Cryptocurrency,,, what a great word.
CRYPTO, short for cryptography, the mathematical backbone that props up the underlying code. CURRENCY, er, well some of them are.
Is $NEO a currency, not really, those are more like shares. How about the Daddy $BTC, doesn't really work as a currency. Great investment vehicle, awesome store of value but absolutely hopeless as a currency. $DASH what a great currency, immediate, cheap, discreet transactions, seems to have what $BTC lacks. Oh, but there's a problem, its going down exactly the same volatility route as Bitcoin. Half of the current ICO's have no real need for their token, they're simply,.. tokenistic.
I think we need a new word. (comment your suggestions)
However, I do think the space needs a working currency. Look at all the investment coming in from Korea at the moment. They were responsible for the $BCH pump, the more recent pumping of $DASH $XMR $ZEC, South Korea is one of the most technologically advanced nations on the planet, and to me, it looks like they are looking for a working digital currency. I'm sure Japan would welcome one with open arms.
I've tried going down this route. I have a day job and it is simply not feesable to accept a cryptocurrency as payment. If a job takes me three months to complete, and I quote 2BTC there is no way of knowing what that will be worth at the end of the job. Yes, I can quote in fiat and rely on a conversion but that defeats the point, it stops adoption of Cryptos and keeps them as an alternative.
This, I think is the golden goose. The real moon shot. Any Crypto that proves itself as a stable working currency. All the institutional money waiting to come into the space at the moment is great. It will undoubtedly hit $BTC first then probably trickle down through the alts. However, ultimately I think one of these alts will take $BTC crown through mass adoption. Maybe the tech or the code isn't there yet, but it will be soon.
$BTC has the first to market advantage along with brand recognition, which is huge. Over the short term it will probably see large increases and attract most of the institutional money. However, we are part of the 1 Billion first world Subjects (or Citizens if your not British) who have access to a bank. The other 6 Billion people in the world that have a cell phone but no bank need a digital currency. If Bitcoin can evolve transform into stable currency it will keep its crown. However, it's not going down that route, it's becoming a store of value for investment and financial instruments. I think that the first crypto to make it as a true global currency will be the winner. Absolutely it might be bitcoin but it needs to technologically catch up with some of the current projects. It's all really fascinating stuff..