Quote from: cryptopaths on August 12, 2014, 09:07:56 PM

If the Protocol was updated to do something more like a lot of altcoins do I feel this is what would truly make the Bitcoin price sky rocket.

Yep. I've been saying this for months. And getting poo-poo'd. As the protocol sits with very little enhancement after an entire year now. As Gavin stated recently: Development has come nearly grounding to a halt due to bickering and differences of opinion. Thats super. Not like its the most important financial innovation of the last 500 years or anything.

The excuse that it cant be modified heavily because its such an important piece of software is only going to be a valid excuse for so long. (the whole "enhancing a plane while in flight" reference too).

And forget the other alt coins. Bitcoin needs features that make it usable to the various financial industries. Or some solution which allows for extending its capabilities to usurp those industries. But alas, this suggestion, like all the others, is met with shrugged shoulders as far as I can tell. Tree Chains, Sidechains, whatever ... someone needs to take the reigns and get development moving. Now. Fast. Not next year. Not in five years. Fewer excuses. More action.

It doesn't matter how much we love bitcoin. If its not in a usable form to the various financial services out there, its simply not going to be used. And there go all your hopes of "to the moon". Whether we admit it or not, we are all relying on Bitcoins "Programmability". Its ability to be enhanced. But its not being enhanced. (!!!). And all talk of enhancements are "years off". If people in these industries have a first glance at Bitcoin and see an insanely limited, basic feature set, they will simply walk away. Some already have.

There is a laundry list of features that could be safely added to Bitcoin which would make it usable in numerous financial industries. And the items on that list simply aren't being added. This is my biggest and only concern about the long term viability of Bitcoin.

-B-