I've been paying attention to crypto since 2010; my profile here may be new, but I am by no means new to the subject. At this moment in time, as unpleasant it may sound to say, BTC is mostly a major pain in the butt. Don't get me wrong, I am an absolute Believer in Crypto-currency (and I don't mean this as a means to get a Lambo, but for actual, very profound and direly needed socially beneficial reasons) but Bitcoin is starting to become more of a hindrance than an asset, and this is for the following reasons:
- The technology that underlines it, while revolutionary upon its inception is not fit for purpose. The only true asset that it offers is the longevity and apparent robustness of its block-chain. But judged purely on its technical and performance merits, it’s thoroughly outclassed by several competing systems
- At present, Bitcoin dominates the public perception of what crypto-currencies are. More often than not, it is used as a synonym for all crypto-currencies when talking to a layman, and it does a tremendous disservice to all those projects out there that are working hard to create better, cheaper, more efficient and better performing systems
- Aside of being a method to store and transfer value, it supports no additional functionality of note. You might counter – so does money, and that might be true, but combined with the previous point it makes it a lot harder to make people understand crypto can be what you may justifiably call “Money 2.0”, something far more versatile and useful.
- Bitcoin dominates the pricing of alternative currencies to the point that the success of other projects seems to have very little impact on the pricing of its underlying crypto-token or asset. This is perhaps the most pernicious issue, hampering and interfering with their development, by eroding confidence, wearing down investors... some of which may be immature “When Moon!?” noobs, but many of which are people who really do their due diligence, research crypto-projects, invest wisely, yet fail to see the value of such tokens appreciate in an expected fashion; just because BTC happens to be falling. Why on Earth would this be a good thing… why would anyone (and I do mean anyone, including people who hold BTC) want this to happen??
I greatly respect and (still) love Bitcoin, and it has started a revolution. But I think it is time for a change in attitudes, a realization that while it certainly is the father of the revolution, it’s kids, nieces and cousins are in fact a much better product. Bitcoin will always have a special place in my heart, but it is time for the world to move on and we should be doing what we can to remove it from the dominating role it has both in the perception of crypto-currencies and in their objective valuation.
