It is not very early. I specifically gave comparisons for things that launched at the same time.
And merchant adoption actually declined heavily for Bitcoin. It had a period where many online merchants and some offline merchants tried it out. Everybody gave up on that because it is not a good currency. That's when prominent advocates pivoted to "store of value" (which it is also bad at). For example: https://avc.com/2017/08/store-of-value-vs-payment-system/
The whole "but look at the fuuuuuuuuuuture" routine was plausible early on. But at this point there's nothing but wishful thinking to suggest that there will be a radical change. Whatever it is, Bitcoin is what it is.
And merchant adoption actually declined heavily for Bitcoin. It had a period where many online merchants and some offline merchants tried it out. Everybody gave up on that because it is not a good currency. That's when prominent advocates pivoted to "store of value" (which it is also bad at). For example: https://avc.com/2017/08/store-of-value-vs-payment-system/
The whole "but look at the fuuuuuuuuuuture" routine was plausible early on. But at this point there's nothing but wishful thinking to suggest that there will be a radical change. Whatever it is, Bitcoin is what it is.