Not so funny now...the future is grim for Bitcoin if you ask me and they only have themselves to blame, nothing but petty disputes, greediness and denial about the deep problems it has. What is Bitcoin anyway right now? I mean honestly, what does it do? It's certainly not a day to day currency that once proposed. A store of value? a decentralized database? Ok I can give you that, but there's zero incentive to buy it other than hodling and speculate with it, this trick won't last forever.
Now I'm not calling the death of Bitcoin or anything, I'm sure it will be around for many years, but something's gotta give, plenty of business had moved away from it due to the toxic environment and altcoins started to take on Bitcoin marketcap little by little, just look at the graph of altcoin market compared to Bitcoin, it's bullish as hell.
And like it or not, Ethereum is the second one behind it, with a lot of projects actually using its blockchain (not different blockchains altogether).
Bitcoin is a system for storing and transferring value absent intermediaries. It can serve as a settlement layer for second-tier networks that would be better geared for petty day-to-day transactions. Hoarding and speculation are going to be the primary means of price appreciation for a long time to come - I'm not sure why there is an urgency to look elsewhere, at least for the next decade.
The alt market has been growing at a faster pace than Bitcoin. It's also a fickle market though, where coins come and go, rise and fall. Perhaps reasons for investing in Bitcoin versus them is its better liquidity, lower volatility and staying power.
Bitcoin was created in a time of crisis and low faith in institutions.
A time that will return.
yefi, you know we were discussing similar issues when Ethereum started that huge rally back in early 2016. I'm a believer in Ethereum because I really feel it's one of the only altcoins that really add something new. But I've also sold all my stash some time right after the DAO hack when it was still above 0.02 since I knew a bear trend would set in eventually. And I'll sell again if in the next months we see it at above $50-100, with all ENS, ICOs and POS/Metropolis hype. I know this is all experimental technology and a very risky, volatile investment, and that includes Bitcoin which have a lot of negative stuff to sort out no matter what maximalists deny or say.
So my point is, one should be aware of fundamentals and sentiment. I think right now we are at a point where Bitcoin can't really justify itself any longer based on the arguments you hear. It might have worked 2 or 3 years ago, but right now it's becoming inexcusable. If this continues, a bear trend will start and we'll see sub 1k again, mark my words. I'm not even mentioning the real possibility of a hard fork happening. I do agree that Bitcoin greatest asset is becoming a settlement and decentralized database, but price is kinda secondary if the "currency" is not actually used for anything. That's why Ethereum makes a little more sense to many, it needs to be earned, used and consumed.
I'm a pragmatic person and I don't see the world in black and white. I think most debates have good arguments on either side, there's nothing 100% right or wrong.