Quote from: stoniestfool on July 03, 2017, 10:21:50 PM

i do think cypto will be the future. Just not the near future. New coins are being and will be developed. There are a few problems that prevent mass adoption.

The first is transaction time. For instance, when you go purchase daily items ( gas,food,cloths,ect) you most likely pay with a credit or debit card. The transaction is verified almost instantly. Until we have a coin that has the quality mass adoption is not even possible. No one is going to wait 30 minutes for their credit or debit card payment to clear. We do have bitpay which is accepted at several stores. Subway and dunkin donuts probably being the best know. That is a giant leap forward. However, the transaction tax for small amounts like 5 usd for coffee makes this an expensive alternative.

  The second problem is government taxation. Especially here in the US. Our government will never permit a payment method they can not verify and tax. I know that is the point of cypto and bitcoin in general. Retailers are responsible to add tax at time of sale. Since the government does not accept bitcoin or any alt coin that is not possible. The only reason retailers can use and accept bitpay is that bitpay accepts the bitcoin but pays the retailer in fiat. Usually usd. Major corporations are not going to risk expensive legal trouble in an attempt to help you avoid paying sales tax.

  The 3rd major issue is unification. The only coin that has a chance at becoming a true form of payment is bitcoin. No other coin is even accepted at retail locations.AFAIK. With all the altcoins causing diversification that only worsens the problem. You do not see the retailers that accept bitpay running out to try and accept ether. Nor will they. You do not see bitpay expanding to accept ether either. There would be no advantage for them to do so.

Price flucuations are another major issue. Pumper and dumpers cause a huge risk to any retailer that would consider accepting cypto. Fiat does fluctuate in value. Very slightly compared to cypto. A retailer is not going to accept a payment method which may lose 10% or more in value overnight.
  For now there is decent money in mining and trading.The only safe investment is in bitcoin. Any other cypto is purely a gamble. You do not truly know if there is another hidden premne and someone is just waiting to dump.

Stonisetfool, thanks for your summary of the issues facing crypto at the moment. I think that is a really accurate assessment and in the short term I think your conclusion may be accurate.

In the long run, however, I think altcoins do have a future and I think it should be the goal of the the crypto community to ensure that future. The fundamental gaol of Bitcoin is to decentralize the economy. Using multiple platforms greatly increases decentralization. Multiple dominant currencies will also help mitigate price fluctuations and high transaction fees.

With improvements in exchange integration and payment systems there will be no reason a retailer accepting one cryptocurrency wouldn't accept others. I think we will see business accepting multiple cryptocurrencies soon just as we see options for payment in different fiat now.

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