I have entered into the Bitcoin blackhole as of November 2021 and here are some of the questions I have. Feel free to answer whichever question you feel led to!

1) Once all 21million bitcoin have been mined, will transaction fees be enough incentive for miners to continue validating transactions on the blockchain?

2) What is the significance of bitcoin being "open source"? Doesn't that mean that the fixed amount of Bitcoin in the original code could be changed? (This speaks to my lack of programming knowledge I guess)

3) A major draw to cryptos like Bitcoin is its decentralized nature. But in order to participate in the game, you need an internet connection right? So aren't cryptos unavailable unless you have a centralized power that provides the ability to connect to the internet? (Maybe this speaks to a lack of understanding about how the internet/wifi connections work)

4) If a block is limited to approximately 2,400 transactions. Once Bitcoin becomes more widely used and there are millions of transactions taking place everyday, wouldn't that create a backlog of transactions? And couldn't that make the system super slow and inefficient at confirming transactions. (could the code be updated to allow blocks to be confirmed faster than 10 minutes?)

5) *kind of a wild conspiracy theory type question* I've heard it said that world powers typically last for about 250 years. As the United States is coming up on its 250 year anniversary, could failure to adapt to cryptocurrencies, overregulation by government that slows progress, etc. be our downfall as the rest of the world speeds ahead into this new world and we are left behind? (sorry if this is a dumb question lol)


Thanks everyone, looking forward to what the 2022 has in store for cryptos