Post
Topic
Board Bitcoin Discussion
Re: Why we shouldnt worry if Amazon doesnt accept btc!
by
pening
on 23/08/2014, 16:14:27 UTC
...
I think your both missing the point.  People say the issue with Bitcoin is they don't have much use for it other then speculating on the future price.  That issue is being addressed when they have the option to use Bitcoin for their everyday purchases.  Now if someone needs something and can use a Bitcoin that is one less reason to deny Bitcoin's value. ...

Yes, it does give Bitcoin more purpose and credibility, its one less reason to deny Bitcoin's use.  Not necessarily its value.  Here's the deeper economic point: its depleting its value, as you valued the purchased item more than you did the Bitcoin.  With normal currency this isn't an issue as the vendor values the currency.  However here they don't, and promptly offload immediately.  This is not a good thing long term, its a constant selling pressure on the currency.
This would assume that anyone who would buy something with bitcoin already had bitcoin and would not have otherwise spent/sold it. I would argue that most of the time this is not the case, I think that most people that spend bitcoin have semi recently purchased bitcoin with the intention of spending it.  

I find this notion that people are aquiring Bitcoins in the market to then spend at a normal retail establishment to be quite odd.  Its daft to purchase something only to use it to purchase something else, where that interim step is unnecessary.  I'm sure there some cases, some for the novelty or to see how it works, or edge case financial situations.  But it doesn't make much sense to risk the loses in exchange or the transaction costs to do so regularly.  I expect the vast majority of Bitcoin sales through regular retailers are from self-mined stockpiles.