Quote from: jacafbiz on March 13, 2017, 08:01:24 AM

Quote from: jaysabi on March 13, 2017, 01:01:22 AM

Very generally, there are two classifications of how people see bitcoin, and people tend to fall to different degrees into the two camps. The first is the to the moon camp. These folks believe bitcoin is solving a fundamental problem that fiat currency doesn't address and that it is only a matter of time before bitcoin replaces the USD as the dominant currency in the world. Now, that's written to the extreme end of it, but I'm sure you've all seen variations of this sentiment on these boards. Also falling into this camp are people who think that the next major recession or market crash is going to send the bitcoin price soaring, as people flee the broken fiat currencies of the world and buy up all the digital gold (btc, of course) they can get their hands on.

The second group thinks bitcoin has serious flaws that will prevent it from ever becoming a major currency for the purposes of trade or commerce, and that it is at best a speculative investment. (Again, written to the extreme.) These people believe that the next major recession or market sell off will tank the price of bitcoin along with everything else, as capital flees the riskiest assets first. This group also believes that bitcoin is a flash in the pan, and other digital currencies will eventually surpass it or they will all diminish in value together.

There are degrees along this spectrum. If we were plotting this out on a scale of 1-10, let's call the first group a 1 and the second group a 10, and a 5 would be someone right in the middle who doesn't think going to the moon is any more or less likely than going to 0.

Where do you fall, and why?

I think you are wrong because my vision of Bitcoin is quite different from the two you highlighted above. I will like to also know which of the two visions you hold for Bitcoin

It's a scale from 1-10, so you can fall in the middle somewhere. But the two positions are on each end of the extreme, so the spectrum should be all encompassing.

I fall at about an 8. I don't see bitcoin becoming stable enough to be useful as a currency. If it ever does settle into a stable value, then I think mining fees will prevent it from ever being a cost-competitive payment method compared to traditional payment options. I think it was some utility for transferring money quickly across national borders (very useful for remittances), but that's about as far as I see it ever going on a practical level. If there is utility elsewhere, I don't see it at the moment. I can see more widespread familiarity with bitcoin in the future, but I do not see it leading to mass adoption because the it's not tremendously more useful in most areas of use than traditional money.