When I discovered Bitcoin in 2014, the first impression I had was that it was something hidden and unreal, used only by deep web criminals to sell drugs and weapons. Today I have a different conception of currency, understanding part of the advantages and disadvantages of having a currency that does not have direct government intervention.
Bitcoin, as a currency that is not issued by the state, cannot be easily controlled, being solely subject to society's laws of supply and demand. This does not mean that, like gold, it has a stable value, only that it cannot be issued infinitely by a central regulatory entity. How much this is or is not good for society is up to the market itself to decide.
Of course, we have some problems that are not easily solved with Bitcoin, such as the delay in processing a block, or transaction fees, and these are unlikely to be solved in a single way, as a perfect answer that will solve all our problems, but the The simple fact that we can hold a certain amount of money and be able to trade with it without government interference is a huge step forward.
What intrigues me most about the topic is not even what can be done with large amounts of Bitcoin, but what will happen with small-scale use. How will I be able to buy bread with my bitcoins? And coffee? How will I pay my bills with Bitcoin? And receive my salary?
Some ways that were presented to me were the use of other currencies as a complement to Bitcoin, Ethereum and other high-value currencies, which would be currencies of lower value, but which have lower transaction fees and shorter times, such as BNB, Polygon, XDAI and others like that and the use of a lightning network, as an application that allows you to send cryptocurrencies to another user of the same application. None of these solutions are a silver bullet, but together they can solve most modern problems regarding digital money.
Of course this is all just my opinion as a layman, but I'm curious about what will happen in the future. Imagine being able to go to a café and say “how many satoshis does this coffee cost?” Imagine being able to donate a small amount of Ethereum to charity? And I don't know if that day will come soon, in fact I don't even know if it will, but the possibilities that cryptocurrencies have already opened up for ordinary people leave me intrigued to say the least.
That's why, regardless of the current situation, I'm very excited about the future.