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Bitcoin's Use in Commerce Keeps Falling

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Re: Bitcoin's Use in Commerce Keeps Falling

#132
post #60
post #2

When can we call Bitcoin a failed experiment? And don't tell me it was "always about storing value", that's not in the original paper.

What is backing bitcoin? Gold? Cpu cycles?

Algorithm thay decides how many bitcoins exist. Bitcoin is backed by same thing art and collectibles are backed by. Scarcity.

Re: Bitcoin's Use in Commerce Keeps Falling

#133

It sounds weird, but I think a big part of Bitcoin's, and other crypto's value, isn't in the day to day ability to use it to buy and sell things, it's the inability of the government to devalue it. This isn't as big a problem in many richer countries with relatively stable currencies, but I sure as hell would prefer Bitcoin to anything the Venezuelan government or the Argentinian government would issue. The kinks are…

I'll add to this - As someone who's country is actively looking at expropriation of white-owned land a bank account that NO ONE can access without your permission is hugely appealing. If you're living in a country with functioning institutions you take this for granted

Which country is this?

Re: Bitcoin's Use in Commerce Keeps Falling

#134
post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll add to this - As someone who's country is actively looking at expropriation of white-owned land a bank account that NO ONE can access without your permission is hugely appealing. If you're living in a country with functioning institutions you take this for granted

Which country is this?

South Africa I presume

Re: Bitcoin's Use in Commerce Keeps Falling

#135

It sounds weird, but I think a big part of Bitcoin's, and other crypto's value, isn't in the day to day ability to use it to buy and sell things, it's the inability of the government to devalue it. This isn't as big a problem in many richer countries with relatively stable currencies, but I sure as hell would prefer Bitcoin to anything the Venezuelan government or the Argentinian government would issue. The kinks are…

I mean, what advantage does it have over gold? Advantages of gold vs. Bitcoin: - gold is pretty easy to find, not that hard to buy for the average consumer; BTC is anything but - gold is physical in form and securing it is not hard; BTC is not physical, exchanges get hacked with losses to accounts, in the event of a natural disaster or some event where power generation and internet is lost you lose access to BTC. (So…

The fact that you can use it electronically.

Re: Bitcoin's Use in Commerce Keeps Falling

#136

It sounds weird, but I think a big part of Bitcoin's, and other crypto's value, isn't in the day to day ability to use it to buy and sell things, it's the inability of the government to devalue it. This isn't as big a problem in many richer countries with relatively stable currencies, but I sure as hell would prefer Bitcoin to anything the Venezuelan government or the Argentinian government would issue. The kinks are…

I mean, what advantage does it have over gold? Advantages of gold vs. Bitcoin: - gold is pretty easy to find, not that hard to buy for the average consumer; BTC is anything but - gold is physical in form and securing it is not hard; BTC is not physical, exchanges get hacked with losses to accounts, in the event of a natural disaster or some event where power generation and internet is lost you lose access to BTC. (So…

Bitcoin advantage: easily and instantly divisible. Gold not so much.

Bitcoin advantage: weighs nothing, highly transportable. Gold not so much.

Re: Bitcoin's Use in Commerce Keeps Falling

#138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is weird, if you can't buy and sell with bitcoin daily(whatever that means) what value does it have for you?

Illiquid investments can still have value if they’re out of the reach of governments. (Governments can’t decide the exchange rate, or tax/confiscate them) This is a stretch in the US, but less so elsewhere. I’m not a holder because it’s too speculative an investment for me.

So what happens when one actually does wants to liquidate?

Re: Bitcoin's Use in Commerce Keeps Falling

#139
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Currency that is guaranteed to be deflationary sure has its problems. But taking ideology and using it for every day stuff aside, why wouldn't you want to own some?

Exactly: own some. Not spend some, hence the problem with using it as a currency.

I'm not sure that is a real problem. You own some, then when you want to spend, you spend. The fact that it is deflationary means you might postpone your purchase, but ultimately, you will need to eat/travel/etc more than you need to "own" currency. Or are there other problems?

Re: Bitcoin's Use in Commerce Keeps Falling

#140
post #10

It has been clear for a while now that Bitcoin is an inferior payment system for the consumer: * The fees are higher. * The risk to the consumer is higher. * The difficulty of use is higher. * It is accepted at an extremely low amount of vendors and even that is falling. So you really how to wonder why people ever thought consumers would use it en masse.

And the maximum transaction rate is 7 per second, so en masse is impossible.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin_scalability_problem

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