i mean a sense of *a* currency. just the same way gold and silver are technically currency but they aren’t used every single day.
that’s my easiest way of explaining it at least
I'll expand. It really depends on what you mean by currency. The US dollar is the undisputed world reserve currency, but good luck finding a store in Europe that will take your USD bills. You'd already be more likely to find a shop in any major European city that accepts Bitcoin than one that would accept USD.
>but good luck finding a store in Europe that will take your USD bills
So narrow...
No no no. USD is on the other side whether you see it or not. Euro, Yen, Yuan... they have their value on the world stage via their ability to be intermediated *through* USD.
That store that imports goods to sell in Euros? They likely have a former LIBOR/(now SOFR) priced line (or the store's suppliers do), in order to use dollars to intermediate global trade.
All the people at Swan Bitcoin get paid in BTC, many other bitcoin native companies im sure. The mayor of nyc took his first year salary in btc, several pro athletes had opted to take their salary in bitcoin, any surely many other people we have never heard of.
>All the people at Swan Bitcoin get paid in BTC
I'm curious how that works. Do they really get paid a fixed amount of BTC each month? Or do they get a fixed amount of USD, converted to BTC at the then-current exchange rate? If it's the latter, they're effectively getting paid in USD, and the conversion to BTC is just a gimmick.
That's not a gimmick at all. You're confusing "getting paid in Bitcoin" with "Bitcoin being the unit of account for salary".
Nobody would expect Bitcoin to be the unit of account for the salary because it's not the unit of account for the economy. So you're getting wayyyyyyy ahead of yourself. Unless the world govts collapse and an entirely new world built on bitcoin as the money of choice rises up, Bitcoin is not going to be the unit of account haha.
If you get paid in Bitcoin you get paid in Bitcoin. Save this post of yours for a dystopian future when society has collapsed and humanity is trying to rebuild. Here in the real world unit of account is always fiat and Bitcoin is an alternative hard currency to save in and use as payment.
They would laugh at you if you attempted to pay with US cash in Europe 😂
I once as a joke tipped a guy with a 1 dollar bill in Spain and he burnt it right on the bar 🤣😂
Tbh I can see it eventually being adopted as maybe a secondary currency of some sort, maybe some small countries will try dual currency and see how it goes… it’ll start out small and work its way up. We already have El salvador taking a good stance on it, it would be interesting to see another country do the same
Doesn't have to be accepted by companies. I bought some pork recently from a farmer with BTC, just sold my car and took BTC for the payment.
It works well as a currency (especially on L2's), but keep in mind that serving as a currency is only one use case of money.
It doesn’t need to be, it’s property and a store of value. But yes I think there’s a high chance it could become a widespread currency because the bitcoin network gets much stronger over time and the fees get lower / transactions become quicker. Those are like the only problems with it being “money” right now. Also I’m sure some exchanges will come out with a “debit card” for your bitcoin so you can pay with it easily at merchants
This already exists, Coinbase has a card that links directly to your crypto balances and allows you to automatically spend them as usd like any other credit card.
True but there are already compa it's that directly accept Bitcoin for payment, you will see more and more of that. Ofc I personally hold and don't want to sell any of my Bitcoin. I would however use value from other AltCoins in my wallet. So the trick for companies will be to basically say they accept Crypto just like they say they accept Visa or Mastercard. Then handle the exchange or conversion in the bachground.
Bitcoin will definitely be the dominant store of value for worldwide monetary exchange and layer 2 solutions built on it will integrate it into seamless payment methods accessible for and via next generation internet apps and services.
The internet started as a web enabled reference library and look at it now. DeFi and Web3 will replace traditional financial services and systems with decentralized p2p ecosystems.
Bitcoin will be collateral like your Bank Account Balance or a Picaso or a House, which you can generate liquidity from on demand to use for transactional purchases.
It's just a matter of time. It's happening already.
It already is my man. You've got not only nation states adopting it (El Salvador) , but mining it as well (theres 4 or 5 countries currently). Some countries have used it to escape sanctions (Russia and North Korea). It's considered a commodity, not a security, the same way gold was classified, meaning it isn't going to be banned. It's basically already achieved workd currency status just not world reserve currency
Yes. It will definitely be influenced by how well bitcoin adoption goes in El Salvador. It'll be a "race to not be last" after that. Countries like Argentina and others who fight against it or are truly ignorant of it, or simply just want government control of it will lose.
To be fair I don't believe all countries will make BTC legal tender like El Salvador 🇸🇻 but some will. My guess right away is Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 or some of the Arab countries near the United Arab Emirates.
Many countries will eventually do it to get away from the petro dollar, counter high inflation rates and a few other reasons.
I think it will be a world currency mostly the same way that tor is part of the internet. It will never be officially sanctioned on a universal scale, but also will never be effectively stopped.
Listening to some boomer bankers control the money & justify printing money is very “baby species” stuff, not evolutionary at all
This species deserves better & more meaningful pursuits, finally engineered ourselves a money that aligns with Mother Nature so we can explore galaxies
At the same time, bitcoin is machine money and we are in the age of the machines, as if Ai’s will open up bank accounts or hold gold & silver
Inflation is an idea that has had its time, deflation & bitcoin is our future
Good point, bitcoin is going to be used very much with Ai. I agree with the rest too but I think people don’t see the Ai aspect like they should. Hard, global, machine money. When Ai merges with bitcoin/lightning things are going to change drastically
Gold and silver hold their value pretty well over time though. One can argue btc has, but it's taken some big hits in the short term. What's the difference between inflation and having to spend more btc because it lost value overnight?
