The debate about Bitcoin if a method of payment versus a value of value is underway. With prices consistent above $ 100k, the non -repellent push from ETF -Emitents and Bitcoin Treasury companies and the inevitable institutionalization of space, the use of Bitcoin for small payments seems more strange than ever.
But is Jack Dorsey straight in proverb That Bitcoin fails if it is only a store of value and is not used for payments?
Bitcoin as a method of payment
Bitcoin was fundamentally created as a way of payment, a real form of electronically cash for private, peer-to-peer transactions, while the store of the value status later appeared as an extra benefit. As BITVM maker Robin Linus states:
“The goal of Bitcoin is payments – value of value is just a neat by -product.”
In the course of time, the dominant story about Bitcoin has shifted strongly to “digital gold” and institutional investments, and many influential voices, such as Dorsey and Linus, claim that this is the original spirit of the project Mist and the long -term relevance. Linus strengthened the historical perspective and stated:
“The Cypherpunk vision was clearly electronically cash for private, peer-to-peer payments. The story ‘Digital Asset’ later came from others. Strange that this is even controversial”.
Dorsey doubled his statement and said:
“I think it should be payments to be relevant every day, otherwise it is just something that you buy and forget and only use in emergency situations or when you want to get liquid again. So I think if it does not switch to payments and find that daily use case, it will always be irrelevant. And that is failing for me.”
The words of Satoshi leave no doubt about it
The very first communication, e-mails from Satoshi Nakamoto, e-mails and the notorious Bitcoin-White paper make it clear that Bitcoin is about e-cash, currency, money and payments. His intentions for Bitcoin as a payment method are unambiguous.
In early e-mails with Adam in 2008, Satoshi Bitcoin described as a breakthrough method for building peer-to-peer electronic currency, referring to earlier digital cash projects and focus on payments.
He wrote about proof-of-work as a way to engage currency on a distributed timel stamp server, making the intention for payments Kristal clear.
Changing stories: from currency to assets
The story has shifted over the years. Institutionalization arrived in the form of ETFs, “Number Go Up” (NGU) -oriented marketing and conversations about Bitcoin as a portfolio cover.
Although the brought to liquidity and broader acceptance, these changes have demonstrably removed the ecosystem of solutions that benefit ordinary people and cases from practice; A divergence of Satoshi’s vision.
Although the rise of Bitcoin has been notorious as a value storage, it has overshadowed its true base in private, peer-to-peer, digital payments.
Some of the strongest voices of the project, Dorsey, Linus, Swan and even Satoshi themselves, remind the community that really, universal use depends on embracing Bitcoin as money in action, not just money in storage.
Bitcoin Audible Host Guy Swann called For a serious public debate, tagging of Dorsey and Linus, and other influential Bitcoin community members such as Michael Saylor, Saifedean Ammous and Adam Back:
“I want the best that real arguments will bring. Not just taglines, moral attitude and quotes from the white paper.”
Bitcoin degrading to a mere storage of value risks losing the original vision and the usefulness it once distinguishes. The future of Bitcoin as a payment method depends on a community that is willing to challenge prevailing stories and to restore the focus on payments and Real-World adoption.
