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The dominant narrative today is that Bitcoin’s primary use case is as a store of value. This is the “digital gold” story: Bitcoin is sound money and can do everything gold can — but better. The store-of-value argument drives much of the narrative at Bitcoin treasury companies, which hold it for its superior monetary properties rather than for trading.
But this was not Bitcoin’s original design. Remember, the white paper was titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. Cash is for exchange, not storing value. In that sense, using Bitcoin as a means of value transfer is more fundamental than using it solely as a store of value.
Now, one could argue that storing value in bitcoin still constitutes a form of value transfer, since the value must be held in a bitcoin address. But if the store-of-value use case dominates, then transaction fees won’t matter much — because the number of transactions would remain small. On-chain bitcoin usage would also become less significant. By contrast, using bitcoin as a method of payment can only strengthen its role as a long-term store of value. Even with gold, the two functions were hard to separate. Gold bullion is held in Fort Knox and beneath the New York Federal Reserve — that’s clearly gold functioning as a store of value. But it’s precisely because gold was a superior store of value that banks issued currencies backed by it. Those banknotes, which served as a medium of exchange and eventually evolved into the dollar, derived their value from being backed by gold.
Just last month, I bought a bicycle from a friend using bitcoin. He wanted bitcoin; I needed a used bike. It was a classic example of trade. Some might argue it was the most expensive bicycle I ever bought — that I should have used dollars and held on to as much bitcoin as possible. But using bitcoin in this way reflects its original vision: a medium of exchange between two peers.
It was also my friend’s first experience owning bitcoin, and he didn’t need to go through an exchange to receive it. In that way, bitcoin becomes a powerful vehicle for adoption. Once it’s used, it ends up in someone else’s hands. And having real utility can only reinforce the many other reasons to hold sound money.
After all, sound money must also function as money.
