lets clarify points mis-understood by previous posts. especially the OP.
currency can be anything. cigarettes in prison, vodka for favours in russia, etc. so currency so not a sustainable loop. currency includes products, favours, money, stocks, shares, commodities, property, assets, etc...
a sustainable loop is a small segment of the umbrella category of currency. and the OP should realize this small segment he talks about is 'money', thus the OP's topic should be that 'bitcoin is not money and this is why'
before the rebuttles come in.. money is not limited to FIAT (federally owned monetary currency) or legal tender or whatever.. money is the main sustainable currency used in any economy no matter who rules it, who owns it or how its used.
now lets move onto commodities.. as i hate that silly misconception.. bitcoin is not tangible or intrinsic (keywords of commodities), bitcoin however is in the realm of being an ASSET currency...
now with that said. bitcoin is a currency, its an asset currency, but it has not got to the point of being treated as money...... yet!
I like debating you.
You say "po-tay-to" and I say "po-tah-to",
You say "to-may-to" and I say "to-mah-to"
Yes, technically you are right, and I wasn't this time. :-) Though it is nice to see the that the underlying point is something we can agree on.
The key word in the OP's argument is yet.
very key word
If i gave an American some swiss francs or Japanese yen it would be awkward to use it in 'the loop' you describe, but not impossible - they are still currencies.
They would work just fine if I travel to Japan or Switzerland. The loop doesn't have to exist everywhere, but we need a loop somewhere.
bitcoin
bit = digital
coin = currency
built to be used as a currency
bitcoin = digital currency
who cares if you hold, trade, invest
it is still a currency
wow
This is like saying
I do not use my house to live in, I rent it out therefore it is not a house
people trade the us dollar and hold it, invest in it, does this mean when they do this it is not a currency
I can call my coffee mug a mugcoin and try to pass it off as money, it doesn't make it so.
The key distinguished here is that not all commodities are currencies, but all currencies can be commodities. Or as Franky would more accurately say, "all money is an asset, but not all assets are money"