In defence of the journalist, many people failed to see a future where Bitcoin would be taken seriously or be worth what it is right now. Even in 2018 people are still calling Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies a "fad" and a "scam". But having said that, when the Internet was new and shiny in the nineties, a Newsweek journalist famously said the Internet would fail in a piece they wrote in 1995.
Great read, I came across this on Reddit. I also gave you a follow because finding decent writers on Steemit is rare.