Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, speaking at the TOKEN2049 conference, noted that cryptocurrencies are no longer in the “too early” stage, but full usability is still a long way off. According to him, while cryptocurrencies have proven their viability, the remaining issues are preventing their widespread adoption.
In 2013, Bitcoin was seen as a revolutionary technology, but it was only accepted in a few places in the U.S. By 2021, you could already buy coffee with ETH in Argentina through Binance, which is a significant step forward but still insufficient for global popularity.
“We use cryptocurrencies, but we don’t fully utilize decentralized technologies. This is one of the reasons why the idea of crypto as a payment method hasn’t lived up to expectations yet,” Buterin emphasized. In his view, decentralization remains underappreciated and underutilized in real-world applications.
Previously, high fees and a complex user experience were the main obstacles to mass adoption. Today, the situation has significantly improved: fees on L2 networks have almost disappeared, rollups have become more secure, and transactions on L2 take only about a second, making these technologies more appealing for everyday use.
However, Buterin stresses that for cryptocurrencies to achieve real success, they need to be both user-friendly and decentralized. He highlights that the balance between security, decentralization, and usability is the key challenge for the future of the crypto industry.
He also noted that technologies continue to develop rapidly, and for cryptocurrency to become a truly mainstream phenomenon, issues of scalability, privacy, and the integration of decentralized solutions into everyday life must be addressed.
