Why is Bitcoin stagnant right now?

I saw a comment saying you cant buy anything with it??? This is 100% false. Multiple business where I live in FL take it, we use between peers for yard sales, we use it to pay fantasy football dues, and it has been a life saver overseas where certain countries currency flakes. The beauty is there is a fix supply and no middle man (banks). It does not matter if you dont agree with it or dont want to use it, the blockchain is the future and thousands of businesses already use it.

originally posted by: MPoling
I saw a comment saying you cant buy anything with it???

You cannot use it like standard currency, e.g. walk into a store, pull out some cash/tap to pay and leave. There is a huge latency issue with processing and it still needs to be converted into dollars for you to complete the transaction.

a reply to: MPoling

Blockchain is separate from the value and usage of the coin. It's the open source mechanism that holds all the transactions. There's no asset behind coins, just the coin itself and the whimsical value people place on it.

Two things..

1. You can use it like a standard currency. I walk into stores and use my Coinbase wallet and transfer BTC to stores wallet. The process is much smoother and easier. Yes it uses dollars for conversion but it could use any other form of currency for conversion.

2. Bockchain is separate. The value of the coin is not some random number, its based on what people believe that company is worth, kinda like the stock market. ETH is the highway, i.e. real estate, and the other companies are built on that highway.

The one thing Bitcoin has it has a limit to the amount of bitcoin created therefore one day the bitcoin reaches 21 million, lapping up all that energy, will stop, in theory.
www.investopedia.com...#:~:text=The%20Bitcoin%20ecosystem%20is%20still,million%20coin%20limit%2 0is%20reached.


Then these minors will only get paid like stockbrokers then.

Then the blockchain will beknown as blockhead chain

originally posted by: Antisocialist
a reply to: Subsonic

What happens to crypto when the power goes out? Thinking EMP.

Same thing that happens to your CCs and bank accounts. The only thing you'll be able to access/use is whatever cash (or gold/silver or other physical assets) you have on hand - which is a good reason to never ever rely solely on electronic anything for your survival.

originally posted by: peaceinoutz
The one thing Bitcoin has it has a limit to the amount of bitcoin created therefore one day the bitcoin reaches 21 million, lapping up all that energy, will stop, in theory.

A bit simplistic and not exactly true...

First, mining can be done individually (in which case you get the current reward - the full 12.5 BTC), or you can join mining pools, in which case each reward gets split up among the members of the pool.

Second, not all BTC nodes are miners - but all miners are (or should be) nodes. BTC nodes do much more than just mine, they also process and approve each and every transaction that gets added to the blockchain, and that will always be needed even if/when all of the BTC have been mined - which will likely never happen, or, at least it will be a long long time before it does, because the protocol uses an algorithm that both reduces the reward size as time goes on, and makes it harder and harder to achieve.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: MPoling

You cannot use it like standard currency, e.g. walk into a store, pull out some cash/tap to pay and leave. There is a huge latency issue with processing and it still needs to be converted into dollars for you to complete the transaction.

Not everywhere (yet), but actually, yes you can, and this ability is growing. It is called Lightning, which doesn't suffer from the cost or latency issues of pure BTC.

a reply to: face23785
One of the concerns with Bitcoin is that it has no intrinsic value - like most fiat currencies.
The thing most fiat currencies have that Bitcoin does not possess is an Army.

Typically the strongest currencies are ultimately backed up by brute force, when dealing with the Human Race it always was and always will be this way. Typically and historically the country and currency with the most powerful armed force wins.

And that won't be Bitcoin....

originally posted by: tanstaafl
Not everywhere (yet), but actually, yes you can, and this ability is growing. It is called Lightning, which doesn't suffer from the cost or latency issues of pure BTC.

Bitcoin will never be a useful currency, ever. Its volatility is atrocious and all transactions have to go through a third party platform. It's a joke of a currency.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: tanstaafl
Bitcoin will never be a useful currency, ever. Its volatility is atrocious and all transactions have to go through a third party platform. It's a joke of a currency.

Yeah yeah yeah, meanwhile real people are invested/ing in it and/or using it to exchange value between themselves right now, and have been for years.

But thanks for participating!

originally posted by: tanstaafl
Yeah yeah yeah, meanwhile real people are invested/ing in it and/or using it to exchange value between themselves right now, and have been for years.

That's nice. You trying to tell me that's a currency now after blathering on about how it wasn't?

Bitcoin is a joke.

a reply to: Phantom423

Absolutely correct. Anything that is not tangible and somewhat limited is a fiat currency no matter what people say or believe. I can pick up smooth round blue rocks by the creek and make it a currency if you accept it and believe it has value. The two of us signing them gives an air of authenticity to a third person. But the real value would be in numbering them with proof that they cannot be duplicated (maybe one of us died or the special ink pen ran out of ink).

