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Because they void the argument "one bitcoin will be worth a small fortune one day since there are only 21 million of them and umpteen trillion dollars of e-commerce per day".
There are many things wrong with that argument, but one of them is that there is an infinite number of cryptocoins, and they all are in principle as good as bitcoin for the purpose of low-fee payments via internet.
Umpteen trillion dollars divided by infinity is equal to zero...
There are many things wrong with that argument, but one of them is that there is an infinite number of cryptocoins, and they all are in principle as good as bitcoin for the purpose of low-fee payments via internet.
Umpteen trillion dollars divided by infinity is equal to zero...
There is something to be said about this however. The primary reason that Bitcoin caught on and didn't fizzle like all other virtual currencies or even other cryptocurrency proposals is the blockchain -- the center of trust for all similar cryptos. The older and larger the chain, the more trust there is. This means that all (most) the alt coins can quietly disappear into niche uses. This is the main reason I was excited about merged mining -- one chain to rule them all. [Namecoin, however, has its own problems]
Basically it's the same argument about Visa/MasterCard and the zillion other card companies.
[...] when lots of people really start using bitcoins for payments, not because they want to support the cause but because they are more convenient and cheap than other methods [...]
I was sceptical too until actually using BTC to pay for minor stuff online. For example Fiverr was a nice surprise. I made two orders and paid each with a different system (PayPal and Coinbase). And I've realised, PayPal is mad fugly. It is immensely bloated for what it's supposed to do. You probably have more menus than Amazon has for all your settings and preferences. In comparison, Coinbase's plugin was simple and easy to understand and use. According to comments on Fiverr's announcement to take BTC, many sellers appear to ask to receive BTC directly (to wallet or Coinbase account), simply because PayPal charges immense fees.
It can also be argued this is not the "true" way to use BTC, but does it really matter? I can easily visualize a unified crypto payment plugin. Select currency; select wallet or wallet provider; pay.
I believe cryptos are here to stay. Can't say about BTC, but it's a working proof of concept / minimal viable product.
