Post
Topic
Board Bitcoin Discussion
Re: Has Bitcoin Failed as Money?
by
Pmalek
on 20/02/2021, 08:03:23 UTC
While bitcoin will grow in value relatively quickly, there is no point in using it as a means of payment. Why buy goods or services for bitcoin, if its holder knows that after a while its price will rise and he will be able to buy even more goods for the same amount in bitcoins?
Most merchants convert the coins they receive to fiat right away so they don't have any concerns about the direction the value will go to. They don't store bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies because they need fiat to pay their workers, bills, taxes... Your concern is only valid from the point of view of the payer or the buyer who might be speculating how the price will move after he sends his transaction.


Maybe bitcoin was never meant to be used for micropayments or as an everyday currency. Even in the old days, it wasn't considered suitable. Take a look at what satoshi said on that subject back in 2010:

Bitcoin isn't currently practical for very small micropayments.  Not for things like pay per search or per page view without an aggregating mechanism, not things needing to pay less than 0.01.  The dust spam limit is a first try at intentionally trying to prevent overly small micropayments like that.

Bitcoin is practical for smaller transactions than are practical with existing payment methods.  Small enough to include what you might call the top of the micropayment range.  But it doesn't claim to be practical for arbitrarily small micropayments.
What was true in 2010 is true even today. It's even more less suitable for micropayments considering the fees right now. We can only hope that LN catches on.