Originally Posted by
c1ue
The bitcoin bubble is just that.
A few data points to consider:
1) bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are bruited as better because supposedly the middlemen are disintermediated. Yet a bitcoin transaction costs $20 to $70. This very effectively makes normal transactions too expensive.
BTC transactions will be very inexpensive in the near future (in fact, today a transaction costs pennies, though costs will rise and fall a little more one would like for an exchange of value). It’s coming soon, though.
2) bitcoin has a transaction per second (tps) worldwide of 7. To put this in perspective, visa processes around 4000 tps with a maximum capacity of around 65000 tps. Paypal has 130+ tps. The notion that any crypto currency can handle real world, worldwide everyday use is...very unclear.
It’s becoming pretty clear that with solutions such as Lightning, that the answer is yes.
3) 1 in 3 major cryptocurrency exchanges has been hacked, the latest last week to the tune of $500m. It is far from clear any of these organizations have the expertise to manage and secure any significant store of value.
Hackers stole 20k from my Bank of America account a decade ago.
4) I saw a report not long ago that 1 in 7 cryptocurrency ever existent has been stolen. I'm not sure that's correct, but the absolute dollar value is unquestionably enormous. More importantly, in such cases, the victims have no recourse. It is difficult to even prove theft since the transactions are not legally documented or regulated in any way. The flip side of freedom.
i agree with this one - more services are needed to protect funds, but that will come in time.