Originally Posted by jammies
Bitcoin cannot be suited to being both a store of value AND a currency. A currency circulates to facilitate the exchange of good and services as an abstraction of common value, sitting untouched in exchange accounts it cannot do that - currency's purpose lies in being constantly *used*. Conversely, stores of value do not freely circulate, they are held for long periods of time to appreciate in, or hold, worth. It is *store* of value, the purpose is right in the name, and thus does not constantly move around.
That isn't to say you can't use currency to store value, but that isn't the same thing - currency doesn't appreciate nor hold worth over time, because inflation erodes that value and it is worth less tomorrow than it is today. You can ameliorate that effect by letting someone else (like a bank) use your money for you and give you a cut of the profits they make from it by circulating it out as loans, capital, or investments, but this illustrates a fundamental difference between a store of value and merely storing value - a store of value can sit there utterly static and still appreciate in worth (at least, a well-chosen one does).
Which leads us back to bitcoin. Its design is to be deflationary, as there will only ever be a set number of bitcoins, which one day (and relatively soon) will be attained. You simply can't print more bitcoins, even if you need or want to. Which is why it is not suited to use as a currency, it has the properties of a store of value - unique and irreproducible units - and the two purposes work against each other.
Like anything else people agree has value, you *can* use it as currency, but that doesn't make it a good currency, just as stuffing cash in your mattress doesn't make that mattress a good store of value. Buying a pizza with bitcoin is like buying a pizza with gold, you're using up a store of value to obtain a transient good, which only makes sense if you can't use a more suitable currency to do it with. It is currency only of desperation.
This is but one of my objections to the hype around bitcoin, many of its proponents clearly do not understand that boosting it as both investment and currency shows a lack of basic understanding of the dynamics between those two ideas. That it was designed the way it is with the idea that it would replace fiat currency shows that its creators didn't understand those dynamics either. Although the more cynical view is that they knew full well that it would never work as currency, but pitching it as an entirely artificial new store of value with no other utility wasn't as effective a marketing campaign.
Lastly, if you understand a concept well, you don't need to tell others to look into what the experts say about it, you can explain it yourself. If you can't, you've been evangelized, not convinced, and your opinion is essentially "ask someone who actually knows what they are talking about".
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