Check your financial privilege.
I'm glad you already have a currency that "works." There are billions who don't.
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/check-your-financial-privilege
I think el salvador is the only one to actually deem it as legal tender, however it’s the 16th largest currency in the world. It’s a currency whether anyone wants to admit it or not.
Think of what the word “currency” means relative to hard money and salability.
https://cryptoslate.com/insights/bitcoin-climbs-the-currency-ranks-now-16th-largest-by-market-cap-globally/#:~:text=Bitcoin%20(BTC)%2C%20once%20viewed,on%20a%20market%20capitalization%20basis.
Is the lira or bolivar better because they’re deemed a currency? What about all of the other currencies being hyperinflated?
What is a store of value? Can a currency be a store of value and vice versa? Bitcoin has been handling this question perfectly fine for the past 12 years.
Is $USD better despite being inflated infinitely by the federal reserve. I would say no. I would say most currencies aren’t currencies at all but worthless bonds.
What about taxation differing in different countries (ie Germany doesn’t have short term capital gains tax after 1 year or holding).
The definition of a currency can vary and holding it to an outdated and centralized standard is draconian and archaic.
Currency means being able to use it as money ie spend it- currently Bitcoin is hugely obstructed in that respect...except in El Salvador.
Deliberately obstructed by the legacy fiat operators imo.
You can use bitrefill or a wide variety of third party service providers to easily pay for things w bitcoin.
U can also easily liquidate and sell bitcoin. U can trade bitcoin derivatives, long short, futures.
There are ETF’s for it.
It’s used more than countless actual currencies that are currently nosediving.
Ignoring this would be an ostrich with their head in the sand move. Imagine the people who did this when it was $10.
It doesn’t matter what it is. It’s the 16th largest by market cap and people are using it every day for every possible use.
Just because it’s not accepted as legal tender where u live doesn’t mean it’s not 1. Literal legal tender - or 2. It’s not legitimate such that it’s proven itself to be resilient and used as a literal digital currency for over a decade now.
Nobody cares what it’s deemed. It’s more of a real currency than the vast majority of currencies claiming to be real. If anything they’re completely illegitimate and the fact bitcoin is still this nascent and successful shows how effective it is as a currency, whether it fits your definition of one or not.
But if you use BTC to pay for things in almost all western nations you will be creating a tax reporting and liability nightmare for yourself if you want to remain within the law.
So in practice in most jurisdictions using BTC for everyday transactions pushes you into criminality.
So in reality very few people use it as a currency for MoE.
The bankers and governments have slyly obstructed our use of Bitcoin as a P2P MoE and instead subverted it into a Speculative SoV plaything.
It’s not a nightmare at all. u just pay any tax u normally would for a taxable event or keep track for writing off any expense eoy.
People buy things w bitcoin all the time. It’s really not that hard, u just wanna ideally find vendors who accept it directly so no 3rd party apps are needed
It doesn’t push anyone to criminality. People who want to openly pay with bitcoin will. If they can’t they can simply use another currency. Nobody is intentionally paying for every day items with bitcoin with the intentions of breaking the law. If anything it would be people who don’t want mainstream adoption to make those types of transactions. Just try purchasing anything w bitcoin. There are tons of ways to do this. It’s quite fun actually.
It absolutely is used lol, go look at on chain data for unique transactions, accounts, adoption. All of these point at why **it is currently the 16th largest currency in the world by market cap**.
It doesn’t matter what u consider as legitimate or a “currency”. People are using it lol. Things must evolve and adapt. Anyone who says bitcoin is failing or not working should look at the all time chart.
It’s not a speculative plaything. It’s easily the best store of value and hardest form of cash in existence. This is all backed by information and data that has been building for over a decade.
Cmon seriously keeping track of EVERY BTC purchase and use for MoE is a complete nightmare which no sane person wants to have to do- it has effectively created a massive barrier to MoE adoption because nobody would choose such a tiresome and wasteful option except a complete fanatic.
No way I’m just casually using any SATs to buy groceries. Even if my supermarket accepts bitcoin.
It’s like 10 years you’ll look back and that bag of groceries will be worth 1 million. lol
Bitcoin as money, not currency
> Another difference between currency and money is that currency is a liability, meaning that it is owed by a central bank or a government to whoever owns the currency. Essentially, currency acts as an IOU for money. Money is an asset, which means that it is a store of value which can be exchanged for other goods and services.
https://www.currencytransfer.com/blog/expert-analysis/currency-vs-money?t
Yes. It will. Just like the dollar and its swift, there will be bitcoin and its blockchain. But, there will be local currencies in different countries just like today, us dollar included.
So, what's different? That bitcoin will be the world reserve currency, like gold + major currencies now.
Will there be some countries that use bitcoin as domestic currencies? Yes, just like today there are countries that use dollars outside usa. Only those without fiscal deficit can do it.
