I've heard about BTC quite some time ago but I'm always pretty much in a hurry and I couldn't dedicate enough attention to the cryptocurrency revolution.
Some months ago however, a friend of mine contacted me with this "free money" thing. I wasn't quite on that mindset and I warned him of the risk with no benefit. His plans very likely hit a wall, but I decided to research a bit on crypto to update my skillset to more modern programming techniques.
Many people are scared of new technologies. This has been the case with the first train, the first airplanes etc. Sure there is always risk, but if you get the BTC for simple tasks you are not losing anything. For example, I get BTC for talking on these forums and enjoy it
So in that way, the risk is very low, my life does not depend on it. In addition, there are extra features: like if I have family in the other side of the world, I can send a family member some money which arrives in 5 minutes, from which they can buy a nice present.
When you get used to bitcoin, the 1-3 workdays waiting for money transfer just become completely absurd. You may know how fast we can get used to new technologies.. its been only like what.. 10-15 years since most people get mobile phones?
By the way, I am somewhat surprised this cryptocoin revolution really isn't a revolution at all yet. I know cryptocurrency is already pretty much a success in many financial uses but I wonder how much time it will take for cryptocurrency to get in the day-to-day business. I'll sure want to see that happen!
Things do not happen overnight. I remember as a kid, back in the 90s, that you had like 5 websites you could visit, one of them being Yahoo. And you could do this cool stuff like search or email. At the time people would say 'Why would I need the web? nobody is going to need it'. Look at where we are today. Change always takes time, and within 5 years Bitcoin has caused a lot of change already. Remember that Bitcoin is not like some silly website like Twitter, but a completely new technology.
Bitcoin has the network effect, like a phone has.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect. The more people use Bitcoin, the more valuable it becomes. There are at least 4400 bitcoin accepting stores right now. You are still an early adapter if you join. The features of digital currencies are too good to just ignore, it can make life much easier for tourists, shopping, business etc.
Imagine the situation, say 10 years from now, by which you take an airplane to the other side of the world. You can pay everything you want directly with bitcoin. No need for changing currency.. easy right? In addition, you would understand the value of things.. if you say $2 you may know what its worth, but what about 378 japanese yen. its much or few? so I think cryptocurrency will be benefitial in this area.
For online shopping it is troublesome to go trough process of forms, registrations.. I want to be able to buy things online with one mouse click.
Give it some time.
