The Bitcoin world consists of two broad camps: those who hoard cryptocurrency, and those who spend it. Depending on whom you pose the question to, hoarders are either a problem or the solution. Roger Ver recently posted a tweet about how “hoarders are more important than spenders.” An interesting comment that caused quite a bit of outrage among Bitcoiners on Reddit.
Hoarding or Spending, What Is More Important?
When it comes to discussing Bitcoin, it remains an investment vehicle to most people. A lot of people purchased BTC during the past eight years with the goal of holding on to the funds and sell it at the most opportune time. Not that there is anything wrong with that, as Bitcoin has proven to make for quite a good investment vehicle over the past few years.
On the other hand, Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer payment system, with the ultimate goal of getting consumers and merchants to use and spend it like any other currency. With people hoarding, that somewhat diminishes the chances of Bitcoins being spent on a large scale. It is unclear how many of the coins in circulation are being hoarded, though, and there are plenty of coins waiting to be spent by the look of things.
It is rather strange to see one of the early Bitcoin adopters make contradicting statements on Twitter. One cannot argue how hoarding is fine while stating how undermining Bitcoin’s usefulness as cash will undermine its value. One cannot have hoarders undermine the value of Bitcoin and be OK with it, as that is a contradiction.
At the same time, the value of Bitcoin hoarders should not be underestimated. Although they may be less inclined to spend Bitcoin as they would cash, they are still an integral part of the Bitcoin community. Not everyone wants to use Bitcoin like they would do with cash, which is only understandable. Hoarders are often seen as a risk regarding dumping coins on exchanges when the price is right. Then again, retailers often instantly convert Bitcoin transactions to fiat currency, dumping BTC on exchanges on a daily basis.
It is evident there is room for all kinds of Bitcoin enthusiasts in the cryptocurrency world. Spending Bitcoin remains preferable, yet the number of useful services is still somewhat lackluster all over the world. Until the situation changes, there will always be a fair amount of hoarders, although that doesn’t damage the cryptocurrency ecosystem all that much.
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