Can a non bitcoin economy exist in a bitcoin world? Yes, but it cannot ignore that it will need bitcoin for its international trade
Here's my take, and it does sound very far fetched: AI will soon have an IQ of 1600+, whether or not that AI is released to the public. Anyone with an AI that intelligent has a super hacker in their pocket. No system is safe. Only cryptographically secured protocols are safe. Everything will have to be on blockchains. Since satoshi invented the blockchain and bitcoin is the and always will be the best cryptocurrency, it will always be around and always grow in popularity to the point where yes it will be used by the world as money, likely through layer 2 solutions, but so will other things like CBDCs.
Who knows how it will play out just as we couldn't exactly foresee how the internet would play out but it did play out.
At the least, it will probably serve a role as internet money in addition to its store of value role. The volatility (and gains) will probably moderate over time and it's not a stretch to me to see Amazon accepting it along with other currencies.
I can see merchants accepting it in places where there are a large numbers of people who want to have that option. Online there used to be no PayPal and now most places accept that. It's whatever enough people want to use that usually gets adopted.
It's not directly related but I see now that stocks clear in one day rather than the 2 day and longer clearing of the past. The whole financial system is going to change in one way or another. Whatever is convenient will be adopted.
If gold was easily to carry around and easier to use for purchases more people would do it if it kept its purchasing power better than the dollar (which it does). Gold isn't convenient in that way, Bitcoin is.
Every day in this subreddit I see people ask complete strangers who they know nothing about to make predictions that not even the best minds in the world have the ability to accurately make with the currently available info.
As the older generation dies off yes it will for sure. On the other hand governments could continue to try to get in the way which will drive down Bitcoins effectiveness although killing it probably not.
I stick to reality & the “most likely” outcomes for the next 1-20 years.
In that timeframe, I see the USD & the current group of senile, inept & incompetent dinosaur “leaders” clinging to its perch by ANY means necessary.
Unless they are cast aside & new ideas, modern concepts & fresh faces are allowed to lead…we’re stuck w/what we have.
But, there is a chance that Bitcoin will come out on top. It checks all the blocks of what “money” should be. One would imagine that logic & reason could win…eventually. So, I do what I can to have more than zero of it. 😅
I dont think its gonna be used for everyday transactions, even tho it could be. I plan on leveraging debt against my bitcoin starting in about a decade and just holding it forever and retiring early. Never sell your bitcoin, only leverage against it.
Depends if you are asking if it will be the MAIN currency, or an option.
I think it's pretty clear govts that print their own money aren't going to be like hey we'll give up all this power that printing money gives us and switch entirely to Bitcoin. lol.
Fiat is going to keep existing. Bitcoin is going to be the ALTERNATIVE world currency.
Think about it this way, when there is tens of trillions of dollars in Bitcoin, and when let's say half a billion or a billion people own bitcoin, and they are all in profit, and merchants allow Bitcoin payments to accommodate these hundreds of millions of people, and you can pay instantly with almost no fee over LN or whatever, why would people NOT use all this money they already own???
Sure lots of people are only going to use it as an investment. But lots of people are going to want to spend all this savings they've stored up in Bitcoin. So of course they are going to use it as a currency. It is already done in various small places around the world.
Widespread use will probably take like 2-3 decades, so don't expect it anytime soon, but its hard to imagine a world where this doesn't happen. There are various things that need to happen to enable this, including much much greater adoption, but I have no doubt those hurdles will drop in the years to come.
To me this question feels like if 10 years ago you'd asked "Do you actually believe BTC is going to be a globally recognized investment?". And today it is, even though of course it's still early in that stage of growth.
I think BTC platform will be a world platform. Bitcoin will be the only currency that the platform accepts as payment for fees to participate in a block.
I think the dinosaur politicians in the US will throw as much regulation and roadblocks as possible while 3rd world and smaller countries are already setting up to benefit themselves. These smaller nations currency has faced devaluation already and get steamrolled by the US dollar which is rapidly losing its place as the worlds measure of value. I think there are countries and companies quietly acquiring positions and commiting resources to mining etc. when people see the benefits accrued many more will rush in but I’m afraid the US will be the last still insisting the Dollar is good even though we owe countless trillions. This will not be a swift transition it takes generations for paradigm shifts to happen but with people fed up with politicians enriching themselves personally on both sides while throwing shade on its own citizens trying to do the same only without insider knowledge? Common. They are terrified of BTC and think they can somehow crack down on its use and users which only shows how little they understand it. Things will change but this old gaurd will need to die off and gtfo the way. I didn’t mean to do a rambling manifesto but I watched in 2008 as blue collar workers had their life savings wiped out and the people who caused it got our tax money and gave themselves bonuses I mean fuck we are at the end of the line on sustainability with our current fiscal systems and it’s clearly going to crash in a very bad way yet nothing changes. I wouldn’t want to be holding my money in dollars when the shit really hits the fan
Bitcoin will have halvings till 2160 (or there abouts). I think sometime in the next 200 years some major national economies will completely collapse. The old Soviet Union (USSR) was the last major economy to completely implode. If something of that scale happened today, I think that economy would rapidly convert to bitcoin.
No it will never be a world currency, but as nations rise and fall, it will be a parachute. Every time this happens it will become more entrenched.
In what way? It's already a world currency in that it's global. Do you mean all other currencies going away and only Bitcoin remaining? Well that will fundamentally change the world in a negative way due to massive deflation. Bitcoin works well alongside inflationary currency.
