Oddbean

Your paintings didn't gain value. Your paintings got more expensive to buy. That's not good for the customer. Since you set your prices in Bitcoin. Your prices will fluctuate and if Bitcoin goes up it means your paintings are more expensive to buy. I've seen others set their prices in Bitcoin. I think it's bad because the world's reserve currency is still the USD. So the customer has to do the math and some days the math is more expensive than other times. But it's your business.

Wrong. The bitcoins you had before are the same ones you would use to buy the painting, they have not diminished. If you didn't have them before, you don't have them now. It is Bitcoin itself that has more value, consequently those who bought a painting of mine in the past in Bitcoin is now worth more.

If I buy one if your paintings and hang it on my wall. If Bitcoin goes up it doesn't mean your painting is worth more. Let's say I paid 500USD in Bitcoin for a painting and Bitcoin goes up. Your painting doesn't go up with it. The value of your painting will stay at 500USD. Depending on who wants to buy it. I might not even be able to sell it at 500USD if there is no demand from anyone to buy it. Why would anyone buy your paintings from me, a lot more than what I paid.

In terms of USD, the obvious negation to this whole debate is to buy the 500USD worth of Bitcoin and immediately send it to the artist just like you would if you were paying in fiat. Your point only makes any sense if you aren't spending and replacing or earning income from some value you provide in a market. You could argue this for any money you spend on anything. I just spent $260USD on Yeti products. Could I have invested that instead? Of course. Will someone pay me more than that in the future? Probably not. But we have to separate our investment pile from our spending pile and decide how much we want to put into each based on individual values. Otherwise, there is little point to life. Delaying gratification can be good, but that doesn't mean everyone will have the same idea of what that means (I buy new underwear and don't sell my chairs and go into debt for Bitcoin). I value my happiness and wellbeing right now to some degree more than future potential earnings, but I do have my own lines (I don't buy brand new vehicles or the latest electronics, etc). It's also worth considering that the major levels of volatility in Bitcoin come from it being an emerging technology. There would come a time when "going up" doesn't mean what it does now. It's value would only increase with population an economic growth, which probably won't be anywhere close to the levels we see as early adopters.