How Did Bitcoin's Clunky User Experience Get the Way It Is?

<p>Anyone who has actually used Bitcoin recently knows that the user experience for the average user isn't so great: transactions can take a long time, fees are crazy, addresses are confusing, and plenty of network disruptions can happen. But how did it actually get this way, and why is it that way? I break down the real technical limitations that lead to this end result, as well as the design choices, both politically-motivated an otherwise, that led to this current state of affairs.</p> <p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Donate - Sponsors</strong></p> <p style="text-align:center;"><a href="https://cointr.ee/thedesertlynx"><img src="https://thumbs.spee.ch/view/6/c08cb11db17d83ff.png"></a><a href="https://www.bitrefill.com/buy/?code=DCN"><img src="https://thumbs.spee.ch/view/b/f137d0b33d1409e2.png"></a><a href="https://shopinbit.com/en/conciergeservice-ordering-service?sPartner=joel"><img src="https://spee.ch/e/9db4e4cdbf5cb4c2.png"></a><a href="https://odysee.com/$/invite/@DigitalCashNetwork:c"><img src="https://spee.ch/c/5f7114bdc654c72e.png"></a><a href="https://nordvpn.org/dcn"><img src="https://thumbs.spee.ch/view/1/525e9eeafe3ace37.png"></a><a href="https://presearch.org/signup?rid=865012"><img src="https://thumbs.spee.ch/view/d/35bf74741f029611.jpg"></a></p> <p>Thank you so much for listening! Please leave a tip if you enjoy the content, either here or via any of the cryptocurrency addresses in my <a href="https://cointr.ee/thedesertlynx">CoinTree link</a>. You can also send a message with a CoinTree donation. I'd love to hear from you! Thanks to my recurring donors both anonymous and otherwise! - https://cointr.ee/thedesertlynx</p> <p>Support us by checking out our sponsors! Want to live on crypto? <a href="https://www.bitrefill.com/buy/?code=DCN">Create a Bitrefill account</a> with the coupon code “DCN” and pay mobile bills or buy gift cards from more than 1650 businesses in 170 countries quickly and privately, and earn rewards. - https://www.bitrefill.com/buy/?code=DCN</p> <p>Buy anything you want i