The ultimate usage of bitcoin now is for investment and nothing can meet or beat this particular use of bitcoin. Bitcoin as a payment means is also one that comes to mind or it's use in crypto casino industry but even that as well isn't up to the use of it as an investment means because I believe most people would prefer using stable coins for gambling and also payment of other stuffs rather than bitcoin due to it's high volatility.

If nobody spends bitcoin, it fails.

People spending bitcoin are not foolish.  They are giving the system real value.  Gold was used as money for thousands of years precisely because people traded it for goods.  It had value because you could spend it, not just look at it in a vault.

Using Bitcoin as means of payment is not a bad idea, it will increase the rate of adoption globally because the more people use Bitcoin, the more popular it will be come even though it have gotten the recognition it needs, using it to pay bills, buy things online and so on is not a bad idea at all.

However, personally, I prefer using Bitcoin for its purpose which is long term saving to keep it value  for investors and also gives us profit. I used it for financial freedom, holding for long is what I always cherish, because Bitcoin is an asset you can hold for long and make good profit, and you will hold without any third party involved; to me, there is no need to use my Bitcoin to buy goods when I have fiat to use for buying goods and payments services.

Honestly I was shocked reading this coming from a hero member. I almost thought I didn't get the rank well but I did actually get it right

I agree that there are people who are made Bitcoin an investment asset for themselves; they have vowed never to sell their bitcoins for any reason because they want to make profit from it. That is their opinion and I respect that for them.

But, it is not nice calling them foolish for using bitcoin the exact way it was originally intended to be used. No true bitcoiner will call someone  who makes payments with bitcoin, a fool. Bitcoin has many use cases and all use cases are meaningful.

Ideally, it should align with Bitcoin's original purpose: serving as a medium for transactions or payments. A digital currency that is easily usable on a global scale. Most importantly, there is its decentralized nature, which is precisely what drives people to use it. However, in practice, it is not that simple. Many countries still prohibit the use of Bitcoin for payments. Governments remain highly skeptical and maintain strict oversight because that decentralization causes them to lose control over society regarding Bitcoin.

As for me, I would say that the most useful purpose of Bitcoin besides investment is allowing people to send and receive money without relying on Banks.  Bitcoin was created during the global financial crisis in 2008 because that was when Satoshi published the white paper, before the launch in 2009, because Satoshi wanted a system that would allow people send and receive money without restrictions or rely on Banks, because those system had failed people and confidence in them was shaking.  And the use case that deserve more attention is using Bitcoin for our everyday spending, not just to treat it as an investment.

I don't own a shop so I can't do what merchants do by accepting bitcoin payments for my items. But if I do, I'll proudly display it together with a qr on my shop.

Anyway, there's not that much that I do with it other than converting it to fiat which pays my bills and other things that I need.

I guess that does count on the usage of bitcoin that it can directly and indirectly pays our bills and buys us our provision.

I have had to comment on similar threads like this over the years, and my answer still remains the same, every use case is important. And we cannot really be talking about which one 'deserves more attention', as that would mean trying to police how people use their BTC, which goes against censorship resistance that we all hate.

You can use BTC as a currency, or just buy and hold it. It could be used for international trade or to gamble, etc, these are all useful to the network and it counts, i don't think it is necessary to say one counts for more.

Why is it foolish? Didn't Satoshi intended Bitcoin to be used as "peer to peer electronic cash" in the first place? Bitcoin's original purpose was to be used as digital cash. It's just that the media began to market it as the world's next store of value. Especially with the fixed supply and deflationary design.

With volatility becoming a problem, people's current perception about Bitcoin won't change anytime soon. The majority now holds it, with the hopes of turning a profit in the long run. At least, Bitcoin is more open and free (as in liberty) than traditional Fiat currencies. What more can we ask?

I don't know why people don't like to use Bitcoin for cross border payment, maybe it's illegal I'm not sure but it feel faster to me. As long s your money is not illegal, buy Bitcoin and have prove of receipt that you bought Bitcoin ad send it to who you want and it's simple. When ask about the Bitcoin for tax, show proof of receipt and transaction but it seems people are scared or they don't like to use Bitcoin for cross boarder. It feels faster than wire money and western union.

Lightning feels better in adoption than main chain, like it kind of pity when people use other layer for transaction when Bitcoin lightning is better than them, they just don't know how to make life easy for their self. Maybe one day by the time the government decide to make Bitcoin a legal tender, they will want to use it. Or maybe the government may not even do that due to fear that people may not use their traditional companies to send and receive payment.