While we fight about Block sizes other payment systems move forward.

[Kprawn]

https://www.engadget.com/2017/04/20/mastercard-biometric-fingerprint-card/

MasterCard is testing out new fingerprint sensor-enabled payment cards that, combined with the onboard chips, offer a new,

convenient way to authorize your in-person transactions.

https://www.biznews.com/tech/2017/04/20/mastercard-fingerprint-bank-cards/

One of the reasons why I started using Bitcoin was the "security" concerns with online payments / eCommerce and the fact that

I was a victim of credit card fraud. For many years banks just ignored the elephant in the room and did nothing to make online

payments more secure.... BUT this is changing now.

We are fighting, while other payment systems are changing and listening to their users and improving their payment systems. 

[franky1]

barclays UK invented pingit years ago
https://www.pingit.com/

and now working on a smartwatch/fitbit band to make it even easier to spend funds fast
https://www.bpay.co.uk/

in the UK sending money to someone else has always been free. but not always instant (usually 1 second to 12 hours averaging 1 minute)
now its easier by using usernames online and a swipe of a wrist in stores

[Nagadota]

Bitcoin was never supposed to be a mainstream payment system for everyone to use.  It has an audience and a purpose, and people who still think it's going to completely overtake digital fiat and be the currency of the future are delusional.

The fees were never that low and "free" fees were just an illusion created by online wallet providers.  The convenience was never that great and all these addresses and confirmations and things like that aren't as obvious as payment systems like credit cards can be.

It's great for people who like security, decentralisation and control over their own funds.  It's also good as an asset.  It has its own purpose and shouldn't always be compared to that.

[franky1]

Bitcoin was never supposed to be a mainstream payment system for everyone to use.  It has an audience and a purpose, and people who still think it's going to completely overtake digital fiat and be the currency of the future are delusional.

The fees were never that low and "free" fees were just an illusion created by online wallet providers.  The convenience was never that great and all these addresses and confirmations and things like that aren't as obvious as payment systems like credit cards can be.

It's great for people who like security, decentralisation and control over their own funds.  It's also good as an asset.  It has its own purpose and shouldn't always be compared to that.

i somewhat agree
never designed for 7billion people.
- but no reason to hold it back from being used by a few dozen-hundred million. using doomsdays of "wont reach 7bill by midnight"

never designed for free use
- but no reason to force fees up now to $1 using doomsdays of 'just pay more coz pools need it by midnight.

however
we could expand bitcoin naturally using proper code that grows naturally over time.. not half baked gestures that still cant promise 7tx/s onchain
we could expand bitcoin naturally using proper code that grows naturally over time.. to keep fees reasonable that take care of mining in DECADES
we could develop the GUI and hardware wallets to not be so complex.

but instead we have been left with the debates of one group that just wants half promises that dont match the communities overal united desires that will continue being debated until 2019 if they had their way

[Sadlife]

With the recent bank's breach and millions of dollars gets stolen i should say that they did surely have taken lots of time for this solution
But this isn't enough to fix the main problem "identity theft"

Bitcoin is secure it just takes a lot of time to get confirmed.

[Ayers]

not really moving forward to me, they are still the centralized system that they were before, no matter what they do if they remain centralized i won't use them, i want privacy for my transaction, not someone  checking all my activity because he think i'm not going to pay tax on this or that, i still prefer bitcoin sorry

[Kprawn]

not really moving forward to me, they are still the centralized system that they were before, no matter what they do if they remain centralized i won't use them, i want privacy for my transaction, not someone  checking all my activity because he think i'm not going to pay tax on this or that, i still prefer bitcoin sorry

How centralized is the Bitcoin scene lately? .... Coinbase / BitPay / Bitcoin exchanges ..... and most big companies only accept

Bitcoin if you pay through regulated payment processors. So that is so much for Bitcoin not being centralized, when you want to

use it.  .... I have only bought something once from a well-known merchant, without going through some centralized service.

Let's be realistic.... Bitcoin is decentralized, but not when you want to buy through big well-known merchants. 

[romero121]

I don't think such thing is happening around, because the block size debate has started long back. If something had grown with much popularity, then already it could have happened. But in reality even without a conclusion bitcoin continues to overplay all the payment services.

[amacar2]

Not only other payment system altcoins are being favorite for many users these days to make micro transaction or even for large payment settlement. I have also started using ETH in most of my transactions because of fast network confirmation, however i am not a big fan of ETH which have non-zero inflation.

[countryfree]

Yes, we've all seen it.

Altcoins are also moving forward. I remember not long ago, when BTC market cap was ten times larger than all the altcoins put together. Now the altcoins are worth half of BTC's market cap.

We may fear what's coming next.

[slaman29]

of course payment systems are moving forward, even Bitcoin is daily moving forward, if you pay attention to release notes. Everything is moving, just not in same directions. Let us not be nitpicks:)

[franky1]

the cartel behind blockstream (DCG) are moving over to litecoin.

BTCC+coinbase cant be ignored in that group.

soon we will start seeing coinbase make announcements of how many merchants will be able to accept LTC via coinbases merchant tools. and then the funny part will be how blockstream will point fingers that its not blockstreams (dcg cartel) fault but bitcoin users

[Sundark]

As long as bitcoin will continue to be number one cryptocurrency in terms of value I won't complain.
We need to understand that Bitcoin is not the most technically advanced coin and probably can't compete with freshly created altcoins.
That is fine, Bitcoin will find its niche as valuable asset, investment and solution for people who seek economic safe haven.
Forget about on-chain payments already, it won't happen.

[Denker]

not really moving forward to me, they are still the centralized system that they were before, no matter what they do if they remain centralized i won't use them, i want privacy for my transaction, not someone  checking all my activity because he think i'm not going to pay tax on this or that, i still prefer bitcoin sorry

Right!
It's about monetary sovereignty and freedom of choice, whom I send some money or not, without getting censored, freezed or my account closed by a 3rd party who god knows is whatelse doing with my private informations I had to give them.

[franky1]

As long as bitcoin will continue to be number one cryptocurrency in terms of value I won't complain.
We need to understand that Bitcoin is not the most technically advanced coin and probably can't compete with freshly created altcoins.
That is fine, Bitcoin will find its niche as valuable asset, investment and solution for people who seek economic safe haven.
Forget about on-chain payments already, it won't happen.

if by "value" your talking about price. forget it. thats just temporary drama.

think about "value" as utility and ability. which then as a action-reaction (cause and effect) positively helps "price". but without the action/cause (utility/ability) dont expect the price to keep a healthy resistance point.

EG
imagine some chemical entered the atmosphere that would cause gold to become brittle and less conductive. thus removing golds features of utility such as circuitry and jewellery. do you think that gold would remain a store of value and stay at a healthy price with a healthy resistance point that stops it from falling.