quoting
naddr1qq…v4klA common attack launched against Bitcoin is that "you can't use it for anything" or "you can't spend it". You may have heard this on a number of occasions, perhaps you even think it to be true yourself (though if you’re reading this on Nostr, I very much doubt that). If the latter, I invite you to read this short piece; and if the former, I invite you to share it with those you've heard such statements from.
Before explaining why this claim is of little substance, it's important to remind ourselves of a few important things regarding money.
Money serves three purposes, and it must serve them all well, if it is to be a truly good money. Those three things are: - Store of Value - Medium of Exchange - Unit of Account
Fiat money, the paper based (albeit now digital) money we use today, excels at medium of exchange, but fails miserably as a store of value. We do not need to say much more on this, as it is quite evident that £100 today buys you a lot less than it did 10 years ago.
What about unit of account?
Well, at first glance, fiat may seem a good unit of account, simply because everyone uses it as such, but consider the following:
If I am building a house, and needing materials of certain lengths, but the unit of measure for those lengths just keeps changing - it might happen slowly, a small change each day - but as time goes on, 120cm on my tape measure, is no longer the same physical length as it was as the start of the project. The house I end up building will, at best, be wonky; at worst, it collapses entirely.
Now think about that same issue when it comes to an economy and money. if £1,000 today will buy me much less a couple of years down the line, how do I plan, save, strategise, or invest - as an individual or a business - when the measuring stick is changing? Not only is it changing, but the degree to which it will change is totally unknown, and at the mercy of several technicalities that would be outside the understanding of most people. Let's say you're a business owner; you now have to spend time and effort trying to predict what might happen to the measuring stick over the next few years, based on outside factors that you lack a technical understanding of, or what some old grey men in suits might say at a press conference, rather than actually focussing on the core value proposition and end product of your business. We won't go into the countless second and third order effects of this on businesses, consumers and society at large, as there are many, and this is not the time or place. I will simply conclude by saying that, ultimately, an unreliable measuring stick makes economic planning extremely difficult - even outright impossible - and fiat currencies are therefore probably not the best unit of account.
Now that we have that out of the way, we can address the claim brought against Bitcoin. Bitcoin is simply money. By that I mean: it can be used as a store of value, a medium of exchange, and a unit of account. But when competing monies exist, you may not use a specific money for all three purposes. Now, that might initially sound like an easy cop out, but there is a well-known thing in economics called "Gresham's law", in which "bad money chases out good". But what does that mean? It means that when there are competing monies, and one is of evidently worse quality than the other, people will spend the bad one, and save the good one, using the bad money as soon as possible for their immediate needs, and keeping hold of the good one for the future.
This will make the most sense, to most readers, when you look at Bitcoin from the lens of a developed nation with a relatively well functioning currency, say, as someone in America using the dollar, rather than someone in Nigeria using the Nira. In this scenario, your currency is losing value over time - guaranteed - but not so aggressively that next week you will only be able to by a fraction of what you could today. In this scenario, the problem you face is simply that your currency is a terrible long term store of value. You can't save in it, and you certainly can't plan long term with it, but your currency functions just fine as a medium of exchange day-to-day, with little friction. In fact, with no friction at all compared to bitcoin, which is subject to capital gains taxes whenever you use it. In this scenario, the main property you benefit from in Bitcoin is it's superiority as a store of value. As such, it makes sense that that is what you would primarily use it for, by spending your dollars (the bad money), and saving your Bitcoin (the good money). But does that change the fact that Bitcoin is still a perfectly good medium of exchange?
