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Comment by wereHamster | Hacker News Reader

I really hope that the lightning network (which had its first successful test a day ago) will end this speculation bubble (by enabling fast microtransactions). Currently BTC is not suitable for general trading, the transaction fees are too high. But I really would like to be able to pay for things using BTC, online or in stores.

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The price of BTC went up by $2k USD in 2 hours this morning. Why would anyone want to use it to buy something when there's a good chance it'll be worth more in a day or so?

I think that is their point. It would be nice if BTC would stabilize so that it can actually be used for purchasing something other than USD.

And conversely, it just fell by $3,000 in 20 minutes. Why would anyone accept it for a purchase when there's a good chance it'll be worth substantially less not long after?

Keep in mind, the change in $ isn't important, it's the percentage change over time and the variance.

The technical implementation of the lightning network is neat, but I swear at a high level it feels like we're just re-implementing modern money.

Once upon a time when we realized shuffling around gold bars was slow, expensive, and a pain in the ass, we created a much more liquid network on top of the gold, and called it the dollar.

How long until lightning network runs into limitations due to the fixed supply of gold, err I mean bitcoin, and abandons the "bitcoin standard"?

What level of volatility would be acceptable for you to begin transacting in bitcoin?

Imagine you bought a coffee with BTC for $3 in 2014. How much did you really pay for that coffee?

The purist would say $0 because you paid for it in BTC

Not more than current fiat currency volatility (say, USDEUR or EURCHF). If I transfer 1000 USD to my bitcoin (or LN) wallet at the beginning of the month, I want it to remain roughly stable till the end of the month, so I can easily pay for stuff throughout the month without worry about loosing half of it.

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