[ardivekar]

To be honest, for personal use they aren't too useful due to their volatility. However, systems like Ripple and Ethereum could have potentially very big impacts for banks and businesses. They replace a cumbersome lower layer for which settlement time is usually on the order of days

[bluesteel44]

It is much easier and cheaper to set up a centralised fast settlement solution, so called RTGSS. Singapore had one for years, EMU getting one this autumn AFAIK.