re: Does anyone actually use Bitcoin to buy/barter?

I’m starting to realize that bitcoin’s purpose is like gold. We don’t use it day to day or really at all. But it’s there if we need it to barter with should the dollar collapse.

Gold has actual purpose in society with its practical uses in industry to go along with its ability to be sound money and/or a store of wealth. It's real and it's eternal. It's used in your day to day, every day (if you use technology)

Bitcoin is just an electronic ledger. One of many. It has no use other than that.

If you guys would study economic history that goes back more than a few hundred years you would understand Bitcoin much better.

Gold’s value is less about its practical uses and more about historical precedent, scarcity, and societal agreement.

There are many metals that have more practical uses than gold yet we assign them very little value.

Gold’s value is rooted in societal consensus, not practicality. Metals like copper, platinum, or lithium may be more useful in an industrial sense, but they lack gold’s historical significance, cultural trust, and stability.

Practical use alone cannot create the qualities needed for a universal store of value. Gold’s enduring role is more psychological and historical than practical, and that’s why it has remained central to monetary systems despite its limited industrial utility.

You are witnessing a brand new asset that even our own Federal Reserve says is direct competition to gold.

The properties of Bitcoin are superior in every single way.

Divisibility: Bitcoin can be divided into 100 million smaller units (satoshis), making it far more divisible than gold.

Portability: Bitcoin can be transferred instantly across the globe, while gold is heavy and costly to transport.

Scarcity: Bitcoin’s supply is capped at 21 million, whereas gold’s total supply increases over time through mining.

Verifiability: Bitcoin’s authenticity is guaranteed by its blockchain, whereas gold requires physical testing for purity.

Storage: Bitcoin requires no physical storage space and can be secured digitally, while gold needs vaults or safes.

Programmability: Bitcoin can integrate with smart contracts and other digital applications, offering functionality gold cannot.

Immunity to Seizure: Bitcoin can be stored in a way that is resistant to confiscation, unlike physical gold.

Transparency: Bitcoin’s blockchain provides a public, immutable ledger, while gold ownership and transactions are opaque.

Accessibility: Bitcoin is easier to buy, sell, and use for transactions, while gold typically involves intermediaries and physical handling.

Inflation Resistance: Bitcoin’s fixed supply makes it immune to inflation, whereas gold mining can increase the total supply over time.

I’m actually a big gold guy by nature but I’ve started selling a lot of mine and moving it into bitcoin. Once the digital version of something comes along, the analog version usually struggles.

He just enjoys arguing against BTC. Which would be fine except he parades around like he’s having good faith discussions when he is not.

He wants to be right so badly he never considers the possibility he is wrong. Hence, bad faith.

I still don't know where people are using it, I mean I know that you can use it with cards and things but it must be totally the black market and keeping this thing up afloat

I’ve used it to fund my offshore sports betting account in previous years.

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Same story for everything new....you have to wait and see.

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No need to wait for gold though …. it’s been used as money and a store of value for thousands of years ….. and there’s no counterparty risk with gold.

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How will I know the gold is real if I trade my precious items for it? What’s the counterparty risk for bitcoin?

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Easy to use metal tester, or the traditional fallback is melting it … silver is easy too.

Counter party risk for Bitcoin is primarily government seizure or intervention. US Government controls the crypto exchanges, so intervention is not only easy, but selective to the account level.

The only way to really circumvent this is to create an offshore account in a country that is not controlled or influenced by the US (all dollar denominated CBDC institutions - starting 2025) which is to say one of the gray shaded countries on map below. There are legal firms that specialize in establishing these types of offshore accounts, digital wallets, and email addresses issued in your gray country of choice. Same applies to gold, but much easier.because the offshore systems/ facilities have been around a lot longer.