Bitcoin today and your original expectations

[gentlemand]

I would like you to cast your mind back to whenever your first satoshis arrived in your wallet.

At that moment what expectations did you have for the near ish future of Bitcoin and have they been met, exceeded or fallen crazy short?

I got rolling in mid 2013. Three or so years later I'm amazed at the progress in terms of acceptance, infrastructure and awareness from heavy hitters. At the same time I assumed there would be way more actual adoption amongst regular folk than is apparent. Don't get me wrong, growth is steady but I was expecting it to have notched up a significant level.

What of your fine selves?

[franky1]

my assumption in 2012:
1) decentralized, owned by no central party, controlled by no central party
2) everyone involved would find a shop/restaurant in their town to get it to adopt bitcoin, or atleast find other nearby bitcoiners to group up and swarm a retailer
3) changing the 21mill cap would never happen or proposed or even questioned
4) people would accept bitcoin as a non-government currency and the only protection needed was consumer protection (ability to sue fraudsters)
5) scaling debate started 2 years prior with hopes of scaling up results in 2013 and 2015 and every couple years their after.
6) large push on charity and helping those in need (seans outpost etc)

my assumptions 2016:
1) controlled and manipulated by blockstream, any outsider code vetoed by blockstream
2) people sat on their hands wanting other people from different countries to some how convince the local shop in the complainers town to adopt bitcoin
3) a few blockstream fanboys has thought about changing the 21m cap
4) fraudsters get away with it and people are not suing them. instead they are crying out for governments to regulate and tax bitcoin direct
5) scaling debate started in 2010, but no real scaling is proposed until 2017
6) close minded capitalists wanting selfish VC funding and to manipulate bitcoin for their selfish desires

[romero121]

When I got my first portion of the Bitcoin, I made myself more attached to the Bitcoin. With the increasing price I don't have much expectations. I expect a standard price below which it won't get decreased but will increase without limit. If it happens it would be considered a stable earning.

[DimensionZ]

When I stumbled upon Bitcoin at first I thought it was some kind of magic Internet money but as I got more involved with it I saw the advantages to move freely money online without having to provide your credentials to facilitate the transactions. Nowadays Bitcoin is like a hobby for me and a side income.

[eternalgloom]

I'm going to copy franky1's structure for my reply.

My assumptions in  early 2013:
- First I saw Bitcoin as a tool to solve some of the biggest world problems such as the economic crisis and redistribution of wealth
- Was expecting the bubble in late 2013 and I was also pretty confident that it would bounce back after the inevitable crash

My assumptions in 2016:
- I still think the future for Bitcoin is bright, but that there will be a lot of hurdles along the way that need to be solved, like most things mentioned in franky1's post
- I feel that the focus and expectations of the people involved in Bitcoin have changed, you can just see how different the forum is compared to a few years ago.
- Expecting growth, increasing value, despite all the obstacles

[Hirose UK]

I first got bitcoin in 2015. I was dissapointed because I got small price after I clicked faucets. then my friend told me to go to this forum. and finally I got bigger income. I didn't know that bitcoin is real money. but now I collect it as side income

[justspare]

I really had no hope for Bitcoin when I first invested in it in 2014. Now I have so much hope in Bitcoin. After halving the price is going to rise a lot and that's what I'm waiting for.