Faith in Bitcoin has been shaken over the last few days as Bitcoin Cash stirs up doubts and fears...

Many recent Bitcoin buyers experienced their first "crash" in Bitcoin prices over the last couple days. Many also asked the question, "What's this...'Bitcoin Cash'?" Fears were exacerbated by more reports of a huge bubble ready to collapse and the failure of Bitcoin as a currency due to its slow and expensive transactions.

It is easy for these newcomers to overlook the fact that these sorts of swings are normal. The first so-called crash I experienced was after China banned ICO's and announced stricter controls of exchanges this past fall. It looked, at the time, to me, a new Bitcoin buyer who had only experienced crazy growth, like the ride was over. This is almost laughable compared to previous crashes. A couple years ago, Bitcoin went through a sort of depression, plummeting from values around $1000 down to about $200 - staying at that depressed price level for nearly a year.

But Bitcoin is remarkably resilient. Its obituary has been written more than a hundred times, when it seemed like it was, finally, finished. Yet, it recovered every time.

These are early days. If you are old enough, you remember the old modem that required you to dial-up a connection to the internet. You first connected to the internet using a CD you got in the mail that guided you step-by-step through the process of going online. Then, you waited, sometimes minutes at a time for a simple webpage to download. It was amazing, in some ways, but also kind of clunky and frustrating at times.

This is about where blockchain technology stands now. Bitcoin, and cryptocurrency in general, have a long way to go. Bitcoin itself will soon go through key improvements with the gradual (and slow) integration of SegWit, the Lightning network, atomic swaps, Rootstock, and so forth. It will continue to develop and improve.

It is a case of growing faster than it was meant to handle, like a town that explodes in population before the roads and other infrastructure are ready. It will take time for Bitcoin to catch up to its own popularity. But, in time, it will become more and more practical. It just needs time.

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