user58590: Why would an average consumer prefer bitcoin over fiat options like credit card and ApplePay to buy coffee? Even assuming bitcoin transaction fee is minimal and instantaneous (say, after implementing Lightning Network), is the 2-3% transaction fee reduction worth paying with bitcoin, given its drawbacks such as volatility and lack of chargebacks?

user208: 
Why would an average consumer prefer bitcoin over fiat options like credit card and ApplePay to buy coffee? 

That's a meaningless comparison. Bitcoin (the blockchain technology) is not a payment system. It does not support chargebacks, it is slow, unreliable, inconvenient, and often expensive to interact with. It's the equivalent of trying to pay by putting bricks of gold in people's mailboxes.
It is however a natively digital, independent, and permissionless asset that can be transferred across the globe, free from censorship, inflation, or theft. Best of all, it achieves these properties without any trusted third parties that control the system.
In this regard, it competes with the dollar and other fiat currencies, not with credit cards. In fact, there is no reason why credit cards denominated in bitcoin (the currency) couldn't exist.
The hope however, is that due to being natively digital and permissionless, it is possible to build far better payment technology on top of this currency than what is possible with the dollar. One promising technology in this regard is the Lightning Network - a layer built on top of Bitcoin that offers cheap, fast, reliable payments which does not undermine the principles Bitcoin was designed for.
So why bother with the slow, expensive, and unreliable layer at the bottom, instead of directly building a payment system? Because different technologies are good for different use cases. In order to build a payment system, you first need something of value to pay with. The blockchain offers a way to do that, as it requires global consistency to guarantee no double spends are possible. But once you have that, there is no need for everyone in the world to know about your coffee - it can just be something between you and the seller.

user70998: There are billions of people that don't have access to credit cards and banking facilities that the privileged people take for granted. There are also people that get into financial trouble and lose all credibility in the banking system. Bitcoin provides a way for these people to transact without being part of the banking system. Coffee, however is a very superficial use case. One of the pressing needs is for people to send money back to their families in foreign countries, the current system of international payments makes it extremely expensive and very slow, Bitcoin and the lightning network can really help in cases like these.

58590: <p>Why would an average consumer prefer bitcoin over fiat options like credit card and ApplePay to buy coffee? Even assuming bitcoin transaction fee is minimal and instantaneous (say, after implementing Lightning Network), is the 2-3% transaction fee reduction worth paying with bitcoin, given its drawbacks such as volatility and lack of chargebacks?</p>
 208: <blockquote>
  <p>Why would an average consumer prefer bitcoin over fiat options like credit card and ApplePay to buy coffee? </p>
</blockquote>

<p>That's a meaningless comparison. Bitcoin (the blockchain technology) is not a payment system. It does not support chargebacks, it is slow, unreliable, inconvenient, and often expensive to interact with. It's the equivalent of trying to pay by putting bricks of gold in people's mailboxes.</p>

<p>It is however a natively digital, independent, and permissionless asset that can be transferred across the globe, free from censorship, inflation, or theft. Best of all, it achieves these properties without any trusted third parties that control the system.</p>

<p>In this regard, it competes with the dollar and other fiat currencies, not with credit cards. In fact, there is no reason why credit cards denominated in bitcoin (the currency) couldn't exist.</p>

<p>The hope however, is that due to being natively digital and permissionless, it is possible to build far better payment technology on top of this currency than what is possible with the dollar. One promising technology in this regard is the Lightning Network - a layer built on top of Bitcoin that offers cheap, fast, reliable payments which does not undermine the principles Bitcoin was designed for.</p>

<p>So why bother with the slow, expensive, and unreliable layer at the bottom, instead of directly building a payment system? Because different technologies are good for different use cases. In order to build a payment system, you first need something of value to pay with. The blockchain offers a way to do that, as it requires global consistency to guarantee no double spends are possible. But once you have that, there is no need for everyone in the world to know about your coffee - it can just be something between you and the seller.</p>
 70998: <p>There are billions of people that don't have access to credit cards and banking facilities that the privileged people take for granted. There are also people that get into financial trouble and lose all credibility in the banking system. Bitcoin provides a way for these people to transact without being part of the banking system. Coffee, however is a very superficial use case. One of the pressing needs is for people to send money back to their families in foreign countries, the current system of international payments makes it extremely expensive and very slow, Bitcoin and the lightning network can really help in cases like these.</p>
