One of the biggest things holding back the cryptocurrency revolution is us, the current users. The reason is that due to the sheer immaturity of most of the participants (no matter their age), the focus tends to favor pettiness and personal vendettas, rather than the development needed to drive the industry forward and compete with the big boys. Squabbling over pennies when there are 7 billion sets of eyes and the value they consume on offer.
Just remember that the entire crypto market is worth about about 265 billion dollars, which is 1/25th of the world's largest managed fund with BlackRock which is worth 6.5 trillion. The second largest pool is managed by Vanguard, which is valued at 5.5 trillion. Those two funds combined can half the National debt of the United States - not that they would - as they benefit from keeping that debt growing.
But, instead of focusing on building up what is effectively a cottage industry in comparison to the real markets, the participants bicker and argue and compete for the scraps. Sure, individuals within the crypto industry can do very well, but often it is to the detriment of the industry itself, one that could support millions of people to do very well.
It seems that all to often, it is amateurs playing a caricature of business executive, as startup entrepreneur, as venture capitalist. Having money might qualify the game, but maybe it depends on how that money was obtained - was it through real business acumen and hard work, or right place at the right time, dumb luck?
I wonder how long it would take a company like Rovio who created Angry Birds to develop a polished app for blockchain? Will we ever find out? Perhaps, perhaps not - because for these types of companies to even give it a look in requires there to be enough value to make it worth their time. This gives a little space for the early adopters to build and develop market real estate and define the terminology, the ideals, the direction. If they do a good job, they will eventually have to compete with the major traditional players, if not, they won't need to worry about them at all, as they won't arrive.
Every industry goes through the startup phase, the non-believers, the criticism, the FUD, the FOMO, the hardcore backers, the flakes - this is the process of maturing an industry, putting in the hard yards and it can take decades to become established, to be considered "a player" in the world economy. Every industry that has failed to take hold in the past has failed because it wasn't able to develop a critical mass of support where it could stand on its own feet, build its own gravity and ecosystem around it and thrive.
At the moment, Bitcoin is an oddity, a curiosity, a potential candidate to keep an eye on, but not get too excited about at this point - from the perspective of the trillion dollar players. They know there is plenty of potential, but there is very little incentive for the large players to do the ground work themselves when there is so much risk of being innovated out of the market as it is all digital, forkable, unlimited.
Currently though we are limited, not by them, by us. Limited in our willingness to commit, limited in our ability to connect and collaborate, limited by our small-minded, small-scale perspective on what success looks like. So far, the crypto markets have made some people rich, but that is not industry success and could still happen under outcomes of failure. I wonder how many of the Lambo! rich have kept their crypto and how much of it is in banks in the Cayman islands, squirreled away in the system they were pretending to escape?
Growing up is a process though and it seems that many in the crypto industry are looking for the easiest paths for themselves, which tends to be one that works against the industries. They want their ego fed, while the ideals required to inspire uptake and adoption wither toward death - I want it now, even if it costs everything later.
Isn't it frustrating to see so much potential for global improvement be lost to shortsightedness? To have a "product" that can change the world in so many ways, not even make a dent in the economy, not even get a toe in the door? Well, when the industry is more alike to homeless people paid to fight for change, I am not sure that the industry is going to be taken seriously anytime soon. I hope that I am wrong though, so I work toward some kind of success - whether it is realized in my lifetime or not, is yet to be seen.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]