Bitcoin will NOT surpass traditional methods of payment. Convince me.

[MI6]

That is why for cryptocurrency, my expectation not really high. If it can profitable for me although only for investment, then i wouldn't ask more. Because and i think people will still use their fiat if they want to make transaction inside their country. And not much who really use bitcoin as payment if not for overseas transaction or in other country.

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[stompix]

It would be interesting to see why you think Bitcoin (or other cryptocurrencies) will surpass traditional methods of payment (Cards, Bank transfers, payment gateways etc.). Or if you think they have no future please share why.

One by one
- Cards? as in Credit Cards? quite technically impossible Debit...not impossible but hard as hell.
- Bank transfers? Those things will start to become a thing of the past by themselves for the average user.
- Payment gateways? Bitcoin, when issued for purchases most of the time is through a payment gateway so...

But wait!!!
Bitcoin is money! So, why does it need to compete with services?  

100 top banks from across the world don't like the threat BTC has on their business so they all join together to buy compute power, take over the network and cause havoc. I estimate it would cost around $2,000,000,000 (2 Billion USD). This is very expensive but what's $20,000,000 (20 million USD) to a top bank? That's an investment to help protect their business.[/li][/list]

Rather than going through this...
They could close down every damn exchange bank account.
Imagine coinbase losing its bank account access, where do you think the price will go? 1000?
At 1000 mining becomes unprofitable for everything mining above 3c/kwh , hash rate would drop like a stone, gear would be easy to buy at scrap prices....

But, why do it?
Have you asked yourself how much money banks have made from people sending and receiving wires from exchanges and those accounts?

A colleague of mine was so angry at the last gas price spike that he said he is going to buy an electric car.
I asked him if he knows that our city gets its energy from a gas plant owned by an oil company. He didn't speak to me that day anymore!  

• Speed: BTC is known to be slow to confirm a single transaction (approx 10 mins). ETH is faster (approx 15 seconds). I believe (correct me if i'm wrong) that if you cut down block times it slowly starts to make a decentralised system more centralised.

Not directly but with the blockchain getting bigger faster than HDDs and SSDs, yeah it could lead to that!

[Linkkoin]

Bitcoin as a currency would have scalability as an issue. Increased number of transactions lead to network congestion which in turn makes the network slower and expensive. Thus, not really viable for day to day transactions. So yeah, Bitcoin becoming a payment mode is not really viable and can't match the ease and speed of the present payment modes.

Still, it would be much faster than international wire transfer from 1st to 3rd world country. And much cheaper after taking into consideration volatility of BTC!

[Ucy]

You speak as if it's normal to attack a public network/infrastructure.
Well , I think anyone who is observant enough would know what is currently hindering mass adoption. I believe this will be solved eventually,as i already noticed that some are taking the problem very seriously and will most likely find desirable solutions.

[mdzahed134]

There are any revolutionary virtual currency (btc or others online payment gateway) is impossible to surpass our traditional method. Specially crypto illegal countries they have not forgotten the dream. Even BTC isn’t used a official currency in any legalize country. Sorry, i cannot convince you about this matter. I think not necessity btc to use as a traditional currency.             

[ethereumhunter]

I am not thinking about bitcoin will surpass traditional methods of payment. Still, I believe bitcoin will help the traditional methods of payment because bitcoin can cross the border to any country without use converting methods to local currency.

Maybe you are right that 90% of cryptocurrency users are just traders, but I don't think that traders don't want to use cryptocurrency for another thing as they will see that many merchants now trying to integrate their system to the blockchain by offerings the new option to their customer to pay using bitcoin or altcoin.

I think your scenario can work or happen if all banks united to block the existency of bitcoin so they can make their position strong in public. But that will be too complicated for me to think about what will happen later.

[rdluffy]

No one in the world know what's going to happen
Even today, there are a large portion of population that only use cash, without credit cards, without bank account...so it's hard to speculate if BTC is going to be the next method of payment

Maybe in a few years we'll look to BTC and says: wow, BTC was so old and boring, how people use that?