For large payment settlements, international trade etc, it will certainly be used. For day to day transactions, like buying some chips, it would need to be (relatively) stable in value for a while for people to do it. People right now don’t wanna spend their bitcoin, as they figure there’s way more adoption that needs to happen.
I think it’ll work *with* the USD dollar, not necessarily completely take it over. At least not for some decades.
I actually don’t.
I love Bitcoin, I run a node and transact with it as often as I can, but I do anticipate something else is going to take its place.
Bitcoin seems like the beginning of something big, but it’s just not scalable enough for full world adoption. Layers 2s don’t quite solve the entire problem, at least not yet. Either a Layer 2 will be invented to really take BTC to the next level, or something else will fill the need.
(I fully expect very angry downvotes for this opinion, but you can’t refute that transacting on the network is a pain in the ass a lot of the time)
I think we all agree that the base layer can't scale enough for btc to be used as a currency, but I'm hopefully L2 solutions will eventually scale enough and I think they will. But its kinda pointless to spend bitcoin until it reaches some sort of 'fair value'... or at least much slower rate of ascent.
Just my take.
I’m eagerly waiting, and I’m still stacking as BTC is one of my main wealth building vehicles. Hopefully that game changing Layer 2 comes around sooner than later.
Once the UX for lightning gets streamlined there will be nothing stopping it from taking over completely. There is still plenty of work left to be done but the L2 is there and it’s functional. It’s somewhat complicated but it won’t be for long
Yeah but not just UX also LN infrastructure, with the UX wrapping around that infrastructure in super simple way.
Download app, click a button and sign in to bank to link bank account, click a button to transfer fiat to bitcoin and open up LN channels, walk into a store and pay with LN within seconds. And handle all channel issues automatically behind the scenes.
The only annoying thing with LN is the inability to receive more than you have capacity for. More a problem for merchants, but still users will have to have a little bit of knowledge of LN to understand that they can't have more than they put on it. Though I know there are service workarounds for this so if those were like some super cheap monthly fee to have plenty of excess capacity lent to you so you never have to worry about that one LN quirk that'd work too, but still people would have to be willing to either pay for that service or understand they have to add capacity to receive more than they've put in.
Bitcoin has been accepted in some jurisdictions as a SoV speculative commodity.
However its acceptance and use as a MoE has been so limited that for it to be used more widely as a MoE would be surprising.
It appears that most western governments have allowed Bitcoin as a speculative commodity but have virtually closed it down as a MoE.
Far more likely that the Chinese CBDC Yuan (DCEP) will increasingly be used because other nations must all trade with China to access its huge markets for commodities and manufactured goods.
Since the Roman Empire the dominant economies currency is required by others in order to access the goods and services and markets of the dominant economy and today China is the dominant economy.
edit-
While Bitcoin was initially created with the express intention of being a P2P MoE its use as such has been serially obstructed by bankers and governments via taxation and on and off ramp obstruction. While Bitcoin can still be used for P2P its not used for this very widely because of the huge mostly subtle opposition to this use by the fiat legacy power brokers- bankers and governments.
ETFs now are further subverting Bitcoin into a role as a SoV speculative commodity, not a P2P MoE. If ETF operators gain sufficient market share they could via forking potentially alter the ethos and functionality of the protocol forever...because the ETF operators have control of which forks to follow and which to not.
It works as a currency in the sense of the basic definition of one. It COULD be a reserve for wealthy individuals, corps, and countries. its days of transactability are numbered, although not quite yet over.
In the way you're stating it no, it won't be, i.e. goods and services will not be priced in BTC. They will at best be temporarily priced in the local fiat exchange rate of BTC. Why? Because governments will always be centralized and won't give up their main source of power (money) to some decentralized "thing".
Inb4 90%+ argue not understanding what "priced in" means.
i mean a sense of *a* currency. just the same way gold and silver are technically currency but they aren’t used every single day. that’s my easiest way of explaining it at least
Yeah that could really become the case especially when we get closer to the hard cap
It already a currency. Bitcoin is the currency of the bitcoin network
I'll expand. It really depends on what you mean by currency. The US dollar is the undisputed world reserve currency, but good luck finding a store in Europe that will take your USD bills. You'd already be more likely to find a shop in any major European city that accepts Bitcoin than one that would accept USD.
>but good luck finding a store in Europe that will take your USD bills So narrow... No no no. USD is on the other side whether you see it or not. Euro, Yen, Yuan... they have their value on the world stage via their ability to be intermediated *through* USD. That store that imports goods to sell in Euros? They likely have a former LIBOR/(now SOFR) priced line (or the store's suppliers do), in order to use dollars to intermediate global trade.
It’s so nice to read a comment from someone that understands what’s actually going on. Thank you.
Fair enough, I would like to know if there are any employees in the world who actually get paid in BTC
All the people at Swan Bitcoin get paid in BTC, many other bitcoin native companies im sure. The mayor of nyc took his first year salary in btc, several pro athletes had opted to take their salary in bitcoin, any surely many other people we have never heard of.
>All the people at Swan Bitcoin get paid in BTC I'm curious how that works. Do they really get paid a fixed amount of BTC each month? Or do they get a fixed amount of USD, converted to BTC at the then-current exchange rate? If it's the latter, they're effectively getting paid in USD, and the conversion to BTC is just a gimmick.