Let's think about somewhere like Lebanon, where the local currency has experienced multiple rounds of hyper-inflation. It can safely be said that, the local currency is beyond useless as a store of value - and is arguably so as a medium of exchange or unit of account too - but the primary issue is it's inability to serve as a store of value over any useful length of time. People in places like Lebanon typically use their local currency to acquire as many US Dollars as possible, and store those Dollars physically in their homes as a store of value; because whilst the Dollar might lose value gradually over time, it will certainly lose it a lot slower than the local hyper-inflating one. As a Lebanese citizen, you would aim to keep as little of the local currency on hand as possible, enough to cover your immediate expenses, whilst holding everything else in Dollars, and having little intention of spending them. Now, does this mean the US dollar is not a good medium of exchange? Or that it can't function as a medium of exchange, as people in developed nations would like to claim of Bitcoin? No. The dollar is still perfectly valid as a medium of exchange, but for the circumstances faced by those in Lebanon, and other places like it, it serves a more immediate purpose as a store of value... so that is what they will decide to use it for. Spend the bad money, keep hold of the good (or less bad) money. Nothing about the dollar has changed, but the primary concerns facing those using it, mean that it serves a very specific purpose for them right now.
Now, what about places in where the local currency fails to even be a useful medium of exchange? Places where financial repression is rife, or the people find themselves under authoritarian rule? In such places, one cannot even rely on the local currency as a medium of exchange, as it can be confiscated, tracked, frozen, or have access to it blocked off entirely. People in such places cannot access stronger currencies like Dollars or Euros, even if they wanted to. So what do they do? They use Bitcoin. There are archives full of stories just like this from the Human Rights Foundation (hrf.org), which detail how Bitcoin is used as a medium of exchange, unit of account, and store of value, by those who have had their lives decimated by the failures of their local currencies and the oppressive actions of their rulers. It is here where we see Bitcoin shine as a money on all three fronts. It has helped people build circular economies, set up business, escape persecution, and provide a better life for themselves and their families. In the stark absence of all three monetary properties, and in the face of such high friction in the local currency, Bitcoin has no problem stepping up as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and a store of value.
From these examples, we can see that the demand for Bitcoin's monetary use cases, as with all forms of money, are dependant of the immediate problems faced by citizens in their financial lives. For those in developed nations, the long-term store of value proposition is most important, for others, there are far greater concerns. To dismiss Bitcoin as money, just because it is not used a medium of exchange where you are right now, is to dismiss the realities of the world. There will come a time when all the inevitable consequences of fiat currencies touch every single one of us, wherever we reside; and when that time comes, skeptics will be grateful that Bitcoin exists to serve as the greatest form of money we've ever seen.
And before I conclude this piece, I would be doing a disservice to the incredible efforts of those in the Bitcoin ecosystem, if I did not point out the ways in which Bitcoin is already growing as a medium of exchange, in even developed nations today. Jack Dorsey's Block has now enabled Bitcoin lightning payment functionality on all Square payment terminal devices, used by 4 million small and medium sized business across America. Steak 'N Shake have been accepting Bitcoin payments at all their US locations since May 2025, experiencing a 50% reduction in payment processing fees, and attributing their 11% Q2 and 15% Q3 sales increases from last year to their Bitcoin integration. Every day there are new milestones being reached with layer-2 scaling solutions for Bitcoin, making it easier and more convenient for people to spend Bitcoin day-to-day. I wasn't old enough to see the similar breakthroughs that were no doubt occurring behind the scenes during the rise of the internet, but I imagine it felt a little something like this; it's truly something to behold. Whilst long-term store of value might be the most pressing concern of those of us in developed nations, the economic incentives, for both merchants and customers, associated with using Bitcoin as a medium of exchange, is slowly turning the tide. Gradually, then suddenly.
So when you next hear someone say that "Bitcoin can't be used for anything", or that "you can't buy anything with it"; you can refer them to the examples above. Furnish them with the reports from the Human Right Foundation. Take them to a store that now accepts Bitcoin via their square terminal. Take them to a Steak 'N Shake store. Show them btcmap.organd let them pick a local store from here to visit. Set them up with a Bitcoin lightning wallet, and show them how easy it is to pay. If you're really feeling generous, plan a trip to one of the several countries where Bitcoin is now widely accepted by most stores, or where circular economies have been built around Bitcoin as their medium of exchange. Let them see for themselves just what Bitcoin can do, and is already doing, for millions around the globe.
thebitcoinguide on Nostr: A short piece addressing the tiredest and laziest claim brought against Bitcoin ...
A short piece addressing the tiredest and laziest claim brought against Bitcoin