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Without making any judgement on whether it is a useful transactional "currency," I hear this sort of thing a lot, but I don't understand it. Surely either BTC is a good transaction mechanism or it isn't and the rampant increase in value is largely irrelevant.

You could convert USD to BTC and buy something while maintaining exactly the same held balance, no?

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You're holding two currencies, one loses about 2.5% of its value a year, the other gains about 1500% (some huge factor) of its value in that same period.

Which one do you purchase the coffee with? The one that's losing value as you hold it, or the one that's going gangbusters?

I'd absolutely, without hesitation, dump the volatile one. If it can appreciate by 15 times in a year, then, clearly it can fall to a 15th of its value just the same.

I need to know that I can pay my mortgage and buy food at the end of the week, so stability is paramount.

Caveat: you are paid in the one that depreciates in value, and have to find other means to acquire the one that is volatile.

This is known as Gresham's Law: Good money drives out bad money. Smart people will trade away their bad money and hold onto their good money when they can.

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