The obstacle mentioned the most on this thread is lack of support from governments and their regulators.  For a cryptocurrency to gain such support it will need to collaborate with regulators to help them understand how cryptocurrency can help them do their job better than can be done with cash or card payments.

I agree that there is a lot of effort to get consumers to understand what cryptocurrency is, how it works, why they should trust it, and, most importantly, what about it is better than paying with cash, cheques, or credit/debit cards.

No doubt the slow transaction rates and high transaction fees are obstacles to use as medium of payment.

Considering that the global economy is about 80 trillion USD per yer and the market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies is less than one trillion USD, I think it is fair to say that crypto payments haven't been successful yet.

I agree.

It's going to take innovation because I don't see any existing cryptocurrency that addresses the obstacles mentioned in this thread.

Yes, this is the place where everyone must arrive to appreciate the true power of using cryptocurrency as a medium of payment.  That you purchase everything with a cryptocurrency and every seller, employee, supplier, government gets paid in cryptocurrency.

Once people arrive here, the days of fiat currency may be short.

It took decades before bank cards were widely used. It should NOT take that long before cryptocurrencies will be widely used.

No doubt that extreme price volatility such as BTCexperienced between November 2017 and February 2018 could be an obstacle.  However, since May 2018 BTC price has been similar to many fiat currencies.  For the past six weeks BTC has been more stable than the US dollar.

So, I don't believe price volatility is a significant obstacle preventing people from using a cryptocurrency for a medium of payment.

Cryptocurrencies is legal as a medium of payment in most jurisdictions.   No jurisdiction enthusiastically supports any cryptocurrency because they see cryptocurrency as a tool to evade regulation.

For the past 10 years inflation has been exceptionally low in countries such as the US value of the fiat currency hasn't changed much in value.  On the hand, in countries such as Argentina with hyperinflation the value of fiat currency has changed dramatically.

And yes, some cryptocurrency are designed to be held as an investment.  After their ICO few rise or fall in value of over 100% in a few months.  For certain, bitcoin did between November 2017 and February 2018.  Since then, it has been stable.  The past month bitcoin has been more stable than the USD.

Lastly, people sell some their investments (stocks, bonds, commodities, precious metal, and so forth) all the time to get fiat currency to purchase goods and services including TVs.

What I think impacts the decision to use cryptocurrency for a medium of payment is what benefit does it provide buyers and sellers.  Consumers that don't have access to banking services such as bank accounts or credit/debit cards it provides a way to make electronic payments or remittances anywhere in the world.  For sellers it provides an electronic (not cash) payment with little to no transaction fees.

I agree the most effective tactic to navigate the obstacle of price volatility is a cryptocurrency where the cycle time from when a buyer converts fiat currency into this cryptocurrency, then makes a purchase using this cryptocurrency, and finally, to when the seller converts this cryptocurrency back into fiat currency can happen within a few minutes, if the buyer and seller desire it.  The result is neither the buyer nor the seller are exposed to price volatility over such a short duration.

And, yes, for this to be practical there needs to no or very small transaction fees.

For certain, sellers need the infrastructure to accept a cryptocurrency.  So, there needs to be a way to make it easy and very low cost (ideally, free) for sellers to add the ability for their point of sale or "POS" system to accept a cryptocurrency.

Of course, none of us know how volatile bitcoin, or any cryptocurrency, may be in the future.  My observation is over the past few months the price has been stable.

Regardless of volatility, the most effective tactic to navigate the obstacle of price volatility is a cryptocurrency where the cycle time from when a buyer converts fiat currency into this cryptocurrency, then makes a purchase using this cryptocurrency, and finally, to when the seller converts this cryptocurrency back into fiat currency can happen within a few minutes, if the buyer and seller desire it.  The result is neither the buyer nor the seller are exposed to price volatility over such a short duration.

To my knowledge, no such cryptocurrency, or blockchain, exists that has such a short cycle time.

The price of bitcoin during the past month has been more stable than the US dollar.  So, I don't agree there is high price volatility.

There was high price volatility between November 2017 and February 2018.  Since early May the price hasn't been that volatile.

One of the revolutionary aspects of cryptocurrency is it is for everyone, including the over 2 billion people without access to banking services such as bank accounts or credit cards.

I agree that governments aren't going to support a cryptocurrency for a medium of payment until there is one that is "regulator friendly".  As you highlight, they won't support an "uncontrolled crypto currency" because this lack of control is "hostile" to regulators. 

Instead, there needs to be a cryptocurrency that allows regulators such as tax authorities and customs agencies to apply their regulations.  Better still, a cryptocurrency that actually makes applying regulations more efficient and effective than apply these regulations to traditional mediums of payment such as cash and card should certainly get governments to support such a cryptocurrency.

To my knowledge, no such cryptocurrency exists.

I think the SEC is actually trying to help initial coin offerings.  For example, by declaring that neither Bitcoin nor Ethereum are securities that opens ICOs that are cryptocurrencies based on either of these.

Now, there are other regulators such as tax authorities that aren't fond cryptocurrencies.

I agree that like any new innovation it must go through the Technology Adoption Curve.  So, considering cryptocurrency is less than 10 years old, it's not surprising it doesn't have widespread use a medium of payment.

I too have no doubt that at some point it become the most popular medium of payment.  I started this thread to learn the opinions and insights from cryptocurrency enthusiasts as to what they perceive as the obstacles preventing adoption.

Yes, this is exactly why there is no government that is enthusiastically supporting a cryptocurrency.  These regulator issues must be addressed before they will do that.  And, to do that, there must be a "regulator friendly" cryptocurrency.

I agree that the lack of awareness and understanding is a significant obstacle preventing widespread use of cryptocurrency as a medium of payment.

I have asked virtually everyone I know whether they have heard of Bitcoin.  So far, 100% answered, "Yes".  So, virtually everyone has heard of Bitcoin.

I then asked each the follow up question, "do you know what cryptocurrency is?"  So, far only 1 person knew, and he is a computer scientist.

There needs to be significant promotion of cryptocurrency as medium of payment so buyers and sellers understand what it is, how it works, why they should trust, and, most importantly, what about it provides advantages compared with traditional payments such as cash or cards.