Then and only then is it a real currency as both tangible and limited. Value is still a matter of perception unless assigned.

Thus the Gold Standard of US currency in that 1 dollar was worth exactly 1/35 of an ounce of gold, and the world has been under the delusion of wealth since 1971 no matter the currency used.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: tanstaafl
You trying to tell me that's a currency now after blathering on about how it wasn't?

It isn't...

You trying to tell me that when someone barters eggs for toilet paper, that makes the eggs (or the TP, or both) 'currency'?

Bitcoin is a joke.

Joke's on you then...

originally posted by: tanstaafl
You trying to tell me that when someone barters eggs for toilet paper, that makes the eggs (or the TP, or both) 'currency'?

If they are in regular usage as such then they become a de facto currency. Using Bitcoin in this capacity where it's 'ability is growing' makes it a currency which is what it's founder described it as.

Joke's on you then...

Not really, I'm not one of those fan bois who thinks it's anything more than it is.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: tanstaafl
If they are in regular usage as such then they become a de facto currency. Using Bitcoin in this capacity where it's 'ability is growing' makes it a currency which is what it's founder described it as.

Depends on how you mean 'currency' - and he described it as a potential currency. There is a big difference.

Currency, in general, is a universally accepted medium of exchange authorized by law.

If/when that day ever comes, I'll recognize it as 'currency'.

I'm not one of those fan bois who thinks it's anything more than it is.

Yet you don't even really know what it is, so... yeah, the jokes still on you, but really, you're just kidding yourself.

originally posted by: tanstaafl
If/when that day ever comes, I'll recognize it as 'currency'.

That day will never come because as currency it's a giant POS.

Yet you don't even really know what it is, so... yeah, the jokes still on you, but really, you're just kidding yourself.

I know what it is, it's currently a Ponzi Scheme manipulated by state agencies, a huge drain on infrastructure, a non-scalable platform and a failed digital currency.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: tanstaafl

That day will never come because as currency it's a giant POS.

No, it actually isn't, when you add in the Lightning co-factor.

it's currently a Ponzi Scheme manipulated by state agencies,

Oh, really? Apparently you don't even know what a ponzi scheme is, because it is not even remotely within the ballpark of such a thing.

But by all means, go ahead and prove it by pointing out the characteristics of BTC that make it anything even remotely like a ponzi scheme.

... or admit you're full of it.

a huge drain on infrastructure,

Oh, yeah, right... wait, no, you're wrong again...

a non-scalable platform

Yeah, it used to have this problem, until the devs introduced layer 2 capabilities, which is what Lightning is.

and a failed digital currency.

Interesting notion of what the term 'failed' means - unsurprising since you don't even know what a ponzi scheme is.

Oh - and in spite of your patently false claim it is a 'failed digital currency', I can buy stuff with it right now.

a reply to: MPoling

2. Bockchain is separate. The value of the coin is not some random number, its based on what people believe that company is worth, kinda like the stock market. ETH is the highway, i.e. real estate, and the other companies are built on that highway.

That's a very false analogy. Coin, any coin, has zero comparison to the stock market. Why? Because companies that are listed on the NYSE and S&P have been vetted for their underlying assets. If a company listed on the S&P defaults on a loan big time and falls under the S&P threshold guidelines, trading in that stock is stopped immediately.

With coin, there is no underlying asset. Therefore, there is no way to calculate its value. It's simply pure supply and demand with no backbone.

You want to use it, fine. But when you wonder why it's trading in the toilet it's because demand has dried up. And there's no statistical probability model to predict where and when it might climb or tank. The stock market has a long history of statistics, enough to make some fairly good predictions, even predictions of Black Swan events (a Black Swan event is something like the 9/11 catastrophe).

If you want to use it for convenience, fine. But you're smoking some strong stuff if you think it has intrinsic value as an investment.

originally posted by: tanstaafl
No, it actually isn't, when you add in the Lightning co-factor.

Let me know when that actually happens and it gets adopted. No one is going to certify that as an actual payment scheme at this point so it will remain niche.

Oh, really? Apparently you don't even know what a ponzi scheme is, because it is not even remotely within the ballpark of such a thing.

Glad I'm not some bozo who put in money when it was $65,000, or $50,000, or $30,000 or even lower because the Bitcoin pump and dumpers made that money.

Oh, yeah, right... wait, no, you're wrong again...

Right, you need entire server farms to process the exchanges and it uses as much energy as several countries.

Yeah, it used to have this problem, until the devs introduced layer 2 capabilities, which is what Lightning is.

Blah, blah, blah, Lightning. Maybe it will work as well as Terra which fell apart due to volatility. Good thing Bitcoin isn't volatile.

Interesting notion of what the term 'failed' means...

Failed as in it cannot be used easily and it's antiquated.