[keeee]

I'm also in the position that Bitcoin is not here to surpass traditional payments. It's more of an alternative to the traditional methods of payment. If they don't want the traditional one, they can use cryptocurrency as an option.
Looking at the different factors, Bitcoin is at the early stage and it has no power to surpass traditional payment as of now. We need to consider the technological capabilities, the government, and the people.

I agree,  first of all,  bitcoin has limitation and not all people know what bitcoin is compare to fiat currency.  One thing also is we need internet to access it so think about those who doesnt have internet in their place.  Bitcoin for me was just an another source of income but I never see it to surpass what methodnof payments we have now.  Maybe its just another option.

[qiwoman2]

I am kind of believing the same thing right now. The first time ever my bank said they don't even accept bank SEPA form LocalBitcoins bitcoin traders. Now they sent my money back to the sender. So living in Europe for people being paid by Bitcoin is getting harder and harder. Now I have to take out my salary through MoneyGram or western union to be able to pay my bills here, which means more inconvenience for me and more payment in fees. I am really upset by this because it's not as if I earn a fortune and they are chasing me from money laundering. I don't bring more than 12-13k euros a year into my bank lol, it's a joke.  Instead of chasing the Mafias that launder millions each month, they chase the little people who earn 1-2k euros a month.

[darkangel11]

There's a common rule to the use of inflationary and deflationary units of exchange.
When times are good, like now in Europe and the US inflationary currencies are spent and deflationary held. See EUR, USD, JPY.
When there's a big crysis and a fiat currency hyperinflates it all turns the other way. Nobody wants to spend inflated fiat because it's purchasing power is extremely weak. They turn to trading valuable goods and stores of value like fuel, alcohol, medicine, jewelry, gold and silver, even mobile phone prepaids. See Venezuela, Zimbabwe.

[eaLiTy]

I've been for cryptocurrencies from when I first heard about it and got involved back in 2013. There are some pros to having Bitcoin as the future method of payment however there are some cons too.
It would be interesting to see why you think Bitcoin (or other cryptocurrencies) will surpass traditional methods of payment (Cards, Bank transfers, payment gateways etc.). Or if you think they have no future please share why.

Even when i first started BTCitcoin i too had the same mentality that it will replace the traditional payment system and during the early stages many merchants were accepting BTCitcoin and it was a golden time as you were able to use it everywhere with minimal transaction charges and the adoption rate was massive but then it changed after that and now it is a great speculative market and hopefully in the future we will see some changes in that aspect. Still BTCitcoin can be used to send transactions globally if you are an exporter with minimum transaction fees than traditional methods.

[Mike Mayor]

How will banks buying massive amounts of hashpower help? What's the plan there? To do a 51% attack? I hear people speak of this all the time it's like some elusive mythical beast that noone has ever seen. I understand that 51% means you own the majority of the network but so what? how will it benefit you in any other way besides having more? owning 1% is almost the same as owning 51% the different is the one is 51x more powerful then the other. I don't see how this helps with an "attack" Trying to crash the system or mess with it? How? Can someone please explain to be how owning 51% of the hashpower is such a threat to bitcoin?

Bitcoin is better then traditional methods simply because it is easier and faster. Why wait 4 days for bank clearance when you can get the funds within 10 minutes? Why the hell must my bank clear what is rightfully mine? I can clear it myself with bitcoin and know once I see it on the blockchain and in my wallet it is there to stay and no silly bank or thief or scammer can touch it unless I send it to them myself. One thing I really hate about banks is freaking debit orders.... Those are just wtf.

[pixie85]

Your questions OP are very easy to answer.

You're concerned with traders and speculators. This is popular among them because it's profitable so traders and holders come first but when it goes mainstream and becomes popular not all people will buy to trade. Most traders are already here in the space that's why you think there's many of them. Wait until other professions get  interested. They already are and that includes bankers.

51% attack is not only very expensive but also unprofitable for the attacker because the attacker is invested in Bicoin. He owns mining hardware. If he damages Bitcoin he won't be able to get ROI and his attack will be similar to setting fire to his own server room.

