Predicting the future of a particular cryptocurrency can be very difficult and with many new coins been released into the crypto market every day, it becomes much more difficult to determine which among all the cryptocurrencies will gain global acceptance even among world governments. For Bitcoin cash, I will like to look into these critical factors that I believe based on my understanding it should comply with for it to become globally accepted and used:
1. Zero transaction fees
Although Bitcoin cash transaction fees seem very low compared to other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Etherium, It may be obvious that for it to become a success and gain global acceptance and usage it should enable fee-free transactions. Any amount of cryptocurrency been transacted certainly comes with a fee, if transferring a very small amount of Satoshi comes with a transaction fee, it seems unfeasible and could discourage usability. And in a future where millions of devices will be able to trade or transfer a bit of coin to another, transaction fees look impractical.
2. Enhanced scalability
Scalability is a crucial aspect in cryptocurrency transaction, and transaction speed enhance functionality and widespread adoption of a cryptocurrency. Bitcoin cash currently process between 166 to 200 transactions per second, whereas Bitcoin can only process 7 to 8 transactions per second on average. Good as this statistic may seem for Bitcoin cash, there still a need for improvement because there are still banking payment systems that more transactions per second than any cryptocurrency network can do. VISA, for example, is capable of handling 27,000 transactions per second, and up to 65.000 transactions peak. For Bitcoin cash to replace traditional payment systems in the future there must be an enhancement in terms of the numbers of transactions processed per second. In a future where millions of people are connected on the Bitcoin cash network and makes transactions with everything, infinite scalability is a requirement.
3. Issues with Decentralisation
As of today, it is evident that Bitcoin is far from being a decentralized network, a few people have hijacked the network and can manipulate it by changing one or two features in the system. The advantage of a cryptocurrency over a Fiat currency is that it is decentralized, meaning no government or central bank controls it or can influence the price. This is what governments do not like which might leads to major governments across the world developing their cryptocurrency as we have seen happening in China and India recently. However, for a non-government cryptocurrency to work, it should be completely decentralized. Internal fighting among developers could be interpreted as none decentralized.
4. Ecological or environmental impact
This is something we hardly hear in any crypto forum. The energy involved in cryptocurrency mining has harmful effects on the ecosystem and contribute to global warming. The ecological footprint of the Bitcoin proof of work POW consensus mechanism is completely unsustainable. Although Bitcoin cash miners use proof of stake POS consensus mechanism which does not require substantial computing power and less harmful to the ecosystem, improvement can still be made. The harmful effects of anything must be put into consideration before it can be widely accepted.
5. Utility and Velocity
Utility is a key component of a currency that derived its value. The more a cryptocurrency is used the higher the network effect and the more valuable it is. Velocity on the other hand help to stabilize the value of a currency. It relates to whether people will hold on to the cryptocurrency as it can increase in value or they will sell it immediately. Token velocity is a measure of the number of times a digital asset changes hands within the network. If the token is not sold or exchange for Fiat currency but exchanged within a network as peer to peer, the network value will remain unchanged and the token price can remain stable. Any cryptocurrency that can gain stability in value will likely gain widespread adoption. For that, a completely peer to peer ecosystem for Bitcoin cash must be the main focus.
Conclusion
Looking forward to the future of cryptocurrencies, it is certain that new coins will come and go. Also, more governments will develop their crypto as we can see the world is already heading in this direction. Any decentralized cryptocurrency must come with something better than what the central governments produce.
We'll see how it all will develop. I wish not that many tokens did exist and above all governments stayed out of it but can be it will be their substitute for printing money. Not that many do. They promote the online banking, etc. and with us try to abandon paying cash. To be honest that worries me. Don't we depend too much on a (reliable) internet connection? Without one, no power you are.... 👍🍀