Bitcoin has failed to become what his creator Satoshi Nakamoto envisioned it to be.
Due to many factors, scalability being the key one, Bitcoin was pushed into a store of value role instead of becoming peer-to-peer electronic cash system, and this is why you will probably never again see someone ordering pizza and paying with Bitcoin.
With the transaction fees for BTC averaging more than $50, it is clear why no one is interested in buying Frappuccinos with Bitcoin in a local store.
This is not what Satoshi wanted.
His vision for Bitcoin was outlined in the white paper entitled “Bitcoin: A Peer to Peer Electronic Cash System” posted online on October 31st, 2008.
In the introduction Satoshi stated that a problem with the current model of commerce on the Internet is that it has come to rely almost exclusively on financial institutions serving as trusted third parties to process electronic payments, which limits the minimum practical transaction size cutting off the possibility for small casual transactions.
He envisioned Bitcoin as a solution to that problem. He designed it for use as a medium for daily transactions and a way to circumvent the traditional banking infrastructure.
That did not come true.
High Bitcoin transaction fees have made ordering food and drinks online impractical.
People now buy Bitcoin as an investment, with the intention of allowing their money to grow so that they could exchange it for „real money“ years from now.
Fact is that a vast majority of crypto investors just wants more Fiat, because Fiat is what Bitcoin wanted to be.
As one Redditor puts it; „there are countless posts asking what we desired most or what we want to get when selling our precious crypto. Many people say paying off debt, mortages, getting a house, financial freedom. So in the end we all just want FIAT. Plain said, but it is the truth. We talk about mass adoption of crypto, but even our mind says we need that fiat to make stuff possible. Crypto is just a way to get to fiat or boost fiat income. We are still too fiat focused“.
Looking at the Bitcoin from this perspective, it is clear that Bitcoin failed to achieve what it was set out to accomplish.
Price of BTC above $50,000 is making Bitcoin barely usable for microtransactions, and cheap transactions, especially for small amounts of BTC, were supposed to be one of Bitcoin's biggest advantages.
This begs the question – would Satoshi be satisfied with a soaring price of BTC?
Rising price also caused another problem - newcomers to crypto are drawn to the promise of high return – they buy Bitcoin and other crypto with hope that it will double, triple, quadruple, perhaps even quintuple in value.
They have no intention to spend Bitcoin on everyday things.
„HODL“ culture appears to have become prevalent in crypto space – those who buy Bitcoin and other crypto assets buy them with intention of holding until their digital coins surge in price.
This culture has even more discouraged the use of crypto as a medium for daily transactions – crypto newcomers are afraid to spend their Bitcoin and altcoins on mundane everyday things like groceries because they could miss out on the potential gains years from now.
Everyone if afraid to become that guy who payed 10,000 Bitcoins for two delivered Papa John's pizzas despite the fact that him and many others like him helped push Bitcoin to mainstream.
„Hodling“ mentality is what hinders wider crypto adoption – as it pushes crypto to an asset class role instead of real digital money role.
We are still waiting for a coin that will deliver on the promise that Bitcoin failed – coin that will be widely used for buying bag of chips at the store, for ordering pizza or Frappuccinos at your local Starbucks.
