What do you think is the biggest disadvantage of bitcoin?

[TedMosby]

Am I the only one that starts unseeing bitcoin as a medium of exchange?

Yeah me too. I prefer to use penny crypto like tron and doge atm.
I do accept bitcoin but not for micro transactions.

I do not want to pay high fees for small transactions.
I do not want to wait more time for urgent transactions.
Also with the high volatility, the waiting time may effect your money significantly.

I love using bitcoin. However, I knew it since the price were low, the fee were also low back then. If I know it now, maybe it can change my perspective.

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[BlackHatCoiner]

For me, the biggest disadvantage of bitcoin is the number of transactions it can process, we have blocked every 10 minutes and each block has approx 2500 transactions. And this is one of the main limits of bitcoin, This is why not all can move to bitcoin. If we try to make the same amount of transactions that we have on Visa in 24 hours, we will realize how the bitcoin network gets doomed with a damn crazy queue that could take more than 1 month to confirm.

I can agree upon that. Making block size equal with 1MB would be a nice idea back in 2012. Over time, storage becomes cheaper and cheaper. If 1 block could handle 10MBs of data (which would also mean 3,6TBs of blockchain, costing around $400 if it's ssd), we would pay a lot less.

Bitcoin isn't a developing experiment anymore. It's useless for anyone with few hardware to start generating coins in contrast with the miners of 2012. Unfortunately, I don't see such change coming since it would be considered as fork. Although, if bitcoin continues being in development, surely some things are going to change whether we want it or not.

The conclusion is that other cryptocurrencies (like litecoin) can be used for micropayments. Bitcoin cannot, making it a more store-of-value asset like gold.

[BrewMaster]

I can agree upon that. Making block size equal with 1MB would be a nice idea back in 2012. Over time, storage becomes cheaper and cheaper. If 1 block could handle 10MBs of data (which would also mean 3,6TBs of blockchain, costing around $400 if it's ssd), we would pay a lot less.

bitcoin's blocks aren't just some video you stream or store that  you don't care about what the content is! each byte has to be verified that means you also use your CPU a lot specially during the initial synchronization.
every time a new block is found it also has to be propagated as fast as possible so that the miners can start working on the next one without wasting time.

The conclusion is that other cryptocurrencies (like litecoin) can be used for micropayments. Bitcoin cannot, making it a more store-of-value asset like gold.

any altcoin that has copied bitcoin whether directly like LTC or indirectly only the technology like ethereum suffer from the same issue. the fact that you don't see the congested networks is either because you are not looking (eg the horrible ethereum network) or because it is not used (eg. LTC) and the day it started being used more it would have issues that are 10 times worse than bitcoin.

[avikz]

3. Psuedo anonymous - many see it as a benefit of using bitcoin but that's the only reason why bitcoin is increasingly being used by illegal miscreants or terrorists. That's worrying - look at Europe now!

if you consider this an issue then you should never use fiat anymore because for every single satoshi that may be used for something illegal there are trillions of fiat dollars being used by terrorists.

I agree to your point! Fiat has been used for centuries for all kind of illegal trades! Why?? It's because no other option was there! Gold biscuits and precious metals were also used for such illegal traders but they are minuscule.

What I am trying to say is that, bitcoin and especially Monero has bestowed the illegal traders with a huge advantage of transferring any amount to anyone without letting the world know it! It's definitely an advantage for them!

[Leviathan.007]

Bitcoin always had one weakness and this weakness is also a great advantage which will allow anyone to transfer any amount of money anonymously because by abusing this advantage any terrorist or illegal gun/drug dealer can anonymously trade illegal good, however this can be also a great advantage because we won't deal with the corrupted systems of governments. Also, the other disadvantage is the confirmation time and transaction fee for each transaction, this why this will be hard for people to buy anything from supermarket and pay with bitcoin (however, there is a theory saying bitcoin was not ever made for this goal).

