>there's no need to convert them.

Have you tried paying your taxes in Bitcoin? The IRS (or regional equivalent) is not going to accept bitcoin any time soon and they will want you to pay taxes on, for example, profits. There is a need to convert, don't believe otherwise.

Taxes is not the big problem. Try buying a meal or filling up your gas tank or rent an apartment or paying an electricity bill with bitcoin. 99.(9)% of merchants you'll encounter in the course of your regular life accept local money and about the same do not accept bitcoin.

Out of curiosity, are people seriously using bitcoin stocks as a bank? Or are they just investing part of their money in bitcoin and hoping it goes somewhere? This requirement of conversion only makes sense if people are fully and completely invested. I would be shocked if there were such people at this stage.

There are indeed people at this stage.

No, but I imagine coinbase has. As will many other people who accept bitcoin payments.

It doesn't matter, you still have to pay your taxes in USD. Even if you earned your salary in bitcoins you would have to convert some to USD in order to pay your taxes.

And if you're a multinational, you'll have to convert all sorts of currencies in all sorts of other currencies constantly.

Companies regularly complains that this costs them 1% or so of revenue.

>Have you tried paying your taxes in Bitcoin?

Not yet.

I think these kinds of views are what make the bitcoin community seem ridiculous ... It's just constant downplaying of actual upplaying of conspiracy like goldbugs do and it just seems hard for serious and educated people to take seriously.

I'm not downplaying anyting. Bitcoins intention is to be a real currency. You don't turn your dollars into Canadian Tire money to shop at Canadian Tire.

Saying you're not supposed to convert bitcoin is the statement of someone who thinks bitcoin is NOT an investment. So... not a goldbug.

There are only two ways that you could have a work where Bitcoin does not need to be converted to other currency:

1. People stop bothering to follow the law, and governments throw their hands in the air and do nothing about it.

2. Governments start accepting Bitcoin for tax purposes.

I am not confident that either of these will happen...

>Bitcoins are a currency, there's no need to convert them

Yes, unless you want to, you know, buy something...

I suppose there's nothing I'd ever want to buy from one of the merchants advertising here: http://www.bitcoinblackfriday.com/

Woo, bacon lollipops, server hosting, and pizza. Truly the essentials.

You need grocery stores, gas stations, clothing stores, and restaurants to start accepting it. Until then, it's really just a novelty for middle class college Libertarians.

I love saying this:

Do you think that cryptocurrencies spring fully-formed from the forehead of Zeus?

No, but I think they are not destined to become gods either...

No, but maybe Minerva?

Possibly Eris?

If your available merchant options fit in a page, and contain "sriracha-bacon lolipops", t-shirts, honey and donations, you might as well use monopoly money...

Many businesses accept Bitcoins as payment for physical things. The last Bitcoin meetup that I went to was at a bar/grill that accepts BTC as payment. Most of the attendees paid for their drinks with Bitcoin. You don't need to convert to cash in order to buy things with Bitcoin.

"Many businesses" is a very relative term. A more accurate term would be "almost no businesses."

"Many" as in? 0.0x%?

That bar/grill is a novelty -- and it probably only accepted BTC in the first place because there was a BTC EVENT held at it.

How long did the transaction take?

well use it as it's intended, buy something in bitcoins.

There's even projects that accept donations in bitcoins, you'll see wallet addresses like this: 1JBEGFXW6ywMtZnCbjvKGJXDtdR6g6KmMi

Their utility isn't tied to the fact that you can turn them into more of your favorite currency later, that stupidity is what's driving the current bitcoin bubble. Wait till people realize what you can do with them.

You realize this list proves the parent's point, not yours? Many categories there have a single provider and none would even breach 1% of providers in your vicinity. I would estimate the probability of not hearing "err... what?" after asking your favorite provider of anything about paying in bitcoins about 1/1000.

The problem right now is that Bitcoin is not (used as) a currency. A currency facilitates the exchange of services of goods. Bitcoin now is more like a plot of land in the middle of London, or gold a few years ago. You buy bitcoins to hold and speculate, not to spend and pay your purchases with it. The resurrection of Bitcoin as as currency after the bubble will be a very interesting transition to watch and it's not 100% sure that Bitcoin will survive it.