Are Bitcoin and Crypto Really Like the Early Internet?

[Auroraner]

If you’ve been following Bitcoin and crypto for more than a few months, you will have almost certainly heard someone comparing cryptocurrency — and blockchain — to the early internet. Well, there are many parallels between cryptocurrency today and the internet at the turn of millennium, not least in terms of both resulting in bullish market activity that skeptics regard(ed) as a bubble. However, it’s still far too early to say just how impactful cryptocurrency will be, and it’s arguable that the data comparing crypto to the internet has been misinterpreted and exaggerated.What are the similarities and differences between the two.
Some tweets comparing cryptocurrency and the Internet:
https://twitter.com/CoinCornerDanny/status/1408342142657892355
https://twitter.com/BTC_Archive/status/1408134902130917378

[coupable]

To get a better conclusion, i would suggest to change the concept "Crypto" by the term "Blockchain" so we can make a fair comparison. As crypto impact are somehow limitd to financial use while the blockchain revolution may be more huge than the internet itself aat it's early years .
Actually, and even by this mass adoption for cryptocurrencies, i think it's somehow similar to the Amazon at its early days with the same number of users actually crypto has, as described in the second Tweet mentioned in OP .

[ChiBitCTy]

If you’ve been following Bitcoin and crypto for more than a few months, you will have almost certainly heard someone comparing cryptocurrency — and blockchain — to the early internet. Well, there are many parallels between cryptocurrency today and the internet at the turn of millennium, not least in terms of both resulting in bullish market activity that skeptics regard(ed) as a bubble. However, it’s still far too early to say just how impactful cryptocurrency will be, and it’s arguable that the data comparing crypto to the internet has been misinterpreted and exaggerated.What are the similarities and differences between the two.
Some tweets comparing cryptocurrency and the Internet:
https://twitter.com/CoinCornerDanny/status/1408342142657892355
https://twitter.com/BTC_Archive/status/1408134902130917378

I don't think this comparison is technically meant to be taken literally.  I think it's more of a figurately speaking type of thing.  It is a good analogy in my opinion. If you are old enough to remember when computers and the internet became cheap affordable enough to be placed in homes and schools, then you will remember how basic things were.  For example computers were much larger, slower, more expensive etc. Just kind of like how bitcoin is right now.  It's still a major modern technology breakthrough, but it's in its early days.  Wallets, while having gotten much better of late, could be comparable to say a floppy disc.  In time wallets will become much more advanced and efficient.

There's a reason Andreas named one of his books what he did..

[verita1]

Bitcoin is still too early to take that step in which more people know about it, use, advantages and disadvantages. But that time will come, I say it because the youth more open to technology like to get involved in these things as is the crypto space.
To test a button:

At 13, it is hard to believe that anyone can understand the potential - and responsibility and danger - of holding private keys to half a million dollars while living life as a normal seventh-grader in India.

https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/2021/07/02/minor-danger-defi-wunderkind-gajesh-naik-13-manages-a-fortune

[cabron]

Influencers are saying so particularly when they are discussing Web3.0 which involves the crypto projects that are related to decentralized social media and apps that will interact with the data much like an IA. I'm not even sure how that works. But they can discuss it like it's the most decentralized way because there is blockchain working in the background.

[yhiaali3]

Technically, they are not similar to each other, but in terms of the development of technology and society’s acceptance of this new technology, there is certainly a great similarity. The emergence of the Internet at first raised the fears of many governments and even ordinary people, and they rejected the idea of ​​turning the world into a small village and began looking for charges that It can be directed to the Internet to prevent its spread.
In the case of Bitcoin, too, there is great fear, especially by governments and banks, due to the transition from centralization to decentralization and loss of control. Therefore, they are working on spreading charges about Bitcoin that it is highly volatile and is used to launder money and support terrorism in an attempt to prevent Bitcoin from being accepted around the world.

[mk4]

When talking about the bubble aspect — whereas only a very small number of cryptocurrencies actually end up amounting to something, then yes I highly think so. But I think the ratio between the cryptocurrency projects today that's going to be successful compared to the number of successful .com websites back then will be far worse.

[ranochigo]

It isn't. Crypto isn't like the early internet.

Crypto doesn't provide any revolutionary way of payment that we already have. Sure, censorship and decentralization are incredibly useful for certain cases but for most people, they appear to be just purely buzzwords which they don't care about. There is no reason, as of now why people wouldn't choose other payment gateways over Bitcoin. It doesn't mean that there wouldn't be a change in the modus operandi in the future as we refine Bitcoin even more or if the geopolitical landscape changes. The way crypto is getting so actively suppressed and goes against the ideas of the government really differentiates it from the internet.

Your internet connection can be censored, cryptos can't.

[Fundamentals Of]

There are circumstantial similarities in terms of their beginning and their growth but I don't think there are significant similarities between the internet itself and Bitcoin. They're different. But there are similarities in terms of how the internet was not much appreciated at the start, of how it was considered impractical to own one, etc. This might be the same with Bitcoin. At the start, it was not that interesting. But then both of them eventually grew and became more and more important in people's lives than just mere options at the onset.

