Bitcoin, a Revolution.
By now most people have heard of Bitcoin, either through media outlets or through friends. It seems two major sides have formed concerning where they stand towards this cryptocurrency. One being of a rebellion towards the present banking system, claiming how Bitcoin will take over. The other advocating the banking system itself and calling it a fraud. Perhaps there is an even bigger third group. The one that heard about it, but has no real clue of what it actually is.
Now there is a fourth group, but they currently still are in the minority as of now when it comes to the crypto world. A group that acknowledges what Bitcoin has started, appreciates it, but don't see it holding out for much longer, because its underlaying technology is outdated and outperformed by its competitors. Bitcoin has the brand and the fame, and stands symbol for something revolutionizing, a means to pay without mediaries. But what most don't seem to realize, is that it could never accomplish this task once it were to be implemented on a greater scale. Simply because the technology behind it wouldn't allow it.
3 Reasons why Bitcoin won't hold up
We can already see it happening, transaction fees are going through the roof. It can take hours, even days, before being sent over. And one expects this to be implemented as a means to pay for goods and services? Imagine being at a store trying to buy something and saying, ''hold on a moment, need an hour for my Bitcoin to be transferred''. Yeah, not gonna happen... We already see businesses taking Bitcoin of their list of ways to buy with, it being for this reason. And what one has to understand is that it's still currently a very small minority using Bitcoin. Meaning that if the whole world where to start using it, things be at least 100 times worse. Even with so many hardforks it won't be able to change its underlying technology.
Bitcoin has a limit of 7 tps (transactions per second), and perhaps it may be doubled with some tweaks here and there (with hardforks in place), but 14 tps is far from what is required to be effective. Look at VISA with 2000 tps, with a daily peak rate of 4000, just barely being able to handle the load... See the major difference?
The second reason is coming forth by the same problem, low transactions per second. They are causing a waiting list. Whoever pays more will have the priority, which as of now is causing fees of (already) over $10! Still wanna buy that cd you wanted with Bitcoin? Now you'll pay double the price!
Now the third reason is also entwined with the other two, but is causing for an even bigger dilemma; Mining. Taken aside the centralization it has caused by build-up mining facilities... The energy waste, it's just getting out of hand. Currently as shown by digiconomist.net, the estimation is that 0.18% of the total world energy is being used. This might still seem somewhat low, but keep in mind that currently Bitcoin is still being used on a very low scale when compared to a global use. Imagine half of the world's electricy being used to mine Bitcoin, go global warming!
Even more so, this whole mining thing, it's unnecessary. Because there are already alternatives which don't require it at all. One of these being DPOS (delegate proof of stake), in which witnesses are being voted by the stakeholders to run the nodes handling the transactions. In which my next point comes, the alternative(s), in this case Bitshares.
Bitshares
There is a lot of crypto coins out there, some of them special in its own right, a lot of them simple copies of Bitcoin. But to compare the huge differences possible, based on the 3 points I just addressed, you can see the differences for yourself when compared to one of the biggest scalable blockchains currently out there. I might be a little bias here, but that is simply because I see its huge potential. To point out, Bitshares is actually not being labeled as a crypto coin, it's a decentralized exchange and a smartcoin factory, two things I won't be explaining today... Anyways, it just as Bitcoin can be used to transfer money from one place to another.
- Transactions per second: Bitcoin 7 tps, Bitshares 100.000+ tps
- Fees: Bitcoin $10+, Bitshares a few cents, with Bitcoin only rising and Bitshares having the ability to scale its fees based on the witnesses votes, so that when the price of Bitshares goes up the fees can remain the same.
- Mining: Bitcoin using 0.18% of the world's energy, which is to rise majorly when used on a global scale. Bitshares using only the nodes hosted, being practicly close to zero energy usage, and even with global use would still remain this way.
So after seeing these numbers, and the problems that Bitcoin is facing. Do you still think it is able to keep up being the #1 market cap, and in doing so, being the biggest crypto currency when it comes to the blockchain industry?
Years from now we will see Bitcoin as an antique, a collectors item. Cause what it started was revolutionizing , and we are thankful for that. But for its practical use, it will be done for.