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Topic: Is Bitcoin a cryptocommodity or a cryptocurrency? (Read 181 times)

hero member
Activity: 868
Merit: 535
Is Bitcoin a cryptocommodity or a cryptocurrency?

1) a currency must be exchanged easily. Now it's impossible to pay a coffee with BTC (scalability, fees), but we can pay a car because in the second case it's not necessary to have timeliness (it happens, for example, with wire transfers).

2) a currency must be a unit of account. How rich are you? You can answer me by quantifying your wealth in FIAT. But BTC is volatile. Today you can be rich and poor tomorrow. Currencies are stable (in most cases).

I think that BTC is currently an asset, the "gold of the future". I don't like this concept, but it's true.
Community must do something to reverse this transformation.
Only in this way Bitcoin will be able to fully express the potential of blockchain technology.

What do you think about it?





Let me give you a legalese view on this. "Currency" is a legal tender of a specific government which is widely used and accepted as a form of payment to all countries worldwide. While "commodity" is something of value that has monetary equivalent, which may, in some instances, be used as a form of payment. You see, both have intrinsic and extrinsic value but it is the acceptance of it that sets them apart.

These so-called cryptocurrencies are sui generis because they were built into the likes of a currency but has the features of a commodity. Hence, as for me, they are neither currency nor commodity. They are a kind of its own which, up to now, cannot be classified accordingly because of the absence of a concrete law or regulation specially designed for it.

The thing is, though, there are governments and merchandises that already accept Bitcoin as a form of payment. So here, we can see a slow evolution of how Bitcoin will be classified later on. Again, it is the acceptability that is controlling in this aspect. Of course, acceptability should come black and white in the form of a government regulation. 
newbie
Activity: 28
Merit: 0
It will soon be a valid currency, but for now its commodity which has a great value maybe more than gold.
hero member
Activity: 2646
Merit: 686
Is Bitcoin a cryptocommodity or a cryptocurrency?

1) a currency must be exchanged easily. Now it's impossible to pay a coffee with BTC (scalability, fees), but we can pay a car because in the second case it's not necessary to have timeliness (it happens, for example, with wire transfers).

2) a currency must be a unit of account. How rich are you? You can answer me by quantifying your wealth in FIAT. But BTC is volatile. Today you can be rich and poor tomorrow. Currencies are stable (in most cases).

I think that BTC is currently an asset, the "gold of the future". I don't like this concept, but it's true.
Community must do something to reverse this transformation.
Only in this way Bitcoin will be able to fully express the potential of blockchain technology.

What do you think about it?





Earlier when satoshi was involved it was to be a store value, give a option to existing currencies.

As time evolved people realised that they could use it like a currency (while fees were negligible and it became a instant hit), some smart ones realised that it's best to treat it like a long term asset class.

In today's concept I would call it a hybrid product as it's both used as a currency and as a asset/commodity alternatives, it depends on what perspective one sees it.

Ps all that shines is not gold, It's Bitcoins only and like they say old is not gold, it's Bitcoins lol. Gold is waste of a commodity it can never be compared to bitcoins.
newbie
Activity: 67
Merit: 0
Its neither, bitcoin is supposed to change the global paradigm of stored value.

A commodity is a resource that can be sold and bought for expected gains/loss in the future.

A currency is a transactional tool for goods and services and is a store of wealth, albeit fixed.

Since Bitcoin is still in its growing pre-pubescent stages, its temperamental and subject to wild price swings. However if you look at every exchange, it always has BTC as a medium to buy alt currencies, in a sense it is already being used as a currency.

As for a commodity, we view it as one, and temporarily it is being treated like one, but in reality it is not. Oneday will be $1million a piece, its price will vary about 1-2% p.a. and people will use it as the fundamental store of wealth in a new digital economy.
newbie
Activity: 68
Merit: 0
As the current scenario is moving I would call it more of an asset, commodity rather than currency.
hero member
Activity: 1456
Merit: 579
HODLing is an art, not just a word...
It was supposed to be a currency, but with it's current specs I'd say it turned into more of a commodity.

it is not because of any "specs" it is only because of its price and how it changes that some people lose the incentive to use it as a currency. in other words it is the volatility that's causing it.
legendary
Activity: 1652
Merit: 1088
CryptoTalk.Org - Get Paid for every Post!
Well if the Arizona State House of Representatives votes to allow state taxes to be paid in bitcoin (the Arizona State Senate has already voted in favour), then bitcoin is a currency. Because taxes are only paid with currencies, not commodities.
drm
legendary
Activity: 1176
Merit: 1005
It was supposed to be a currency, but with it's current specs I'd say it turned into more of a commodity.
full member
Activity: 753
Merit: 100
Bitcoin is a digital currency. Although everyone has his own understanding of bitcoin, and everyone sees its use and destination in absolutely different ways.
newbie
Activity: 44
Merit: 0
bitcoin is a currency that is treated like a commodity by some people because they forget or don't even know what the purpose of bitcoin has always been!

