Bitcoin is dead. People just don't realize it. A private company is fighting to maintain control, the community is literally killing off any chance for real innovation. A.) Even if blockstream can do sidechains they have lost so much face with their underhand tactics no one will cooperate. B.) The private sector is excited about the blockchain(Google articles and vc funding and compare to bitcoin vc funding and articles) . At this point bitcoin can't scale. 3.5tps to 7tps isn't good enough.
Ethereum is the only game in town that comes close to trying to meet the needs of taking crypto mainstream by proving a dev language on the blockchain and next making it scalable.
They might fail. I don't know. But they're the best shot and have been for over a year.
P.S. Don't buy today's hype. Wait until it's "dying" or boring. Don't let anyone tell you "remember what it was like buying bitcoin at $10". There was one bitcoin. Ethereum had had hype and public exposure surrounding it since day one.
Way to be overly dramatic. Bitcoin is far from dead and statements like that makes it hard to take anyone saying it seriously.
I wasn't trying to be overly dramatic. I was just stating what I see 5 years into the future. Here's a quote from some article I read today ...
"I'm struck by how many times I've described this problem to people at the office or at Toastmasters events, who have nothing to do with bitcoin, and they have difficulty understanding what the actual problem is. When I tell them that this issue was artifically added into bitcoin after its launch, they simply ask why it takes years of discussion to change something back to close to the way it worked before. "
I'm not even sure I have an opinion anymore in the block size debate. Blockstream needs the funding to give itself a reason to exist that comes from the 1% fee on the lightning network. Bitcoin needs blockstream to push sidechains etc.
I just don't see it happening man. Going from 1MB blocks that are almost full to 2MB blocks is like trying to pull a bad tooth from a bear who hasn't been sedated. I just don't see how it can move. VC funding dries up next (more VC funding is being poured into "Blockchain" projects that will do nothing to increase the value of bitcoin), then interest shifts from bitcoin to something else (Gavin Wood is a good example of someone who was excited about Ethereum but thought bitcoin was silly), then big providers shift to whatever is next (people who don't censor their company on their reddits for testing out a piece of software Theymos doesn't like). Circle is talking about adding Ethereum. Coinbase is testing Classic (which won't work - bitcoin won't fork) and maybe they are still banned on bitcoin reddit. Not sure. Last piece is when a few old time bitcoin whales panic that have a cost basis of $0.34 per bitcoin and start dumping for alternate currency or fiat.
Then you'll see panic.
I am being overly dramatic for today I suppose. But not overly dramatic in the next 1 - 5 year time frame. Watch an see. (I'm not convinced it will be Ethereum - just that it won't be bitcoin).