Have we departed from Bitcoin's original purpose?

[ABCbits]

I came across this meme sometime ago, and I think it's hard to deny there's a lot of truth to it:


Do you think we took the wrong path of focusing mostly on the investment value of Bitcoin neglecting its use as functional money?

Bitcoin is still a functional money and can be used for buying and selling, but this is in countries where bitcoin is accepted as a legel tender.
For countries where bitcoin is yet to be accepted as a legal render, but not banned, you will still see alot of citizens who carry out or use bitcoin as a way of buying and selling goods and services.

That's true if we talk about payment on physical store. But on internet, you could find some individual seller or website which accept Bitcoin without asking your citizenship with some limitation. By limitation, usually it's either maximum amount of money or what kinds of goods/services you could buy.

[Lucius]

Bitcoin is still a functional money and can be used for buying and selling, but this is in countries where bitcoin is accepted as a legel tender.

The way you wrote this implies that the only country where you can pay with BTC is El Salvador - but accepting BTC as legal tender has nothing to do with its actual use. Bitcoin is not legal tender in any EU country, but in some countries you can use it to buy almost anything you want, and even pay bills and taxes.

For countries where bitcoin is yet to be accepted as a legal render, but not banned, you will still see alot of citizens who carry out or use bitcoin as a way of buying and selling goods and services.
~snip~

I have to admit that I completely lost you here, because you somewhat contradict yourself - and besides, your post is full of grammatical errors, which is really strange considering how you write otherwise...

[Themepen]

Bitcoin is still a functional money and can be used for buying and selling, but this is in countries where bitcoin is accepted as a legel tender.
For countries where bitcoin is yet to be accepted as a legal render, but not banned, you will still see alot of citizens who carry out or use bitcoin as a way of buying and selling goods and services.

Cut

I agree Bitcoin still working well as currency in countries that allowing it. But in countries which not made rules about Bitcoin it is harder to use. Without rules Bitcoin can not be used much as it could be.

And it is also good for those to buy and sell Bitcoin to make money while they wait for governments to make decisions. But we should keep in mind that Bitcoin can not reach its full potential until governments accept and regulate it. And still Bitcoin will only be used in small ways and for speculation other than become widely accepted way to pay for things. Governments should accept and regulate Bitcoin to make it mainstream currency.

[Captain Corporate]

Having different perspectives on what the future for bitcoin nis healthy. We can't have all the same ideas, there must be some different ones, and some of them will be stupid. I still believe this to be the case and the original purpose wasn't really a purpose, it was just showing what is possible and not really anything marginal like changing the whole world. Many people think that way, but the reality is that its not that big of a deal. The reality is that we got what we wanted out of this, we have seen it do fine and that's it, there isn't really anything crazy going on at the moment and shouldn't be one neither.

[Tribalchief]

Do you think we took the wrong path of focusing mostly on the investment value of Bitcoin neglecting its use as functional money?

My answer to this is No, and here are my reasons. You see, the inflation rate in most countries, especially the one I live in, is very high, which has drastically increased the cost of living, while the purchasing power of fiat currency (money) can't do much. Jobs are becoming scarce, and people in this situation will do anything to become financially stable. We've all seen what Bitcoin can do in terms of gaining value (i.e increasing in price) over time, making it an attractive investment option for many of us. Bitcoin serving as a means of investment is literally very simple to key into, because it doesn't require me signing any paperwork, and it can be done with a gradual amount. So I think the financial benefits of Bitcoin to everyone, is worth making it an investment option which doesn't sound as a wrong path. Although Satoshi called it a p2p electronic cash system, but it turns out to come with other great benefits to those who adopt it.

As others have said, government approval is a key factor that determines how Bitcoin is used in a country. Take El Salvador as an example, Bitcoin has become part of them since it was declared a legal tender, i.e Bitcoin has become like a normal currency to them, which is unlike other countries that it is not legal tender. So, I think this condition is actually what's creating the entire question. But, despite the whole government thing, we all still find a way to use it for different activities on the internet.

[Azharul]

We know that bitcoin is the best cryptocurrency, in the cryptocurrency market. But we also know that crypto currency market is also dependent of up and down. So if we saw in the crypto market, sometimes we can see that bitcoin price is down, but another we also see that bitcoin price will gradually increase day by day. So if we give up hope in the cryptocurrency market or bitcoin, i think it will be wrong decision for us. Because i believe that in future bitcoin price will hit $100k.

[philipma1957]

We may have added to BTC original purpose. Rather than deviated.

I think fuck the government was never a purpose of btc.

But that hodl and appreciating btc was not original purpose.

[KingsDen]

We may have added to BTC original purpose. Rather than deviated.

I think fuck the government was never a purpose of btc.

But that hodl and appreciating btc was not original purpose.

BTC was not created as an end to a means. Rather it was created as a begining which needs improvement over the time. If BTC was to be a closed source network by an individual, the argument would continue to be valid. Right now, bitcoin is in the hands of all of us.

To buttress my argument that bitcoin is dynamic, you remember that bitcoin is still in the beta version? This means there's alot of rooms for improvement. So, when we see such improvements, we shouldn't see them as deviation from the purpose of bitcoin. Speaking from my second mouth.

[Z-tight]

Because i believe that in future bitcoin price will hit $100k.

