Without Bitcoin-as-payment-network Bitcoin is nothing...

[QuantumAGI]

The current brain washing meme circulating in the Bitcoin community would have you believe that Bitcoin as digital gold can be separated from Bitcoin as payment network. The truth is that without Bitcoin as payment network, and the associated ground-breaking innovations, Bitcoin would be just another failed digital currency with little to no value. You are being lured into disregarding Bitcoin's role as payment network in an effort to undermine Bitcoin's foundations... The truth is that Bitcoin's main value proposition, and the thing that makes it unique, is the utility integrated into the currency and its first mover advantage.

Vitalin seems to be presenting the two aspects in a mutually exclusive manner:

http://www.newsbtc.com/2015/09/20/vital ... t-network/

https://np.reddit.com/r/ethereum/commen ... ed/crrofl6

I do however agree with Vitalin and one of the forum users on the above thread as to how block size limits should work: " A payments blockchain needs to scale with the instantaneous demand for payments. Doing that using a formula based around an EMA seems like a reasonable idea." I was previously playing with the idea of a block size limit above sigma 2 or 3 of the average block size.

[TsonicTsunami]

It is emerging market where people don't have the luxury of credit / debit cards and a bank on every corner. There will be enormous strength for Bitcoin in the remittance market.
One more perfectly timed financial crisis where institutions attempt to implement capital controls, then you will see the power of a 4 sided network effect along with a positive feedback loop.
It is only a matter of time, the technology is sound.

[AdonisValamontes]

No cryptocurrency will ever survive long term without consumer/merchant adaptation, and when I say adaptation I mean in the brick and mortar businesses, shopping online with bitcoin and other cryptos maybe fine, but that does not bring day to day adaptation in communities. We seem to be like a run-away train, we miss what is going on next to the tracks, because we focus on the speed in this case on speculation and not consumer use.

[helloworld]

No cryptocurrency will ever survive long term without consumer/merchant adaptation, and when I say adaptation I mean in the brick and mortar businesses, shopping online with bitcoin and other cryptos maybe fine, but that does not bring day to day adaptation in communities. We seem to be like a run-away train, we miss what is going on next to the tracks, because we focus on the speed in this case on speculation and not consumer use.

There have to be room to accommodate future users.

I think bitcoiners often underestimate the intellectual capabilities of the average person though.

Bitcoin adoption will be a long and hard process. Anyone who expect it otherwise is delusional or their thinking is clouded by greed in my opinion.