# Last edited on 2017-02-20 08:51:00 by jstolfi
# For reddit - NOT POSTED

+ \>90% of bitcoins being hoarded as investment or used for day-trading in exchanges, rather than used as currency for payments.

+ Investment funds that use bitcoin as the backing asset.

+ Extreme price volatility, which makes the coin unsuitable for use as a currency.

+ Main uses of the coin as currency being online gambling, purchase of drugs, ransomware, ponzis and other scams, and other illegal payments.

+ Governments tracing transactions, seizing bitcoins, and auctioning them.

+ Licensing and regulation of the bitcoin economy.

+ Concentration of mining in ~20 companies, of which ~10 have >80% of the hashpower.

+ "Full but non-mining relay nodes"  sitting between simple clients and miners and presuming to act as "volunteer vigilantes" over both sides.

+ Trafic growing more than 50% per year (up to 100% per year) for 2-3 years in a row.

+ The network being congested (intentionally!) with transactions delayed by days, unpredictably.

+ Hundreds of altcoins, most mere clones or trivial variations on bitcoin, that do not seem to go away.

+ "Bitcoin banks" -- services that hold bitcoins (real or virtual) for customers, like Coinbase, Xapo, etc..

+ Numerous large thefts by exchanges and other services.

+ One company presuming to decide the future of the network and to dictate miners' revenue.

+ The community split in a bitter war over a totally banal maintenance patch.