Bitcoin Proves You Cannot Have Your Digital Cake and Eat it Too, by Nathan McDonald.

2012:

This was truly the wild west of the Bitcoin era, when almost no one knew what Bitcoin was, nor did they even remotely care to know. It was a scoffed at idea when mentioned to others, and members on the public forums would openly talk about how often they were laughed at by family members and others within their circle for even remotely thinking about the idea. It was a “scam” through and through and was not going to last.

Despite this extreme negativity, this small community continued to grow. Libertarians flocked to its banner, because of the potential that Bitcoin offered, as a decentralized form of money. Bitcoin was for the community, maintained by the community and was the community.

Community was a key word. … Businesses popped up and flourished within this community. Bitcoin-only shops catered to those within and services became readily available. People sold precious metals, cookies, and there was even an eBay-style website for Bitcoin-only transactions. Bitcoin was known as a near-free-to-use “currency”, as transaction fees were almost non-existent and hyper-fast. …

Now:

Bitcoin Talk still has a community of sorts, but long forgotten is the idea of helping one another and creating its own ecosystem. … Barely anyone supports each other in a meaningful way and the once-flourishing ecosystem has all but eroded away.

Transaction fees have ballooned to upwards of $20.00 per order, making it almost impossible for any small business to accept Bitcoin as a payment option. …

Just recently, Steam, the largest online gaming platform and seller of video games, … stated that it simply doesn’t make sense to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment any longer, given its extreme volatility and cost to transact in … Many small and medium size businesses turn off their Bitcoin payment options over the past year. …

Perhaps this is not a big deal, and to the new “community” that has formed around Bitcoin, displacing the old guard that used to exist, it likely isn’t. They have no intentions of using their Bitcoins as it was originally intended to be used, holding is all that remains and can you truly blame them given the recent parabolic moves higher? …

Bitcoin can be called a form of saving, an alternative asset or even a store of value, but no longer can Bitcoin can be called money. By any definition it no longer fills this role.