Gold is too heavy. Bits are so light.
lol
+1
Topic: why does it matter who directly takes bitcoin? (Read 3498 times)
Ease of use.
BTC needs transactional volume for stability. Volume needs easy use.
Gold is too heavy. Bits are so light.
Seriously.. Why does THE important thing for bitcoin seem to be how many merchants take the currency? I mean.. good luck going anywhere with a bar of gold and buying services.
No, it's like this: The best thing for bitcoin is adoption.
And why mass adoption is important?
Because as with any currency that has "trust" as the main intrinsic value, the more people that trust the currency and use it, the better. Because the more people use it, the more goods are traded and then more trust it gets. It's a vicious cycle.
Sum up on what you need:
Raw material producer accepts bitcoins to sell raw materials to distributor. AND raw material producer can operate business with bitcoin intake aka pay employees etc in bitcoin.
Distributor accepts bitcoins to sell to wholesaler.
Wholesaler accepts bitcoins to sell to retailer.
Retailer accepts bitcoins to sell to consumers.
Raw material producer accepts bitcoins to sell raw materials to distributor. AND raw material producer can operate business with bitcoin intake aka pay employees etc in bitcoin.
Distributor accepts bitcoins to sell to wholesaler.
Wholesaler accepts bitcoins to sell to retailer.
Retailer accepts bitcoins to sell to consumers.
When there is more than some critical mass of merchants taking bitcoin, like when they do not have to trade them back into fiat and bitcoin starts working as inter-merchant currency, not just consumer currency interesting thing happens:
Supply side of bitcoin naturally shrinks which leads (in most cases) to the rise of bitcoin price. So far so predictable and good, but than bitcoin feature kicks in and gives bitcoin a perk in natural competition among currencies: since there is limited and long-term fixed supply of bitcoins unlike fiat - the supply may only contract in long term (presuming bitcoin-goods trade volumes do not shrink). The bitcoin economy look like destined to some sort of run away effect to me. Rising in price which no bubble can fully burst or slow and measurable dying being swamped by fiat.
Block reward halving acts like sort of kicking gear-shift up to me.
Supply side of bitcoin naturally shrinks which leads (in most cases) to the rise of bitcoin price. So far so predictable and good, but than bitcoin feature kicks in and gives bitcoin a perk in natural competition among currencies: since there is limited and long-term fixed supply of bitcoins unlike fiat - the supply may only contract in long term (presuming bitcoin-goods trade volumes do not shrink). The bitcoin economy look like destined to some sort of run away effect to me. Rising in price which no bubble can fully burst or slow and measurable dying being swamped by fiat.
Block reward halving acts like sort of kicking gear-shift up to me.
In order for people to be convinced that Bitcoin is valuable, it has to be tradeable for something
It's enough that it can be traded into USD or other fiat currency, people do not need another currency if the current one can satifty their daily spending needs, most of the fiat currency already do that today
Seriously.. Why does THE important thing for bitcoin seem to be how many merchants take the currency? I mean.. good luck going anywhere with a bar of gold and buying services.
No, it's like this: The best thing for bitcoin is adoption.
Adoption can come in many forms. vendors could decide to accept it (slowly over time). Some mega-corp (like visa, western union or some bank) decides to start using to move money internationally. It replaces paypal by becoming easier to use, more reliable and less of a headache.
Heck if all it got used for was domestic western union style transfers - we'd start seeing a massive upswing in transaction fees.
Yeah, exactly...one way or another if people see other people wanting bitcoins, they will want them too.
Seriously.. Why does THE important thing for bitcoin seem to be how many merchants take the currency? I mean.. good luck going anywhere with a bar of gold and buying services.
It would be like: "Hi there mister accountant! how many grams of gold will it cost me to get a tax return filed today? Do you have a scale on hand?"
Almost nobody takes gold as a payment method, yet it is 1600+/oz. Why must bitcoin be any different?
It would be like: "Hi there mister accountant! how many grams of gold will it cost me to get a tax return filed today? Do you have a scale on hand?"
Almost nobody takes gold as a payment method, yet it is 1600+/oz. Why must bitcoin be any different?
Maybe you should look up what that word actually means....
Seriously.. Why does THE important thing for bitcoin seem to be how many merchants take the currency? I mean.. good luck going anywhere with a bar of gold and buying services.
No, it's like this: The best thing for bitcoin is adoption.
Adoption can come in many forms. vendors could decide to accept it (slowly over time). Some mega-corp (like visa, western union or some bank) decides to start using to move money internationally. It replaces paypal by becoming easier to use, more reliable and less of a headache.
Heck if all it got used for was domestic western union style transfers - we'd start seeing a massive upswing in transaction fees.
Gold is valuable because people are convinced it's valuable. It's also a physical object and has real uses in the economy, so it has a leg up on Bitcoin there. In order for people to be convinced that Bitcoin is valuable, it has to be tradeable for something, and the easier it is to trade, the better. Bitcoin has no physical presence, so its value is derived solely based on its efficiency and efficacy as a medium of exchange.
Seriously.. Why does THE important thing for bitcoin seem to be how many merchants take the currency? I mean.. good luck going anywhere with a bar of gold and buying services.
No, it's like this: The best thing for bitcoin is adoption.
because gold is meant to be stored. that is its value, being indestructible, etc.