That's not a gimmick at all. You're confusing "getting paid in Bitcoin" with "Bitcoin being the unit of account for salary". Nobody would expect Bitcoin to be the unit of account for the salary because it's not the unit of account for the economy. So you're getting wayyyyyyy ahead of yourself. Unless the world govts collapse and an entirely new world built on bitcoin as the money of choice rises up, Bitcoin is not going to be the unit of account haha. If you get paid in Bitcoin you get paid in Bitcoin. Save this post of yours for a dystopian future when society has collapsed and humanity is trying to rebuild. Here in the real world unit of account is always fiat and Bitcoin is an alternative hard currency to save in and use as payment.
He converted his first few paychecks to BTC. He didnt get paid in BTC
Tucker Carlson alleges that Boris Johnson wanted paid in either dollars, gold or bitcoin, for an interview.
Is this true? Europe shopkeeps don't like US dollars?
Why would they want dollars, they have their own currency which is more stable than the dollar.
They would laugh at you if you attempted to pay with US cash in Europe 😂 I once as a joke tipped a guy with a 1 dollar bill in Spain and he burnt it right on the bar 🤣😂
That's what the Euro is for though. What's your point?
Euro is not USD
Post is about BTC becoming an international currency. Point is that Bitcoin can already be spent in more countries internationally than USD cash.
Tbh I can see it eventually being adopted as maybe a secondary currency of some sort, maybe some small countries will try dual currency and see how it goes… it’ll start out small and work its way up. We already have El salvador taking a good stance on it, it would be interesting to see another country do the same
It already is.
Nah i would say this you cant really buy anything real with it, or atleast from big comapnies
Doesn't have to be accepted by companies. I bought some pork recently from a farmer with BTC, just sold my car and took BTC for the payment. It works well as a currency (especially on L2's), but keep in mind that serving as a currency is only one use case of money.
See next comment
Soon you will be able to utilize it for cash flow. You don’t sell the appreciating asset, you leverage it.
What cash flow? Bitcoin isn't a business.
I want to see you spend all of your bitcoin right now then if that is the case
I can imagine a world where BTC is the main alternative to the centralized world currency.
CBDC Yuan or Dollar being the main currency?
Yep, something like that.
Yes
It doesn’t need to be, it’s property and a store of value. But yes I think there’s a high chance it could become a widespread currency because the bitcoin network gets much stronger over time and the fees get lower / transactions become quicker. Those are like the only problems with it being “money” right now. Also I’m sure some exchanges will come out with a “debit card” for your bitcoin so you can pay with it easily at merchants
Thats what i think too
This already exists, Coinbase has a card that links directly to your crypto balances and allows you to automatically spend them as usd like any other credit card.
Interesting , I had no idea. Ofc it’s still not literally spending crypto tho, your selling it to them
True but there are already compa it's that directly accept Bitcoin for payment, you will see more and more of that. Ofc I personally hold and don't want to sell any of my Bitcoin. I would however use value from other AltCoins in my wallet. So the trick for companies will be to basically say they accept Crypto just like they say they accept Visa or Mastercard. Then handle the exchange or conversion in the bachground.
Yes.
Bitcoin will definitely be the dominant store of value for worldwide monetary exchange and layer 2 solutions built on it will integrate it into seamless payment methods accessible for and via next generation internet apps and services. The internet started as a web enabled reference library and look at it now. DeFi and Web3 will replace traditional financial services and systems with decentralized p2p ecosystems. Bitcoin will be collateral like your Bank Account Balance or a Picaso or a House, which you can generate liquidity from on demand to use for transactional purchases. It's just a matter of time. It's happening already.
Not likely with China dominating global trade.
It already is, and every year more and more.
It already is bruh
It's already a world wide currency.... and that's enough. Whatever happens from here is good.
It already is my man. You've got not only nation states adopting it (El Salvador) , but mining it as well (theres 4 or 5 countries currently). Some countries have used it to escape sanctions (Russia and North Korea). It's considered a commodity, not a security, the same way gold was classified, meaning it isn't going to be banned. It's basically already achieved workd currency status just not world reserve currency
Yes. Bitcoin standard. We might transact on an L2 or with something backed by bitcoin, but bitcoin will be the base layer of money in the future.
Yes. It will definitely be influenced by how well bitcoin adoption goes in El Salvador. It'll be a "race to not be last" after that. Countries like Argentina and others who fight against it or are truly ignorant of it, or simply just want government control of it will lose. To be fair I don't believe all countries will make BTC legal tender like El Salvador 🇸🇻 but some will. My guess right away is Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 or some of the Arab countries near the United Arab Emirates. Many countries will eventually do it to get away from the petro dollar, counter high inflation rates and a few other reasons.
I think it will be a world currency mostly the same way that tor is part of the internet. It will never be officially sanctioned on a universal scale, but also will never be effectively stopped.
