Poll: when will cryptocurrency go mainstream?

[20kevin20]

I saw this article and it made be chuckle....well actually maybe this is how bitcoin (blockchain) will ultimately become mainstream (if you don't believe it is already)....teach the NEXT generation early  

I feel like the future generations will already grow up knowing what Bitcoin and blockchain tech is. The more mainstream blockchain becomes, the faster kids get to know about it.. especially if video games start implementing their own in-game cryptocurrencies at some point.

Now that I voted, I found out that I might have mistaken "cryptocurrency" for "Bitcoin" in your thread (the current board made me confused) and voted "Never" for that. From what China and other countries have apparently been doing in the past few months, it certainly does look like cashless is a near future thing. But how about we start calling the soon-to-be mainstream currencies as "digital fiat" instead, to stop mistaking them for BTC and other cryptos?

[Salamstar]

"Signifcantly" is not very high if based on the broader mainstream market. How much/what is the ratio of Bitcoin users compared to the mainstream market?

Plus is Linux OS mainstream? No, many people "of the mainstream" has heard of Linux, but Linux usage is targetted towards a small portion of the whole market.

The use of Linux OS is limited to a certain category of people, and they are the developers who need it, but bitcoin will be needed by everyone when merchants deal with it in their stores around the world. And I think the future of BTC is great, as it will be used as an everyday currency, or even used as a guarantee or an investment.

[Tipstar]

"Signifcantly" is not very high if based on the broader mainstream market. How much/what is the ratio of Bitcoin users compared to the mainstream market?

Plus is Linux OS mainstream? No, many people "of the mainstream" has heard of Linux, but Linux usage is targetted towards a small portion of the whole market.

The use of Linux OS is limited to a certain category of people, and they are the developers who need it, but bitcoin will be needed by everyone when merchants deal with it in their stores around the world. And I think the future of BTC is great, as it will be used as an everyday currency, or even used as a guarantee or an investment.

I and most of my co-staff on my office are using linux as our primary OS. Linux is much better than Windows 10 if you just try. The only reason most of the people were sticking with windows was Office suite but as most of your data processing has gone online, there's no use for Windows at all.
Most of the people use their PC only for internet and multimedia where Linux is superior to Windows.  Linux runs steam games better than Windows, the only thing I miss is Epic game launcher which also has a get around to run in Linux.

[DougM]

Poll closes today

a relevant article:
How bitcoin met the real world in Africa
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-crypto-currencies-africa-insight-idUSKBN25Z0Q8

The shift has boosted his profits, as he no longer has to buy dollars using the Nigerian naira or shell out fees to money-transfer firms. It is also one example of how, in Africa, bitcoin - the original and biggest cryptocurrency - is finding the practical use that it has largely failed to elsewhere.

“Bitcoin helped to protect my business against the currency devaluation, and enabled me to grow at the same time,” Odunjo told Reuters from his two-by-eight metre shop.

“You don’t have to pay charges, you don’t have to buy dollars,” the 30-year-old said, raising his voice above the sound of loud haggling and the honking horns of scooters.

Why a boom in Africa? Young, tech-savvy populations that have adapted quickly to bitcoin; weaker local currencies that make it harder to get dollars, the de facto currency of global trade; and complex bureaucracy that complicates money transfers.

Yet risks abound.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are unregulated in many countries and their legal status is unclear, meaning there is no safety net and little recourse if you lose funds.

For many, converting local currencies to and from bitcoin relies on informal brokers. Prices are volatile, and buying and selling is a complex process that demands technical knowledge.

In 2018, the Nigerian central bank warned cryptocurrencies were not legal tender, and investors were unprotected.

[ILuckyGuyI]

According to poll, it looks like nobody (including me) thinks that 'the year' is 2020.  At the beginnings of this year, I was believing that Bitcoin and most of the other cryptocurrencies would break a new record. But recently, the cryptocurrency market doesn't give green light. In my opinion, cryptocurrencies can go mainstream in 2021.

[0nline]

I don’t know how you see it, but Bitcoin has reached a level that seems to me that it is mainstream already.
I don’t know what other mainstream you’re talking about, unless you are one of those fanatics that thinks that the government is going to adopt Bitcoin, then I am sorry that it’s not going to happen; the government won’t adopt Bitcoin and it won’t be what everyone in the world will be using.

Fiat is still going to be around, and Bitcoin will be alternative to the fiat. As for me, I only make use of Bitcoin when it’s an international transaction, because it’s easier, cheaper, and faster than when I’m using Banks to send the money. BTCBTCBTC

[DougM]

These 10 Countries Lead the World in Bitcoin Adoption
https://decrypt.co/41254/these-10-countries-lead-world-bitcoin-adoption

If cryptocurrency adoption is making any headway in breaking into mainstream economies, it isn’t necessarily the world’s economic superpowers that are leading the way.

