Buying stuff ≠ cashing out

I see a lot of people that still either have the view that they should hold Bitcoin forever and never spend/sell it and others thinking about the right time to “cash out”. Another version is the regretful “I had to cash out to cover bills/replace me car…”.

We should start to differentiate between “cashing out” (exchanging Bitcoin for Fiat without any other purpose than having more Fiat than before) and spending Bitcoin to buy necessities or things to “treat ourselves”.

“Cashing out” is the language of gambling where the cash feels “safe” and Bitcoin was the risky temporary bet.

Think about a world without Fiat and only Bitcoin (the world that Bitcoin is helping us move towards). Would you say you “cash out”, whenever you buy groceries with Bitcoin? No, you’d just buy stuff. The only difference to today is that we don’t have to temporarily exchange it for another currency that our counterpart prefers (Fiat).

Another fallacy is the view “We should never spend Bitcoin, that’s what Fiat is for!” The opportunity cost of spending Bitcoin is the same as spending Fiat that you could have exchanged for Bitcoin. As long as you spend and replace, spending Bitcoin for life is fine!