Quote from: kryptqnick on February 29, 2020, 11:57:23 AM

Quote from: joniboini on February 28, 2020, 07:42:03 AM

The current implementation is good enough imo. The rate of adoption might not be as fast as other tech but that's simply because there is much freedom in the crypto/bitcoin ecosystem. People need to learn to be their own bank, avoid stupid mistakes, etc which might be suitable only for those who are young or open-mined.

If we put the 10 year age into perspective, what we achieve so far is amazing. What started as a simple experiment has been used by some merchants and users to create their own economy, and that is great.

The spending culture or whatever you talked about will follow when there is enough clarity (either regulation, government stance tc) and exposure to new people, added with an increase of merchants accepting crypto/bitcoin. It will come sooner or later.

I am a fan of Bitcoin, and I think that it did achieve a lot, but that doesn't mean it's doing fine in terms of the spending culture or adoption. Only around 2% of the population use Bitcoin at all. At the current adoption rate, Bitcoin will take a couple if decades to catch up with top payment methods, if I am not mistaken. Moreover, I really don't think that most users of Bitcoin but goods/services with it. They gamble, trade or hold, but there options if spending Bitcoin as money are too limited. Not to mention that it's largely unrecognised, so any time one needs a proof of funds, BTC doesn't count.

I would like to point out, that 2% population statistic only came about from the rate of innovation and introduction of utility since Bitcoin's conception and the urgency that some of those people have for a new currency. These people are not using it as a luxury.

I think volatility (noise) and drift (movement) of Bitcoin's price are two real research questions. I am not a economist. But my novice understanding would have me believe that some factors that contribute to the volatility and drift are:

The relatively small amount of liquidity (trade volume)
The concentration of Bitcoin with whale traders
The almost monolithic use of Bitcoin in speculation based applications
Shady exchange behavior which contributes to the barrier for institutional investment

I think that the base technology is maturing. The Bitcoin Protocol is solid af. Lightning Node Network is a major step in my eyes for bitcoin to be used casually in everyday transactions. Which steps it closer to mainstream use of its first application (currency).

Towards optimizing:
I feel that eventually the above issues will dissipate over time. But introducing infrastructure that makes Bitcoin easy to use will greatly help for mainstream adoption. Off the top of my head, I envision a future, where every home will feature a little home server. This home server will host:

LLN hot wallets of the residents in that home (equivalent to a transaction account for spending)
Bitcoin wallets for the residents in that home which are able to top up the LLN hot wallet (equivalent to a savings account.. for saving)

Then on a portable device (phone or some other specific device that fits in a wallet), client side software will provide the ability for the owner to spend via the associated LLN hot wallet. The client side software will provide security features like adjustable maximum spend per day, etc. The server side software will:

Conduct record keeping of transactions on the LLN hot wallet
Manage opening, closing and connecting LLN hot wallet to LLN
ensure that Bitcoin does not accumulate in one wallet (distribute to multiple wallets)(based on rules applied by owner at setup)
Will manage some form of RAID1 data redundancy for Wallets (perhaps stored, encrypted in other peoples home servers.. hmm, don't know, risky).
Allow multi-sig Bitcoin wallets (joint accounts between people)

This type of innovation, in my belief, will encapsulate people from dealing with the nitty gritty of bitcoin blockchain back-end infrastructure. It would lead to more adoption and variation in use cases. It would bring Bitcoin into the home and the applications can grow from there. Like asset management, automated accounting services (i mean just imagine, not having to deal with paper receipts... IMAGINE!!! ). Imagination is your ceiling really (just watch out for the serrated steel lined ceiling fan which is governments having misconceptions about Bitcoin and central banks defending market share).