Bitcoin is meant to be transferred. That is its value. Moving instantly anywhere in the world...
Bitcoin is meant to be transferred. That is its value. Moving instantly anywhere in the world...
Agree, BTC are more like micro-money..
If 1 billion earthlings use the 10 million BTC for micro payment... each btc would worth a lot too, like gold, but for different reason !
As stated earlier, Gold is a store of value. In times of crisis everyone takes their cash, stocks and bonds and buys gold. It is recognised as a safe investment. BTC does not have that status and will not have for many years, if it takes off. It needs to be recognised by everyone as somewhere to safely store your wealth. At the moment, BTC is seen as a fringe experiment at best and a drug dealers/ money launderers tool at worse! It will take a while to shake off that image.
What it comes down to is two things:
By accepting Bitcoins, will the business get more revenue.
By accepting Bitcoins, will the business get enough more revenue to cover the expense of time involved in accepting Bitcoins.
By accepting Bitcoins, will the business get enough revenue to cover any additional expenses involved in accepting Bitcoins.
By accepting Bitcoins, will the buyer paying in Bitcoins be willing to pay more money to the business in Bitcoins than previously used currency to cover any additional expenses involved in the conversion of Bitcoins to the geographically appropriate currency necessary for the business to continue to operate and conduct business.
Remember, a pre-existing business already conducts business. That may sound silly, but it's the most critical factor. There is no incentive for a business to accept Bitcoins if all four things above can't be reconciled.
By accepting Bitcoins, will the business get more revenue.
By accepting Bitcoins, will the business get enough more revenue to cover the expense of time involved in accepting Bitcoins.
By accepting Bitcoins, will the business get enough revenue to cover any additional expenses involved in accepting Bitcoins.
By accepting Bitcoins, will the buyer paying in Bitcoins be willing to pay more money to the business in Bitcoins than previously used currency to cover any additional expenses involved in the conversion of Bitcoins to the geographically appropriate currency necessary for the business to continue to operate and conduct business.
Remember, a pre-existing business already conducts business. That may sound silly, but it's the most critical factor. There is no incentive for a business to accept Bitcoins if all four things above can't be reconciled.
Yet don't discount the residual earnings from conversion of a new customer for the business -- whereas that customer might otherwise have gone elsewhere. And don't discount the potential for the business to lose revenue by not accepting bitcoin where the consumer prefers to use bitcoins for payment and prefers merchants who do accept bitcoin.
Look at the anonymous VPN marketplace. Several of those vendors were not taking a leap of faith into accepting bitcoins, they were essentially forced to do so as they were losing market share to those who already do accept bitcoins.
What it comes down to is two things:
By accepting Bitcoins, will the business get more revenue.
By accepting Bitcoins, will the business get enough more revenue to cover the expense of time involved in accepting Bitcoins.
By accepting Bitcoins, will the business get enough revenue to cover any additional expenses involved in accepting Bitcoins.
By accepting Bitcoins, will the buyer paying in Bitcoins be willing to pay more money to the business in Bitcoins than previously used currency to cover any additional expenses involved in the conversion of Bitcoins to the geographically appropriate currency necessary for the business to continue to operate and conduct business.
Remember, a pre-existing business already conducts business. That may sound silly, but it's the most critical factor. There is no incentive for a business to accept Bitcoins if all four things above can't be reconciled.
By accepting Bitcoins, will the business get more revenue.
By accepting Bitcoins, will the business get enough more revenue to cover the expense of time involved in accepting Bitcoins.
By accepting Bitcoins, will the business get enough revenue to cover any additional expenses involved in accepting Bitcoins.
By accepting Bitcoins, will the buyer paying in Bitcoins be willing to pay more money to the business in Bitcoins than previously used currency to cover any additional expenses involved in the conversion of Bitcoins to the geographically appropriate currency necessary for the business to continue to operate and conduct business.
Remember, a pre-existing business already conducts business. That may sound silly, but it's the most critical factor. There is no incentive for a business to accept Bitcoins if all four things above can't be reconciled.
Seriously.. Why does THE important thing for bitcoin seem to be how many merchants take the currency?
Converting between bitcoins and fiat incurs expenses. If I have to cash out bitcoins to fiat, I pay a fee for that. Or if the merchant receiving bitcoins cashes them out to fiat, then the merchant incurs the fee. Sure, it might be less than 1% but it still is an avoidable conversion if I can pay with bitcoins and then the merchant can use the bitcoins for paying for some of its purchases. So the more choices of places that bitcoins can be spent, the less the likelihood that the coins will need to be cashed out.
Key word, I suppose, being "have" - in other words, immediately - or at end of day, ie Bit-Pay. If you get a liquidity provider rebate by doing limit sells that exceed all bids on the orderbook and are able to withdraw via ACH for free, or advertise on LocalBitcoins, then you're not forced to pay fees.
sr. member
Activity: 350
Merit: 250
Trust me, these default swaps will limit the risks
I do not believe Bitcoin will replace any fiat currency and I am not of the school that thinks if I cant buy a stick of chewing gum with BTC Bitcoin has failed
I have never walked into a store and asked to pay for a stick of gum with paypal either
I have never walked into a store and asked to pay for a stick of gum with paypal either
+This
Velocity.
Bitcoin's utility is its ability to be exchanged for real things. If there's a barrier between this (requiring a step to transfer to fiat) it is that much less valuable
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