The World of Cryptocurrency - Bitcoin's Last Stand
I am just wondering how bitcoin will end and what are the possibilities it takes to shut down bitcoin. We all know the cryptocurrencies were fully decentralized - no central server that controls the network, every user including you and me are part of the system that operates within the network of cryptocurrency. But let's open a small room of possibilities for it to shut down, given the advancement of technology that we have right now. Blockchain system empowered bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, without it, bitcoin is just merely a virtual currency that can't be transacted or transferred. This is the first in human history that something "virtual-nothing-not existent" is so expensive surpassing even the gold and other precious jewels.
I just list down some points wherein have arguments on the possibilities that will take down bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Government - If ever the government's all over the world banned Bitcoin then most likely Bitcoin will get shut down due to government interference. They could make a very fair case saying the terrorists and drug traffickers use Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and therefore it should be banned. The main challenge is on how to enforce such law since Bitcoin and cryptocurrency network is severely decentralized and there are no servers for the government to shut down. As long as there is an internet that connects the whole world, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will still exist and every user and investors in these currencies are part of the system. It will be a herculean task to caught someone engaging in cryptocurrencies since its transaction is fully anonymous and untraceable. We can only see the crypto address but the person doing the transaction is totally anonymous. Moreover, such a ban would only give rise to other technologies to prevent people and the government from getting into the Bitcoin wallets and making it easier for you to hide it on your phone. When the government bans something, it will just make it more popular and people will be curious and will then engage in the black market.
Miners - what if mining becomes unprofitable and miners stop mining? During a transaction, the blockchain should be updated in order to transfer coins from the sender to the receiver. Someone used to create a request to broadcast it over the peer-to-peer network and it goes into the hands of miners. They receive all the requests and verify the signatures if it is correct and check the wallet if there are enough funds to carry out the operation. They bundle these records together into a block and send it to the blockchain. If the miners successfully add the block, they get rewarded and get very little from the transaction fees. I don't think miners will never stop mining as long as there are transactions for them to scoop up. The network will still be a profitable environment for the miners. If ever there will be no miners then every transaction will fail since no one will work in the blockchain to process those transactions.
Quantum Computer - this can solve millions of cryptography equations simultaneously whereas a regular computer solves them one by one which makes a quantum computer a big threat to the encryption mechanisms that bitcoins actually use because it is miles ahead and more efficient than of regular computers. If this will trip, it will do some damage to the network and some people see quantum computers as a huge threat to the blockchain. Quantum computer has a strong influence on a Bitcoin network, however, bitcoin is an ever-evolving infrastructure and a new set of cryptographic security equations can be added as another layer from quantum computers.
Founders - the one who control Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies mess it up and if they keep doing hard Forks that will piss off investors. It's just simply another threat to the operation by splitting Bitcoin blockchain into two or having another spin-off currencies such as the few recent hard forks - BCH, BCG, BCD & Segwit 2X was almost took place. If these forks will continuously do, it will somehow damage bitcoin's reputation and lowered its credibility and eventually lead to its downfall.
Volatility - due to high volatility in Bitcoin, some investors and business capitalist were fearful to engage in this currency. It suddenly dropped its value without a hint and this gives a negative effect on the investor's part. Some critics will add insult to the injury of bitcoin's sudden drop and the so-called "experts" gives their unsolicited opinion and predicts the end of bitcoin. This will somehow damage bitcoin's reputation and leads to massive withdrawal of investors and makes bitcoin value into jeopardy.
In conclusion, Bitcoin has already cemented its foundation and its a herculean task to shutdown it. Even though it is so volatile but the technology behind it - the blockchain system is so powerful tool that holds bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in place. China has already tried to banned cryptocurrency on their land, they closed exchanges but to no avail - it is still surging up. As powerful as China in terms of its economic might can't stop the bull run of cryptocurrencies then who can? But in spite of these, I still give a room of possibilities of shutting down bitcoin given the advancement of technology that we have. For now, we will just celebrate for the bitcoin's achievement of reaching the $11.50k+ high mark.
If someone is saying his investment in Bitcoin grew up x1000 times, do not think this will also happen to yours. Do you really believe in $10 mln bitcoin?
In your life time?
Really?
