Or, how can we make cryptos a real game changer?
We've all seen the roller-coaster rides of the last two month of cryptos. Rising to huge heights at the end of last year, dropping low beginning of this year. And we now see some recovery beginning, the "Lambo" cries and "going to the moon" are rampant again.
In my opinion, we are not even close to an ecosystem where cryptocurrencies can be used in our everyday life.
Current issues:
* There are too many cryptos.
Just take a look at coinmarketcap.com, you will find over 1500 cryptos here. For someone without the appropriate knowledge, it is impossible to determine which crypto to purchase. Also some of the names seem to have been chosen to trick people into buying them, e.g. Faceblock?
* How can you determine which crypto is reliable?
You would need to check out the team behind a crypto, check their track record and really read their whitepaper and roadmap.
* Difficult to buy, sell and use.
As far as I know, there is not a site where I can buy whatever crypto I want and pay with fiat. I personally use litebit.eu, which has the possibility to quickly buy and sell cryptos, but they only have 52 cryptos at this time. Even worse. some crypto need to be purchased using other cryptos like Bitcoin or Ether.
* Cryptos are technical, not commercial.
Once you managed to purchase some cryptos you can decide to keep them in an online wallet or download them to your own wallet on your pc. If you ever tried the latter you know that this can be cumbersome and time-consuming. Most of the time it involves downloading the entire blockchain, which can take several days. For a "normal" user this makes no sense.
I state that for day-to-day use of cryptos it is not necessary to have a full-copy of the blockchain, the last 100(?) blocks should be enough.
* Governments/banks/institutions.
We see governments and big institutions reacting without coming up with a solution. There seems to be a real fear with those parties that they will loose their control.
Some governments are embracing cryptos, but the major governments seem to want to supress it as much as possible.
* Fake News.
Just one message or tweet can influence the price without there being any real reason.
* Unreliable parties.
We all know that there were cryptos stolen from exchanges and other parties, most notably Mt. Grox. This has had a big impact on the perception of people about the reliability of cryptos.
What is needed for success:
* A user-friendly way of buying and selling cryptos.
* More shops/sites where you can buy using your crypto.
Ideally you would have a "crypto-card", with an interface to fiat. This means your card has the information about your cryptos, but will automatically convert the crypto to fiat or another crypto and process the transaction.
* A fast and low-cost method of using cryptos.
Bitcoin is the best-known crypto, but also notorious for the low transaction speeds and high costs. When I buy something with crypto, why would I pay extra? And if so, let's make it a fixed amount, known before I get my cryptos.
* Stop all the FUD.
A lot of the changes in crypto value is due to Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. One message about a governement thinking about doing something, can already have a major impact. The same as a tweet from one person making a price skyrocket.
* We should create a quality mark for cryptos and exchanges.
This cannot be done by one company, but must be supported by the community.
Do not forget that the value of fiat or a country is determined in big part by the Standard & Poor's, Moody and Fitch'es of the world. Yeah, they really did a great job before the economic crisis hit the world!
I am convinced cryptos can really have a major impact in the way wealth is distributed, but currently we are at the beginning and have to fight to make sure it doesn't die already.
Therefor I urge everyone to stop spreading fakenews.
Promote your favorite crypto, but use arguments based on validity of the team and roadmap.
Be positive about the future. There are powers at work trying to deter the grow of cryptos, we need to stand up as a people to fight this.
Let's have a good discussion without the usual fighting I see on Steemit, be constructive ;-)