Topic: A Simple Reason Why Bitcoin is not Money - page 5. (Read 1157 times)

B) Why is Bitcoin a pyramid-style scheme?
Because whoever invested purposeful items in it cannot get such items back without new investors.

So, it's not about definitions. It's about reality. In reality Bitcoin is purposeless and existing investors need new investors to get out. Definitions cannot change reality.

Well, as convincing enough as this looks, I definitely will want to agree with you that bitcoin is not money per say, in general terms though, most especially, when we try to look at what the true definition of money is.
But coming back to other vices, Bitcoin is still a medium of exchange and an asset that can be invested in, and i completely disagree that bitcoin is a pyramid style scheme, this argument of yours is completely false
Think about investing in gold, think about investing in shares, think about investing in real estate, think about investing in landed properties, houses, think about investing in precious stones and metals like silver, diamond and the likes. All this I mentioned requires new investors for previous investors to get out in profit, does this make all of them a pyramid scheme? i need a NO or a YES answer from you.
if your answer is NO, then it means bitcoin is not a pyramid scheme, but if your answer is YES, then, indeed, Bitcoin is a pyramid scheme to you and people with the same mindset as you.

So here we have the same problem as in my previous thread - the responders are ignoring my arguments and talk about completely irrelevant stuff.

Let's repeat the arguments in the simplest form.

A) Why's Bitcoin not money?
Because it is purposeless. Meaning, when bitcoins are bought they can never be used for anything, and whoever holds them must ultimately sold them - dump them on someone else.

Due to the lack of a purpose whose fulfilment would generate a specific amount of benefit, there's no pivot for estimating how many bitcoins to accept for goods or services and is, thus, impossible to perform a rational trade.

B) Why is Bitcoin a pyramid-style scheme?
Because whoever invested purposeful items in it cannot get such items back without new investors.

So, it's not about definitions. It's about reality. In reality Bitcoin is purposeless and existing investors need new investors to get out. Definitions cannot change reality.

Now we finally come to Bitcoin. Bitcoin is said to be money. But is that true? Given the above, we can determine this quite easily. All we need to do is answer the following question: can Bitcoin be used for a concrete, practical purpose besides being traded?

Money is a medium of exchange; it allows people and businesses to obtain what they need to live and thrive.
Bartering was one way that people exchanged goods for other goods before money was created.
Like gold and other precious metals, money has worth because for most people it represents something valuable.
Fiat money is government-issued currency that is not backed by a physical commodity but by the stability of the issuing government.
Above all, money is a unit of account - a socially accepted standard unit with which things are priced.

...
Now we finally come to Bitcoin. Bitcoin is said to be money. But is that true? Given the above, we can determine this quite easily. All we need to do is answer the following question: can Bitcoin be used for a concrete, practical purpose besides being traded? And here the answer is resolutely - no. Namely, the way Bitcoin was created, is that its author came up with a protocol that assigns virtual points (bitcoins). Points are assigned to bitcoin addresses and stored in a peer-to-peer database. However, whichever owner of an address holds the points, cannot do anything with them except send them to another bitcoin address. They can only exchange them on the market, i.e. use them as a means of exchange. Therefore, no practical purpose exists for which bitcoins would be withdrawn from the market and whose fulfillment would generate a specific amount of benefit to the holders. Consequently, there is no value to estimate. Due to the absence of a value as a reference for how many bitcoins is worth accepting for goods or services, market participants do that blindly. For example, they used to give two pizzas for 10 thousand bitcoins, and today they give the equivalent of a whooping 1,000 houses for the same number of bitcoins. This is a nice practical confirmation of the fact that Bitcoin is not money. It works as money because it is exchanged but is not money because it is purposeless.

If Bitcoin is not money, then what is it? Well, it is a means of recording membership in some kind of decentralized and self-governing pyramid scheme. Members invest purposeful items in it - goods, services and money. They then get recorded by the peer-to-peer network with a certain number of points. Finally, they wait for new investors so they can get out of the scheme. Without new investors, they cannot get purposeful items back - which is how all pyramid schemes operate. Since the Bitcoin scheme is online and thus global, early members made huge profits, which caused great public interest and created a considerable membership base. It is estimated that today the scheme has more than 200 million members.

Money is defined as a commodity that can be used to buy any other commodity. Or as a medium of exchange, a store of value, and a unit of account. But these definitions are generic. They say nothing about the most important thing - the value of money. How do we know the worth of money?

Literally all responders vehemently refuse to the address the argument even when it was expressed in the simplest possible form. And they just talk about irrelevant stuff, do ad hominem attacks, or misrepresented the argument.

Let's me repeat the crux of the argument:

Due to the lack of a practical purpose whose fulfilment would generate a specific amount of benefit, there's no pivot for estimating how many bitcoins to accept for goods or services and it is impossible for market participants to perform a rational trade.

it is the purpose, not the form, what gives value to something. If an item can be used for a concrete purpose besides being exchanged on the market it has value. With fiat currencies, that purpose is - the return to the banks.

Money is defined as a commodity that can be used to buy any other commodity. Or as a medium of exchange, a store of value and a unit of account. But these definitions are generic. They say nothing about the most important thing - the value of money.

currency is anything used as a medium of exchange

It's important to note that the views expressed in this passage are a matter of interpretation, and there is ongoing debate regarding the nature and value of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Some argue that Bitcoin has value as a digital asset, a store of value, and a decentralized currency, while others share concerns about its volatility and speculative nature. Ultimately, the value and nature of money, as well as the role of cryptocurrencies, are complex topics that continue to evolve and be discussed in the financial and economic communities.

stones, metals, gold, money it is a means of exchange depending on where it is widely accepted. you said that bitcoin is not money and that is very true, but it is a means of exchange used by users on the bitcoin network and it is accepted by everyone. whatever your arguments about bitcoin, people will still say that it is a means of exchange and not money.

and bitcoin is a pyramid scheme? what about money, gold, diamonds? is it not a pyramid scheme created by the government? it's all just a bunch of paper and rocks, what makes it valuable is that it's regulated and needed by people and it takes effort to get it. and this also applies to bitcoin, it is decentralized and it is not easy to mine bitcoin and because the amount is limited and in line with people's demand for it makes it valuable and traded to this day.

This is becoming bizarre. Literally all responders vehemently refuse to the address the argument even when it was expressed in the simplest possible form. And they just talk about irrelevant stuff, do ad hominem attacks, or misrepresented the argument.

Let's me repeat the crux of the argument:

Due to the lack of a practical purpose whose fulfilment would generate a specific amount of benefit, there's no pivot for estimating how many bitcoins to accept for goods or services and it is impossible for market participants to perform a rational trade.

Just repeating the mantra: Bitcoin is money, Bitcoin is money, Bitcoin is money .... cannot change the above described reality.

OP, Bitcoin is money, but if you say that is not a handy money, thats when no one will argue that fact, bitcoin is a digital money and it is been used for many stuff, the inflation of a things does not affect Bitcoin but it does affect fiat because fiat is a currency of a particular country and whenever a country is facing economic downtrend it drastically affects their currency because so money country will not be ready to invest in such a country that won't bring any return to them, if bitcoin is not money why is it a medium of exchange, why do we use it to purchase items online. I believe soon so many people will soon start accepting this currency openly and this will satisfy individuals' curiosity about it.