Broken Promises of Bitcoin - Random Thoughts
An Amatures view of Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Markets
When I heard about Bitcoin the benefits that stood out to me were:
- Fast
- Private
- Decentralised
- Free/Cheap Transfers
As the project scaled Bitcoin no longer meets any of this criteria. Average people aren't running the Bitcoin Code on their computers, it isn't cheap or easy to move and it certainly isn't fast. Outside of its trading volatility it mostly just sits there and acts as a nice trading tool to other cryptocurrencies which may try to reclaim the early promises of Bitcoin.
The way the economy is currently set up it still requires "Trusted 3rd Parties", I mean how does one buy it, trade it and use it to purchase things without agreements with Banks, Retailers, Exchanges. In most cases the current "Trusted 3rd Parties" are less reliable than those which deal in Fiat. Most of them will now be reporting to the IRS and require full disclosure of identity.
Skyrocketing prices brought the media and mainstream in to take a look and they were greeted by Roger Ver spreading FUD and trying to hijack Bitcoin Cash or BCash, a project he wasn't even a part of until after the Segwit 2 project failed to take off. Some people got on board and many companies are beginning to adopt the "Blockchain". However, none of that requires Bitcoin. Blockchain technology can and will be adopted without bringing value to Cryptocurrency Tokens.
By now readers are fully triggered and ready to tell me how dumb I am and how they can move their Bitcoin cheaply and easily. Let me have it, but remember if you want to create a mainstream project someone as dumb as I am should be able to easily learn it and use it.
With all that said I am still very interested in the Cryptocurrency Markets and to watch this emerging technology mature and grow into its place in the future. I am not worried about which tokens you like or which one's you are invested in because Bitcoin provided an entire market of interesting projects and bright minds trying to figure out how to meet the various visions of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin and Satoshi brought us an entire new way to create and exchange currencies with unknown ways to expand. As the vision and the intelligence involved grows it will actually change the world economy in ways nobody can predict. However, as with other emerging technologies I think it is unlikely many of the original products will be the long-term winner. I am not saying Bitcoin is dead, in fact far from it. I think there are still several more rounds of discovery to take place.
There was another thing that Bitcoin did which impressed me. It did its job during the economic crashes of Venezuela and Zimbabwe, giving those who knew how and who had access the ability to buy and exchange goods directly using Bitcoin. To me that is the kept promise of Bitcoin.
Andreas Antonopolous used a great analogy when describing bitcoin. I’m paraphrasing. The ether net we use today is vastly different from the ether net we used when internet was new. It is several generations newer to the point that it is not really the same product anymore. Yet we still refer to it as ether net because of the brand name affinity we have for it. I see bitcoin evolving in the same trend. The product we have now might not ultimately be the product that gains mass adoption.
But as a speculator, I am not mining/hodling BTC, LTC, EOS, STEEM (yes you mine STEEM) and various others for what their worth is today. But rather what their worth could potentially be in the future.
Our fiat, Federal Reserve, Central Banking, Governmental systems are corrupt, broken and ultimately unsustainable (in my opinion) A new system will rise when the current one fails. I think we are witnessing its birth firsthand here.
Great, thought provoking post as always! @whatsup
In Nigeria too. I just got on the train late.
It seems to me that your way of seeing bitcoin is right, sometimes crypto enthusiasts do not want to accept this type of things since they only want the price go to moon.
Although the bitcoin does not meet any of the characteristics mentioned above, there seem to be altcoins that have greatly improved these details, but I also believe that at least 80% of the cryptocurrencies are shitcoins and only a few will survive, those that fulfill certain functions efficiently.
In Venezuela it fulfills a magnificent function. I use it to save, the fiat depreciates every day, inflation goes up, and if I have my money in Bolivars in a month it is worth half. In Bitcoin you can save the value, without risking too much like any altcoin.
For me, I have a special Bitcoin wallet that is not big or slow like the normal Bitcoin Core wallet or whatever it is called. The special wallet I use is called Electrum or something like that.
New people could learn how to use Steem, this Steemit blockchain and crypticurrency system, as an introduction to Bitcoin and Ethereum and other Alt Coins as well. It is good to treat Bitcoin like gold or like long-term investment as opposed to a daily trading lottery get rich in only one hour scheme. Don't keep all your eggs or investments in one basket or cryptocurrency and it may take many years before you may profit from investments and Bitcoin may not be the best for quick trading, buying, selling, exchanging, but Bitcoin can help save some of your money maybe for some time when the dollar and other centralized Rothschild fiat currencies fall and inflate and maybe die or at least decline to lose a lot of value before the year of 2030 A.D. or much sooner like what happened in the 1920's may happen again in the 2020's with fiat and stock markets and the dollar as they fall and as cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks rise.
This post has received a 13.36 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @whatsup.
Very well said!
Preach!
At the end of the day we wouldn't be here on Steemit reading this if it weren't for Bitcoin. But crypto is still in it's infancy stage and it'll be interesting to see what will happen in the future.
well not a cheap transfer for me as well