By totem I mean a symbol of belonging to a group. It seems to me that a lot of the Bitcoin community shares a vaguely similar idea of what the future of money should be and the way to achieve that is via technology, not politics. I think that's very naive, or maybe it's nothing more than just a reaction to what seems like an impossible task. Either way, I see a lot of emotion wrapped up in what's supposed to be just a digital currency. It seems like a political movement that wants nothing to do with politics.
I think he means a symbol of worship. Something that is worshiped because of the desire to worship something, not because of any deep understanding of it's intrinsic worth...
"A totem is a being, object, or symbol representing an animal or plant that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, group, lineage, or tribe, reminding them of their ancestry." -- Wikipedia. They may have spiritual/shamanastic uses in certain contexts.
In this context, Bitcoin has been purported to be an emblem of freedom, liberty, anarchy, libertarianism, decentralization, etc.