What are the most practical use cases for Bitcoin?
There are a few. But what immediately comes to mind is the capability to send and receive monetary value without the need for a trusted intermediary between both parties involved.
Intermediary—fancy Word for Middleman
Third party middlemen include payment settlement services such as VISA, MasterCard, and international and local banks.
Bitcoin acts as a bridge and at the same time the value itself.
If we try to zoom in what's happening under the hood, it would appear that Bitcoin is actually an speculative investment as what its detractors were saying.
Truth Be Told: Bitcoin Is a Ponzi Scheme
Some people say it is a ponzi scheme resembling a pyramid. And it actually looks like it is.
Bitcoin Before Altcoins
Back in the days when the word Altcoin was not yet conceived, the Bitcoin might be the most precious virtual currency there is.
But not anymore. But how come the status quo hasn't changed (yet)? You ask.
There are a number of reasons behind this.
The most obvious is due to the fact that Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency which is universally known particularly to the uninitiated.
Portal to Crypto Universe
Bitcoin was and still is the entry point to the vast majority of investors looking to get involved in the crazy realm of crypto world. With the exception of those who got acquainted with virtual currency through their involvement in the Steemit cooperative—myself included.
The Keyword Here Is 'Rare'
Bitcoin is almost like a digital gold, minus the intrinsic value. Although the word intrinsic is subjective, the fact remains—people find its (gold) rarity as a defining characteristic to be classified as precious metal.
Bitcoin Accepted Here
Another reason why Bitcoin is still dominating the space is because of the growing number of merchants accepting Bitcoin as a payment currency.
Yes, I know there are some merchants who are now beginning to incorporate Altcoins in their payment system but they are just a minority and most of them do also accept Bitcoin.
The Unmatched Liquidity of Bitcoin
There is a reason why those exchanges which have the highest trading volumes are the ones which offer the capability to directly trade BTC against fiat money. This is evident in the cryptocurrency markets such as Coinbase and Bitfinex.
These major exchanges are making the lives easier for their users to trade large volumes of BTC with the ability to directly cash in and out to their bank accounts—in exchange for their personal information masquerading as KYC.
This feature is truly enticing for whales who are into this for the sole purpose of day trading with the goal of making huge returns overnight.
This summarizes up why Bitcoin is still king in terms of market capitalization.
Bitcoin Replacing the US Dollar
Bitcoin plays the role of the USD in the cryptocurrency space. It becomes a rule of thumb that when you buy other crypto assets, you will need to have your BTC ready for the trade.
Bitcoin has been the primary cryptocurrency by which you can trade against. The rest are just supplementary trading pairs for those minnows who want to save network fee particularly during extreme network congestion.
The systemic dominance of Bitcoin is crafted by time. Will Bitcoin lose its crown to the smaller-but-powerful contenders? Probably not, probably yes.
What this means for us who are wanting to change the game?
The Market Crash Says Something
As you may have noticed in the recent bloodbath—dubbed by some as the cryptopocalypse—if the market correlation is any indicator, the whole cryptocurrency economy is still heavily dependent on Bitcoin’s survival.
Yes, I used to bash the ancient tech underlying Bitcoin. Overhyped crap, overpriced transaction cost, long confirmation time, so on and so forth.
Take It Easy—it's Not Time to Make a Change
But now I have changed my mind. Sure, we want change. A change for the better in terms of tech and economic model.
But let us make this change gradually and in a clever way—so we won't end up pulling the pin of a hand grenade while being locked up inside the same cage with our enemy.
