mykopikid on Nostr: Regarding using bitcoin as a Medium of Exchange. Michael Saylor thinks that bitcoin ...

Regarding using bitcoin as a Medium of Exchange.
Michael Saylor thinks that bitcoin is primarily a superior asset where there is no second best. It is the best Store of Value. Thus the ease of payment mode using bitcoin as a medium of exchange will not be the main factor that drives bitcoin adoption worldwide. No one after all, will buy a prime property in central New York with the intention to break up a small piece to buy a cup of coffee.

To that, I agree. No one, given a choice will use something that cannot store value as a medium of exchange unless it has the power of force and guns behind it. Essentially, the govt forces you to use something that cannot store value as a medium of exchange. If you are a Venezuelan, you have no choice but to use the bolivar. If some of us are old enough or remember stories told to us by our grandparents, during the Japanese Occupation of Malaya, they were forced to use the “Banana currency” with literally a picture of banana on the paper printed indiscriminately by the occupying invaders. They have no value. No one wants them if not due to a gun pointing to their head.

Traditionally, going back to the ancient of days, that which has a strong capability to store value tends to NOT work very well as a medium of exchange. A gold coin was very difficult to use if you are trying to buy a chicken or some fishes to feed your family for the day. Even in ancient China, while the emperors, rulers and lords stored their wealth in gold, the common people used silver and copper as a medium of exchange.

I posit that for bitcoin to have global adoption, it must be recognised as an undeniable store of value, an asset with no second best. This is what will drive global adoption. BUT unlike gold and real estate, bitcoin is also something very portable, divisible and easily transmitted over space via the Internet. Anyone can use bitcoin as a medium of exchange today if they wanted to.

For small and fast payment, bitcoin on the Lightning Network is excellent. We are not anywhere even near to the limit of the Lightning Network. Third Parties Custodial services, frown upon by many, are incredibly efficient. Improvement on Self-custodial Lightning is continually being improved on but the current tech will not be used by the masses. The pros and cons of custodial issues require a different discussion. We also have federated solutions like Liquid, Fedimint and Cashu E-Cash that are fast and private. And all these are continually being improved.

We need not be overly anxious that a billion people cannot use bitcoin as a medium of exchange because while it is super efficient and fast to use now, we cannot even get 10 million to use them. Storing of ones’ value in bitcoin is of higher importance now and certainly more urgent. Our fiat money loses value month by month, year by year continuously. But almost no one has a problem using their fiat money as a medium of exchange.

Thereby, I would say positioning bitcoin as a second to none, superior Store of Value, resistant to both State confiscation and censorship is the message to the masses. I’m confident that the bitcoin tech communities will continue to build towards hundreds of millions to billions of users going forward. I am sending and receiving bitcoin over the Lightning Network almost every day with 99.9% success rate using my own LN node and some custodial services. We are still very early.