How can Bitcoin fail?

[Herbert2020]

Sorry for my ignorance, but I really don't understand how Bitcoin can fail.
If there is a limit of 21 million Bitcoins that will ever be made won't it just increase as people can't get it anyway else than trading?
From how I see it, the worst thing that can happen is that it gets the same standards as gold.

Please tell me what you think

you are not considering the numbers after decimal point. if the price goes up 1 satoshi will worth more than what it does now, so it really is more than 21 million btc

[tss]

if more and more people lose interest it will be worth less and less.  even at a nominal small value each, its still a success. 

[Sophokles]

I don't really understand your question. 21 million total is not a limit, coins are divisible.

No, you're wrong. 21 million IS A LIMIT. But divisibility means we can potentially trade 1/10¹⁰ of a bitcoin.

 1/10⁸, actually. But thanks, now I know how to do superscripts   

[Harry Hood]

I don't really understand your question. 21 million total is not a limit, coins are divisible.

21 million bitcoins are divisible into fractions of bitcoins but the most that will ever be available are 21 bitcoins (or 42 half bitcoins or some insanely larger number of satoshis!)

[Harry Hood]

The value of bitcoin can go down if fewer and fewer people want to use it (and therefore buy it).

[Oscilson]

As bill gates says that bit coin is the currency of future...

I have already used BTC to buy goods.

[Beymond]

Sorry for my ignorance, but I really don't understand how Bitcoin can fail.
If there is a limit of 21 million Bitcoins that will ever be made won't it just increase as people can't get it anyway else than trading?
From how I see it, the worst thing that can happen is that it gets the same standards as gold.

Please tell me what you think

The total coins ever made will be 21 mil
that's won't fail as you can even have 0.00000001 bitcoin so it is quite alot

[R2D221]

I don't really understand your question. 21 million total is not a limit, coins are divisible.

No, you're wrong. 21 million IS A LIMIT. But divisibility means we can potentially trade 1/10¹⁰ of a bitcoin.

 1/10⁸, actually. But thanks, now I know how to do superscripts   

No. 1/10¹⁰. The point is that we are adding decimal places (for a hypothetical reason).

[El Emperador]

Imho Bitcoin can't be fought and beaten from the outside ( governments, ect. ).

It could fail just because of some implosion: for example mega dump and consequent complete lack of interest by its users, stop of mining, ect.
Or it could fail after the launch of a better cryptocoin... and in this case Bitcoin will become simply an altcoin, among the others...

[champbronc2]

Sorry for my ignorance, but I really don't understand how Bitcoin can fail.
If there is a limit of 21 million Bitcoins that will ever be made won't it just increase as people can't get it anyway else than trading?
From how I see it, the worst thing that can happen is that it gets the same standards as gold.

Please tell me what you think

I can see Bitcoin failing if players like Paycoin and the likes continue to tarnish Bitcoin's reputation by directly associating themselves with Bitcoin.

Another possibility I can see is that it will be considered a compromise/middle ground to accept Bitcoin as an idea but not as THE cryptocurrency. Politicians may use this dialogue to convince the people of a centralized cryptocurrency with a publically verifiable blockchain.

[ChuckBuck]

Bitcoin can fail if it falls to Zero $0, miners stop mining due to losses, nodes stop broadcasting the chain, and developers abandon ship....

I think that pretty much covers it.

Edit: Obviously 51% attack, fork gone wrong, or a discovered malicious bug in the code, etc..

[Nerazzura]

Currently, the Bitcoin community has begun to mature and responsible Cryptocurrency where they got. The lesson we can learn is the time still believe with Bitcoin, then Bitcoin not die. Although many disasters that struck the potential for Bitcoin does not mean every way. Bitcoin, so far, is the first technology that can change the financial world a better, cheaper, and anti-politicization place.

[virtapayseller666]

Sorry for my ignorance, but I really don't understand how Bitcoin can fail.
If there is a limit of 21 million Bitcoins that will ever be made won't it just increase as people can't get it anyway else than trading?
From how I see it, the worst thing that can happen is that it gets the same standards as gold.

Please tell me what you think

you are not considering the numbers after decimal point. if the price goes up 1 satoshi will worth more than what it does now, so it really is more than 21 million btc

may be somebody sell big bitcoin amount in currency exchanges thats why bitcoin price fall now

Like privious time i still remember a big fall from 300$ to 200$

[Kprawn]

We are currently showing transaction figures of +/- 100 000 transactions per day... If Bitcoin goes mainstream, this figure will increase and miners fees will increase too.

The miners fees will supplement the block bonus loss, so that would not be such a big problem in the future.

Individual Satoshi's will have a bigger value too... as the demand for Bitcoin increase. { A few years ago 1 Bitcoin, was valued below $1 and we would not have imagined that it would increase in value towards the $1000+ value it did reach} ---> What if the same thing, happens with a Satoshi? .... Who knows? The price of 1 Satoshi could be valued at $0.01 or even $1 ..... that would make the 1000 Satoshi paid out for free at most faucets, a VERY good investment over time.   

[grendel25]

Bitcoin will never be failed since it already succeeded.  Only way people stop using it is if it is proven to be hacked at will and nothing was safe or secure.

[redsn0w]

Bitcoin as technology will fail only if "all the miners" shutdown their machine. It is not probable but if the price will not rise after 2-3 block reward halving we can start to "think" about this theory. Instead if the price will rise and the miners will not turn off their machines the bitcoin ecosystem will grow and stay in life.

[Mikestang]

Without electricity, Bitcoin would fail.  Otherwise, as long as there is demand for it, it will last as long as the market allows.

Just as a curiosity, though, I often wonder what number of BTC have been lost from the market forever due to things like misplaced keys, hardware failures, etc.?  If enough BTC were lost, maybe that would have an effect, too.

[Eastfist]

I think the only way Bitcoin fails is if development just outright stops and people stop using it (venture capitalists pull their money, etc). But I'm sure Satoshi is really impressed by how far it has come. It'll be a success when real stakes/money is won through your video game console or MMORPG and gamers won't be able to cheat with mining bots. So then, you're highscore or leaderboard will actually have value attached. And then viewers can bet on or tip their favorite pro gamer, etc, etc. Assuming game consoles don't use their own currency like they are right now with Microsoft Points or Nintendo credits or whatever.

I also like the idea of abstracting Bitcoin mining into a MMORGP similar to Minecraft or something. You have to give people an abstraction otherwise they don't get that all this mining is a bunch of computers crunching numbers. Maybe hook up Minecraft or we create our own game and depict "real virtual mining" so people can get real Bitcoins.

You could give people careers as pro gamers. Toss them Bitcoins as pay.

[Yeezus]

I think the only way Bitcoin fails is if development just outright stops and people stop using it

Well the last part is pretty obvious but I think we have to look at the reasons why people would stop using it. Will something better come along? Will the price crashing to next to zero cause people to flee? Will an error or bug be found? Will governments ban or heavily regulate it to the point of breaking? Personally the biggest threat to bitcoin is a better successor arriving in my opinion. That could cause it to collapse very quickly imo.

[QuestionAuthority]

Video tapes like Betamax didn't fail. Laserdiscs didn't fail. 8-track tapes didn't fail. All of them worked as expected and promised. They all have one thing in common, a better technology came along and stole their user base. The archaic system of imposing value on metal tokens and pieces of paper only survives because governments have the ability to force their continued use. Private technologies have no force of law behind them compelling their use beyond their inherent usefulness. Bitcoin will eventually go the way of the 8-track tape because something new will prove to be more useful. Most of us call that progress; however, Bitcoin can never fail because currently it's working as expected and promised even if it's eventually replaced.