What are some things about Cryptocurencies that could be considered a con (scary)?

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Cryptocurrencies are considered currencies of the future. They are decentralized virtual currencies. Their transactions are fast, secure and irreversible and these transactions are recorded on immutable digital ledgers (blockchains). Fee for money transfer is low compared to traditional fiats. However, they have some disadvantages also:

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Mining cost: After generation of a block it becomes very hard to mine the next block. Difficulty in mining increases with every new block. It takes lots of energy and computer resources to mine a new block of Bitcoin. This huge energy consumption has a negative impact on environment.

Centralization tendencies: On account of rising cost of mining it has become impossible to mine Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies with ordinary CPUs. Now, it requires powerful application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) to mine Bitcoin. Only big companies can afford to set up such kind of costly mining pools. In near future it will become impossible for small and medium-scale enterprises to mine Bitcoin. A big corporation can buy all the mining pools and make a gigantic mining company. That company will be highly centralized and can manipulate recording of transactions at its will. So, cryptocurrencies can lead to a highly centralized monetary system that fiats could not have established so far.

Increasing cost of transactions: Cash transaction is the most cost effective till date. It doesn’t require any kind of transaction fee. Transaction through debit or credit card also requires paying the transaction fee. Crypto transaction also requires paying the transaction fee. As the cost of mining increases, so as the transaction cost also increases. One day it will become very costly to transfer money using cryptocurrencies.

Delay in confirmation: Every transaction is confirmed when it is recorded in blockchain. It takes considerable time. For Bitcoin and Etherium transactions, confirmation time may be many hours. Till then one cannot be sure whether the transfer of money has been done or not. So, buying things through cryptos requires waiting for hours to get the confirmation of the transaction. Its solution is to use fast and zero transaction fee cryptocurrencies like Steem.

Unstable values, speculating prices and fractions: Prices of cryptos are speculating. One cannot be sure about their value in the future. Suppose one buy something worth $3000 in 0.5 Bitcoin. Overnight price of Bitcoin reached $8000. The actual price paid would become $4000. So, there is a loss of $1000 in just a single day. Also, we don’t think in the fraction. Price of a chocolate is $10. It is not a problem for us to remember this price. But it is not an easy thing to remember the price of the same chocolate in 0.0000254 Bitcoin. How many fractions can one remember?

Need of active internet connection and devices.

Crypto and digital money Transactions requires a mobile or PC with the active internet connection. In a world where big populations of poor and illiterate people live, such technologies are not affordable for many. Besides this, electricity supply is also a big problem in developing countries. If someone accidentally or intentionally go to a place where mobile signals are not available or mobile gets switch off due to low battery, how will he pay his dues? Powerful solar storms have capacities to damage satellites, power distribution system and can also render electronic appliances and devices non-operational. Transaction of money through electronic mediums will become impossible in such situations.

Lack of support in case of financial crisis

In case of failure of fiats, governments assure people to help them to some extent but in case of failure of cryptocurrency there will be no authority to help people because full expansion of cryptos will bring the anarchy and make governments powerless. So, if cryptocurrencies become the only means of exchange, it will become very difficult to handle a financial crisis. In absence of a central authority, any such a crisis can collapse the entire world economy at once.

So, these are some disadvantages (cons) or cryptocurrencies. However, these problems can be handled. However, nothing can match cash transaction till date.