Let's look at Bitcoin for what it is: a fundamental human efficiency improvement.
Here's why it's valuable (value != price):
- The software and rules can't be changed easily or quickly. It takes years and a lot of global perspectives. Maybe they can't be changed at all.
- Therefore, it works exactly as expected: 24/7/365
- It's accessible anywhere in the world: 24/7/365
- It's accessible by everyone in the world who has a computer and internet connection
Because of these reasons we can say that XBT is stable and predictable. We already see how on many exchanges, XBT is being used as a base "currency" that all other cryptocurrencies are denominated in.
And because it's stable and predictable, it acts as an *international settlement system*, and therefore can also act as a global reserve currency. Currently, the incumbent settlement system (National central banks acting as clearing systems between commercial banks) is the only way the global economy can function. For some perspective, consider that financial activity consumes about 1/3 of the world's economic productivity (~USD30 trillion).
What about technologies that are Turing complete, more technically advanced, etc.?
- When we consider Bitcoin's primary function to be a global reserve currency and settlement system, these features are at best irrelevant.
But the transaction fees are killing me!
- Many cryptocurrency users recognize the financial and human costs of ledger transparency and mutability in the existing financial system, but didn't realize that the cost of immutability in a cryptocurrency could be the same or higher. Consider that correspondent banking is complex and costly, but those costs are absorbed by everyone who participates in the financial system (mostly taxpayers). At the moment Bitcoin users subsidize the current financial system through their taxes while also incurring the costs of their Bitcoin transactions, so the pain is naturally doubled. Users in different countries will also experience different transaction cost pain points, and some people will leave in search of something else to buy their coffee with. Sorry, there's no such thing as a free lunch, and billionaires that have been paying thousands to keep their transactions private in the existing banking system have no problem outbidding you on your next transfer, and in fact will likely have more trust in Bitcoin as the cost of using it increases. User behavior will update accordingly, and people will really "become their own bank".
Ethereum/Ripple/Dogecoin is overtaking Bitcoin's marketshare!
- XRP, ETH, etc. are tantalizing to banks, governments, and speculators. But they will only ever "experiment" with these things in order to generate PR and appear clever to their stakeholders. They know that these systems are not stable enough for production, and that's why there are no examples of anyone going "live" with the thing they built on their forked Ethereum blockchain. Cryptocurrency "Marketshare" is a buzzword concept created by speculators and marketers, who have no idea what the things they are buying right now are worth.
