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Well it's pretty easy to spend an asset that's consistently increasing in value... the real test of it's utility as money is how many businesses and people have

Well it's pretty easy to spend an asset that's consistently increasing in value... the real test of it's utility as money is how many businesses and people have started accepting Bitcoin recently.

mrb 9y ago
160k merchants, 3-6 million users. https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/fileadmin/user_upload/research/centres/alternative-finance/downloads/2017-global-cryptocurrency-benchmarking-study.pdf https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/fileadmin/user_upload/research/cen...
- grwthckrmstr 9y ago
  You should also look at this as % of merchants and users in the world. Is it 10%,50%,or 0.001%?
  - oh_sigh 9y ago
    What percentage of merchants and users accept HKD?
    - TomK32 9y ago
      100% in Hongkong, which is also where the most HKD are circulated.
      - oh_sigh 9y ago
        OP asked "in the world"
        vsl 9y ago
        If BTC was circulated in only a Hongkong-sized area, that would be a fair comment. It isn't, the area of its circulation is the world.
      - mrb 9y ago
        Pointless comment. Bitcoin is a borderless technology. There will never be, by design, a "Hong Kong-sized" area with BTC accepted everywhere. That is, unless BTC achieves world domination :-)
    - whateverman2 9y ago
      Or hamburgers? After all, you can trade them for the local currency. Hamburgers must be a currency!
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
ForHackernews 9y ago
Why would you ever want to spend an asset that's increasing in value? Seems like a useful currency should be mildly inflationary.
- Buge 9y ago
  Why not dump your entire life savings into it right now? Because there's risk, it fluctuates, there's no guarantee it will always go up. People need to decide to what degree do they want to invest and be exposed to the risk and reward. Say someone decides they want 1BTC of exposure, and are contemplating buying an item of 0.01BTC. Would that really be a big deal? Small changes in the degree of exposure shouldn't be a financial problem to worry about.
  - ForHackernews 9y ago
    > Why not dump your entire life savings into it right now? Plenty of the bitcoin true believers have. Everything you're talking about makes sense for investing in a commodity, not for a currency.
- mrb 9y ago
  The answer is very simple: no one is absolutely sure BTC will always gain value.

Well it's pretty easy to spend an asset that's consistently increasing in value... the real test of it's utility as money is how many businesses and people have started accepting Bitcoin recently.

mrb 9y ago

160k merchants, 3-6 million users. https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/fileadmin/user_upload/research/centres/alternative-finance/downloads/2017-global-cryptocurrency-benchmarking-study.pdf https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/fileadmin/user_upload/research/cen...

grwthckrmstr 9y ago
You should also look at this as % of merchants and users in the world. Is it 10%,50%,or 0.001%?
- oh_sigh 9y ago
  What percentage of merchants and users accept HKD?
  - TomK32 9y ago
    100% in Hongkong, which is also where the most HKD are circulated.
    - oh_sigh 9y ago
      OP asked "in the world"
      - vsl 9y ago
        If BTC was circulated in only a Hongkong-sized area, that would be a fair comment. It isn't, the area of its circulation is the world.
    - mrb 9y ago
      Pointless comment. Bitcoin is a borderless technology. There will never be, by design, a "Hong Kong-sized" area with BTC accepted everywhere. That is, unless BTC achieves world domination :-)
  - whateverman2 9y ago
    Or hamburgers? After all, you can trade them for the local currency. Hamburgers must be a currency!
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]

ForHackernews 9y ago

Why would you ever want to spend an asset that's increasing in value? Seems like a useful currency should be mildly inflationary.

Buge 9y ago
Why not dump your entire life savings into it right now? Because there's risk, it fluctuates, there's no guarantee it will always go up. People need to decide to what degree do they want to invest and be exposed to the risk and reward. Say someone decides they want 1BTC of exposure, and are contemplating buying an item of 0.01BTC. Would that really be a big deal? Small changes in the degree of exposure shouldn't be a financial problem to worry about.
- ForHackernews 9y ago
  > Why not dump your entire life savings into it right now? Plenty of the bitcoin true believers have. Everything you're talking about makes sense for investing in a commodity, not for a currency.
mrb 9y ago
The answer is very simple: no one is absolutely sure BTC will always gain value.