[palle11]

Not a bad thins but it's clear to me that easily 90% of cryptocurrency users are just traders with no intensions of using the currencies. Hence the rise in a lot of exchanges

This is an issue that I see IMO. People only see bitcoin as a means of making money alone both hodlers and traders. This is a bad omen for bitcoin rise because you have to use it for personal transaction for it to gain relevance.

[Wintersoldier]

Not a bad thins but it's clear to me that easily 90% of cryptocurrency users are just traders with no intensions of using the currencies. Hence the rise in a lot of exchanges

This is an issue that I see IMO. People only see bitcoin as a means of making money alone both hodlers and traders. This is a bad omen for bitcoin rise because you have to use it for personal transaction for it to gain relevance.

This might be happening because the initial expectation we did to attract people is to help them earn money, instead of the best method of adoption but takes more time such as convincing people to take alternative payments rather than to tell them about investment. I am not saying we're wrong about our way of advertising bitcoin but the effect is evident, and might be better if people starts to see bitcoin as a currency and followed later on by their understanding that it could be use in investment. Though, the main purpose of it being established already is bitcoin being a currency.

[hello_good_sir]

I think that the most likely scenario for bitcoin is that it will continue to coexist and play an increasing role in terms of facilitating transactions.

However, it is very difficult to see that one day BTC is able to actually surpass or replace fiat per se. That will take much more than just BTC adoption, because of the fact that the government and central banks around the world have a firm grip over monetary policy that they wouldn't just easily give up.

I'm not overly optimistic and saying that BTC will replace fiat like a lot of others are, but I'm certainly not bearish on BTC in the long run either.

[fiulpro]

Hello ,
I completely agree with you , as for me the traditional methods of payment have more options , are more easily accessible , doesn't need the internet and overall are the most dominant form of payment .
But there are some places where they do lack and where the Bitcoins can come into play .
Like you can consider payment made internationally, when you pay in bitcoins , you have to ultimately pay very less 1/3 as the fee , considering a large amount .
Also at the same time we can also use the lightning network for a number of transaction that might be considered secret .

[CryptoBry]

It would be interesting to see why you think Bitcoin (or other cryptocurrencies) will surpass traditional methods of payment (Cards, Bank transfers, payment gateways etc.).

why does it matter?
bitcoin was never created to "surpass" or replace anything. it is an alternate option that works in an entirely different way (in short decentralized) and the goal has always been to keep it that way not to compete with or replace anything.

Or if you think they have no future please share why.

that is an entirely different discussion which has nothing to do with your main subject. not replacing traditional methods doesn't mean complete failure and no future.

the rest of your arguments regarding 51% attack, speed,... are already discussed in dozens of other topics.

I think we have this misconception that Bitcoin can only be really worthy if soon it can be able to topple all the banks we have around. I am not so sure but I am not buying that crap...and we should stop that kind of non-sense because yes in the first place Bitcoin is not made for that type of thing. Why should a decentralized platform be compared  to what banks which are centralized infrastructures can be providing. Bitcoin can stand on its own. Maybe we are just carried away from our philosophical ambitions that we have forgotten the big realities out there. Personally, I don't believe that big banks will magically cooperate with each other and then just suddenly decide that they will pour millions just to defeat Bitcoin. This is just another conspiracy theory to me.  If I am a banker right now, I will not be threatened at all with Bitcoin because it is not making even a small dent with my revenues in remittances and other banking services. According to what I read, not more than 10% of the USA population is into Bitcoin and that means we still have a lot of years to work on to make it really go into mainstream.

[btccashacc]

Couldn't agree more, that bitcoin can't surpass the traditional methods of payment, people will not pay something that has more fee, bitcoin has a higher fee comparing to traditional payment, that's why people prefer to hold bitcoin as an investment tool rather than using it as a payment processor., the spend time is over. However, I don't think that all the Banks in this world will unite and planning to destroy bitcoin.

[isaac_clarke22]

It is gonna be an alternative, not the replacement.
People will still get used to how money works currently. It has been always like that even pre-credit/debit card era. If Bitcoin was possible to replace the current payment methods, then we should all have been using cards, but turns out it become also an alternative.
Bitcoin could surely replace these cards, but as for the traditional payment, I highly doubt. It'll just get adopted a lot.