market.

[po1992one]

Bitcoin might not be able to replace fiat since people trust physical things more than digital!!

Except for small amount of cash (paper  ) in circulation, almost all fiat is in digital form only. The fail of fiat is you have no idea how many USD are in circulation (cash+digital), what is going on, all is shaddy (centralized and out of sight for public real-time review).

[Rassah]

Majority of the users here just want to get rich as soon as they can trying to talk the price up.

The irony is they will sell whatever they can for "FIAT" if the price is high enough.

Not true:

[Rassah]

But in the end, there will simply be no competing against a deflationary currency. When you throw a deflationary currency among inflationary currencies, it starts acting as a black hole absorbing all the wealth in the world.

Exactly, just like how fiat lost out to the gold standard and we're all on the gold standard now.

Fiat didn't "win" over the gold standard. We were all using the gold standard, and then whoever was issuing those gold backed notes for us just decided to break his promise. The "win" was based entirely on fraud.