What no one, the bitcoin community included, anticipates is hundreds and thousands of competing cryptocurrencies around the world.
For time eternal, government has risen among traders to enforce commercial rules.
Currency is like electrical current. It flows and the total currency system--all users--seeks equilibrium on it's own. When you've got currency you have to fend against spouses, family, friends, external competitors, the state, lawyers and nature itself to maintain your position.
> What no one, the bitcoin community included, anticipates is hundreds and thousands of competing cryptocurrencies around the world.
No one anticipates it because it makes no sense. Nobody _wants_ hundreds of thousands of cryptocurrencies: Metcalfe's law and the inherent costs of currency fluctuation risk tell us that the number of cryptocurrencies will remain small.
For time eternal, government has risen among traders to enforce commercial rules.
Currency is like electrical current. It flows and the total currency system--all users--seeks equilibrium on it's own. When you've got currency you have to fend against spouses, family, friends, external competitors, the state, lawyers and nature itself to maintain your position.