Where can we go from here?

About a year ago I posted some thoughts on cryptocurrencies along with some of the questions that I had about them. Now that I find that my life has provided me with time to research and continue to learn about things, I am back looking into some of those questions and maybe even propose my own solutions to some of them.

One of the biggest problems that I had with cryptocurrency was, and is, that it is not easy for the common person to use on a day to day basis. Services like Coinbase and a couple of other reduce this problem by being able to link a normal currency bank account to their service and buy Bitcoin or a couple of other cryptos. While this does simplify things a bit, it doesn't solve the problem of what coin to use. My proposed solution is an automated exchange platform/wallet. A wallet that would automatically allow the user to pay for something with a crypto coin that is funded by another that they have in their wallet. As I write this, I realize there is probably already something out there that does this. If there is, please tell me.

Another problem that is rearing it's ugly head, at least in my opinion, is the power consumption of coin mining. It is estimated that mining uses more energy than the entire country of Nigeria according to the MIT Technology Review. This seems to only drive up the cost of transactions and ultimately drive down the value and usability of cryptocurrency. A comment to another of my posts introduced me to IOTA which uses a system that is much more efficient and is a coin with no transaction fees, and that comment has opened a new world of ideas and possibilities.

Coins that use other methods of validation than proof of work and are designed in a way that they don't need to be mined are probably the best way to proceed into a usable coin for the average person. If I don't have to decrease my profit to be able to receive money from someone, and they don't have to pay more for my tomato in order to buy it should be the goal of cryptocurrency designers.

Let's face the facts of the modern world, we live in a global economy and there are many who are trying to keep things the old way just so they can continue to make money, but cryptocurrency can reduce those cost for the average person.

I know I am not smart enough to solve these problems on my own, I can only hope to offer an idea that someone can take a run with. Thanks for taking your time, the most valuable currency you have, to read my ramblings.