I'm a casual BTC user who makes occasional transactions and I'm really unreleased with the direction BTC has been going which feels more and more forced into Coinbase. Rather than being decentralized it feels like Coinbase is the new BoA or Wells Fargo and we are beholden to them.

First Circle goes down and Coinbase is the only other alternative for casual users, I tried everything else. Now merchants who only needed funds sent from a wallet are forcing us to use Coinbase, the most recent I encountered being eGifter. Many people like me who got into BTC find a service and if it works we stick with it. Now I need to just deal with Coinbase or go out of my way to find reputable alternatives which is time I don't want to spend. Not to mention I need to send funds from my wallet to Coinbase to make transaction which is onerous and time consuming.

I wouldn't mind if Coinbase was a joy to use, it's anything but though. Tiny limits are forced on new users and their support system is a pain. But my biggest gripe is how delayed everything is. Nothing at Coinbase feels instant or predictable. Everything is a "wait and see" or check back throughout the day.

tl;dr from a casual user bitcoin seems to be going in the wrong direction from a year ago where casual users are being pushed toward a centralized Coinbase which feels like a bank and transactions are becoming cumbersome to perform and complete. it feels like BTC is becoming a trading currency and not the future of eCommerce.