I just loaded some rocket fuel, we're about to blast off to the moon!
Paul Buchheit:
"Bitcoin may be the TCP/IP of money."Paul Buchheit is an American computer programmer and entrepreneur. He was the creator and lead developer of Gmail.
He developed the original prototype of Google AdSense as part of his work on Gmail.
He also suggested the company's now-famous motto "Don't be evil" in a 2000 meeting on company values.
The main problem I see is that Bitcoin is so dependant on the banking system. The exchanges fall apart without bank accounts, without wires, without ach deposits. Bitcoin works great as a "secondary" or "transaction" currency. Which means you use it when you want the privacy (buying bongs/dildos) or to avoid fees (sending to people in different countries). So you still use USD, you're paid in USD, you just use Bitcoin when the situation warrants it (and the advantages it brings).
When an exchange can be crippled because one american bank account gets closed, that sorta points to
the fact this "de-centralized" currency really needs the "centralized" banks to operate. Bitcoin is doing well because Govts/Banks are letting it exist. Sure they can't destroy it, but they sure could make it a lot harder to use. Most sellers wouldn't want BTC if they couldn't convert it to their native currency. But Banks are greedy, they launder money for drug cartels, so I doubt they care about Bitcoin as long as they get a share (which they do, wires are expensive).
Yeah, we "Bears" have been preaching this all along, yet we were pointed at by the "true believers" and accused of "FUD".
Bitcoin doesn't need the banks to operate. They make the current "value-bootstrapping phase" much easier, though.
When airplanes were invented, did people say "That's never going to work out, these new-fangled ariplanes still need strips of road for takeoff and landing"? Not too good of an analogy, but you get the point.
