My question is, since bitcoin is software, will the transaction times be decreased in the future? I think they absolutely must be or else another cryptocurrency will come along and do it.
This topic comes up a lot, so perhaps I'm missing something.
When are you ever waiting? When I use bitcoin, it is essentially instant. Granted, one must wait perhaps over an hour when moving coins to an exchange, but they'd have to wait a few days or over a week with fiat.
Buy a coffee at a brick-and-mortar store
----> instant
Buy a domain name or hosting with Namecheap
---> instant
Buy a Gyft card
---> instant
Pay someone who did some engineering work for me
---> instant
Use the Pounce app for "one touch" shopping
---> instant
Buy something from Overstock
----> instant
Buy dinner and drinks
-----> instant
Here's when it's not instant:
Pay a bill using Bylls
-----> they wait for several confirmations (but this wait doesn't matter)
Move coins to an exchange (this wait only matters to panic sellers lol)
-----> they wait for 3 - 6 confirmations before you can sell your coins
With green-addresses, secure bitcoin signing tags, and increased off-chain transactions, this will become even less of an issue.
When do you find confirmation times to be a problem?