Those people add a lot to the issue, but you can't blame them. It's 0% their fault that the fees are high and confirmations slow. That's Bitcoin's fault.
newbie
Activity: 44
Merit: 0
It's a crytocommunity.
jr. member
Activity: 518
Merit: 1
I totally agree that the BTC looks much more like a commodity than a currency. There are many issues that the BTC needs to address so it can be viewed as a true currency.
legendary
Activity: 1638
Merit: 1163
Where is my ring of blades...
1) in the past 4 years I have been paying a small fee and had no problem with my confirmation. a short period of high fees is all your argument?!! and believe it or not there are a lot of things between Coffee and a Car.
regardless of that the high fees have been the result of design, bad decisions, and attacks against bitcoin.

In the past 4 years, ok. But now? If you want to accept Bitcoin in your local store (a fundamental element of the original intentions) it's impossible. It's not a short period. The situation will not improve without doing something.

well currently fees for having a high priority transaction is 5 satoshi/byte which means a normal bitcoin transaction will cost about 10 cents and about 8 cents if you use SegWit. I wouldn't call that impossible.

what we can do is to adopt the solution that was implemented but was opt-in. this solution is Segregated Witness which is also increasing the capacity on top of other things. also to use other solutions (when they were ready). there are on chain scaling solutions like SegWit, Schnorr signature, signature aggregation and possibly even increasing the block size by a little like what SegWit2x proposed.
and also using the second layer solutions which is basically Lightning Network at this point which will be instant and practically free.
full member
Activity: 504
Merit: 102
Is Bitcoin a cryptocommodity or a cryptocurrency?

1) a currency must be exchanged easily. Now it's impossible to pay a coffee with BTC (scalability, fees), but we can pay a car because in the second case it's not necessary to have timeliness (it happens, for example, with wire transfers).

2) a currency must be a unit of account. How rich are you? You can answer me by quantifying your wealth in FIAT. But BTC is volatile. Today you can be rich and poor tomorrow. Currencies are stable (in most cases).

I think that BTC is currently an asset, the "gold of the future". I don't like this concept, but it's true.
Community must do something to reverse this transformation.
Only in this way Bitcoin will be able to fully express the potential of blockchain technology.

What do you think about it?





Yes, maybe Bitcoin is truly a commodity rather than a currency, but I know it is inevitable that there would be a crypto that will be eligible for a currency transactions.
full member
Activity: 154
Merit: 100
1) in the past 4 years I have been paying a small fee and had no problem with my confirmation. a short period of high fees is all your argument?!! and believe it or not there are a lot of things between Coffee and a Car.
regardless of that the high fees have been the result of design, bad decisions, and attacks against bitcoin.

In the past 4 years, ok. But now? If you want to accept Bitcoin in your local store (a fundamental element of the original intentions) it's impossible. It's not a short period. The situation will not improve without doing something.

2) reason for volatility is because it is new, not yet mass adopted, and also that same misconception that people see it as a commodity, as something they can get rich off of not a currency. and yeah until these change we won't see stability.

I agree. We must do something
legendary
Activity: 1638
Merit: 1163
Where is my ring of blades...
bitcoin is a currency that is treated like a commodity by some people because they forget or don't even know what the purpose of bitcoin has always been!

1) in the past 4 years I have been paying a small fee and had no problem with my confirmation. a short period of high fees is all your argument?!! and believe it or not there are a lot of things between Coffee and a Car.
regardless of that the high fees have been the result of design, bad decisions, and attacks against bitcoin.

2) reason for volatility is because it is new, not yet mass adopted, and also that same misconception that people see it as a commodity, as something they can get rich off of not a currency. and yeah until these change we won't see stability.
full member
Activity: 154
Merit: 100
Is Bitcoin a cryptocommodity or a cryptocurrency?

1) a currency must be exchanged easily. Now it's impossible to pay a coffee with BTC (scalability, fees), but we can pay a car because in the second case it's not necessary to have timeliness (it happens, for example, with wire transfers).

2) a currency must be a unit of account. How rich are you? You can answer me by quantifying your wealth in FIAT. But BTC is volatile. Today you can be rich and poor tomorrow. Currencies are stable (in most cases).

I think that BTC is currently an asset, the "gold of the future". I don't like this concept, but it's true.
Community must do something to reverse this transformation.
Only in this way Bitcoin will be able to fully express the potential of blockchain technology.

What do you think about it?



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