Quote from: mtnsaa on October 06, 2016, 06:37:02 PM

Quote from: tempus on October 06, 2016, 06:06:04 PM

Quote from: mtnsaa on October 06, 2016, 05:57:47 PM

Quote from: jjiimm_64 on October 06, 2016, 05:06:41 PM

Quote from: mtnsaa on October 06, 2016, 04:49:13 PM

If Bitcoin solved one problem it will be huge, not 10 billion marketcap (which is ridiculous, it's not even close to a blue chip company).

bitcoin does solve a number of problems.. the most notable is transfer of money over the internet without a bank.. OH, and it is huge!!

edit: why do you compare btc to a company?? is gold a company??

People just use banks and credit cards (and Paypal, Google Wallet, Apple Pay, whatever). I agree with you that people who don't have access to banks can benefit, but these are usually non tech savvy people who won't figure out how to work even the simplest wallets. Plus, how they buy Bitcoin with in the first place? Cash? nope...credit cards, banks, etc. I know because it happened to me, getting Bitcoin is a pain in the ass in third world countries, there's no simple and safe solution like Coinbase or whatever.

I understand what you are saying though, Bitcoin proposes a solution but the problem is not there yet, in terms of market at least. I was comparing cryptocurrencies and blockchains, some have a company behind (like Factom and Ripple) so it's not clear where's the value at, if in the company or the token/currency (I think on both).

Regarding Bitcoin: I believe it's the other way around. The problem for that Bitcoin could be a solution is already there but Bitcoin can't be a solution if it stays where it is. The Blocks are already full. Bitcoin couldn't handle enough transactions to be a solution for existing problems.

I don't want to say it's doomed because I hope that it will be improved but something needs to happen or another Cryptocurrency will take over - Ethereum for example and I wouldn't like to see that.

About Factom, company vs token: The value of Factoids will reflect the use of the system (because every time somebody buys EC's, Factoids are burned through conversion into EC'S). The company does a lot to get customers for the protocol and they are very good in that.

And I believe it's even possible that the marketcap of Factoids could be above the value of the company.

Factom marketcap is ridiculous undervalued and many here tried to explain it, maybe it is heavy manipulation I really don't know. What I know is that last time I checked Maid, Doge and other bad jokes (sorry but really...) were well above it. Don't get me started on Steem.

If Factom will succeed it is undervalued. If not - not. But yes, since I believe it will be big and has potential to grow I agree. But in general it's impossible to evaluate something in Crypto. But, I wouldn't call Maid a bade joke. They are serious and it's a great idea in my opinion, could even be a good combination with Factom if successful. My concern is more that it nearly seems over-ambitous.

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Maybe Bitcoin gets an upgrade before the end of the year, I don't really think that's the real problem though, I can send BTC just fine.

We can send BTC - true. But we are only a few million users and most of the transactions are done off-chain on exchanges. Bitcoin is about speculation, just a few really use it. If it would be about 50 Mio people or 500 Mio people - Bitcoin couldn't handle it right now while it already could be useful for whole countries if you think of Africa or other poor countries and people without access to the financial system etc.

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The problem is that no one wants to spend it because you are losing money doing that considering all the fees passing from fiat to BTC. For many it's pretty simple but for the majority it just doesn't make sense, it's cumbersome and expensive (and now it's painfully slow on top of that). I also understand many anarchists concepts behind it, I won't get into that, to me it's too out there to think the world economic system will collapse. It has been collapsing my whole life. It may transition into something different but BTC won't be world's currency unless it was actually designed to be just that (and if this would be the case we would be rich so there's no point in arguing...)

I see the problem more in block-size-problem. Because: If the blocks are full and transactions are not executed people will begin to pay higher fees to get their transactions done. That will make Bitcoin unattractive for those who could benefit most. Transactions will become expensive and that can't be the sense of a system like Bitcoin. So it needs solutions and there are two scenarios:

1) Solutions for Bitcoin
2) Solutions besides of Bitcoin --> competitors will take over

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Anyway, even if BTC was just as quick as Ripple for example, this won't change anything. Regular people won't mess with decimals and wallets and conversions. So it kinda reinvented itself as a storage of wealth or digital gold for now. We'll see if that alone will do fo the next years.

Ripple is not a real blockchain-system and it is not decentralized. I wouldn't compare it. The other problems you speak of are no problems in my opinion. It is important that Cryptocurrencies become more user-friendly but that is in progress and won't be a problem. Also the question how fast Bitcoin is - I believe it is okay now, if we compare it to usual money-transfers that can take a week if it's about different countries while it's about 20 minutes in Bitcoin or just 10 with a high fee.

Regular people will use Bitcoin or something like Bitcoin if they feel more pressure on side of the established system and lower barriers in Crypto - userfriendly, secure. And while it's possible to build user-friendly applications (many already are) it is not easy for average people to store Crypto-money secure.

But: Without any doubt there will be solutions in future. We just see the first steps in "Blockchain-History" but also fast progress and a lot of innovations. Just for example: https://www.lykke.com

Also a project that makes it's first steps into the public but it is an already working semi-decentralized exchange with a very user-friendly App and they focus very much on security and so on. It will combine the best of two worlds x two worlds:

decentralized and centralized
Crypto and Fiat

I believe it will be about projects like that in Future. Factom, Lykke, also something like Maidsafe etc. There is a lot that is already there but under heavy development and not finished yet. And without any doubt: People will use it.

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We may have digital gold (BTC), oil/gas (ETH?), we even have tokens that act as equity and shares now...but do we have digital cash? quick, simple, old fashioned cash? That would be the blockchain killer app.

It will come. Zcash already could be a step into the right direction but I have some concerns about it (trusted setup - if it is how I understand it until now). And also Bitcoin could become digital cash. Even Factom could help with that. And in fact we have a lot of digital cash because guys like you and me can use even Factoids as digital cash.