[BrewMaster]

I agree to your point! Fiat has been used for centuries for all kind of illegal trades! Why?? It's because no other option was there! Gold biscuits and precious metals were also used for such illegal traders but they are minuscule.

actually the main reason for using fiat is that it is a lot easier to hide illegal transactions using fiat than it is to hide them on a public ledger that anybody can see with click of a button.
laundering fiat is also a lot easier than laundering cryptocurrencies.

[MCDev]

I think most people would answer that bitcoin's downside is its transaction fees and speed.
Bitcoin has a very high transaction fee and it is the big downside that makes it difficult for bitcoin to become a currency, imagine that you pay for a $ 5 item for $ 2 in fees.

[acdc]

Up until now, most people see bitcoin as a place to invest and make a profit rather than a currency of exchange. And bitcoin also has a lot of limitations of which the biggest one is transaction fees. There won't be any transaction fees issues if you want to transfer large sums of money to a remote location, then the dollar fees seem very cheap. But if you want to pay off a few retail invoices then the cost of bitcoin is a big deal.

[gabbie2010]

I think most people would answer that bitcoin's downside is its transaction fees and speed.
Bitcoin has a very high transaction fee and it is the big downside that makes it difficult for bitcoin to become a currency, imagine that you pay for a $ 5 item for $ 2 in fees.

Implementation of Lightning Network would address and solve the issue of speed in transaction of Bitcoin, unfortunately LN is still in infancy stage, it complexity in it's mode operation is a big barrier,  the present high fees has now become a regular occurrence whenever Bitcoin is experiencing a massive pump, a replica of the present high fees also occurred in 2017 when Bitcoin attained ATH..
Bitcoin scalability issue has to be addressed once and for all else the adoption of Bitcoin as a currency or payment gateway wouldn't become feasible, and will be a major drawback especially when the users demand peaked.

[Darker45]

Yeah, until now Bitcoin has yet to become a coffee currency. That is sad as it hinders the adoption of Bitcoin as a day-to-day medium of exchange. That is what a lot of people have in mind when speaking of adoption, that they can enjoy a cup of coffee or tea or pizza or a massage paying Bitcoin. I guess we have to wait for the Lightning Network to get fully rolled out to enjoy these.

For now, and notwithstanding the very slow pace of Bitcoin adoption as a coffee currency, the demand is still rising. Which means that despite the disillusionment of some as regards Bitcoin as a real currency, they have no plans to let go of Bitcoin. If you can't buy a cup of coffee with Bitcoin, at least you can take advantage of it so that you can buy two more with its value in fiat.

[Reatim]

For me aside from Fee disadvantage ?since this may change and may be lower depend on our desire speed of transactions,because if we are not in a hurry i guess lowest fee that may took days or more is enough to use.

The other disadvantage is the Irreversible part of Bitcoin in which once you mistakenly sent this you have no chance of recovering this unless the receiving party is concern and honest( though this part is also advantage at some point).

I think most people would answer that bitcoin's downside is its transaction fees and speed.
Bitcoin has a very high transaction fee and it is the big downside that makes it difficult for bitcoin to become a currency, imagine that you pay for a $ 5 item for $ 2 in fees.

But remember that Ethereum is following this trend as well,Because recently Ethereum Fee increases insignificantly also.and many users are having issue like what Bitcoin does.

[LogitechMouse]

There are many reasons but I think the biggest disadvantage of Bitcoin as of now is the transaction fees.
I already felt the very high transaction fees as of now because I can't transfer my funds because of the high fees. I mean I can transfer but I can't bear that huge transaction fees and one thing more is that the total Bitcoin I have is low that I will only get at least half of the total if I will transfer it now.

I know that Bitcoin is considered a currency by other people and it has always been but with the problems and disadvantages of it, most of the users are just considering it as an investment or an asset.

Bitcoin was never an ideal medium of exchange, rather it was always an investment or an avenue to hide income for majority of us!

Bitcoin helped me hide my total income per month. I'd rather like that than showing my monthly income to the public .

[GreatArkansas]

I agree with the OP about the fee problem.
We got every problem with Bitcoin base on what we encountered. For me about these kinds of problems. There will be a problem always, it's like "with great power, comes with great responsibility".
It's like, you are good at this X, but you have Y weakness because you are good at that X.
For me, altcoins will help Bitcoin about the fee, or the lightning network that runs on top of Bitcoin.

