Bitcoin can’t compete with fiat for everyday transactions yet. So how do we bridge that gap?
It has already been mentioned that not "every coffee" has to be paid with Bitcoin. But there are definitely areas where Bitcoin can compete:
- international transactions, as a competing system to SWIFT
- transactions for and to groups which are excluded from the financial system. Not only the typical "unbanked", but for example also people excluded by authoritarian regimes.
- private transactions you don't want to appear in the next personal data hack
There can be different types of success though. I would rephrase the original question into "Can Bitcoin achieve
sustainable long term success without mass adoption"? And then my answer is no.
But even as a speculative asset I think it can succeed for several years more. Eventually, the hype will however die down, and we'll see "the mother of all bear markets" in this case, or a Super Bear Cycle. This will be the case when nearly all those who would buy speculative assets also own Bitcoin, and there's no "bigger fool" who would buy it.
Such a "Super Bear Cycle" could however work also like a healthy reset. People which are into Bitcoin for the tech and the censorship resistance maybe won't leave it and create slowly the base for "true" mass adoption.