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until cryptocurrencies are able to be as accessible, easy to use, and fast as everyday debit or credit cards, i fail to see any significant future for their usage beyond people well versed in tech

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They never will be. I think people misunderstand cryptocurrencies because of the mania that surrounds them. Bitcoin, for example, is a protocol, and should be judged as such. The most important thing for the protocol is trust, reliability, and scalability. Not UX and convenience. That could/should come from the layers/products that get built on top of the protocol.

Satoshi Nakamoto did say this:

> The existing Visa credit card network processes about 15 million Internet purchases per day worldwide. Bitcoin can already scale much larger than that with existing hardware for a fraction of the cost.

He clearly expected Bitcoin to cheaper and faster than credit cards and I've often wondered how he could have been so wrong about that.

That's likely because he expected the block size to increase in addition to second layer scaling solutions.

And Bruce Schneier says the trust thing is a bust - it moves trust, rather than eliminating it. Usually to parties that I have far fewer reasons to trust.

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