I think people here on these forums overestimate the importance of technical superiority. TiVo was way ahead of its time and it failed miserably due to poor marketing. Social opinion matters. If you think Bitcoin will/is succeed(ing) just because it's technically superior to fiat, I would challenge you on that. The primary reason Bitcoin has lived and grown to this point is *not* because it's superior, but because it's born of an ideology that some people very strongly identify with. Unless that ideology is expanded so that it resonates more with others (women included), it will always occupy only a small niche.
There are >1,000 alts by now. Most of these suit the technical requirements of most BTC users. None of them are even close to BTC because they all resonate with the same population.
At this point, it's still not even a male vs. female problem. It's still a tech-nerd-&-libertarian vs. everyone else problem.
I don't even go across the corner to another gas station if gas is 1%-2% cheaper there. Don't expect people to flock to BTC in large numbers because of its technical advantages.
Yet another Betamax-vs-VHS trope.
Yeah, we know that technical superiority isn't everything, but the very fact this "experiment" is still thriving to the dismay of large banking institutions and governments that would like to see it dead - I'd call that an achievement.
You'd also know that the gradual acceptance and saturation of a given invention takes longer than the short lifespan that Bitcoin has had. That is, if you were interested in comparing it in a fair manner outside your own personal bias.
Your last sentence seems a bit ironic. Are you sure the personal bias is mine? How did you extract any personal bias on my end when I made an outside comparison?
Yes, I would agree Bitcoin's perseverance has been an *outstanding* achievement. But I don't think it's primarily due to technical superiority, and achieving the success it has certainly doesn't implicate that idea in any obvious way.
However, you
agree that technical superiority isn't everything, so I'm not sure what your point is. But I am under the suspicion that you took offense to my post by first 1) reading deeper into my post than I had intended and extracted what you belief is a criticism of Bitcoin's technical features (it's not), and then 2) reacting to it because you identify with it.
I identify with Bitcoin, too. I use it, and despite my luck, I give myself a pat on the back from time to time from having the insight to continue my involvement in this community. But the point of my post wasn't a knock on BTC's specs, but on the overemphasis of these specs on adoption rates. If point #2 in my previous paragraph is in any way correct, then you are reinforcing my point.
Imagine someone invents a handgun for personal defense that, for the sake of argument, has the remarkable ability to always target and kill only people engaging in a current act of violence. It is impossible for this gun to kill an innocent person.
Hands down, this gun is not only better, but is literally the epitome of an effective self-defense weapon.
And nobody will buy the gun unless they not only identify with the belief that it is okay to react violently in self-defense, but identify with it enough so that they are motivated to actually go out of their way and do something about it.
People need to be motivated to use Bitcoin. Specs alone will never cut it. If they did, we'd have dozens (if not hundreds) of alt-coins with hands-down superior specs dominating BTC's market cap.
My general analysis is this: BTC is the poster-child for decentralized cryptocurrencies, and its technical features are viewed as "good enough." BTC is used primarily because it appeals to people with both certain ideologies and skill sets, and secondarily because of social consensus, i.e. those people who fall into those categories of ideologies and skill sets are generally homogenized. It doesn't really matter which crypto everyone is using, they will all feel comfortable using it if everyone else is using it. Its first-mover advantage is the mediating factor which helps explain its perseverance, and from it follows all the VC money flowing into business and infrastructure development.