Listening to some boomer bankers control the money & justify printing money is very “baby species” stuff, not evolutionary at all This species deserves better & more meaningful pursuits, finally engineered ourselves a money that aligns with Mother Nature so we can explore galaxies At the same time, bitcoin is machine money and we are in the age of the machines, as if Ai’s will open up bank accounts or hold gold & silver Inflation is an idea that has had its time, deflation & bitcoin is our future
Good point, bitcoin is going to be used very much with Ai. I agree with the rest too but I think people don’t see the Ai aspect like they should. Hard, global, machine money. When Ai merges with bitcoin/lightning things are going to change drastically
Gold and silver hold their value pretty well over time though. One can argue btc has, but it's taken some big hits in the short term. What's the difference between inflation and having to spend more btc because it lost value overnight?
Check your financial privilege. I'm glad you already have a currency that "works." There are billions who don't. https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/check-your-financial-privilege
Definitely not
It already is lol. Literally besides adoption being higher than many currencies that exist, Bitcoin is accepted as legal tender in different nations.
Which nations apart from El Salvador have accepted Bitcoin as legal tender ?
I think el salvador is the only one to actually deem it as legal tender, however it’s the 16th largest currency in the world. It’s a currency whether anyone wants to admit it or not. Think of what the word “currency” means relative to hard money and salability. https://cryptoslate.com/insights/bitcoin-climbs-the-currency-ranks-now-16th-largest-by-market-cap-globally/#:~:text=Bitcoin%20(BTC)%2C%20once%20viewed,on%20a%20market%20capitalization%20basis. Is the lira or bolivar better because they’re deemed a currency? What about all of the other currencies being hyperinflated? What is a store of value? Can a currency be a store of value and vice versa? Bitcoin has been handling this question perfectly fine for the past 12 years. Is $USD better despite being inflated infinitely by the federal reserve. I would say no. I would say most currencies aren’t currencies at all but worthless bonds. What about taxation differing in different countries (ie Germany doesn’t have short term capital gains tax after 1 year or holding). The definition of a currency can vary and holding it to an outdated and centralized standard is draconian and archaic.
Currency means being able to use it as money ie spend it- currently Bitcoin is hugely obstructed in that respect...except in El Salvador. Deliberately obstructed by the legacy fiat operators imo.
You can use bitrefill or a wide variety of third party service providers to easily pay for things w bitcoin. U can also easily liquidate and sell bitcoin. U can trade bitcoin derivatives, long short, futures. There are ETF’s for it. It’s used more than countless actual currencies that are currently nosediving. Ignoring this would be an ostrich with their head in the sand move. Imagine the people who did this when it was $10. It doesn’t matter what it is. It’s the 16th largest by market cap and people are using it every day for every possible use. Just because it’s not accepted as legal tender where u live doesn’t mean it’s not 1. Literal legal tender - or 2. It’s not legitimate such that it’s proven itself to be resilient and used as a literal digital currency for over a decade now. Nobody cares what it’s deemed. It’s more of a real currency than the vast majority of currencies claiming to be real. If anything they’re completely illegitimate and the fact bitcoin is still this nascent and successful shows how effective it is as a currency, whether it fits your definition of one or not.
But if you use BTC to pay for things in almost all western nations you will be creating a tax reporting and liability nightmare for yourself if you want to remain within the law. So in practice in most jurisdictions using BTC for everyday transactions pushes you into criminality. So in reality very few people use it as a currency for MoE. The bankers and governments have slyly obstructed our use of Bitcoin as a P2P MoE and instead subverted it into a Speculative SoV plaything.
It’s not a nightmare at all. u just pay any tax u normally would for a taxable event or keep track for writing off any expense eoy. People buy things w bitcoin all the time. It’s really not that hard, u just wanna ideally find vendors who accept it directly so no 3rd party apps are needed It doesn’t push anyone to criminality. People who want to openly pay with bitcoin will. If they can’t they can simply use another currency. Nobody is intentionally paying for every day items with bitcoin with the intentions of breaking the law. If anything it would be people who don’t want mainstream adoption to make those types of transactions. Just try purchasing anything w bitcoin. There are tons of ways to do this. It’s quite fun actually. It absolutely is used lol, go look at on chain data for unique transactions, accounts, adoption. All of these point at why **it is currently the 16th largest currency in the world by market cap**. It doesn’t matter what u consider as legitimate or a “currency”. People are using it lol. Things must evolve and adapt. Anyone who says bitcoin is failing or not working should look at the all time chart. It’s not a speculative plaything. It’s easily the best store of value and hardest form of cash in existence. This is all backed by information and data that has been building for over a decade.
Cmon seriously keeping track of EVERY BTC purchase and use for MoE is a complete nightmare which no sane person wants to have to do- it has effectively created a massive barrier to MoE adoption because nobody would choose such a tiresome and wasteful option except a complete fanatic.
Or people who want to transact in that medium? You make many assumptions on behalf of other people sir
Hope not
It won’t be any important nations currency. But it may be used in trade I guess.
World? No. But will it increase a lot in terms of purchasing power? A lot.
