There are many reasons why people aren't spending Bitcoin. Like why would someone who is at a loss spend his coins in a bear market?
Why would someone who is using this accumulation phase to increase his holdings spend those newly acquired coins?
If you got cheap Bitcoin and they are worth 10 times more now it's very difficult to find something you want to spend them on. If I had a million dollars in cryptocurrency now I wouldn't spend because I don't need anything expensive right now. What am I gonna buy? A thousand pizzas or 5 thousand coffees?
Topic: On merchants not willing to accept crypto - page 8. (Read 1239 times)
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bitcoin is very volatile, such high volatility becomes a major barrier for merchants to accept bitcoin as a means of payments
I don't particularly disagree with your points
However, if you are a big merchant with thousands of clients paying or willing to pay with Bitcoin, you can either mass-hedge directly against price volatility (this will cost you around 1% yearly at max) or use third party services that specifically deal with this issue. Besides, we should keep in mind that with expansion of Bitcoin adoption volatility is set to taper off eventually as real value, which comes through such use, takes away from volatility just like speculative value adds to it
Anyway, I still think humanity is not ready for it. Although average circulation of paper money we use today is 4 trillion in the Forex market, the crypto market has a circulation of 16-17($16.830.552.454 according to CMC) billion. And IMO crypto market can be accepted when the cryptocurrency is in the current position of paper money. Also this means a decrease of volatility.
-snip- On the other hand, any law reflects the social fabric objectively...
This would be my exact issue here. I have a first hand experience with unreal expectations from my irs.Last year they wanted us to submit taxes for every transaction crypto -> crypto. Somebody completely detached from reality interpreted the law and requested the impossible. There was a little storm in the community, irs gave up this crazy idea.
However few subjects, like the biggest crypto-exchange had to run away of borders, because taxes would eat them whole up.
As you can see, law matters a lot
Yes, just as I said earlier, laws carved in stone are rewritten in blood
And it should be taken literally. If some law is kinda set in stone, i.e. it is assumed to be something sacrosanct and inviolate, no matter what, it will get rewritten in blood sooner or later. Events leading to this are called a revolutionary situation when "the rulers are unable and the ruled ones are unwilling", according to Lenin. I don't think it is particularly different with money as we have an example of Zimbabwe where the population completely abandoned the local currency after the government devalued it. And no law could change this outcome
We're trying to fix that problem https://allforcrypto.org 
.There many issues we have to overcome due.Cryptos user our generally all talk and very tribal.They say they what something but when you offer it to then they don't use it. People only concern is will it increase the price of their particular coin, not that actual adoption. That why we focusing our marketing to non crypto disgruntled ebay amazon sellers .
.There many issues we have to overcome due.Cryptos user our generally all talk and very tribal.They say they what something but when you offer it to then they don't use it. People only concern is will it increase the price of their particular coin, not that actual adoption. That why we focusing our marketing to non crypto disgruntled ebay amazon sellers . 
-snip- On the other hand, any law reflects the social fabric objectively...
This would be my exact issue here. I have a first hand experience with unreal expectations from my irs.Last year they wanted us to submit taxes for every transaction crypto -> crypto. Somebody completely detached from reality interpreted the law and requested the impossible. There was a little storm in the community, irs gave up this crazy idea.
However few subjects, like the biggest crypto-exchange had to run away of borders, because taxes would eat them whole up.
As you can see, law matters a lot.
No body mentioned taxation issues and there are quite a few of those these days.
More and more governments started to recognise cryptocurrency, introduction of new means of taxation was just a matter of time
More and more governments started to recognise cryptocurrency, introduction of new means of taxation was just a matter of time
Actually, I intentionally omitted this part in the OP to keep it readable
Though I didn't mean taxation in particular but rather government regulation in general. Obviously, if Bitcoin payments are frowned upon by the government officials, we can't really expect mass adoption by merchants like Amazon and their likes. On the other hand, any law reflects the social fabric objectively existing in a society (i.e. laws are secondary), and if a lot of people start using crypto without looking over their shoulder, the government won't be able to discard these developments. Otherwise they run the risk of people "discarding" the government itself (like it happens in Venezuela right now)
No body mentioned taxation issues and there are quite a few of those these days.
More and more governments started to recognise cryptocurrency, introduction of new means of taxation was just a matter of time.
Some country's still struggle with inefficient, complicated tax ordinance. Law getting as massive as 15000 pages... no body is able to know everting, every aspect and quirk of the law. Special help, trained accountants, advisors don't work for free.
Agreed, not at all, as in most cases problem is multidimensional.
More and more governments started to recognise cryptocurrency, introduction of new means of taxation was just a matter of time.
Some country's still struggle with inefficient, complicated tax ordinance. Law getting as massive as 15000 pages... no body is able to know everting, every aspect and quirk of the law. Special help, trained accountants, advisors don't work for free.
-snip-
So it is not about merchants at all
So it is not about merchants at all
Agreed, not at all, as in most cases problem is multidimensional.
I've been in a lot of discussions about whether BTC serves better as a means of storing value or exchanging it. As of now, BTC works better as an SoV - TpS is low, fees are high - of course merchants are reluctant to accept it as a means of payment. Other cryptos might be better at being a means of payment.
If you have a number of coins that you're keeping just like you would be keeping silverware, jewelry, or art, and you're not getting more, why would you get rid of it?
The only reason gold, silver, precious metals, gemstones, jewelry, etc, can be used as a store of wealth is because there are people buying, selling and trading these things. If suddenly no one in the world was willing to buy gold, then the price of gold effectively becomes $0. The same can be said of bitcoin, and to an extent, all money including fiat. If no one accepts it as payment for anything, then it essentially becomes worthless.You can hold bitcoin for as long as you want, but without widespread adoption, it won't be going anywhere.
