Why Did Bitcoin Fail?

It has failed because the community has failed.

What was meant to be a new, decentralised form of money that lacked “systemically important institutions” and “too big to fail” has become something even worse: a system completely controlled by just a handful of people.

Worse still, the network is on the brink of technical collapse. The mechanisms that should have prevented this outcome have broken down, and as a result there’s no longer much reason to think Bitcoin can actually be better than the existing financial system.

Think about it. If you had never heard about Bitcoin before, would you care about a payments network that:

Couldn’t move your existing money

Had wildly unpredictable fees that were high and rising fast

Allowed buyers to take back payments they’d made after walking out of shops, by simply pressing a button (if you aren’t aware of this “feature” that’s because Bitcoin was only just changed to allow it)

Is suffering large backlogs and flaky payments

… which is controlled by China

… and in which the companies and people building it were in open civil war?

I don't think people trusted their "money" was safe in Bitcoin. And didn't Bitcoin crash once where people still can't explain how that happened?

It didn't strictly failed, it's still in widespread use by its core market at a value that is far beyond its value three years ago and which has, on average, continued to grow.

What failed was the somewhat delusional idea that it was worth $1000+ (caused almost exclusively by Chinese investors that exited the market when their government effectively banned it), and the also delusional notion that a currency which is [a] extremely difficult to buy, [b] extremely difficult to sell, [c] extremely slow, and [d] not actually anonymous, could somehow replace fiat currency for non-darknet transactions.

Because of the selfish, larcenous nature of libertarians,

???

i hear it's still very popular in many parts of the world. I heard someone say on cnbc that you can buy coffee in thailand with bitcoin.

I was just in a pump and munch a few days ago and they had an ATM to buy Bitcoin. If that doesn't seem shady, I don't know what does.

It's going to fail spectacularly once the central banks around the world clamp down on it with full force. Same shit with net neutrality.

Because it has no intrinsic value.

China banned it

The Jews? Fuck off, OP.

[quote]I heard someone say on cnbc that you can buy coffee in thailand with bitcoin.

And pay $5 in fees for the privilege