[crdoconnor]

It's not even the same thing as normal fiat currency. It's a commodity whose value is predicated upon its shininess, rarity and ease of transfer.

It's basically gold if arbitrary bits of gold could be sent via email.

Bitcoin probably wouldn't have taken off at all if the financial markets were quite so desperate for new toys to speculate with. Bitcoin is the bastard step-child of low interest rates.

It's massively exposed to the threat of financial regulation, too. If the US government suddenly decided that it was going to assume bitcoin transfers are the result of money laundering until proven otherwise and that it's a consumer product that you have to pay sales tax on, its value would plummet to embarrassing depths.