[Xinarae*]

Although the term bitcoin is familiar to the internet the concept of blockchain is quite new to many of us. Although blockchain and bitcoin are almost contemporary concepts and there is a lot of information about them on the internet many thought that bitcoin and crypto were like the early internet but its transactions became easier through crypto decentralized blockchain technology.

[pooya87]

There is a big difference between "cryptocurrency" in general and "bitcoin.
Bitcoin is innovative and has a bright future simply because it is useful and is delivering what it is supposed to (a decentralized censorship resistant currency) but majority of cryptocurrencies aka altcoins are completely useless and are created to be pumped and dumped.
So you can't just say that just because bitcoin is successful that means "crypto" is going to be successful also. It doesn't work like that.

[maydna]

Blockchain is like the internet. At the same time, the crypto is a child in the blockchain. We know that a new project uses a different method than the other project, but they use the network, and it could be ethereum, trx, eos, bsc, or else. And those network is in the blockchain network.

The internet has many things insides, and that is happening with blockchain. But crypto is a new thing that can not be the same as the internet. Both the internet and crypto will be growing more than now in the future.

[Nunoluck]

I don't like complicated thing. I just think as simple as possible regarding bitcoin, I don't compare bitcoin and internet. Although both are a product that will used by many people in the future but both are totally different for me. As investor I almost only interested in profit that I can get, I think bitcoin will get mass adoption in the future and it will make it price rise so much. Today most of us need internet even for daily life, and I think most of us also use bitcoin as main alternative medium of payment in the future. Although maybe it will not replace fiat ( because I think government will not let it ) but I think it can be number 1 choice for online transaction.

[Kong Hey Pakboy]

Although the term bitcoin is familiar to the internet the concept of blockchain is quite new to many of us. Although blockchain and bitcoin are almost contemporary concepts and there is a lot of information about them on the internet many thought that bitcoin and crypto were like the early internet but its transactions became easier through crypto decentralized blockchain technology.

Ten years isn't new in my opinion, it's not like I blockchain is a secret technology or anything like that. I think the years of doubt might've delayed the increase of people and the chance of bitcoin from collapsibng thus the collapse was prevented somewhat because not enough people were there to collapse the market.

[OcTradism]

Bitcoin and crypto has more space to grow but they currently are not like the early internet. Internet requires infrastructures and education efforts.

It takes 2 or 3 decades to bring the Internet over the world but blockchain nowadays can be more easily accessed. Anywhere you have Internet access, you can learn about blockchain and can use it. With blockchain, you don't need to build up more infrastructures beside the Internet.

Developers code, launch a blockchain and everyone can use it.

[Karartma1]

This is an interesting thread. A stumbled upon a chart recently made by Documenting Bitcoin, taken from research by Crypto.com, which seems to suggest surprising growth. The premise of the analysis is that Bitcoin users are roughly the same as the Internet was in 1997. According to this research if they were to maintain these growth rates, +80% annually approx, by 2024 cryptocurrencies will have about 1 billion users. Over the next few years, it is assumed that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency users could reach 3.7 billion.
https://twitter.com/DocumentingBTC/status/1408072160095215620

[yazher]

As you can see, it's working like that gradually but the only thing we cannot say that they have a similar comparison is, the Crypto industry is not yet fully recognized. however, it's currently on its way to being like the internet nowadays where most of the people using it. Gradually we can reach out to that stage if the years to come will be less of that banning by China and fewer negative tweets by those who have some huge followers on Twitter. anyway, most likely it will happen since whatever things they throw on it, it keeps adjusting and continue to get some publicity.

[Tessnik]

To get a better conclusion, i would suggest to change the concept "Crypto" by the term "Blockchain" so we can make a fair comparison. As crypto impact are somehow limitd to financial use while the blockchain revolution may be more huge than the internet itself aat it's early years .
Actually, and even by this mass adoption for cryptocurrencies, i think it's somehow similar to the Amazon at its early days with the same number of users actually crypto has, as described in the second Tweet mentioned in OP .

Comparing cryptocurrency to the Internet may be a somehow shallow channeled comparison as the latter comprises a more holistic body of network why the latter is only focused on financial services provision, as this user has rightly said it’s better to compare blockchain with the Internet to get a better index to base our arguments.

[dkbit98]

Bitcoin is even better than internet was back in the days because more people are now using Bitcoin than people used internet after same years of existence, and it's just getting started.
Imagine few more countries adopting Bitcoin as legal tender like in El Salvador and all dominos will fall in other countries, and number of Bitcoin users will increase a lot.

[Welsh]

As a technology you can't compare the two. They are too different, at least in their current implementations. However, as hinted at above when someone says Bitcoin is like the internet, they aren't trying to compare the two's technical aspects. Instead, they are comparing it to that people will rely on it in the future.

The internet, from its very invention boomed. Now, these days a lot of industries, and people rely on the internet for literally everything. Whether that be their job, hobby or to play games. Literally everyone has a use for the internet. Does Bitcoin have a use for everyone? Well, when there's alternatives that exist like fiat currencies, probably not. Not everyone is interested in the decentralized nature, and not everyone wants to be responsible for their own money. You can question their judgement all you want, but I think its still accurate that not everyone will have a use for Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies in general, unless Bitcoin becomes the mainstream currency people use on a daily basis. However, Bitcoin is far from that at the moment, so at the moment we can't really compare the two, at least without any data backing up our claims.