Understanding BTC and being able to see where the development goes

[ratiobitcoin]

Hi There,

i'm quite new to bitcoin, so a lot of questions came to my mind. As i do not own BTC yet, i'm quite unsure if it is the right moment to invest, as - from my own perspective - the BTC has been hyped heavily in 2017 as "regular people" media has picked up the topic and a lot of people invested.
on the other hand there are technical limitations which are the transaction time and the high fees. could this lead to a heavy decrease in value or are you thinking BTC will continue to increase in value?

Furthermore, will the technology be able to scope the future?
as far as i know there are no smart contracts possible on the btc blockchain.
also the scalability is limited.
what is the lightning network?

[speem28]

Well, this will be really a decision you have to make on your own if you should or should not invest in bitcoin at this moment. Technically speaking, no one really knows if bitcoin's price now will go up or down so it will be harder on your side if you will just depend on what others say about it. You have to do your own research and confirm it for yourself, if your gut is telling you that you should invest in it now, go! take the risk. We all know that bitcoin will continue to increase in terms of price so we don't need to worry.
Even though Bitcoin has no smart contract like Ethereum, it is still the king of cryptos because its purpose is different from Ethereum. Another is that, because of its limited scalability is the reason why people value it more than any other crypto out there.

[ratiobitcoin]

that's why i try to understand bitcoin itself.

the limited scalability: doesn't it make bitcoin more like an asset and not an actual currency especially in combination with transaction time and fees? so that over the long run bitcoin can become a useless "asset" that once provided the technology.

[hatshepsut93]

that's why i try to understand bitcoin itself.

the limited scalability: doesn't it make bitcoin more like an asset and not an actual currency especially in combination with transaction time and fees? so that over the long run bitcoin can become a useless "asset" that once provided the technology.

Bitcoin has limited on-chain capacity, and this is by design - higher capacity would require more centralization, which would kill the whole point of cryptocurrency.

There are improvements being worked on atm which will increase on-chain capacity while preserving decentralization, and there's also projects like Lightning Network and sidechains that will enable off-chain scalability.

Bitcoin is not useless, if its fees are high this means that people are actually willing to pay them, because they are driven by open market. Bitcoin right now is not suitable for buying pizza's, but it's still very good for bigger purchases, international wires, storing value, hedging against failing economy, etc.

Altcoins are not going to replace Bitcoin, because while they offer cheap short-term fees, most of them don't have any long term roadmap, they will either become centralized systems or will try to copy Bitcoin's improvements.

[Phoenixpple]

All altcoin is based on bitcoin, and now has a lot of applications and bitcoin cooperation, so you can't think of him as useless. At least it is very effective in helping the ordinary people to devalue their wealth.

[mobnepal]

There are limited numbers of bitcoin that can ever be created
Bitcoin network can't be closed down by any government.
You can store your wealth securely and you will have full control over it.

Regarding price volatility it will decrease when more marketcap/money will be added on bitcoin, bitcoin is so much undervalued right now.

[dothebeats]

Hi There,

i'm quite new to bitcoin, so a lot of questions came to my mind. As i do not own BTC yet, i'm quite unsure if it is the right moment to invest, as - from my own perspective - the BTC has been hyped heavily in 2017 as "regular people" media has picked up the topic and a lot of people invested.
on the other hand there are technical limitations which are the transaction time and the high fees. could this lead to a heavy decrease in value or are you thinking BTC will continue to increase in value?

You've already answered your question: even the normal people already invested in bitcoin thus making the value of it increase over time. Long transaction times and high fees are not technical limitations but rather a hurdle that is understandable to encounter along the way as the protocol handles more and more volume every day (though it is annoying honestly). There will come a time that all these issues would be addressed hopefully by the lightning network.

Furthermore, will the technology be able to scope the future?
as far as i know there are no smart contracts possible on the btc blockchain.
also the scalability is limited.
what is the lightning network?

Bitcoin is meant to be the superhighway of ^{cheap and fast} transactions and not smart contracts. You have other coins for that matter like ETH which is its signature edge. Also, the lightning network is the proposed scaling solution for bitcoin in which transactions will happen off-chain resulting into a fast and affordable transaction. It could turn out good/bad but again, that is until we tested the whole thing real time where everyone is using bitcoin for transfers.