Bitcoin’s potential for going mainstream

Abstract

This paper reviews the possibility of bringing Bitcoin into the mainstream. In so doing, it elaborates the potential and obstacles to the Bitcoin system and what it would take for it to go mainstream. A cross-cutting discussion provides a helicopter view and encompasses the technical, economic, and social, as well as legal, issues at play. The paper focuses particularly on payment systems, and in reviewing the possibility of bringing Bitcoin into the mainstream it takes into consideration lessons that can be learned from existing payment systems.