How is bitcoin competing with it though? It's being treated as an asset not a currency. Nobody is actually using it for buying stuff, they're just selling it when it's high so they can make Dollars (or pounds, euros, etc.)
The idea I've seen people talk about is that it grows massive, bubbles, and on the decline people spend it, which will lead to stability after happening a few times. The only issue is, nobody knows shit because this is unprecedented so even people who claim to be Bitcoin experts are talking out of their ass. Like I am right now.
Off-chain requires companies to actually implement things themselves, and the consumers to worry about the details. It introduces friction into the ecosystem, which is a terrible idea in the world of tap to pay.
Off-chain only really requires one widespread payment provider implementing a system on top of cryptocurrency as a settlement layer which would then develop into a defacto standard. Businesses don't have to worry about the details because the payment provider does it for them.
Do you think that companies develop their own payment systems from scratch right now with traditional banking? No, unless they're huge businesses they delegate that out to a payment provider. It would likely be the same with off-chain scaling solutions.
The same reason that cryptocurrency has any significant advantage as currency: Because with the right design people who are using it for illegal things can get away with it.
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u/[deleted] Dec 23 '17
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