#5.1 - The reasons for spending your bitcoin, constantly

in #bitcoin6 years ago (edited)

   

Bitcoin was meant to be "peer-to-peer cash"...

And here's a few reasons for using it as such...


As mentioned in my previous post, the use of Bitcoin as a "peer-to-peer cash system" is what I believe it was primarilly intended to be - and still believe should be its main, long-term usecase, whereas today is more of a store of value, or speculative asset, as I also mentioned in my previous post. 

And the current usecases are not by any means a bad thing, since anything that helps establish validity and adoption of the network, is inherently a good thing - at least to a certain extent.

But this doesn't mean that we should not be, at least trying to use Bitcoin for it's original intention, as electronic cash.

And in my mind, there are several reasons for doing this - in fact, there are more, than I care to mention in this post, because most of you would probably drop off after the first half of the list, if you won't already. :D

But let me start by explaining why it is important, that we use Bitcoin as much as possible, for day to day commerce, and why it is a benefit for Bitcoin, and finally, how the current market can turn it into a passive income generator for you, through the different market conditions.

  • It is important that we use the system as intended, to maintain the adoption of Bitcoin, instead of just sitting in a 1-2% club of early adopters for too long.
    This may be a social disruption experiment, and revolution on a global scale, but it came about for a reason!

    And delaying adoption of Bitcoin will not help any of us in the long run, since we will - in the worst case scenario - become enablers of the system, that Bitcoin was ideologically created to combat.

  • By spending your Bitcoin, or at least try to as much as possible, you will both help to spread the potential adoption of Bitcoin, or at least making people aware of its existence, and perhaps even curious about what it is. And if they are, you should guide them as much as you can, and point them to the ressources they need to find out more. Perhaps even gift them a few dollars, to show them how it works - Andreas Antonopolous style. :)

    On a related note, I often ask in stores - (knowing full well, that they don't) - if they accept bitcoin as a payment - for those very reasons. And I will probably elaborate further on how i advocate for Bitcoin in my day to day, but that would be too much to include here.

  • By spending your bitcoin, or trying to, you will see first hand where it works, and where it fails. Where the pitfalls are in usecases, and what problems we need to adress, so we can discover the unforeseen flaws in the protocol or use thereof. In theory - if no one ever spent or sold their Bitcoin - then there would first of all be no actual value, and it furthermore it would never incentivise further development of the protocol, and help it evolve and scale into whatever means of exchange it ends up as in the end.

Now I am not saying that in the future, you will be using your bitcoin to pay for your daily coffee - even though this has already been made possible, and I have actually done so myself over a longer period of time.

Maybe it will only be used for larger purchases in future. Maybe you would only ever use it to buy a house or a car etc.
If you were buying a car, you would obviously be buying a Lambo! ;)

Maybe we will actually be using it for micro-payments, such as coffee and daily shopping. (which I have done)

Maybe we will not be using it at all, and find something even better to replace it. No one knows for sure at this point.

But either way, we will never find out without mainstream adoption.
And this will only occur, if we all encourage and practice it in daily life, and do our part to use bitcoin - both for adoption and development purposes, and to ensure Bitcoin does not stagnate and "die" for real, before we realize its full potential - whatever that may be. 

This post became longer than expected, but I hope it illustrates the the importance I see. in using bitcoin as payment when, and wherever I can, in order to help it spread and evolve.

And for the HODL'ers, I will have to leave you with a cliffhanger on how you will avoid draining your holdings, and actually both add to your holdings AND your purchasing power according to market trends, in my next post.

But both scenarios are very much realistic - which I can say with persoanl certainty, having practied it myself, in both a bullish and bearish market.

But as previously mentioned, it mostly involved repleneshing your holdings as you spend them.

And this can be done in many different ways, both when spending and replenishing your holdings, so I want to cover my own experiences in full, and hopefully allow you to adopt the ones that fit your overall goals in the market, and help you reach them.

And if you have had your own experiences and/or difficulties with using bitcoin as a means of payment, I would love to hear about them, and hopefully be able to learn something new myself, or guide you through how any problems can possibly be avoided in the future.

Brevity is the soul of wit - and longevity the soul of the contemplative!

#0.0 - Who am I, and how did I get here? [intro]
#0.1 - Who am I, and how did I get here? [pt. II

#1.0 - How the DeepWeb made me a HODL'er
#1.1 - The power of addiction...

#2.0 - If something seems too good to be true...
#2.1 - Is Bitcoin the exception to the rule..?

#3.0 - The revolution that never came... [Pt. I]
#3.1 - The revolution that never came... Or did it? [Pt. II]

#4.0 - Is Bitcoin doing its job?
#4.1 - Is Bitcoin working... and are you putting it to work?

#5.0 - Why you should spend Bitcoin NOW, no matter what the price is...
#5.1 - The reasons for spending your bitcoin, constantly


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Excellent article.

This echos some of your insights:

(IJCH) To Gresham or Not to Gresham, that is the Question?! Why HODL Actually Hampers Mainstreaming

https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@jaichai/ijch-to-gresham-or-not-to-gresham-that-is-the-question-why-hodl-actually-hampers-mainstreaming

Namaste, Jaichai

Yes, exactly - BTC is almost the perfect exemplification of Greshams law in action, if we are not while crossing the bridgde of crypto :)

Thank you for going through my article - much appreciated.

Indeed - it almost challenges Gresham's law or our ability to stand against its nature at least, which fits well with a new asset that fulfills both store of value and means of transfer properties?

Commercializing bitcoin ...this is getting more interesting.! Nice post @cryptos17

Next one is up now ;)

Thank you for the thought-provoking post. Respectfully, I disagree and would welcome your thoughts. As it stands today, my hard-earned US dollars generally buy me less every year because of inflation, exacerbated by my country's central bank's monetary policies. Why should I use a deflationary currency like BTC instead? I understand your point about its value being speculative, but I'll take that all day with the fore-knowledge that there is a finite supply and so far, there is not one central figure or group that controls it. I cannot say that about any modern nation's currency that I am aware of. If anyone asks me, assets should only be used to acquire other assets. Money is for buying things.

Thats the beaufiful thing - our opionion should be our own, and we have the freedom to disagree respectfully. Thank you for your imput.

If you look at my previous articles, I try to explain why spending (not selling) is important for fighting the worst case deflationary "HODL"consequences. (mybe I should cover this better in a later post).
But I think I agree with some of your points, if I am understanding you right.

But the hard cap is not the REAL Importance of BTC - decentralization is, IMO.

Now "what is money" is a whoooole other discussion - i would recommend watching Andreas Antonopolous' talk (The stories we tell about money) - to understand
That is to say - spend and buy back (sometimes at lower price) - to maintain and encourage use of the currency, without loosing out on gains.

My next article today is actually about how spending BTC can earn you BTC at certain times, while improving your purchasing power at other times. :)

I hope to hear your input on that.

You have a minor misspelling in the following sentence:

Where the pitfalls are in usecases, and what problems we need to adress, so we can discover the unforseen flaws in the protocol or use thereof.
It should be unforeseen instead of unforseen.

hahaha - nice 1 - it's getting late where I'm currently at... ;)

If we adopt the Nitcoin it is because we believe in it then it is necessary to use it to help generate the necessary knowledge and trust. Otherwise, we will contribute negatively to its growth.

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