One of the biggest advantages and disadvantages in crypto

There are so many promises from cryptocurrency.

Dated back in 2014, one of the promises of Bitcoin is to become a future payment system.

You may question the advantage of using Bitcoin as the payment system rather than using said Paypal?

Bitcoin isn't the fast transaction alternative, and transaction fees aren't that cheap if you include all the mining energy of running the entire nodes. 

Bitcoin has not reached anonymous and is not truly a trustless blockchain network.

Bitcoin is not decentralized but a decentralized like centralized system.

In the early stage after Bitcoin was released in 2009, there were only 6 major miners to control the entire system. 

Bitcoin is not decentralized as many people believe.

And Bitcoin is traceable in many aspects and easily be determined through big data collections.

Making Bitcoin decentralized is pushing miners to become more decentralized, which is impossible.

But besides the all myth of Bitcoin that does not add up through the math, Bitcoin is a payment system that potentially anonymously when purchasing goods.

While credit cards have merchant category codes or MCC that can potentially prohibit users from purchasing certain goods or sellers to sell illegal goods online that the government determined, Bitcoin transactions have no codes to prevent transactions at all.

Such apolitical feature helps cryptocurrency to have some degree of privacy.

Of course, such privacy may not sustain as long as when the time comes to the end of the Bitcoin as there is always an expiration time of the encryption, and you should not assume the privacy has no expiration date when technology continues invading and challenging the social norms.

Further readings:

New Research Unearths Insights Into Satoshi and Bitcoin’s Early Days

How ‘Trustless’ Is Bitcoin, Really?

Cooperation among an anonymous group protected Bitcoin during failures of decentralization