The title question will come off as insulting to some users of the cryptocurrency in question, so let me first say that I don’t mean Bitcoin and only Bitcoin. But recently the question of adoption has been circulating around my brain, and I’ve had to wonder: what are some of the things holding back crypto in general?
Some Blockchains Have Them
Roger Ver believes that, long-term, Bitcoin Cash is the better bet. The Bitcoin fork still allows for cheap on-chain transactions, meaning that if it were more popular, it would be a pretty useful blockchain.
Bitcoin: gains value primarily based on the perception others will buy it.
Bitcoin Cash: gains value primarily through growing utility in commercial adoption and usage in general.https://t.co/LiwoXcH4NT
— Roger Ver (@rogerkver) April 9, 2020
After Bitcoin Cash’s halvening, as previously discussed, miners left in droves, presumably headed for Bitcoin. It remains to be seen if Bitcoin will experience a similar drop in mining interest when the reward is cut in half, which is coming up soon.
For all intents and purposes, Roger Ver might be considered the CEO of Bitcoin Cash. He’s literally the CEO of Bitcoin.com, a site that heralds Bitcoin Cash as a better alternative to Bitcoin.
He’s not the only leader of a blockchain movement, of course.
Then there’s Justin Sun, whose Tron Foundation does a lot to control the TRX cryptocurrency. The influence has led to a lot of interesting developments, including the acquisition of BitTorrent. BitTorrent creator Bram Cohen ended up leaving the company and founding a new cryptocurrency.
According to @dapp_review, the number of #TRON #Dapps reached 745 with 5 new ones added. TRON’s #Dapp ecosystem is growing at a steady pace, we welcome more users and developers to join us! #TRON #TRX https://t.co/wkXHz3Mhhc
— Justin Sun (@justinsuntron) April 25, 2020
How Bitcoin Could Evolve
Beyond Tron, there’s Ethereum, with Vitalik Buterin. Buterin acts as a de facto authority in the Ethereum space, having designed and developed the original protocol. At this point, there are dozens of co-authors along with Buterin who are equally as knowledgeable, but he’s the only one you hear about the most.
If you're bragging about how many "blockchain patents" your country/company/organization has, you don't understand blockchains.
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) April 23, 2020
Both ETH and TRX offer something that Bitcoin doesn’t natively: the ability to create, send, and receive tokens. These tokens can do various things, and then you can create smart contracts called decentralized applications that perform various tasks with the help of the blockchain.
Ethereum and Tron aren’t the only blockchains to do this. Another notable one is EOS. But EOS doesn’t necessarily have a dictatorship-like structure with a solid figure of CEO as these others chains do.
It’s important to note, for those in the back, that Bitcoin does support tokens via the Liquid network.
Bitcoin needs to do more. It’d be great to see an in-browser wallet like TronLink, which allows you to browse the blockchain-enabled web and actively do things like gamble, for BTC. Then you could go shopping with a wallet built right into your browser, and you just hit sign and it’s paid for. You could even have it so you could program in your details. That’s something that TronLink doesn’t even do at present. Such a wallet would enable the user to hold onto their funds when gambling, as well, like they can in Tron land.
So the question is, does Bitcoin need a leader to emerge and push forward an agenda that helps such things emerge? Or is the existing array of companies promoting its agenda probably doing an adequate job? Personally, I think the latter is the case, but I wouldn’t change a thing about Bitcoin Cash or Tron, either, where there are strong leaders in place to advance the interests of the cryptocurrency.
