Bitcoin adoption is reportedly about to get a boost from the works of a company called Fold. Fold has joined a Visa fintech program that will allow it to launch an actual Visa debit card with Bitcoin rewards. “People are not interested in spending bitcoin right now, but are interested in accumulating it,” Fold’s Will Reeves has said.
Bitcoin Users Don’t Want To Spend
Very much, that is the mood of Bitcoin users today. Nevertheless, there are apps like Lolli, which reward users for spending regular cash online – with Bitcoin. Ultimately, the way crypto markets work, it’s possible that some people will receive more in value from the crypto they get than they will have spent to earn it.
But we have to consider a world where cryptocurrency finally becomes popular. In that world, spending it will be the only sensible way of making use of it, and most people will not trade. Just as in today’s world: the majority of people don’t have stocks or FOREX accounts. Instead, they spend their fiat and earn it. It will be the same in a world where Bitcoin has become a dominant mode, and other cryptos will continue to persist.
While some believe there’s a future where there will only be Bitcoin, I see that as highly unlikely. Bitcoin Cash, for example, has defined itself in various ways. There’s just no way the hundreds of viable projects built on Ethereum will move off of it for something like the Liquid Network.
Therefore, companies like CoinSwitch and ShapeShift.io are here to stay. These companies will become even more necessary as more and more people begin to carry various kinds of cryptocurrency, it will become essential that people can get between the coins and tokens in a convenient way.
The thing you’ll quickly notice when you go to use something like XRP versus something Bitcoin Cash or Bitcoin, is how incredibly fast the experience is. You simply type in a destination tag, paste an address, and seconds later the balance has updated. This is no longer the case in Bitcoin or BItcoin Cash, as you can’t actually trust even a single confirmation on those chains.
Is Bitcoin Fast Enough For The Future?
Ultimately, as some have argued, you probably should be able to. Craig Wright famously believes in 0-confirmation transactions.
But the alternative is to simply get a little bit of your crypto in chains that have fast confirmation times. And use that when possible. There’s nothing wrong with making use of cryptos like XRP, even if you believe for some reason that it’s a problematic cryptocurrency. If it will save you time and money to transact in it, perhaps it’s worth the effort.
In a world where crypto is much more popular, there will still be people motivated to save their holdings. These people will propagate a higher price for the rest, as the various tokens will become more scarce as a result of their hoarding. Nevertheless, ultimately everyone will be in an economy where crypto is frequently used to pay wages, rents, and daily expenses.
In such a world, the dollar market for cryptos matters increasingly less, as people look to acquire cryptos on their own merits, in order to make use of them. Currencies with quick confirmation times and easy on-boarding procedures, including Tron and Ripple, are likely to do well in a world with people looking to get involved.
But something would have to spark such a revolution. Perhaps the continued denigration of the US dollar, as politicians print more and more fiat in response to various emergencies? It’s unclear if such will be enough to make people overly interested in cryptocurrency all of a sudden.
Perhaps a VR revolution could bring about a renewed interest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. People in VR worlds might be looking for ways to buy and sell unique items for real cash, and Bitcoin and, for example, Tether, provide exactly that.
It could be that the future of Bitcoin is in something like gaming, with Lightning Network making it possible to instantly swap cash between players online.
Whatever happens, the long-term arc of the market looks to be more and more valuable.
