There aren't many alternatives. Unless a cataclysm makes the whole world return to the pre-internet ages, or the whole world turns into some crime-less surveillance utopia, there will always be a use for decentralized cryptocurrencies.
And the benefit of their network effect will contaminate any pocket of freedom that may form.
So, while their relevancy may fade and fluctuate, it seems inevitable that one day, there will be a gap to fill and they'll "permanently" overtake centralized forms of money.
The only positive scenario I can conjure that also sees cryptocurrencies fade in relevance would be a shift to some kind of global "additive only" economy as Mark Nadal blurrily tries to imagine[1]. That seems farther off than 50 years, and even then some parts of the economy would always be better served by traditional cryptocurrency (maybe only the parts machines are left to handle).
I think that cryptocurrencies will become increasingly relevant but the most valuable ones will be completely different from the ones we have today.
Cryptocurrencies are currently technology-oriented but in the future, they will be community-oriented (based more on human principles) and coins will periodically upgrade the underlying technology to improve performance (so long as the wallet address system and account balances are the same).
Different cryptocurrencies will fluctuate in value relative to each other depending on the economic input and output of their communities. The input and output of a crypto-community will vary depending on the appeal of its human/social/political principles; the means of production will bind to cryptocurrencies which follow the principles of those who control them. A cryptocurrency which has an aging community and whose value is supported by legacy systems will slowly lose value.
A person will always have to keep moving their wealth between different cryptocurrencies in order to maintain it. They will have to know and adapt to all the economic trends and changing societal values in order to know which cryptocurrency/communities to invest in.
Staying rich will become difficult; it will require a deep understanding of changing social trends and principles.
^This. I weight my allocations based off market cap so 91% of my investments would go into index funds and no more than 9% overall goes into Cryptocurrency -- 6.5% of which goes into Bitcoin and 2.5% might go into non-Bitcoin cryptos.
I think the whole crypto market is pretty speculative. Either the ultimate Bitcoin replacement will be a nice fork or airdrop off of Bitcoin or the ultimate Bitcoin replacement will be something completely separate and will gradually render Bitcoin worthless.
the whole world turns into some crime-less surveillance utopia
Doesn't sound totally unrealistic to me. Also, maybe the only way to evade extinction through bio/AI tech proliferation. Not sure about the "crimeless" part, the big powers probably don't care too much about most crimes.
they 'll probably be superseded by some form of quantumly-entangled currency, since their crypto algorithms will have become obsolete. But there is a need for a stable form of wealth (like gold), and fiat currencies are increasingly being used as mediums of control , a form of power that is even unelected. I don't think future societies will put up with that.
Do you expect cryptocurrencies to be relevant 50 years (5 times their current age) later?