Firstly you seem to assume that I am expecting other crypto-currencies to become some immense power, replacing the current financial systems, well, I am afraid I do not. I think crypto is a fascinating technology, which will have a place in the future but I do not think it is going to replace fiat currency in my or my children's lifetime.
Secondly you may well be right about the past for Bitcoin, but that is not the situation TODAY, and the situation TODAY is what faces Unobtanium. Today there is little to no reason to use Uno over BTC in any real-world scenario. Indeed it is practically impossible to use Uno without also using BTC.
I wouldn't disagree with those two statements. I suppose i am a bit more cynical than most crypto enthusiast. I highly doubt and am fairly confident that if any type of crypto does replace fiat it will not be ANY of the cryptos we know today. No central banking authority can afford to give up control like that. The technology will be used and perverted by them into a stricter form of control.
I don't think we are contesting what Btc is doing. Btc is fine being btc. We don't need to, nor should we be looking to replace it. That is silly. Of course then why would someone use btc to buy uno to then buy what they want when they could just go straight from btc to desired item.
Why would anyone buy btc when they can go straight from fiat to desired item?
How do we then carve out a greater niche for Uno to make it stand out among the sea of alt clones. That is the million dollar question. It is fine for what it is but i can't help to think that the same reason some people love it, lots of stagnant top wallets, is the same reason people keep the fuck away from it.
In all honesty, if any one of us found the community today, what would be our motivation to buy into it? Spend a bitcoin so in a year it can turn into maybe 1.2 btc or maybe .8 btc. Sadly most people are coming into crypto to go to the moon. Moon shooting isn't really possible with Uno. Combine the stagnation with almost 10% of the coins supply being tied up in some bullshit legal matter, the picture becomes even more grim.
The fundamentals certainly exist for Uno to succeed but we really really really need someone with a ton of disposable income to back Uno to get it to ltc or doge level of acceptance. Still though, why even go ltc or doge and not just stick with btc? There is nothing exclusive about any coin really, everyone is just hedging bets trying to reap the early adopter rewards.
Let us assume Uno was designed for holding. What happens when all the Unos are mined and they are all being held?
If Uno crashes, is it that bad? A mass exodus might be what someone who is watching the coin is waiting for? The barrier for entry is a bit too much now for any whale to want to come in. I think the next big event in our community will be the fate of those +/-15k uno being held up right now. Legal matters can take years though.
So what is it that people want? What is the rush? We are we headed? With functionality and adoption comes demand. With demand comes an increase in value. Without functionality there is no need for adoption and there will be no demand and there will be no value.
Good post, I agree with most of it.
Re. The bit I bolded, I think there are a number of scenarios why one might want/choose to use a crypto of some sort, rather than fiat directly - e.g. international payments, where exchange and payment costs are (proportionately) very high; micro payments where fiat currency is fundamentally unsuited and I expect there are others but they are not obvious to me.
My general scepticism comes from the fact that by themselves those don't seem to really be enough so there need to be other use cases to drive adoption.