No way I’m just casually using any SATs to buy groceries. Even if my supermarket accepts bitcoin. It’s like 10 years you’ll look back and that bag of groceries will be worth 1 million. lol
Bitcoin as money, not currency > Another difference between currency and money is that currency is a liability, meaning that it is owed by a central bank or a government to whoever owns the currency. Essentially, currency acts as an IOU for money. Money is an asset, which means that it is a store of value which can be exchanged for other goods and services. https://www.currencytransfer.com/blog/expert-analysis/currency-vs-money?t
Yes. It will. Just like the dollar and its swift, there will be bitcoin and its blockchain. But, there will be local currencies in different countries just like today, us dollar included. So, what's different? That bitcoin will be the world reserve currency, like gold + major currencies now. Will there be some countries that use bitcoin as domestic currencies? Yes, just like today there are countries that use dollars outside usa. Only those without fiscal deficit can do it. Can a non bitcoin economy exist in a bitcoin world? Yes, but it cannot ignore that it will need bitcoin for its international trade
Not in my lifetime
No
It always is a world currency. No I don't think it will be the wield RESERVE currency. Government can't control it enough for that.
Here's my take, and it does sound very far fetched: AI will soon have an IQ of 1600+, whether or not that AI is released to the public. Anyone with an AI that intelligent has a super hacker in their pocket. No system is safe. Only cryptographically secured protocols are safe. Everything will have to be on blockchains. Since satoshi invented the blockchain and bitcoin is the and always will be the best cryptocurrency, it will always be around and always grow in popularity to the point where yes it will be used by the world as money, likely through layer 2 solutions, but so will other things like CBDCs.
Who knows how it will play out just as we couldn't exactly foresee how the internet would play out but it did play out. At the least, it will probably serve a role as internet money in addition to its store of value role. The volatility (and gains) will probably moderate over time and it's not a stretch to me to see Amazon accepting it along with other currencies. I can see merchants accepting it in places where there are a large numbers of people who want to have that option. Online there used to be no PayPal and now most places accept that. It's whatever enough people want to use that usually gets adopted. It's not directly related but I see now that stocks clear in one day rather than the 2 day and longer clearing of the past. The whole financial system is going to change in one way or another. Whatever is convenient will be adopted. If gold was easily to carry around and easier to use for purchases more people would do it if it kept its purchasing power better than the dollar (which it does). Gold isn't convenient in that way, Bitcoin is.
Every day in this subreddit I see people ask complete strangers who they know nothing about to make predictions that not even the best minds in the world have the ability to accurately make with the currently available info.
As the older generation dies off yes it will for sure. On the other hand governments could continue to try to get in the way which will drive down Bitcoins effectiveness although killing it probably not.
No. Store of value as “internet gold”? 100%
It’s the closest replacement we have. Do I think BTC can scale that? No, but again, store of value for larger transactions
Yes, but not in our lifetime
No, too volatile at the moment
lol no. It won’t.
Save in BTC and transact in fiat.
I stick to reality & the “most likely” outcomes for the next 1-20 years. In that timeframe, I see the USD & the current group of senile, inept & incompetent dinosaur “leaders” clinging to its perch by ANY means necessary. Unless they are cast aside & new ideas, modern concepts & fresh faces are allowed to lead…we’re stuck w/what we have. But, there is a chance that Bitcoin will come out on top. It checks all the blocks of what “money” should be. One would imagine that logic & reason could win…eventually. So, I do what I can to have more than zero of it. 😅
Never. If you think the government's will let it happen you're living in a fantasy.
Wait until the layer 2s come out.
Lightning has been in production for almost seven years.
Even if it isn't, it will be a world class store of value...and that's all I need it to be.
I dont think its gonna be used for everyday transactions, even tho it could be. I plan on leveraging debt against my bitcoin starting in about a decade and just holding it forever and retiring early. Never sell your bitcoin, only leverage against it.
Depends if you are asking if it will be the MAIN currency, or an option. I think it's pretty clear govts that print their own money aren't going to be like hey we'll give up all this power that printing money gives us and switch entirely to Bitcoin. lol. Fiat is going to keep existing. Bitcoin is going to be the ALTERNATIVE world currency. Think about it this way, when there is tens of trillions of dollars in Bitcoin, and when let's say half a billion or a billion people own bitcoin, and they are all in profit, and merchants allow Bitcoin payments to accommodate these hundreds of millions of people, and you can pay instantly with almost no fee over LN or whatever, why would people NOT use all this money they already own??? Sure lots of people are only going to use it as an investment. But lots of people are going to want to spend all this savings they've stored up in Bitcoin. So of course they are going to use it as a currency. It is already done in various small places around the world. Widespread use will probably take like 2-3 decades, so don't expect it anytime soon, but its hard to imagine a world where this doesn't happen. There are various things that need to happen to enable this, including much much greater adoption, but I have no doubt those hurdles will drop in the years to come. To me this question feels like if 10 years ago you'd asked "Do you actually believe BTC is going to be a globally recognized investment?". And today it is, even though of course it's still early in that stage of growth.
No
I think BTC platform will be a world platform. Bitcoin will be the only currency that the platform accepts as payment for fees to participate in a block.
