A look into Bitcoin's future: Challenges and possible outcomes for the largest cryptocurrency

Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency created, and it entered the world in 2009. Since then, cryptocurrencies have taken the financial sector by storm, and people perceive Bitcoin as a worldwide phenomenon with plenty of advantages, including faster transactions, lowered fees, and blockchain technology. However, even though some see Bitcoin as a great technology that would bring numerous improvements to people's lives, some fear its potential to disrupt traditional financial services. 

Bitcoin is a volatile asset, which is why its price can fluctuate greatly in a short amount of time, making people fear investing in the crypto king. If we were to look into Bitcoin prediction, we might be surprised by the price values from the future, as the price is expected to go on an upward trajectory, thanks to the increasing interest of people and the improvements that Bitcoin will undergo.

How do you think Bitcoin will look in the next decade? Let's discover together. 

Satoshi Nakamoto designed Bitcoin to be a decentralized digital currency controlled by the public, not by a central authority like a bank or government. Bitcoin brings numerous advantages to people, as it enables faster transactions, has lower fees, enables cross-border payments more effectively, and is a more secure option over fiat money. Additionally, BTC is accessible to everyone, as anyone can buy it from the crypto exchanges. Mining is another great way to gain digital coins, representing the process of validating transactions and adding new blocks to the blockchain. So, the person who solves a complex mathematical problem first will be rewarded with some BTC.

Even though Bitcoin is decentralized, it might become more centralized if businesses purchase BTC in large quantities. For now, many digital coins have yet to be mined, so Bitcoin is still centralized, but things might change depending on the future of BTC. For example, if Bitcoin continues to be seen as a store of value and a speculative investment, then large entities will most likely grow their BTC holdings. 

At first, Bitcoin was supposed to be distributed to the public, but because the value of BTC grew so much and many people became interested in this market, Bitcoin adopted large-scale mining operations. Mining farms are the new norm for validating the transactions on the network, where these farms now control the mining market, making it difficult for ordinary people to participate in this process. These farms dominate a lot of the mining processing power, and they attract many individuals looking for mining rewards. For example, in April 2024, ten important mining pools controlled almost 91% of the Bitcoin platform. 

Lately, the Bitcoin blockchain has undergone numerous improvements, including creating Ordinals, which have given BTC more use cases. Blockchain is a technology that can bring many advantages, as it enables the creation of decentralized applications, smart contracts, and NFTs. Although, at first, people wanted Bitcoin to remain a simple network, it looks like things have changed recently, and this is why, in the future, we might be able to see the Bitcoin blockchain have more applications. 

Scalability issues

Scalability is a term used to refer to the ability of the blockchain to handle less or more traffic on the network. Bitcoin has a protocol that limits the blockchain from handling all the transactions at once, and this is why, even if many years have passed since the moment Bitcoin was developed, the network still handles only a maximum of seven transactions per second. This is why the other altcoins that were created wanted to overcome the shortcomings of Bitcoin and process more transactions at once. 

Developers have tried to solve the scalability issue, and designing a second-layer has proven to be the best idea so far, where the Lightning network is the solution that wants to solve these problems. However, this option can decrease the decentralization and security of Bitcoin, so people's opinions are different on this subject.

Security issues

Security will always be a primordial feature of the blockchain and a concern for users and investors. Unfortunately, over the years, Bitcoin has dealt with many hackers, scammers, and thieves, who have had a negative impact, as they have reduced people's confidence in investing in digital currencies. So, in the future, Bitcoin must still ensure that it remains a safe option and keeps cybercriminals at bay. 

Regulatory framework

As Bitcoin spot ETFs were finally approved, more people could hold Bitcoin, increasing the adoption of the most prominent digital currencies, especially if countries decide to have a clear regulatory framework. Currently, crypto regulations are still new, and they depend on each country, making cooperation between enterprises worldwide harder. This is why it would be good to have a more unified solution that would apply to more countries worldwide. 

Halvings events

Bitcoin experiences halving events every four years, when the rewards given to miners are reduced by half to maintain the scarcity of the blockchain. The last halving was on April 19, 2024, and the next one will be in 2028. In the past, halvings have had a good impact on the price of Bitcoin, as they pushed the prices upward. The last halving is expected to be in 2140, reducing each time the amount that new digital coins are introduced in the market. Because of this fact, Bitcoin's price might continue to rise in the future and reach new all-time highs. 

Bitcoin is a very volatile asset, and no one can say exactly what its future will look like. However, if we look at all the events and improvements that will happen in the next decade, Bitcoin might experience something big.