> For online payments bitcoin works quite well
Bitcoin payments could, theoretically, work well - but that's not currently the case given the prohibitive transaction fees.
Bitcoin payments could, theoretically, work well - but that's not currently the case given the prohibitive transaction fees.
It's probably best to stop hoping it will be a currency altogether (unless some radical changes occur). Best shot would be to see it as saving/investment accounts, with smart tricks like prepaid visa cards as a mean to tap into it (I want to buy a car, I charge my prepaid card and pay with it at car dealer, fast transfer compared to a wire transfer, no "weekly withdraw limit" issue and still as convenient as a debit card).
This sounds somewhat cumbersome, but AFAICT the gains apparently come from routing between channels, so if A wants to pay B, and channels exist from A->C and C->B then payments can route that way, without the need for more on-chain transactions.
To me this sounds really quite complex, and also like it's going to involve intermediary 'hubs' which will process off-chain transactions and... well it sounds like banks and centralisation again, something the BTC crowd apparently hate.