Price fluctuations are great for short term gain, but they're what's stopping cryptocurrency from being used as actual currency.

A few months ago I paid a friend $5 for something. Today they have $16. But then just yesterday I sent $6 for pizza. Today its worth $4.50. Investing in cryptocurrency is great, but it breaks down when you try to use it as actually currency.

I use cryptocurrency primarily because I believe in its privacy and freedom advantages; the fact that you, and you alone control your money. I genuinely want cryptocurrency to be the future replacement for Apple Pay, credit cards, and PayPal. I would love to leave my debit card at home, and just make payments from my phone using software that I know respects my privacy because I can inspect the code myself.

I'm sure hundreds of thousands of people agree with me, so why do so few businesses accept cryptocurrency? And for the businesses who do, why do so few people pay with it? My theory is that it boils down to price fluctuations. Why would someone pay $10 for a pizza if that $10 could be worth $20 tomorrow? And what about the business, who would accept $10 in cryptocurrency but be left with just $5 by the time they close for the day? Until a cryptocurrency with a stable price, decentralized infrastructure, open source design, and privacy respecting nature shows up, I don't think cryptocurrency will find widespread use in daily transactions.