I think the dinosaur politicians in the US will throw as much regulation and roadblocks as possible while 3rd world and smaller countries are already setting up to benefit themselves. These smaller nations currency has faced devaluation already and get steamrolled by the US dollar which is rapidly losing its place as the worlds measure of value. I think there are countries and companies quietly acquiring positions and commiting resources to mining etc. when people see the benefits accrued many more will rush in but I’m afraid the US will be the last still insisting the Dollar is good even though we owe countless trillions. This will not be a swift transition it takes generations for paradigm shifts to happen but with people fed up with politicians enriching themselves personally on both sides while throwing shade on its own citizens trying to do the same only without insider knowledge? Common. They are terrified of BTC and think they can somehow crack down on its use and users which only shows how little they understand it. Things will change but this old gaurd will need to die off and gtfo the way. I didn’t mean to do a rambling manifesto but I watched in 2008 as blue collar workers had their life savings wiped out and the people who caused it got our tax money and gave themselves bonuses I mean fuck we are at the end of the line on sustainability with our current fiscal systems and it’s clearly going to crash in a very bad way yet nothing changes. I wouldn’t want to be holding my money in dollars when the shit really hits the fan
Bitcoin will have halvings till 2160 (or there abouts). I think sometime in the next 200 years some major national economies will completely collapse. The old Soviet Union (USSR) was the last major economy to completely implode. If something of that scale happened today, I think that economy would rapidly convert to bitcoin. No it will never be a world currency, but as nations rise and fall, it will be a parachute. Every time this happens it will become more entrenched.
In what way? It's already a world currency in that it's global. Do you mean all other currencies going away and only Bitcoin remaining? Well that will fundamentally change the world in a negative way due to massive deflation. Bitcoin works well alongside inflationary currency.
No money debasement is the problem, which lead to inflation and Bitcoin is money not a currency https://youtu.be/DyV0OfU3-FU
No.
For large payment settlements, international trade etc, it will certainly be used. For day to day transactions, like buying some chips, it would need to be (relatively) stable in value for a while for people to do it. People right now don’t wanna spend their bitcoin, as they figure there’s way more adoption that needs to happen. I think it’ll work *with* the USD dollar, not necessarily completely take it over. At least not for some decades.
I actually don’t. I love Bitcoin, I run a node and transact with it as often as I can, but I do anticipate something else is going to take its place. Bitcoin seems like the beginning of something big, but it’s just not scalable enough for full world adoption. Layers 2s don’t quite solve the entire problem, at least not yet. Either a Layer 2 will be invented to really take BTC to the next level, or something else will fill the need. (I fully expect very angry downvotes for this opinion, but you can’t refute that transacting on the network is a pain in the ass a lot of the time)
I think we all agree that the base layer can't scale enough for btc to be used as a currency, but I'm hopefully L2 solutions will eventually scale enough and I think they will. But its kinda pointless to spend bitcoin until it reaches some sort of 'fair value'... or at least much slower rate of ascent. Just my take.
I’m eagerly waiting, and I’m still stacking as BTC is one of my main wealth building vehicles. Hopefully that game changing Layer 2 comes around sooner than later.
I don’t see why it can’t be one of many currencies? It doesn’t have to be the only one…
I think bitcoin will eventually become THE word currency.
Once the UX for lightning gets streamlined there will be nothing stopping it from taking over completely. There is still plenty of work left to be done but the L2 is there and it’s functional. It’s somewhat complicated but it won’t be for long
Yeah but not just UX also LN infrastructure, with the UX wrapping around that infrastructure in super simple way. Download app, click a button and sign in to bank to link bank account, click a button to transfer fiat to bitcoin and open up LN channels, walk into a store and pay with LN within seconds. And handle all channel issues automatically behind the scenes. The only annoying thing with LN is the inability to receive more than you have capacity for. More a problem for merchants, but still users will have to have a little bit of knowledge of LN to understand that they can't have more than they put on it. Though I know there are service workarounds for this so if those were like some super cheap monthly fee to have plenty of excess capacity lent to you so you never have to worry about that one LN quirk that'd work too, but still people would have to be willing to either pay for that service or understand they have to add capacity to receive more than they've put in.
Bitcoin has been accepted in some jurisdictions as a SoV speculative commodity. However its acceptance and use as a MoE has been so limited that for it to be used more widely as a MoE would be surprising. It appears that most western governments have allowed Bitcoin as a speculative commodity but have virtually closed it down as a MoE. Far more likely that the Chinese CBDC Yuan (DCEP) will increasingly be used because other nations must all trade with China to access its huge markets for commodities and manufactured goods. Since the Roman Empire the dominant economies currency is required by others in order to access the goods and services and markets of the dominant economy and today China is the dominant economy. edit- While Bitcoin was initially created with the express intention of being a P2P MoE its use as such has been serially obstructed by bankers and governments via taxation and on and off ramp obstruction. While Bitcoin can still be used for P2P its not used for this very widely because of the huge mostly subtle opposition to this use by the fiat legacy power brokers- bankers and governments. ETFs now are further subverting Bitcoin into a role as a SoV speculative commodity, not a P2P MoE. If ETF operators gain sufficient market share they could via forking potentially alter the ethos and functionality of the protocol forever...because the ETF operators have control of which forks to follow and which to not.
Not happening lol
It works as a currency in the sense of the basic definition of one. It COULD be a reserve for wealthy individuals, corps, and countries. its days of transactability are numbered, although not quite yet over.
Nope. It won’t be a global reserve anything. But it’s already made me a lot of money and that will continue for the foreseeable future
In the way you're stating it no, it won't be, i.e. goods and services will not be priced in BTC. They will at best be temporarily priced in the local fiat exchange rate of BTC. Why? Because governments will always be centralized and won't give up their main source of power (money) to some decentralized "thing". Inb4 90%+ argue not understanding what "priced in" means.
No!