The future of bitcoin

The future of bitcoin

What is increasingly likely is that the future of bitcoin is bright. It is the seventh year in the development of this network. It takes years to build out a protocol, which is what bitcoin is. As Joel Spolsky says, “Good software takes 10 years. Get used to it.” “Bitcoin is comparable to the pre-web-browser 1992-era Internet. This is still the very early days of bitcoin’s life. The base layer protocol is now stable (TCP/IP). Now engineers are building the second layer (HTTP) that makes bitcoin usable for average people and machines,” Jeff Garzik, founder of Bloq and Core developer of bitcoin, told me. Once the infrastructure is built, which still has many more years ahead of it, with companies like Bloq, BitGo, 21.co, and Coinbase leading the charge, we’ll begin to see solid programs built in the application layer. But even while we wait for the infrastructure to be built, it’s clear that bitcoin is evolving. Take mining, for example. There is no doubt that bitcoin mining is enormously centralized, particularly in China with over 50% of the hash rate. However, that is going to change thanks to the efforts of companies like 21.co. According to the company’s about page, “someone needs to build the full-stack infrastructure for bitcoin, from silicon to software … that someone is us.” In November, the company released its first product, the 21 Bitcoin Computer, which was a dev kit to introduce developers to bitcoin. Yet, this is the first step. As 21.co improves the design of its chips, it’s possible that it could roll out a router that perpetually mines for you. Or, it could integrate a tiny miner into your cell phone. But this mining is not so that individuals can get rich on the block reward. Rather, the goal is for bitcoin to become the fuel for participating on the Internet. Right now, if you wanted to do a search on Google, you’d have to trade being inundated with ads and tracking cookies that follow you around the web. A developer could build a search engine over the 21 Bitcoin Computer whereby a user would have to pay a minuscule amount of bitcoin to make their search. Once you abstract away the idea of procuring bitcoin that sits within a single user’s wallet, our idea of what the Internet is and how it works begins to change. Instead of companies taking individual’s data, those same companies might have to pay a consumer for their data. Want to know that I am a 27-year-old male in New York? That’ll cost 5,000 satoshis, the smallest divisible unit of a bitcoin. In the future, this can all be automated. What about the killer application that everyone talks about? Taking away the fact that hundreds — if not thousands — of products will be built over the coming years, there are some that have the potential to be the killer app now. Fred Wilson, who I mentioned above, believes that in 2016, “Bitcoin finally finds a killer app with the emergence of Open Bazaar protocol powered zero take rate marketplaces.” And none of this even touches on the potential for bitcoin to help the underserved markets of the world. While remittance has yet to be solved, companies are attempting to make progress. Fortunately, the markets that are underserved and under-banked happen to have tremendous mobile-phone exposure. That will make remittance easier as more people learn about bitcoin. Finally, we return to what many considered bitcoin’s first, fundamental use case: digital gold. While bitcoin remains volatile today, it’s certainly not the only volatile asset in the world. And before we lament a 10% drop in the price of a still new asset, consider that the stock market has experienced 10% drops in similar time frames. What about oil? Or gold? Or coal? Even mature assets can experience price fluctuations. Consider the fact that trading volume is up in many of the same countries that are likely to benefit the most from digital gold. Argentina is experiencing some of its highest points of volume. Brazil, which is dealing with debt problems, is also at its highest point. India has had tremendous growth in the number of people using bitcoin. Even Russia, which is considering making bitcoin illegal, has seen outsized growth in volume.

Source :www.venturebeat.com