Network effect makes it impossible to catch now.
The breakthroughs were solving byzantines generals problem and difficulty adjustment. This breakthrough can only be copied, not “bettered”
Discussion
"Network effect makes it impossible to catch now. " - That is a completely arbitrary assertion. Cash had network effect, now it doesn't.
All it takes is for something new to come along. And in digital technology's case, that can come quickly.
the networking of Nakamoto Consensus; the solution to the Byzantine Generals Problem (the key breakthrough of bitcoin) cannot be caught. It is the only network in history that (still) does this. extremely powerful computers are designed specifically to do this task and this task only. That compute load (that pegs the money and the network to energy) won’t be redirected elsewhere because it can’t be.
So it's not about network effect any more now that it's been pointed out that cash had network effect until it didn't?
As for Nakamoto Consensus ... Bitcoin isn't even private, the government can trace your BTC and blacklist it from being spent. Or maybe they'll confiscate it. This is one possible example of future use-cases making Bitcoin antiquated.
All technology gets antiquated as time change. Bitcoin is not shielded from technological advancements.