[Lorence.xD]

The biggest problem for me is the volatility of the bitcoin prices. The fees could be the second but it can be regulated. Volatility on the other hand is the biggest disadvantage because it can discourage potential investors when they look at the prices all through the years. We can control this although, it takes a whale to do that kind of control which is close to impossible.

[texgeek]

 BTC Is not used as a currency on "real world".. i think this is a unique disadvantage ...

This , on my opinion, is

All others points as disadvantages on this topic can be solved if you not use dolar as a comparator...

Think with me... if dolar disappear.. and all wolrd use btc as a dolar, fees, or deflation, or "price" is not a problem anymore, because your base is BTC


a car is 2 btc, a house 30 btcs, clothes 0.02 btcs, so Bitcoin is a great "mindset" change.

While world not accept it as a currency, is easy to found disadvantages unfortunately..

[Salauddin1994]

Bitcoin biggest problem is when its price goes down bitcoin is really very fashionable in some cases many of us are ignorant about digital currency and bitcoin to use it within the lives of ordinary people got to be educated about bitcoin first has been adopted in many businesses it's impossible to use it in large quantities thanks to its limitations the worth of bitcoin is far more volatile. Because its demand is growing in no time and therefore the quantity is restricted it's hoped that this example will ease over time.

[michellee]

As what other members said, bitcoin disadvantage is about the fee, the time confirmation of the transaction, the volatility of the bitcoin price. I know that there is maybe another disadvantage of bitcoin, but I don't think that will be a problem for us because no matter what is the disadvantage of bitcoin, people still use bitcoin. Many of them are investing in bitcoin. So that is not the disadvantage for them because they can accept everything that bitcoin has.

I think we don't have to think about the disadvantage (even if that thing is to exist) because we want to use the advantage of bitcoin to us. If you only think about the disadvantage of bitcoin, you will not get the advantage of bitcoin. It will be like that with bitcoin.

[witcher_sense]

The other disadvantage is the Irreversible part of Bitcoin in which once you mistakenly sent this you have no chance of recovering this unless the receiving party is concern and honest( though this part is also advantage at some point).

Merchants are happy with that "disadvantage" of bitcoin because not all customers are concerned and honest. Malicious customers would reverse their transactions every time if it were possible. Thanks to the immutability of bitcoin, merchants no longer have to trust their clients provided that the number of confirmations they wait to send packages is sufficient.

It is also a good thing for you, because no hacker can undo your sent transaction and spend your funds.

If you mistakenly sent your bitcoin to a wrong address, you can still cancel your transaction by double spending the same inputs with a higher fee. As far as I know, some wallets have already implemented a specific feature for cancelling a transaction (Brain Wallet as an example) or you can do that manually.

[shoreno]

I've made a transaction 5 days ago with a charge of 500 satoshis (in total). That's pretty cheap and I set that fee because I'm transferring money to myself, but thinking that it may never be confirmed is kinda annoying.

500 satoshi in total . does that mean there are other smaller fees under 500 sats that you did before you end up on a total of 500 sats. thats surprisingly small and what do you mean by transfer money to yourself , is that a kind of test only to see if you can recieve the incoming transaction with a tiny fee or you withdrew your coins on the online platform where your playing to the btc wallet that you use  . its okay if for testibg purpose but dont do it on a real transaction because your only going to waste time and money because there is a great chance that your coins wont arrive on your wallet .

[piebeyb]

I have never used bitcoin as a means of payment for now it is more of an investment, so why is there an alternative coin where people can use it as an alternative to transfer funds, currently only need intelligence for that so you may not think of using an alternative other, usually if I want to make a transaction I have to wait for the fee to really be cheap or if I want to move funds from exchange 1 to exchange 2 I will use my bitcoins to buy alternatives like XLM XRP or others which only require low fees so I can moving funds, it's easy to think, the other one is currently full for bitcoin transactions so avoid that pile and wait for everything to return to normal, Ethereum was also previously expensive