how is Monero going to deal with its blockchain which as far as I remember is a couple times heavier than Bitcoin or grows at a faster rate? Also how fast is Monero nowadays compared to Bitcoin?
Monero has 2 minute blocks, so getting a first confirmation tends to be 5X quicker than Bitcoin.
As for XMR's blockchain bloat, Layer 2 solutions are on the roadmap.
Meanwhile we may use what I call "economic pruning" (IE non-trivial minimum tx fees) to keep the blockchain manageable and spam-free.