According to a new report from blockchain research firm Chainalysis, of the 10 nations where cryptocurrency use is highest, only two are even developed economies: China and the United States./quote]

Of the 154 countries that the firm analyzed, it found that Ukraine, Russia, and Venezuela lead the world in terms of crypto adoption. Rounding out the top 10 are China, Kenya, the United States, South Africa, Nigeria, Colombia, and Vietnam.

[grabpopcorn536]

Cryptocurrencies will become mainstream when everyone knows and understands how cryptocurrencies work.
It will take a huge effort in society and from governments to recognize cryptocurrencies as the solution to the currency of the future. They have to prove the banks are in redundancy or until the banking system around the world collapses. Do you think it happened? I firmly believe not.
Cryptocurrency is only the solution to some social problems and it is only when governments and societies put cryptocurrencies in their systems that it becomes ubiquitous.

[Killrbit]

So i think this would largely be based on what you define mainstream as.

1) If you mean that the world has largely heard about it ( awareness) and have somewhat of an understanding about it (even though most of the world still thinks of it today as largely a speculative asset) then yes i would say that it already become mainstream.

2) If you mean as a system to transfer value between parties quickly/efficiently/ privately then one can make the argument that it is already mainstream or will become so in a few short years from now.


3) However if you mean as a day day to day payment mechanism, where most payments for everyday things can be made using Bitcoin (which was always the original goal imo ) however than i think we are still a long way from that and probably at least a decade or so away if not longer. This is largely because i don't see how any government would willingly and readily accept a loss of control over financial and monetary policy or any other policy for that matter even when not relating to bitcoin i mean this is what most revolutions are made of. And if enough people start using it for everyday things then i feel that states will only become more aggressive in trying to curtail/ prohibit the use of Bitcoin. The concepts of  CBDC ( central bank Digital currency)  is already being developed in some countries and is probably the best example of a how a state might try to counter the advantages that Bitcoin provides while still maintaining their control over policy.

I can imagine a scenario where once the concept of CBDC has been well developed that states will start to aggressively promote this as an alternative to Bitcoin including by attempting to Ban the use of Bitcoins in their own jurisdictions, however there will always be other states  that are more willing to adopt Bitcoin instead most likely first on an experimental basis. Most likely these will be a few of the smaller countries or financial reasons or perhaps some of the larger ones due to Geo-political reasons for instance or as way of evading sanctions etc or merely because some countries have more liberal attitudes such as the Scandinavian countries. I don't want want speculate on which will succeed.

[MCobian]

I don't agree with the poll results that cryptocurrency is already mainstream, the evidence is that there are still many people
who don't know Bitcoin. If Bitcoin manages to return to all-time high prices, I believe cryptocurrency will go mainstream. Because
there will definitely be many articles which reviews cryptocurrency. And more and more countries will begin to open up to Bitcoin.
Hopefully 2021 Bitcoin could hit the price of $ 19,000 again. So cryptocurrency will go mainstream.

[tyz]

Source : https://news.bitcoin.com/latin-america-and-turkey-have-the-most-cryptocurrency-users-poll-shows/  

Thanks for sharing this data. I was really surprised about the low number of respondants owning cryptos in Japan. I would have expected that this country in particular would be far ahead in terms of acceptance. Not only because of Satoshi (who is probably not Japanese), but also because of the general affinity of the Japanese for technology. That crypto currencies are widely used in Latin America and Turkey is no surprise. It is just the countries that suffer massive from economic and currency turbulences. Besides, the countries are badly governed. Despite their volatility, cryptos seem to be the better way to preserve value than the local fiat currency.

[GideonGono]

Isn't it already in the mainstream? I think it has been on the mainstream for so long already.
We could already see so many company and people accepting it and using it regularly so for me it is already been on the mainstream I would also like to ask OP what is your idea or how would you define if crypto is on mainstream?

[Findingnemo]

snip

Thanks for sharing this data. I was really surprised about the low number of respondants owning cryptos in Japan. I would have expected that this country in particular would be far ahead in terms of acceptance. Not only because of Satoshi (who is probably not Japanese), but also because of the general affinity of the Japanese for technology. That crypto currencies are widely used in Latin America and Turkey is no surprise. It is just the countries that suffer massive from economic and currency turbulences. Besides, the countries are badly governed. Despite their volatility, cryptos seem to be the better way to preserve value than the local fiat currency.

1000 people cannot represent the whole country's stance and not sure with whom they done this survey!

Or else people who uses cryptos are supposed to care about their privacy more so they just want to become anonymous and replied no when such questions has been asked to them.

Awaiting for 2020's survey!

[Viscore]

It is amazing how people get into crypto and adopt Bitcoin during the pandemic situation but then, it was clear to see that weren't yet in the mainstream. And even we took a survey this time, it is obvious that we are still not gone too far. It could something seasonal as we are in the time where going outside is limited and most transactions happen online. But what happens if we totally eliminated the virus and back to normal?  It probably many where leave crypto and sell off their coins.