As with other blockchain techs, the question I have for this is: is using bitcoin for payments superior enough to replace current payment systems (credit cards, PayPal, bank transfers)?

My gut feeling on this is no, having used it with some frequency over the past 7 or 8 years, and I've yet to hear a really convincing argument about why Bitcoin is so much better.

AFAICT none of the blockchain tech has the ability to scale to the volume of something like Visa due to it's decentralized nature.

I'm not convinced that there are essential technical reasons stopping decentralized systems from scaling into the 10Ktps range that we would need to compete with VISA.

We would have to make a few changes though - we couldn't send all transactions to all nodes - instead we'd need a tree of confirming networks or something. And we might need a 2PC protocol for transactions. (Eg first I send money and generate a hash. Once thats been confirmed you can commit a receive money message. Or something like that).

But I acknowledge that the burden of proof is on me here. And I'm not convinced its worth doing - I agree that there aren't many good use cases for this.

There are some solutions like lightning network.

Also, no one is saying that blockchain in its current state solves all problem better than what we have now. What matters, and why some people would bet on certain blockchains/tokens/projects/etc is the belief that there are certain projects that have real potential to disrupt a big incumbent like Visa.

Is it price comparible with TransferWise while still offering me the same protections? Payments are a solved problem for the majority of cases