More than eight years after it started, bitcoin reportedly isn’t living up to early hype as the payment system of the future.

As The Wall Street Journal recently reported: “The virtual currency still feels more virtual than real.”

Bitcoin is a virtual currency that can be used to move money around the world quickly and with relative anonymity, without the need for a central authority, such as a bank or government, Reuters reported.

The currency's anonymity has however made it popular with drug dealers, money launderers and organised crime groups, meaning governments and the financial establishment have been slow to embrace it since the first trade in 2009. The currency’s value hit record levels in 2017, trading at $1,145 on Wednesday, a fivefold increase in a year, amid growing interest globally.

Bitcoin “has failed to emerge as a mainstream payment method among consumers. The Securities and Exchange Commission denied two applications last month for bitcoin-related funds, nixing an avenue for widespread investor adoption that could have boosted bitcoin’s relevance and profile,” the Journal explained.

“It doesn’t feel like it’s going in the right direction,” Brian Hoffman, chief executive of OB1, which runs an online marketplace called OpenBazaar that accepts bitcoin, told the Journal.

Bitcoin has been slow to gain endorsements from any major economic gurus. If anything, it has drawn criticism.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has said bitcoin "is going nowhere... There is nothing behind a bitcoin, and I think if it was big, the governments would stop it."