@onealfa what do you think or make of the upward trend of bitcoin?
well @bismark1 here is what I truly believe 1BTC will reach:
30-60K for Christmas 2018
300K-600K by end 2020
@onealfa are you speculating that bitcoin will get to the listed values by the stated years Or are those your expected gain?
@bismark1 Those are my expected values of 1 Bitcoin. As you see my guess is far from Jonh McCafees , yet I still would not bet on my d*ck :)
My sugestion - stop see this as the value of Bitcoin is increasing. NO ! That what we see is the dramatic DROP of all FIAT money value , all at once, in synchro, world-wide. That drop been long awaited. Until it is now happening.
Did you ever believe that bitcoin could reach to 10k$ when it only worth 10 $?
YES
My answer to this question @viat0r is absolutelly YES
I believed in 10K, no, more... in $100+K since it was only $2
Bitcoin can if it just has a straight clear run with no obstacles, but like life its going to be full of them.
But when you add in all the rich trying to get richer then there will always be fluctuations and the competitors (other altcoins) having the chance to gain the upper edge.
olaexcelente video
if he can do it, why not me?
Yeah, weirdly, I do - because we don't have a precedent for these currencies that no one controls - so I think things that seem infeasible to us at the moment, could easily happen...
mcafee thinks it will be there in 3 years.
Govenments try to regulate Bitcoin but they will not succeed.
There is nothing that can end bitcoin except for the human belief in it's value.
Honestly, I think the biggest risk to Bitcoin is actually being made obsolete by a newer coin. Products like Netscape, Myspace, etc were revolutionary, succeeded in their core vision, but couldn't keep pace with new innovators. Right now dozens of new coins are being launched every month and most of them are crap, but I think that the odds that one of them displaces bitcoin in the next decade are pretty high.
Bitcoin has a huge first mover advantage via the network effect but an altcoin could potentially overcome that either by partnering with an existing service with huge reach (eg facebook / google) or by being significantly easier to use / more efficient.
I think that crypto as a whole is revolutionary and too strong to die but that bitcoin itself may be surpassed.
That is why I view it as crucial for any serious crypto hodler to have a diverse portfolio of coins and to pay particular attention to new coins that have actual technological break throughs (eg IOTA) as they come up.
Correct. Just because you're first does not make you the best. I'd say that a 1,000,000 fold increase in value (assuming a starting point of $.01) is reward enough for being first. This is why I don't believe the hype about $100k or $1M bitcoin. By that time, there will be better options.
As we noticed, bitcoin cant be obsolete even thousands of coin launching outthere since we will still go throught bitcoin before we can purchase the new coin. Bitcoin still the king of cryptocurrency. But of course technology is fast evolving, there will always be a change in everything and time will tell when will that be. :)
Can I get a sip of that Kool-Aid you're drinking? "Can't"??? "Can't"???
I beg to differ, my friend.
I think the reason Bitcoin can not be replaced by a newer coin is that it has the ability to survive the crashes and reach all time high after. The BCH pump and dump last Novemeber is one example. BCH price exploded 8X before falling. It increase from $300 to $2400 before falling to $1200. Now it is just $1600. BCH was suppose to be Bitcoin but better but it still was not able to replace the king
BTC at the same time fell from $7500 to $5800 then recovered and increased price
to $11000
And to push this point, It fell $2000 from $11000 to $9000 just last week and recovered and now aiming to reach $12K this month.
Another coin would need to do this and perform better to replace Bitcoin
people realize that BTC doesn't live up to the hype. Then it's crashes like never before. Other alt coins are screwed because of the massive panic that follows.
besides, most investors and people have more confidence in bitcoin. Its value continues to grow actively and this is only the beginning
Any thoughts on Eth surpassing BTC in the near future? Im just thinking about functionality/features of Eth and the lack of when talking about BTC
Im curious to see where litecoin will go... 1. Its one of the three main cryptos 2. There is no politics in the Litecoin community 3. Litecoin has no current scalability issues and last which is a big thing.. Litecoin can confirm transactions 4 times faster than Bitcoin. On top of that uber is accepting litecoin not bitcoin and within the next couple years uber is going public which will also grow the company exponentially. Im sure other large companies will start to pick up on the trends.
yes, LTC is quietly booming. Did you know LTC was 3 usd in Jan 2017 ? It mean it increased 33X as suppose to 10x for BTC
It's is already obsolete.
Only 7 transactions at the same time, with insane fee's. Nobody is going to use that on the long term.
