bitcoin supporters tend to oversimplify

However, bitcoin supporters tend to oversimplify things, too. For example, some
of them believe that bitcoin will become a regular means of payment in the long
run and simply close their eyes to its disadvantages compared to traditional
currencies and traditional banking. In addition, they do not take into account
clients’ different wishes and needs: while digital natives may be quick to adopt
bitcoin, conservatives may never do so.

Many people are wary of using a global,
decentralised technology which is outside traditional law. Moreover, bitcoin
supporters have not really considered the devastating social consequences of
an excessively quick mass adoption of bitcoin. In fact, the bitcoin revolution
might easily devour its own children.

The current discussions are triggered largely by bitcoin’s spectacular price
increases, and all too often, participants only repeat dogmatic claims, for
example that “bitcoin will soon be dead anyway” or “bitcoin will soon dominate
the financial sector”. Explaining how improbable either of these two scenarios is
already seems to provide an information edge. We hope to make things a bit
clearer with this report.

However, the issue is so complex that we do not dare to
claim that we can conduct a comprehensive analysis. Instead, we will focus on
several standard claims, which we will put into context and, if necessary, rectify.
This will hopefully help our readers to familiarise themselves with the topic.