It's interesting to see that people who invested in gold ten years ago lost most money compared to all other assets, and that is even worse if we know that dollar lost it's value.
Bitcoin is probably the best thing you can have in times of hyperinflation and I am expecting to see even bigger price changes in future.
I am not worried about any drops in price and I think that I become fairly resistant to pain related with Bitcoin dips
Gold has now become obsolete method of investment as investing your money into such an asset which surely can't cope up with the rising inflation is stupidity.In the past people prefer to invest and gold and it was the most safe investment and that we all know but with the time trend changes and people need to move on like suggested in the above charts which says it has not given any returns in past 10 years is clear sign of how hyperinflation could tense up the situations and we need some deflationary assest to hold on for future which is Bitcoin.Those who still believe it is best investment would not survive the coming scenario of inflation as dollar is devaluing and holding gold is surely not an best option.
If you look at the events of the last couple of years, then the circulating supply of bitcoin is constantly decreasing and more and more bitcoins remain in illiquid wallets. Perhaps, in the early stages, bitcoin grew and was popularized due to the fact that people used it as a currency, and not as a speculative instrument, I will not argue.
At the moment, the top use of bitcoin is as follows:
- asset holding
- speculations
- payment for goods and services.
The total supply of bitcoin is continuously reducing due to people losing access to their private keys as they are ignorant enough or careless to loose it and according to some reports approximately 4 million coins have been lost which in turn is reducing the supply and we all know it would not be ever 21 million coins and this will boost the prices even further high as less supply more demand is equal to price boost eventually.
At current there is less liquidity due to some reasons :
1) More people are treating it as an assest to hold which can give high returns in the future as they have witnessed from the past like 300-400% increase in short span and everybody wants to hold it rather than spending it anyway.
2) There are still less nations where it is accepted as mode of payment so that users can spend their coins or we can say adoption is more but the mode of payment is still far away to be scattered at global level.Suppose you want to buy groceries with btc how easy it will be to go grocery store to make btc payments?
3) The vendors who accepts it usually go through third party payment processor like bitpay and convert it to fiat
But when it will be accepted as mode of payment we all will see more liquidity in the market and spending fractions of them at high prices would not matter a lot.
I don't necessarily think you are wrong, but we simply don't have the data or statistics to say one way or another if bitcoin is predominantly being used for speculation, spending, or whatever. I'm certainly not disagreeing that large numbers of people have never used bitcoin as a currency and only use it as an asset, speculation, store of value, trading, whatever, but I am disagreeing when you say you that you would not recommend using it as a currency. If nobody used bitcoin as a currency, then it would have no inherent value and we would be nowhere near the price point in fiat that we are today. Using it as a currency is the only thing which encourages it adoption, spread, and growth. Without its use as a currency, then all you have are people trading a useless asset back and forth, which cannot be used for anything other than being traded back and forth, not dissimilar to 99% of the shitcoins currently in existence.
Yes, many large companies buy and hold bitcoin solely as an asset, but at the end of the day it is people using bitcoin to buy goods and services which gives it real value.
The main motive of bitcoin creation was an alternative to the current monetary system to provide the financial assistance at decentralised level providing the holders freedom of their own funds free from any central control but with time as the prices start to increase people start holding it as long term investment that will give them profits in the end.I have personally also spend some at some events like you and don't feel sad about the same because at the end of some point we will be using it in the original manner.But there is still time when it will be normal to spend your btc at the corner shop for which mass adoption is required.
The large companies holding them in balance sheet as an asset or accepting it as payment mode have gained so much profits with this bull run and made a fortune with holding btc in billons so they will not spend it in short term.But later on they will be cashing out profits by selling it in the market.