For years we have been told that we shouldn't worry our pretty little heads about the bitcoin network scaling because disk space and bandwidth are cheap, and this could easily be solved.

With the recent block size debate we now know this was a lie. The bitcoin network is locked up, in stasis, and the community refuses to allow any changes.

Now we are being told that the bitcoin network is not meant to be a payment network. Instead it will only be used for settlement.

Not many users have thought about what it would mean for, say, a billion people to each have just one single entry on the blockchain. Given the current block size cap it would take decades for a billion people to each process just a single transaction on the network.

Since the community refuses to scale the network, then any hopes of it being used as a payment network or store of value are shot.

Sure, the network works just fine with a few hundred thousand users. But it will roll over and die with millions and could never support billions.

The current refusal to even consider scaling the network dooms it to niche status. It can never be a major payment network or store of value because it can only support a miniscule tiny fraction of the world population.

In the future only a handful will be able to directly access the network and, even then, with exorbitant high fees.