Bitcoin should have its own category, your suggestions?

[johnyj]

For years, people are trying to categorize bitcoin based on their traditional knowledge of economy/finance, to define it as money or asset, payment networks etc...

In fact, bitcoin is a new innovation and it does not fit into any of the existing category of financial products: It is not like commodity, fiat currency, stock, bond, or any kind of securities we know so far. Words like coin/currency/money are just misleading. Bitcoin is much more superior than exiting financial products, even the name like supermoney or cyberasset does not truly describe its unique properties

As it appears, bitcoin is a value certificate on internet. In its essential, it is only a protocol that connected millions of users economically, and the spirit of the protocol is to give the users total financial security and freedom, so that no one can interfere their own finance through inflation or any other means. This unique property greatly differentiate bitcoin from any other existing financial products we know

And if it belongs to a brand new category, it will be much easier to expand without conflicting with existing financial and law framework

What should it be categorized?  

[inBitweTrust]

Excellent topic.

 I have to think about this more but I would think that a term that could encapsulate the fact that it represents the first widespread example of a scarce digital asset would be appropriate.

[wadili89]

I always felt Bitcoin was like a precious commodity, unlike currency as it is advertised. I dont think there is a need for a separate class.

[247poker]

It's bitcoin, it made the category IMO

[inBitweTrust]

I always felt Bitcoin was like a precious commodity, unlike currency as it is advertised. I dont think there is a need for a separate class.

There are quite big differences between digital and physical commodities though, thus the need for a new class.

Possibly:

precious digital commodity
crypto-currency
precious digital asset

[junglist.massive]

really great topic

We have to remember that Bitcoin is only top of the ice mountain. Whole blockchain technology will change internet and our lives. We're on the beginning of internet 2.0 era where jobs like solicitor, institutes like banks will be no need anymore.

[johnyj]

Currency's value is essentially decided by the trust. Bitcoin moved that trust from a centralized organization to a transparent computer network, users never need to rely on any authorities, this is a fundamental change in trust model for online payment networks and digital assets

[freedomno1]

For years, people are trying to categorize bitcoin based on their traditional knowledge of economy/finance, to define it as money or asset, payment networks etc...

In fact, bitcoin is a new innovation and it does not fit into any of the existing category of financial products:

And if it belongs to a brand new category, it will be much easier to expand without conflicting with existing financial and law framework

What should it be categorized?  

An interesting topic, in my opinion it does belong as its own category class under distributed finance
A type of finance like hashcash (Adam Beck) with transactions secured over a network, it would be different from traditional or e-based commerce like paypal because of this distributed nature.

So as a categorical definition in the distributed networking area with the implications of that being able to use the distributed network for more than transferring units of value, but information security etc all in one package.

[Nerazzura]

Bitcoin "do not include into the category of currency". the bank can not be a broker transactions or open an account Bitcoin virtual unit was recently launched five years ago tersebut.Jika Bitcoin transactions are used for money laundering that could be categorized as a crime, but there is no law that defines exactly Bitcoin

[RealKruncha]

I like to think of bitcoin as 'digital contracts', which brings the power of the block-chain more in to focus.

K.

[johnyj]

For years, people are trying to categorize bitcoin based on their traditional knowledge of economy/finance, to define it as money or asset, payment networks etc...

In fact, bitcoin is a new innovation and it does not fit into any of the existing category of financial products:

And if it belongs to a brand new category, it will be much easier to expand without conflicting with existing financial and law framework

What should it be categorized?  

An interesting topic, in my opinion it does belong as its own category class under distributed finance
A type of finance like hashcash (Adam Beck) with transactions secured over a network, it would be different from traditional or e-based commerce like paypal because of this distributed nature.

So as a categorical definition in the distributed networking area with the implications of that being able to use the distributed network for more than transferring units of value, but information security etc all in one package.

Great, distributed finance seems a good term!

[BitCoinNutJob]

For years, people are trying to categorize bitcoin based on their traditional knowledge of economy/finance, to define it as money or asset, payment networks etc...

In fact, bitcoin is a new innovation and it does not fit into any of the existing category of financial products: It is not like commodity, fiat currency, stock, bond, or any kind of securities we know so far. Words like coin/currency/money are just misleading. Bitcoin is much more superior than exiting financial products, even the name like supermoney or cyberasset does not truly describe its unique properties

As it appears, bitcoin is a value certificate on internet. In its essential, it is only a protocol that connected millions of users economically, and the spirit of the protocol is to give the users total financial security and freedom, so that no one can interfere their own finance through inflation or any other means. This unique property greatly differentiate bitcoin from any other existing financial products we know

And if it belongs to a brand new category, it will be much easier to expand without conflicting with existing financial and law framework

What should it be categorized?  

For bitcoiners it has its own category, for the people in power making new categories is costly and means more work.  Same thing goes when dyslexics used to just be known as stupid or people in war suffering with post traumatic stress disorder got labelled as just having shell shock.

If you want your own special category in the system it takes a lot of fighting for it and time.

[BlindMayorBitcorn]

Tim Swanson does a nice kind of ontology. I like "a money-like informational commodity." It has a nice ring to it

[mymenace]

For years, people are trying to categorize bitcoin based on their traditional knowledge of economy/finance, to define it as money or asset, payment networks etc...

In fact, bitcoin is a new innovation and it does not fit into any of the existing category of financial products: It is not like commodity, fiat currency, stock, bond, or any kind of securities we know so far. Words like coin/currency/money are just misleading. Bitcoin is much more superior than exiting financial products, even the name like supermoney or cyberasset does not truly describe its unique properties

As it appears, bitcoin is a value certificate on internet. In its essential, it is only a protocol that connected millions of users economically, and the spirit of the protocol is to give the users total financial security and freedom, so that no one can interfere their own finance through inflation or any other means. This unique property greatly differentiate bitcoin from any other existing financial products we know

And if it belongs to a brand new category, it will be much easier to expand without conflicting with existing financial and law framework

What should it be categorized?  

bit coin

bit - digital

coin - currency


..."digital currency"...




I think your overthinking this

as far as I know it was a currency to replace the issues with the GFC of 2009

hence the name bitcoin

yes it can do a whole lot more but essentially the blockchain was created to produce a currency

[El Emperador]

Very nice topic!

I think one among the many strenghts of Bitcoin is that it can't be precisely categorized... or, better to say, it can be what its user wants it to be. Someone could consider Bitcoin an asset, another one a currency, etc.


For me Bitcoin is mainly an online payment system.