Topic: [POLL] When Buying Groceries...would you use BTC, GOOG or USD...? - page 5. (Read 4582 times)
If I have nothing else to spend, I'm going to spend Bitcoin. If I have something else to spend.... why hasn't it been converted to Bitcoin already?
So I see this great thread today for Live Pura and it gets me thinking again about something that I've been deliberating for some time. I visit the site, add items to my cart...then have the recurring realization that spending BTC for groceries online, is the equivalent of paying the clerk at my local Publix or Costco with Class-A shares of Google stock!
Tell me again why it makes sense to risk unlimited upside long-term potential, for the purchase of short-term consumables? I know this has been a running discussion for several years now...I've studied countless topic threads and online research on the issue, but have yet to hear enough of a well-reasoned argument to justify using BTC as every-day currency, for what could amount to an endless chain of my very own Multi-Million-Dollar BTC Pizza stories years down the road.
There is no doubt that the ecosystem is growing. Bitcoin Venture Capital is soaring at rates not seen since the Internet Angel boom in 1994. Bitcoin adoption rate is skyrocketing, but transaction volume remains mostly flat at around 60,000 transactions per day, and may even decline (especially on a per user basis). Perhaps not yet fair, but for the sake of comparison, Visa processes about 66 million transactions per day, and Paypal about 9.3 million per day.
Trending BTC user hoarding behavior isn't really much of a surprise...where is the incentive to spend something that has virtually unlimited upside? Whereas spending BTC could have devastating unknown opportunity costs. Despite what the IRS thinks, Bitcoin has endless well-documented benefits for use as a currency: be your own bank, global nature, speed, low-cost, no chargebacks, identify theft resistance, no government dependency, lack of inflation, etc. But while Bitcoin certainly fulfills the functions of money, the majority of users don't seem to be treating it as such. Things are evolving quickly...and I'm wondering what the community thinks about where we are and where we're headed? Is Bitcoin ultimately destined to be treated as an investment or a currency...or could it really be both (and if so, how would this manifest)?
Spending Fiat is easy...no one expects that the Dollar or Euro they spend today might be worth orders of magnitude more down the road. So the next time you visit Dell, Overstock, NewEgg or Expedia looking to spend your BTC...might as well ask them if they'll take GOOG instead
Here's more info and a great read on the topic: Bitcoin's Failed Coup of Wall Street
Tell me again why it makes sense to risk unlimited upside long-term potential, for the purchase of short-term consumables? I know this has been a running discussion for several years now...I've studied countless topic threads and online research on the issue, but have yet to hear enough of a well-reasoned argument to justify using BTC as every-day currency, for what could amount to an endless chain of my very own Multi-Million-Dollar BTC Pizza stories years down the road.
There is no doubt that the ecosystem is growing. Bitcoin Venture Capital is soaring at rates not seen since the Internet Angel boom in 1994. Bitcoin adoption rate is skyrocketing, but transaction volume remains mostly flat at around 60,000 transactions per day, and may even decline (especially on a per user basis). Perhaps not yet fair, but for the sake of comparison, Visa processes about 66 million transactions per day, and Paypal about 9.3 million per day.
Trending BTC user hoarding behavior isn't really much of a surprise...where is the incentive to spend something that has virtually unlimited upside? Whereas spending BTC could have devastating unknown opportunity costs. Despite what the IRS thinks, Bitcoin has endless well-documented benefits for use as a currency: be your own bank, global nature, speed, low-cost, no chargebacks, identify theft resistance, no government dependency, lack of inflation, etc. But while Bitcoin certainly fulfills the functions of money, the majority of users don't seem to be treating it as such. Things are evolving quickly...and I'm wondering what the community thinks about where we are and where we're headed? Is Bitcoin ultimately destined to be treated as an investment or a currency...or could it really be both (and if so, how would this manifest)?
Spending Fiat is easy...no one expects that the Dollar or Euro they spend today might be worth orders of magnitude more down the road. So the next time you visit Dell, Overstock, NewEgg or Expedia looking to spend your BTC...might as well ask them if they'll take GOOG instead
Here's more info and a great read on the topic: Bitcoin's Failed Coup of Wall Street
Jump to: