What will happen with Bitcoin if it never scales?

[Palmaper]

What do you think that might happen with Bitcoin if no scalable solution becomes accepted?

Will it remain as a store of value, while other altcoins take the lead for everyday transactions? Or will another cryptocurrency take its place as the top in marketcap?

I would like to know your thoughts about this, as the ongoing scaling debate will further limit Bitcoin from reaching new heights. As for me, I believe that the Bitcoin community would come up at a resolution somehow to put an end to this issue, and make the pioneer cryptocurrency great again. What do you think?  

Unfortunately, technology can not be stopped to wait for the dominant groups to reach a consensus, so the cryptocurrencies will continue to evolve and gain market with the accompaniment of bitcoin or without it. Anyway, the market seems to have assumed that Bitcoin will not be the dominant cryptocurrency in the future, and seems to be taking in a smoothie way the imminent decline of bitcoin as the dominant cryptocurrency so far.

[bitcoindusts]

The issue of scalability with bitcoin is a genuine concern since blocks are limited in size and frequency wherein on average can only process 7 transactions per second, a low throughput considered by many should bitcoin becomes mainstream.

Luckily, this issue is being addressed already for a couple of years now. Part of the solution is the Lightning Network. Its some sort of a cache that allows transactions to take effect while still being recorded on the blockchain (sounds a bit unsecured but the nodes are already out there and has been carrying transactions). Yet if i am not mistaken remains to be in test mode. But is a good solution nonetheless, retaining full control of both payee and recipient as if there were no web service that meddled in between (again, a bit like anti-bitcoin but works anonymously just the same).

So i guess scalability will not be much of a problem in the future as the core and developers know what is missing and is not gonna allow other cryptocurrency to take the lead without a good fight.

[stayeduptolate]

What do you think that might happen with Bitcoin if no scalable solution becomes accepted?

Will it remain as a store of value, while other altcoins take the lead for everyday transactions? Or will another cryptocurrency take its place as the top in marketcap?

I would like to know your thoughts about this, as the ongoing scaling debate will further limit Bitcoin from reaching new heights. As for me, I believe that the Bitcoin community would come up at a resolution somehow to put an end to this issue, and make the pioneer cryptocurrency great again. What do you think? 

Bitcoin is a decentralised crypto currency and thus there is no such proper authentic regulating body over the bitcoin who could keep eye over all the bitcoin activities and thus leading to illegal use of bitcoin and I think this is the most important reason why most of the countries are in against of bitcoin and don’t want to legalise it in their nation but they all needs to understand one thing that the illegal use of bitcoin could only be stopped when everyone government would centralise it and will starts keeping eye over bitcoin activities and starts regulating it.

[cetald]

The team that is working on bitcoin soon intends to solve all of his technical problems. I'm worried about another question. How other payment cryptocurrencies will feel.

[Seunbabatunde]

Honestly speaking, bitcoin is the leading in the crypto-world and I don't ever thought others coins will overcome bitcoin in the future.

[Abiky]

According to polls, and information from practice, people buy bitcoin just because they hope that it will go up in the future. If the probability of such a hope decreases, then the demand for it will drop and digital bitcoin gold will collapse at one point.
If the scalability of bitcoin grows very slowly, bitcoin will gradually continue to lose demand and the level of capitalization, until the price ceases to dominate the price over other types of crypto currency. As soon as this happens, bitcoin will lose everything and at best remain an honorary crypto currency with the use for expensive transactions. The truth in this case is very difficult to predict its price.

That's certainly true, mate. Many people are in it for short term profits, instead of using the cryptocurrency for daily transactions. Whenever the network load increases, fees rise, and newcomers into crypto become completely disappointed (which results in massive sells within the market). The situation becomes worse if Bitcoin doesn't scale to handle large amounts of TPS for people worldwide. It'll still be the "digital gold" of cryptocurrency, but it won't fit its purpose as a Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.

If scalable solutions such as the Lightning Network and Sidechains become successful, then without a doubt, Bitcoin will scale to millions of users worldwide. I believe that the process for this to become a reality has been quite slow simply because developers want to make sure Bitcoin scales safely without sacrificing its decentralization. Of course, it's difficult to predict its price (as Bitcoin is volatile), but it'll be here to stay for many years to come.

Therefore, no matter if Bitcoin scales or not, I believe that it will continue to exist as a decentralized cryptocurrency for many generations. No one or nothing can stop Bitcoin, as it has grown too big to fail. However, only time will tell us what lies ahead for the longevity of Bitcoin as a cryptocurrency for the masses. Just my opinion

[amber deposit]

I think bitcoin is the face of digital currency. When you meet someone and you want to tell them about digital currency you must first mention bitcoin. You cannot mention all coins, but at least the history will be traced to bitcoin. So even if it never scales it will be a great store of value, people will buy it then exchanges it with other crypto particularly ethereum or dash that is if they want a faster transaction.

[StImelda]

Much of the value for bitcoin as shifted from being that of a currency to more of being an asset or a store of value,much like gold.It will remain so even if it never scales

[tsinelas]

It will become obsolete. As for a store of value, it depends on enough people wanting to buy it.

Now, why would anyone buy it? That's the question.

Because it retains its value. Because its value isn't impacted by country or geo-political risk. Because its supply is finite (once mined). Because its supply isn't influenced susceptible to nefarious manipulation. Because Casascius coins are shiny like gold!

If we ever agree that it has no value, it will have no value. Just like the Dollar...the only reason it has value is because we all agree that it does.

I agree we are the ones that makes the value of bitcoin. Well, if bitcoin never scales up maybe satoshi have something to do with it, and I think he had a backup plan.

[ololajulo]

If bitcoin never scale,turning it to 0 value and it dies, Do you think other altcoins can survive without it? With the prevailing market dump, others and their coins had to wait till it scales. People will endure a while till it revives, even if it takes 2 years.

[awosesun]

If it doesn't scale through, then life goes on. It won't be the end of life. But i don't think bitcoin won't scale through, it will definitely scale through.

[Haliburton]

Honestly speaking, bitcoin is the leading in the crypto-world and I don't ever thought others coins will overcome bitcoin in the future.

Yes sir! Bitcoin is King and will always be the King of cryptocurrencies no matter if it scales or not. All the altcoins I know of, depend heavily on Bitcoin's price movements, so if Bitcoin can't scale, then other altcoins wouldn't be able to successfully scale to a large mass either. There have been many altcoins which claimed to be superior than Bitcoin in terms of transactions per second, but none have been battle tested as Bitcoin. What I think is that if Bitcoin scales successfully, then other altcoins would do the same. Bitcoin is like experimental grounds for most cryptocurrencies we know and love today, which explains why all the eyes are still in the original cryptocurrency for quite some time.

But, if Bitcoin never scales then it's fine, because we would be able to continue using Bitcoin as a store of value with unmatched security and reliability unlike any other blockchain in existence. Therefore, scaling Bitcoin is only optional with the goal of making it useful as digital cash. It could continue to operate as intended without scaling but remaining as a store of value for the masses.

[bitcoindusts]

Honestly speaking, bitcoin is the leading in the crypto-world and I don't ever thought others coins will overcome bitcoin in the future.

Yes sir! Bitcoin is King and will always be the King of cryptocurrencies no matter if it scales or not. All the altcoins I know of, depend heavily on Bitcoin's price movements, so if Bitcoin can't scale, then other altcoins wouldn't be able to successfully scale to a large mass either. There have been many altcoins which claimed to be superior than Bitcoin in terms of transactions per second, but none have been battle tested as Bitcoin. What I think is that if Bitcoin scales successfully, then other altcoins would do the same. Bitcoin is like experimental grounds for most cryptocurrencies we know and love today, which explains why all the eyes are still in the original cryptocurrency for quite some time.

But, if Bitcoin never scales then it's fine, because we would be able to continue using Bitcoin as a store of value with unmatched security and reliability unlike any other blockchain in existence. Therefore, scaling Bitcoin is only optional with the goal of making it useful as digital cash. It could continue to operate as intended without scaling but remaining as a store of value for the masses.

Scaling is really compulsory and not optional if we are to talk about massive global adoption. In fact, some are asking if the world is ready for bitcoin, but the more profound question is quite the opposite, is bitcoin ready for the world? And as of now, there is this constraint of scalability and it is not negligible.

Bitcoin had to to scale should it want more market activities and bitcoin knows exactly that. That is why we have witnessed a number of forks that took place in the past. This forks either soft or hard are proof that bitcoin will not stand still in the issue of scalability and that is good news for all of us.

[deisik]

Scaling is really compulsory and not optional if we are to talk about massive global adoption. In fact, some are asking if the world is ready for bitcoin, but the more profound question is quite the opposite, is bitcoin ready for the world? And as of now, there is this constraint of scalability and it is not negligible.

Bitcoin had to to scale should it want more market activities and bitcoin knows exactly that. That is why we have witnessed a number of forks that took place in the past. This forks either soft or hard are proof that bitcoin will not stand still in the issue of scalability and that is good news for all of us.

This is a shaky point and an ancient argument

Basically, there are two camps which stick to quite polar views. One camp asserts that if a new break-through technology is implemented, for example, Lightning Network, or something even better, that would give Bitcoin a dramatic boost regarding its adoption and real use. But the supporters of this idea fail to give a plausible reason why it should happen if right now Bitcoin network capacity is not fully utilized anyway. Catchy phrases like whether Bitcoin is ready for the world don't fill that slack in this reasoning. The other camp, which I belong to myself, thinks that scaling up Bitcoin won't give anything in terms of adoption on its own. It won't boost demand just because of its very existence. Scalability issues will become such only when there is not enough processing capacity, and we are not there yet. Personally, I think that making Bitcoin transactions faster without adding excessive complexity and sacrificing decentralization (as LN assumes) would be a better solution in the short term if these issues actually start to impede Bitcoin's use. Though we already have Litecoin which does all that out of the box

[camric09]

If it doesn't scale through, then life goes on. It won't be the end of life. But i don't think bitcoin won't scale through, it will definitely scale through.

Yes whatever may happen will not totally affect our daily lives, but will be good if bitcoin will continue scale through this will be a good outcome for bitcoin and this will give us more profit too.

[nealdlover]

What do you think that might happen with Bitcoin if no scalable solution becomes accepted?

Will it remain as a store of value, while other altcoins take the lead for everyday transactions? Or will another cryptocurrency take its place as the top in marketcap?

I would like to know your thoughts about this, as the ongoing scaling debate will further limit Bitcoin from reaching new heights. As for me, I believe that the Bitcoin community would come up at a resolution somehow to put an end to this issue, and make the pioneer cryptocurrency great again. What do you think? 

I think many people have not accepted bitcoin because they do not really understand it or they are afraid of the risk that bitcoin brings. But if the bitcoin market returns soon and more people use bitcoin to trade more then that will help people to drop the negative thoughts about it.

[tanglong]

Bitcoin is currently worth more than gold. Most people buy Bitcoin to buy Altcoins rather than using it in practice. Whether Bitcoin is expanding or not, Bitcoin will never be forgotten.

[ZoomhashLLC]

Bitcoin is currently worth more than gold. Most people buy Bitcoin to buy Altcoins rather than using it in practice. Whether Bitcoin is expanding or not, Bitcoin will never be forgotten.

Excellent way to compare! Many feel very safe with their asset being gold, Bitcoin will eventually take over.

[Tryphena5358]

This problem has been solved in a few years. Some types of cache allow transactions to remain active while still being recorded on the blockchain. However, if I'm not mistaken I'm still in test mode. So I guess scalability will not be much of a problem in the future when the core and developers know what's missing and will not allow other electronic money to lead without a good fight. To be honest, bitcoin is the leading in the encrypted world and I never thought that other currencies would pass bitcoin in the future.

[AkimotoTsubasa]

i think in the future bitcoin will be forgotten like other coin.