With the cryptocurrency world still in its infancy, everyone is wondering how it will fare over the next couple of decades and even into the next century. If you’re considering Bitcoin or another currency as an investment, your decision will be greatly influenced by how long you think they’ll last. While no one can predict the future with complete accuracy, there are some telltale signs that indicate Bitcoin might not be a flash in the pan that fades away after a few years. If you want to know how to build Bitcoin to last for centuries, you should take note of these factors first.
Why we need censorship-resistant money
If our society continues down its current path, we may eventually reach a point where violence can no longer be avoided. The reason for that is simple: money. If you’re not willing to risk your life or your livelihood, you can’t resist those who have power over you – such as those who make decisions that affect your life and livelihood on a daily basis.
Why Bitcoin can win over other coins
The most important characteristic of a cryptocurrency is that it be easy and cheap to transact with. At present, cryptocurrencies are more costly than services like Western Union—but we’re on our way there. And as blockchains become faster and cheaper, we can expect transacting in cryptocurrencies—buying a coffee or a sandwich at McDonald’s—to become just as easy as handing over cash.
Why Proof of Work is important
Proof of work is crucial to securing a cryptocurrency’s blockchain. The integrity of a cryptocurrency’s blockchain (specifically, its immutability) rests on proof of work. Proof of work helps decentralize and secure blockchains by ensuring that there is no central authority overseeing or verifying transactions. Instead, participants in a blockchain network all verify each transaction; they are rewarded by earning proof-of-work tokens.
Why On-Chain Scaling Must be Done in a Way That Remains Censorship Resistant
While scalability is a pressing issue that must be addressed, it cannot come at the cost of compromising Bitcoin’s censorship resistance. Without censorship resistance, there are no trustless applications, and without trustless applications, there is no value proposition for using a blockchain as opposed to an alternative centralized system. With that in mind, we can be guided by one simple question: Is it possible to add more transactions per second on top of Bitcoin’s current design while remaining censorship resistant?
Why If Something Happens to Vitalik, It Will Still Work
How Ethereum Works (In Plain English) -- Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum, recently published a lengthy post on his personal page detailing how, exactly, the cryptocurrency works. Rather than build off a legacy codebase like Bitcoin’s, Buterin and other founders sought to create something wholly new — a platform that is Turing complete. This means it can be used as a programming language so that developers can create their own apps and programs on top of it.
Why You Shouldn’t Worry About Private Blockchains
The core bitcoin protocol isn’t going anywhere. It will still provide a secure, decentralized backbone for making payments long after your private blockchain has been forgotten. Public and private blockchains are, at their heart, very similar technology – but they serve different purposes. Private blockchains don’t have to concern themselves with processing high volumes of transactions or serving as a public ledger of historical transaction data – but they do have to ensure security and integrity of transactional data in a way that public blockchains do not.
Why Smart Contracts are Crucial To Any Decentralized System
Smart contracts are only as strong as they’re users. While developing a smart contract, it’s important that you keep in mind how people will use it. There are many ways to structure a smart contract, and none of them can be perfect. Smart contracts that do not take human error into account are destined to fail, even if they have been developed using years of research and millions of dollars.
The Network Effect Makes BTC Best
If you’re looking at which coin will be most likely to win out over time, consider a few things. The first is whether there’s real utility in what they do. Is there a reason why other coins or tokens don’t offer that service? Second, look at network effect. How many people or institutions are using it already? Third, look at how long it took to build out that network and start attracting users.