Excellent piece. Up until a month or so ago I really didn't take the time to look into this subject. Coming away, I would say bitcoin is like the Wright flyer. It showed that flight was possible... but beyond that... people weren't willing to lay on a wing, out in the environment with a range of 50 miles. Not to mention the risk of dying in an unsuccessful flight. When the DC-3 came along, then the 707, air travel was much more realistic and safe for the average person.
I find the energy consumption of mining bitcoin the most telling of the project. It's simply unscalable and I'm a bit surprised people didn't notice that right off.
I feel we have many iterations to go before we really find the useful version of crypto-currency that would equate to the success of the 707, VHS, or facebook. I would say it's probably going to look allot more like Hashgraph than bitcoin. But I'm no expert.
I believe Steemit is certainly one of the best examples of the usefulness of the current understanding of the technology and that is why I will continue to support it but I also see much room for improvement.
Thanks for your detailed comment Michael.
I agree the energy consumption is a problem, though in an Andreas A. video I was listening to the other day, he said that the electricity usage for Bitcoin is likely close to its peak, staying about the same as it is now, despite increases in the size of the network. When people say it's a house worth of electricity for every transaction, that's rather misleading. Even so, it doesn't hurt to be more efficient, and that's one of the reasons people are interested in proof of stake, and Hashgraph too I suppose.
I hope you and your family are well.