re: What’s causing the sudden crypto run up?

The question still stands
What do you use your bitcoin for?

I was enjoying the crypto bros melt down the last few months. Now they’re back saying it’ll be a million soon

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And yet, you can’t buy anything with your bitcoin until you convert it.

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Currently, over 15,000 businesses worldwide accept Bitcoin, including about 2,300 companies in the United States, including AT&T, AMC Theaters, Microsoft, 1-800 Flowers, NewEgg and a lot more. Many use Bitpay, Crypto.com or other apps to accept Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and other crypto payments. The merchant can elect to keep the payment as crypto or convert the payment to the currency of their choice if they desire.

The buyer pays in crypto. The buyer is not doing any conversion to Fiat at the thousands of merchants who accept crypto, unless the buyer wants to at stores, etc that don't accept crypto payments.

Also, with Shopify, millions of independent merchants using the Shopify e-commerce platform can enable direct Bitcoin and crypto checkouts. It is estimated that thousands do this, but there is no exact count.

A cryptocurrency debit card works by instantly converting your digital assets into local fiat currency at the point of sale, letting you spend crypto anywhere standard cards are accepted.

Who Accepts Bitcoin Payments in 2026?

250+ companies & stores that accept cryptocurrency

A limited but substantial number of companies accept direct cryptocurrency payments, while others accept Bitcoin and other tokens through third-party apps.

Cryptocurrency debit and gift cards expand the usability of Bitcoin, allowing holders to transact in spaces that don't otherwise accept cryptocurrency.

Options like the Crypto.com App support paying with Bitcoin for participating retailers and brands, bundling security with incentives like rebates and rewards.

Despite variability in direct merchant acceptance, options like Crypto.com Pay ensure that dedicated crypto enthusiasts can effectively use Bitcoin in everyday commerce.

Also, Bitcoin is not trying to replace any currency. Bitcoin is decentralized, public digital ledger that can be used as an investment and as a form of payment for goods and services.

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Currently, over 15,000 businesses worldwide accept Bitcoin

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Misleading at best. Smart business knows better than to take a crypto currency since it’s far too volatile. Imagine selling a latte to Chad for .0007 Btc and then having to convert it only to find that the exchange rate (to USD btw) has gone against you by 5% in one day! You just lost money on your sale! That’s a latte. Now imagine a car, or land, or a boat…. That exchange rate is reeeeeal important….
So no, smart business does not take crypto.

And imagine buying a car with crypto and then your coin just shot up 5%! You just lost 5% on a big purchase. Dumb. Real dumb.

What some have figured out is that they can offer exchange kiosks to allow YOU to convert your coin to USD and then buy your goods. It’s seamless and happens at the checkout. The customer thinks they’re buying with crypto but they’re not.

Bottom line here- a currency needs stability and many crypto simply isn’t stable. BTC certainly isn’t. The USD is. And that’s why smart business accepts it aside from the fact that it’s considered legal tender in the US and has to be accepted by legitimate business.

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Arguing these points with Slidell is like trying to teach a monkey how to build a spaceship. It just isn't going to click for him.

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Next time I'm tempted to engage I'm instead going to take a ball ping hammer to my knuckles and enjoy the pleasure I receive after I stop.

I'm not debating that Bitcoin is a poor currency for most buyers and merchants due to price volatility and instability. Bitcoin is a distributed ledger that is used more as an investment, but it still can be used to make payments directly in Bitcoin.

You're correct that if you buy things with Bitcoin, you might wish you didn't after Bitcoin goes up. Bitcoin has a lot of price volatility even when it trends up or down or essentially trades sideways. There's no debate there.

I never said Bitcoin is some great currency trying to replace FIAT. Your reasoning is sound that Bitcoin can be a poor payment method from a merchant point of view for the same unpredictable price swings of Bitcoin that make it unstable. One note is that there are thousands of companies like Strategy (i.e. Microstrategy), Metaplanet, and small merchants and individuals on Shopify, etc. that want to accumulate Bitcoin and they accept payments in Bitcoin directly.

You actually missed the biggest reason that Bitcoin is not widely used as a currency, and that is because purchases are taxable in most countries including the US

Where you are wrong is that you think there are not thousands of Businesses worldwide that accept Bitcoin as payment. You think that Buyers pretty much have to go to a kiosk or Bitcoin ATM, and convert Bitcoin to cash before buying anything. In that event, yes the Bitcoin holder does a conversion to cash.

When a Buyer pays a merchant using a self custody wallet/debit card like Coinbase Wallet, Metamask or Wirex, when they buy something they are paying instantly with Crypto assets, not FIAT. The merchant receives the payment in FIAT. So neither the buyer or the merchant did the conversion. The self custody/debit card did the conversion automatically. This is drastically different from a Bitcoin ATM kiosk where the buyer does the conversion.

The BitPay and Crypto.com apps are self custody wallets plus crypto payment processors. Just like the debit card, the buyer is paying instantly in crypto assets. Whereas a wallet debit card always does an automatic conversion to FIAT, Bitpay and Crypto.com require the merchant to select whether they want to be paid in Crypto assets or FIAT of their choice. So it's the Seller that decides to make the conversion or keep the crypto.

Read the AI response below on how many merchants accept Bitpay or similar. Bitpay is a payment method within Shopify. There are likely thousands of small individual merchants at a minimum that sell on Shopify that are accumulating Bitcoin and other crypto directly as payment via Bitpay. If you don't believe that, you have your head in the sand.

How many merchants worldwide accept Bitpay and similar

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. To me this is the disconnect. You’d have to trade your bitcoin for the very same fiat currency that bitcoin is supposed to replace,

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Very few people think bitcoin will replace the USD. I'm as bitcoin maxi as they come and I think that is an insane view.

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and the very same fiat currency that we are being told over and over again is going to collapse

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Well, it kinda has in purchasing power over the decades

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And yet, you can’t buy anything with your bitcoin until you convert it.

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Correct, I won't hold the thing that is collapsing. If I need to buy something I'll covert something of value into that collapsing thing and buy whatever I need.

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What other purpose was it created for?

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Evidently, for some people it was created to constantly criticize it.

For others it is an investment opportunity. Taking it a step further, some people learn how to trade Bitcoin volatility and turn it into a money generator.

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BTC was created as a means to collect other people’s USD.

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For the sake of historical accuracy, I’ll note that the person(s) that created the protocol has never exchanged btc for usd.

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For others it is an investment opportunity. Taking it a step further, some people learn how to trade Bitcoin volatility and turn it into a money generator.

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I tend to agree that this is what it was created for whether intentional or not. Sure the concept of the peer to peer currency is alluring and fantastic in concept but it hasn’t worked.
It’s only a trading vehicle at this point