I came across this article today about a restaurant in India that has been accepting bitcoin for a year and has yet to see a single paying customer. It talks about the divide between the excitement online and the real world applications of the coin. The coin has been getting a lot of buzz in India if you are unaware. This illustrates the issue of taking the coin off of the web in today's market. Now this is only one restaurant, who knows how many people knew about bitcoin being accepted there and more importantly, how many people have spare bitcoin they can just spend. There are real problems here that should be addressed, mainly how difficult it is to use bitcoin in a real world setting compared to cash. But that is an issue that can be fixed, just as we have debit machines in almost every story in a lot of countries. I, for one, use debit/credit more than cash. But there is also another thing to consider. If you had bitcoin and a twenty in your pocket what would you spend?
Bitcoin and other coins have the chance to really go up in value. They already have and one person, who correctly predicted bitcoin would kick ass this year, thinks it will reach $100,000 in 10 years. If you spend your twenty you will not have regrets later that that twenty will be worth a hundred. It will still be worth $20. Sure your bitcoin could go down in value, even by a lot, but people who own the coin do not think it will, so they are working with the mentality that it will possibly go up (no one invests in something they think will plummet). Since people who bought the coin think the coin will go up, there is not many of them that will spend it freely. You also have to consider who, at this time, is buying bitcoin. Investors. A Large majority buy the coin hoping it will go up, not because they want to spend it. This means no matter who takes it as payment a lot of people would rather hold on to it and spend cash.
The reality of today is people sell the coin, make a profit, maybe buy some other coins and might spend some of their profits as cash. Maybe when the masses use the coin like cash it will be a different story. Bitcoin and other currencies can be used as cash but for now, but people are treating them like stocks.
What do you think? Here is the article:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-trial-sees-no-customers-millionaire-says-cash-is-enough-india
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