Op is not talking about the price of BTC rising to $100k, they are talking about BTC's original purpose, however, i don't think we have deviated from the original purpose for which BTC was created, but it was never going to be possible that there would be no additions and improvement to the BTC network all these years.

I am sure even Satoshi knew that other use cases will be added along the way, and there is nothing wrong in that, we can individually choose the use case that appeals to us and let others decide theirs.

[Crypto Library]

I agree that we should use the word fu*k the government when the government wants to force us to violate our privacy and not give us the full financial freedom of our assets. And bitcoin can be taken both as investment and exchange and here the one who needs to invest can invest and hold it, I don't see anything bad in it, if you hold it, instead of bitcoin appreciation, I mean the value of bitcoin increases.
 But it is true that most of the people today forget the real purpose of Bitcoin and they mostly come to invest in Bitcoin, but they do the investment on centralized exchange. In fact, they are completely responsible for the fact that the amount of awareness that needs to be spread in the world has not been moved.

[pawel7777]

The way you wrote this implies that the only country where you can pay with BTC is El Salvador - but accepting BTC as legal tender has nothing to do with its actual use. Bitcoin is not legal tender in any EU country, but in some countries you can use it to buy almost anything you want, and even pay bills and taxes.

Correct. Personally, I'd rather see Bitcoin as a voluntary, alternative form of money than a state-mandated one.
The reality is not so rosy for other countries that do not recognise BTC as a legal tender. I would risk the opinion that a number of places that accept Bitcoin as a payment is lower than it was a decade ago.
I don't think BTC payments are super-popular in El Salvador either, but the Bukele's move has massively increased the number of places accepting it, to the point you could probably spend a holiday in there using only Bitcoin as a payment, provided you plan ahead, as it's not like all businesses are forced to use it.

[Lucius]

~snip~
I don't think BTC payments are super-popular in El Salvador either, but the Bukele's move has massively increased the number of places accepting it, to the point you could probably spend a holiday in there using only Bitcoin as a payment, provided you plan ahead, as it's not like all businesses are forced to use it.

In theory you should be able to pay with BTC in El Salvador anywhere because BTC is legal tender like USD, but if you have a store where no one has ever entered and asked if they can pay with BTC, then in practice you don't actually accept BTC as a means of payment. Apart from that, all you need as an owner is the official Chivo wallet, which is a simple smartphone app - now the only question is whether the average resident of that country can afford a smartphone.

I think that anyone who decided to bring only BTC to that country could have big problems if they relied on it as the only means of payment - after all, USD still holds over 80% of the daily trade there.

+1

[Rikafip]

I would risk the opinion that a number of places that accept Bitcoin as a payment is lower than it was a decade ago.

I have no data to confirm my opinion, but based on the number of businesses that are accepting bitcoin payments via 3rd part processors, I think that situation is better than it was 10 years ago.

Apart from that, all you need as an owner is the official Chivo wallet, which is a simple smartphone app - now the only question is whether the average resident of that country can afford a smartphone

El Salvador is a 3rd world country but thank God (and cheap Chinese smartphones) we reached that level that even an average residents of those countries should be able to afford mobile phones so that's probably not an issue.

[Asiska02]

Bitcoin is still a functional money and can be used for buying and selling, but this is in countries where bitcoin is accepted as a legel tender.
For countries where bitcoin is yet to be accepted as a legal render, but not banned, you will still see alot of citizens who carry out or use bitcoin as a way of buying and selling goods and services.

Countries like this are few in numbers and it’s a good development for bitcoin. Having an alternative to the fiat currency was the main goal and now that it has being achieved, exploring other ways of using bitcoin is an added advantage for all bitcoin lovers, it’s now left for you to embrace it or not. But the main goal is already achieved in my opinion and every other thing bitcoin is used for today has also contributed to its mass adoption.

We know that bitcoin is the best cryptocurrency, in the cryptocurrency market. But we also know that crypto currency market is also dependent of up and down. So if we saw in the crypto market, sometimes we can see that bitcoin price is down, but another we also see that bitcoin price will gradually increase day by day. So if we give up hope in the cryptocurrency market or bitcoin, i think it will be wrong decision for us. Because i believe that in future bitcoin price will hit $100k.

The market is volatile and that doesn’t make bitcoin a risky investment to take on. It is very important to know that bitcoin stands out amongst all other cryptocurrencies and when you look at the long term value of it, you’ll embrace it more and would love to invest in it rather than choosing any other cryptocurrency to invest in. Being the first cryptocurrency, it has distinguished itself with many other cryptocurrencies and that’s why it’s still having an edge over them till date.

[Lucius]

Apart from that, all you need as an owner is the official Chivo wallet, which is a simple smartphone app - now the only question is whether the average resident of that country can afford a smartphone.

El Salvador is a 3rd world country but thank God (and cheap Chinese smartphones) we reached that level that even an average residents of those countries should be able to afford mobile phones so that's probably not an issue.

Maybe in bigger cities people live better than in rural areas (which is usually the case), but from everything we could see since Bitcoin was "legalized" in that country, the average resident is simply not too interested in BTC - except of course for the $30 which they distributed to everyone who downloaded the Chivo wallet.

Even with the availability of cheap smartphones, it should be taken into account that the older population uses them mainly for calls and messages, everything else is mostly too complicated for them. Good luck to anyone trying to convince them that something called Bitcoin is better than the USD cash they have in their pockets.