I don't blame merchants. In fact, I don't spend my Bitcoins because I treat them like a long term investment and a store of value. I know that there's this prevailing thought among bitcoiners according to which we should spend to increase adoption and spread the word, but I don't agree with it. To be able to spend you first need to be earning it on a regular basis. If you have a number of coins that you're keeping just like you would be keeping silverware, jewelry, or art, and you're not getting more, why would you get rid of it?
We can't blame merchants, but it's not right to blame the holders either. The system is still immature.
We can't blame merchants, but it's not right to blame the holders either. The system is still immature.
In simple terms, you don't see the forest for the trees
Bitcoin can only have value if it is used in real life. Without the real life adoption, it is set to fail, maybe, not today, or in a year, but the end is kinda carved in stone (remember, laws carved in stone are rewritten in blood). To put it differently, without someone actually using Bitcoin, you won't have it as a store of value. So the holders should in fact be blamed for not using their bitcoins because they are shamelessly profiting from someone else's effort. Your "long-term investment" is possible only thanks to this effort
I don't blame merchants. In fact, I don't spend my Bitcoins because I treat them like a long term investment and a store of value. I know that there's this prevailing thought among bitcoiners according to which we should spend to increase adoption and spread the word, but I don't agree with it. To be able to spend you first need to be earning it on a regular basis. If you have a number of coins that you're keeping just like you would be keeping silverware, jewelry, or art, and you're not getting more, why would you get rid of it?
We can't blame merchants, but it's not right to blame the holders either. The system is still immature.
We can't blame merchants, but it's not right to blame the holders either. The system is still immature.
In my point of view I think that both consumers as well as business entities are both trap with the ongoing market. I saw a lot of businesses pulling out Bitcoin as a payment method when BTC starts descending Microsoft, Steam, and Stripe to name a few, its understandable that businesses like these ones are not accepting any additional risk when it comes to accepting a payment that is descending in value. Consumers on the other hand are also affect by the market as well, they will be reluctant to spend on their crypto holdings now when they know that before they could bought the same thing for a lot less of what they are holding now. With these bear market it made consumers hold their position while the businesses have pulled out on a very risky asset. So we should expect that there will be no big names announcing that they will be accepting Bitcoin as a payment method not until prices will settle in or in a upward reversal.
It seems to me that this is a matter of time, and after about five years, we will see that Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies can be paid in all corners of the planet.
The idea of suggesting payments in bitcoins to retailers is practical if you are involved in direct trades and business, or an entrepreneur and both parties are involved in negotiations.
Regular individuals would have to approach management of organizations to accept cryptocurrency. This is difficult in countries with limited exposure to bitcoins and issues of legality.
Regular individuals would have to approach management of organizations to accept cryptocurrency. This is difficult in countries with limited exposure to bitcoins and issues of legality.
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bitcoin is very volatile, such high volatility becomes a major barrier for merchants to accept bitcoin as a means of payments
I don't particularly disagree with your points
However, if you are a big merchant with thousands of clients paying or willing to pay with Bitcoin, you can either mass-hedge directly against price volatility (this will cost you around 1% yearly at max) or use third party services that specifically deal with this issue. Besides, we should keep in mind that with expansion of Bitcoin adoption volatility is set to taper off eventually as real value, which comes through such use, takes away from volatility just like speculative value adds to it
What's said is right in one way, but government have the approach from the opposite side. This lets the people not get into bitcoin as well cryptocurrencies similar to that of fiat. Whenever there is an information from governments about cryptocurrency, surely it'll be against. Very few country governments have known better about bitcoin and supportive. When this happens throughout we can experience the change that's mentioned in the Op.
Now the main problem is bans from the governments of many countries. I think if this is legal tender, then many stores will accept cryptocurrency. However, Bitcoin still confirms transactions for a very long time.
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bitcoin is very volatile, such high volatility becomes a major barrier for merchants to accept bitcoin as a means of payments.
Imagine that in December 2017, some merchant accepted bitcoin as a means of payment, the merchant would be selling a car for $100,000, if in December 2017 someone had bought this car that costs $100,000, that person would have paid with 5 BTC and if that car salesman Hold the 5 BTCs, how much losses should he have these days?
Current bitcoin price:
1 BTC = $ 3560
5 BTC = $ 17,800
merchants will be afraid of this volatility
Bitcoin has not been legalized in many countries, so it would be difficult to have many merchants accepting bitcoin as a means of payment
This is a major misconception, because merchants don't have to hold Bitcoins to accept them.
Why? Because services exists this times that handle the payment/exchange process from Bitcoin to the fiat currency of the merchant's preference and availability inside the service itself right away. Extremely easy.
Example: https://bitpay.com/retail
[...]
bitcoin is very volatile, such high volatility becomes a major barrier for merchants to accept bitcoin as a means of payments.
Imagine that in December 2017, some merchant accepted bitcoin as a means of payment, the merchant would be selling a car for $100,000, if in December 2017 someone had bought this car that costs $100,000, that person would have paid with 5 BTC and if that car salesman Hold the 5 BTCs, how much losses should he have these days?
Current bitcoin price:
1 BTC = $ 3560
5 BTC = $ 17,800
merchants will be afraid of this volatility
Bitcoin has not been legalized in many countries, so it would be difficult to have many merchants accepting bitcoin as a means of payment
I totally agree. The biggest fear is just adapting crypto. If people would trust it more, they would use it more so there would be no problem in using it in everyday life.
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