RE: Bitcoin Dominance and the Emergence of “Others”
Bitcoin really needs to solve its scaling issues. The first mover advantage isn't going to be something that can last forever if the speed of transaction problem isn't fixed, so high hopes for Lightning. The speed means that it is not possible to have widespread adoption, and adoption will be the thing that makes or breaks the coin (alt or btc).
I recently did a transfer of BTC, and I was reminded of how bad the speed issue was (after being spoilt by faster chains like Steem). I did the transfer, then had time to go to an embassy and make a visa application before it cleared. That is an extreme case of slowness, but it is not acceptable if it really wants to be currency of any sort, reserve or spending.
Unless Lightning rejuvenates the network, BTC will slowly fade into the background as an unrealised potential, hopefully not dragging the rest of the crypto sphere with it...
That is true. But I think Bitcoin has an unfair advantage and hence can easily decimate other coins. Lightning is a key decider for Bitcoin adoption. But irrespective of use-case of value transfer, Bitcoin has the advantage of being ultimate store of value. So it has more time than any other cryptocurrency out there to fix its shit. Other alternatives like Bitcoincash, Litcoin, etc can gain some market dominance until Bitcoin solves its scalability issues. But we will know what will happen when Bitcoin cleans up its shit :)
Oh, definitely. It has more time than most to fix it's problems, but if they don't get resolved then there could be a slow exodus to something else. I think the bulk of it's power comes from being it being the default trading pair. If that starts to dissolve, then it might be a turning point. For instance, with Coinbase starting to open up to other alts... People can easily go from fiat to something else without needing BTC as an intermediary.
Well, also a huge lead in hash power doesn't hurt either..