I'm curious, I have seen lots of people arguing over whether bitcoin will Rise to 50k maybe even 100k and then there are the others who argue it will fall.
I'm going to state a few facts :
Bitcoin is seen as the base of all crypto and most are compared to it on markets.
Bitcoin is unsustainable as it is. a 3rd of the world's energy is used to mine cryptocurrencies most notably bitcoin which is one of the most energy consuming.As a result, there are high transaction fees.
Now here is my opinion.
I think given these facts Unless bitcoin does not change in some form it will likely be overtaken due to the issues highlighted. This will happen as a result of the huge price which most cannot access and the unattractive nature to the rest of the world which doesn't want to invest in something so energy consuming and volatile. I think for mass adoption another coin will have o be the base to trade against like tether(which is experiencing problems) or UNY(which is rebranding) These stable coins will make crypto more attractive to many. IDK this is just my opinion and I'm welcome to counter arguments form everyone else.
I believe the main reason why Bitcoin is the No.1 in among the cryptos by market cap, is that it is the oldest.
You can trade everything into BTC, but I feel the reason behind that it was the all time standard that you compared everything to, the most popular coin. Anything could replace BTC in this matter I believe.
Bitcoin surely is unsustainable, and if they won't change something about it, it might be its downfall. Noone wants to have high fees. However I doubt that the 3rd of the world's energy usage would be used for crypto mining, I say this having 3+ years in energy engineering studies.
But I dont think bitcoin will fall because of this, as bitcoin owners simply dont use their coins for transactions.
Number of ETH transactions as of February 17. 2018: 772079
Number of BTC transactions as of February 17. 2018: 173789
(sources:
https://etherscan.io/chart/tx ,
https://blockchain.info/charts/n-transactions )
I think its clear, that majority of bitcoin owners use BTC as a form of digital gold to hold part of their investments in it, or using it for exchanges. So no, I dont think this would be its downfall, but it can play a role in it. The downfall of BTC would start if a coin would have bigger market cap in my opinion. It would result investments moving from BTC to that coin with the higher market cap. And lets be honest, almost any coin could be it from a technical perspective, as there are loads of coins which are superior to BTC in technical aspects.
I honestly dont like that the crypto market is being judged by bitcoin. I'd welcome another coin at the top, for total market cap. I believe it would change the viewpont of some big investors.