The only thing that BTC has going or itself is that it's the most well-known. It's far from technically superior altcoins.
The 7 transactions are just the current bottleneck and that’s OKAY. we need to ensure security over speed first. 2nd layer solutions like lightning network will exponentially increase transaction speed.
At the end of the day, bitcoin can easily take the tech of successful chains and incorporate within itself.
I agree, if we look at the Bitcoin business model relative the the mining costs and transaction fees in correlation with what it wants to achieve, we see that it falls short in many areas; cost, sustainability, speed etc. I liken it the the Battle of Hertz vs Avis (BTC, BCH) or even Myspace VS Facebook.. Having market share, brand name recognition etc.. means nothing unless you hold on to it, adapt, upgrade and crush the competition. There is always something or someone around the corner to steal and improve upon your idea...
https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@pawsdog/could-the-us-ban-bitcoin-trump-administration-considering-btc-regulation
https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@pawsdog/is-bitcoin-really-decentralized-or-are-we-being-led-like-lambs-to-the-slaughter
https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@pawsdog/12-4-2017-the-market-view-and-trading-outlook
interesting feedback here; I happen to agree with you when you say this. I think it is going to take quite a bit of time before this happens, but it is definitely best to diversify your investment portfolio now for future volatility of the crypto market
I think this will likely be reason that BTC could stall in the near future, although the price did recover a few weeks ago when people thought bitcoin cash would overtake it. Bitcoin still being the default & gateway crypto also helps it, for the time being.
agree 100%
I really like Steem, at least it is backed by a webpage and talented content producers.
The dot com analogy pertains. Dot coms were the first to be adopted by businesses and are still the go-to domains. Same goes for bitcoins I think.
I agree. There's no ceiling on how high bitcoin can go. There's trillions of dollars of wealth in fiat currencies already, and bitcoin is the best-known, most sound currency around. Also, you can buy bitcoin in such small amounts, it's very difficult to price people out of buying it. You can't split a dollar in half, but you can split bitcoin.
Unless something comes along that's better -- which could easily happen soon, with all the new ventures in this space -- bitcoin could go to $1 million. Absolutely.
Maybe you are right, but if there is will then there will be the way I think it's time to unite for the future of BTC and all cryptocurrency and should make a common fund where everyone should invest for the betterment and the future of Cryptocurrency and ours and start finding the possible ways to overcome all the possible calamities otherwise we will only mourn and mourn.
By the way thanks for raising concern.
Best wishes.
Last man standing
Nice post thank you! Mining is not essential for coin creation. New coin introduction can be tied to new block creation, or be time based. Even if you don't use proof of work, you will still have blocks (even if you don't call them that way anymore; they may be called "database updates"). More interesting however, if you don't use proof of work, you don't even need your own currency (but you still could).
Validation is done by full nodes (the "auditors"). Miners also validate, but it is not their primary function. They do so because otherwise their blocks - which indirectly provides their income - could unknowingly be invalid, and not be accepted by the rest of the ecosystem.
Mining has one and only one purpose: providing a decentralized, permissionless mechanism for determining which version of history to accept, in case there are multiple valid competing versions. These competing versions are inevitable when there is not a single party coordinating their creation. This is because communication speed across the planet is not infinite, so one may create a block without having heard about a competing block elsewhere.
Thank buddy for your very informative input of this article. Your comment is very essential for cryptonians learning. I myself always researching on cryptocurrencies and understand how it works and you impart a very important knowledge to us. Thank you :)
The launch of BTC FUTURES on not 1 but 3 US EXCHANGES is the equalivent of the CRYPTO NUKE being loaded onto the Enola Gay..
Blockchain technology is the modern day representation of the Mythical Hydra. Cut off one of it's heads, and two more take it's place.
Unlike the Hydra, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have an infinite number of heads, and can be located anywhere, at any time, physically or through VPN.
The only thing that will go down eventually is the price, as capital moves into actual companies that utilize blockchain technology, having built on the recipes that are proven to work during this time period we live in now. Those companies themselves won't even have to touch fiat money, ever, but regulation will happen in some form. Can't stop the mob from taking it's cut, at least without becoming a mob too.
The most important is that blockchain is here to stay and change things even if there is a bubble. The burst of the .com did not stop internet development! Thank you for your post!!