Recently there was a post by an individual who expressed their thoughts on some cryptos that got a lot of attention and people really expressed thanks for their input. I made a comment that several others agreed that while it's nice to have one person give their opinion, it'd be even nicer to have a discussion on things.

Over the last couple of days there's been a couple things that are exciting to crypto enthusiasts that have potential implications for mainstream adoption (specifically I'm talking about the atomic swaps and tenx visa partnership).

So I thought we could have a discussion about this because i brought up some thoughts and questions regarding the atomic swap that got a lot of upvotes but no discussion! Once again, I am not an expert and the fact remains that all of this is new to everyone and there is probably more than one right way to move forward so when discussing I'm asking you to be respectful to others opinions. the last thing we need is dogmatic approaches.

Here are some of my thoughts on the coins that are attempting to be involved in mainstream adoption (as well as some methods for adoption):

TenX

Obviously the fact that TenX is working with Visa is groundbreaking in the entire cryptocurrency front. The fact that it's going to be compatible to bitcoin, Ethereum, dash, and likely litecoin is means those coins have a significantly more competitive edge than others who won't have a connection to visa.

One concern i have for tenx is that it's still such a small crypto (#20 in volume and #22 in market cap) that it makes me wonder why those other cryptos above weren't chosen by visa instead. I think it's important to remember than the smaller a currency is the more easily it's manipulated by major players to have an outcome they want. Maybe this IS why tenx was chosen by visa, but could that mean more trouble than progress?

Litecoin

However mainstream adoption comes into play litecoin seems determined to be a part of it all thanks to Charlie Lee. It's one of the 3 tradeable currencies on coinbase which, although we all can agree isn't a perfect exchange, is one of the most influential exchanges in the world, particularly in America due to its ease of use and government approvals. As already mentioned litecoin is claiming it should be working with tenx soon.

Lightning Network

This is another area where litecoin has worked its way into being relevant. The lightning network is one of the solutions to the scalability and transaction fee problems of bitcoin. Being able to instantly switch between litecoin, which has faster transaction times and cheaper fees, and bitcoin can have serious benefits to both currencies.

Atomic Swapping

Litecoin is also at the center of the atomic swaps that have been happening with bitcoin and decred. I would love for an atomic swap expert to explain what is happening here more in depth and discuss whether these swaps have any fees associated with them (see my questions here ). I also wonder how atomic swaps differ from the lightning network.

One concern i have regarding the atomic swaps is that is seems highly technical and does not (currently) have mainstream adoption value. Can the experts make this something that is more user friendly with time? Is it related to how the lightning network exchanges between the two currencies?

Bitcoin

Bitcoin continues to play a critical role in all of the developments despite the controversies and the forks and it's drawbacks due to its size. Whereas tenx is all the way back in 20th place bitcoin is by far the most powerful and therefore least manipulatable currencies out there. I remember the point when bitcoin passed the ability to be hacked and diverted with all the computing power available in the world. I'm not sure Ethereum has even reached that point yet. Bitcoin will be subject to global crypto trends and whales still have a manipulative factor involved. But if that can be said about bitcoin that can be said many times over for any other crypto out there right now. In the crypto game bitcoin is the big fish but in the global game, it's a big fish swimming in an ocean of hungry megaladon sharks.

Even so it continues to be the most stable and powerful crypto accounting for nearly half of the entire market cap. It's also the most widely accepted crypto without a doubt and is the current paragon of mainstream crypto adoption (although nobody thinks it's good enough). Amazon is even rumored as going to begin accepting it. I imagine bitcoin is good for "savings" purposes due to its high value and stability while litecoin, which had stayed closely tied to bitcoin, is better for "spending" or "transactional" purposes. How do people envision something like the atomic swaps or lightning networks allowing this sort of bitcoin-litecoin savings-transaction relationship to happen? Or am I missing the mark here?

Blockchain Unification

I apologize if this is not the right term but things like atomic swapping, the lightning network, or tenxs comit network point to a future where exchanges will potentially play a more limited role. Please correct me if I'm wrong!

It's becoming increasingly obvious that a variety of crypto blockchains can all operate on a single network which will allow exchanges between a variety of currencies without the need of an exchange website. Is this already making obsolete something like an atomic swap or the lightning network or are those things the result of this unification process?! Also, does this process come with fees? If so, what will they look like? These things are all happening very quickly and these are the questions early mainstream adopters will want to know answers to!

Other Coins and Services

What is the role of some of these other notable coins in this age of mainstream adoption? Coins and services like ripple, dash, ethereum, bitcoin cash, or the monaco card will they continue to have a role or are these new innovations making their older innovations obsolete? (For example there seems to be a lot more functional scalability and transaction fee solutions in some of the things discussed above compared to the limited solution of bigger block sizes for bitcoin cash) Or, for example, will something like Dash be more functional than litecoin in this new environment?

The only way we're going to know is if we discuss!