Bitcoins role in our future (developed) society

BITCOIN
#1

What role do you see bitcoin will have in our future society, and more specifically - in countries where the FIAT currency is strong?

In countries where the FIAT currency is volatile and the trust for the government is low, the position of crypto currencies is obvious as it offers a decentralised currency, but in countries where the currency is strong, the trust for the government is high, and the country in general operates in an economical safe environment (such as Sweden), I’m having a harder time predicting how crypto currencies will integrate smoothly into our society.

What are you thoughts?

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#2

I think that’s an interesting question. I think most, if not all, country’s money is fiat. It’s strength is determined by the trust of the world of that country’s finances, economy and politics. Some countries have been strong economically and then there is a change and their fiat money loses purchasing power due to inflation or worse -hyperinflation.
Look at Venezuela now as compared to a few years ago. We had Zimbabwe, Argentina, Weimer Republic, etc. experience hyper inflation. I believe ANY country is at risk of hyper inflation. A country can just keep printing unbacked paper! A strong currency today may not be strong tomorrow.
Why I see Bitcoin (or other crypto currencies) play an increasingly important role in finances, wealth and purchasing power is because it is decentralized, trustless and has a fixed number of units of value. As a country such as Venezuela loses fiat currency purchasing power-Bitcoin maintains its purchasing power.
If a country has a revolution it’s money can become worthless. Bitcoin is immune to geopolitical conflicts in regards to loss of value-if anything more people will turn to crypto currencies during times of uncertainty (imho).
I am a fan of holding silver also as an under valued asset, but it is not practical to buy and sell things in silver. In the digital age crytpo currencies make perfect sense to me.
I see Bitcoin and other cryptos as the unstoppable future and we are so lucky to be able to invest in tomorrow’s technology and currency today!

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#3

Ease of use and UX are the key factors for cryptocurrencies being adopted by the masses. This is even more true in so called developed countries where most people are “banked”. E.g. most potential users shy away from bitcoin when they have to handle bitcoin addresses even if itś as simple as copy / paste or picking up a QR code (keeping in mind there is no way to reverse a faulty transaction).

Once the UX problem is solved the next important point is awareness of having 100% control over your own money. Most people don´t realize that they don´t own money and instead own a note of debt against a banking corporation (with the risk of a bail-in in case the business of the bank is not sustainable) or slightly better a central bank.

If these two hurdles are solved there is no way to stop cryptocurrencies. Not by regulation or any other means. Whether bitcoin, dash, zcash, or you name it will be the winner still remains unclear. I personally think there will be a multitude of cryptocurrencies and “no winner takes it all” result. Each coin with a strong use case and and high convenience has a chance. And flipping between coins will be seamless and dirt cheap.

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#4

Cybernatic, I agree with the UX idea.

I feel slimy even saying this but UX is huge with indoctrinating children. For the long term future the strength of local currency may not matter, the real question will be did you grow up using a smart phone? Google is working with children now and Apple manages to sell people a $1000 phone mostly via UX/UI.

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#5

I don’t see Bitcoin like a currency but more like gold.

In the past FIAT was backed by gold.

Now (at present) FIAT are backed by country economic rating (purely virtual).

In the future FIAT can be backed by Bitcoin.

But Bitcoin have a big issue right now, the high volatility.

I believe if we solve the high volatility, all FIAT and Crypto will be backed by Bitcoin (virtually) and backed by gold (physically).

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#6

With respect to the US dollar, I think as more and more people understand Bitcoin, they will flee from USD into Bitcoin. It’s already happening now. Sure, both are fiat, but I don’t need to tell anyone here the advantages of decentralization and relative anonymity. Plus the fact that negative interest rates at a traditional bank when you factor in the true inflation rate don’t excite me as much as the gains realized by holding Bitcoin. I think Bitcoin will accelerate the already imploding USD out of existence as no one will want to hold USD in a bank account for any length of time. I think Bitcoin and other cryptos will be the exchange medium of choice for most people once its use passes the tipping point of 15% nationwide acceptance. Currently we’re at about one percent. Traditional stores of value with gold and silver will still be good things to hold as well and I see cryptos running parallel to these. However, as far as day to day transactions in the future, it will be much easier to use a TenX debit card tied to the crypto to pay for your Starbucks coffee that it will be to count out your pre 1964 dimes and quarters.

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#7

I dont think the volatility can be solved. Everything that tries to control the volatility ends up blowing up. The system must be built knowing that prices change

#8

@Avz, I am referring to high volatility and I think can be fixed with mass adoption (world adoption).

#9

Bitcoin will need to evolve for mass adoption. It had first mover advantage but it’s technology should be improved. There are more efficient cryptos out there but they don’t have the size.
It has many advantages for users compared to fiat, the ledger system is great (semi transparent), it’s global (eliminates high FX fees), better counterfeiting measures (than fiat), more reliable, trustworthy (i.e. no increase of supply), though suppliers (i.e. governments/banks) would rather have this option or control.
As for volatility, it is natural and needs to be allowed to float.

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#10

@Jon, I agree with you but the fluctuation it’s very high because big players (consciously or unconsciously) have a big rule in price action. (The insecurity of small players doesn’t help, too.)

When I say that can be fixed I mean that market will auto fix with mass adoption.

Our intervention (developers and/or investors) need to be improve the technology, support the projects and evangelize the mass adoption.

#11

Volitily will become less and less of an issue as the crypto economy grows larger. Although crypto is approximately worth a collective $150,000,000,000 it’s still relatively small compared to the Trillions of fiat circulating. A good analogy would be boats in an ocean when a wave comes along the smaller boat is moved more. When crypto becomes a ship, waves will be less of a problem.

I agree will Jon crypto should always be allowed to float freely.

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#12

@diogogomes thats a sure. With mass adoption the volatility will go down. Nowadays bitcoin is already much less volatile then before

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