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0 sats \ 8 replies \ @kr 23 Apr 2023 \ on: Spending Bitcoin - A Weekend Discussion bitcoin
i’m not a fan of the spend and replace idea, it seems like a way to superficially force adoption - and one that could create a rift between bitcoin spenders and holders.
i think tools that help people earn bitcoin will light the path to bitcoin adoption, and i think it will be easier to get new earners to spend than holders.
Well, spend and replace is only superficial if there is no reason to spend in the first place. The 'replace' part is only relevant to a person who has income in non-Bitcoin and also has some reason they prefer to spend in Bitcoin.
For myself, I find several reasons to prefer spending in Bitcoin where possible - mostly related to security and not revealing personal information, but increasingly, the broken nature of the traditional finance system plays in too.
I think the right critique of spend and replace is simply that the friction and costs of buying Bitcoin can be a real pain, so minimizing the number of times you do it is desirable. Debatable point though.
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Agree with this. Most of my online purchases are in bitcoin for privacy and security reasons.
There's also the potential cost of cleaning coins (or paying the nokyc premium)
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good points
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Everyone who holds Bitcoin has the incentive to spread its adoption, so I would not say it's superficial to spend in Bitcoin when you have the chance, but it is up to each individual how much they value increased adoption vs the extra hassle of spending and replacing.
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yeah, my only worry with trying to pressure people to spend bitcoin is that it’s a short-term attempt to improve the optics of bitcoin usage, without an attempt to understand or improve people’s actual desire or willingness to spend.
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Interesting, I see it as the opposite of short-term. It seems like the point is to start changing our habits to be more in line with what the long-term will be like.
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imagine you were trying to change your habits in another domain, let’s say fitness.
coming up with a fun new activity that you truly enjoy doing every day will be a far more effective method of improving your fitness than any form of social pressure.
i see the spend and replace movement as social pressure, while i think we should be focused on finding new use cases that people naturally want to spend their bitcoin on.
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I guess don't do it then, but it just seems like a suggestion for people to try, to me. That makes it more like "a fun new activity that you truly enjoy doing every day" than social pressure.
It also is another use case for those of us still in the habit of spending fiat.
However, you're right that more (less gimmicky) use cases will have more impact.
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