>Having said that, a cryptocurrency that does its job... seems like a very valuable concept. Do any of them do that? Why? What particular problems does it addr

>Having said that, a cryptocurrency that does its job... seems like a very valuable concept. Do any of them do that? Why? What particular problems does it address that other currencies do not, and what would ultimately ensure its value or price stability? Commodity currencies have value because they have non-currency uses. Gold is useful in electronics, manufacturing, biotech, and jewelry, and so on. Fiat currencies are backed by tax authority, and control over territory... or in other words violence. We know fiat currencies are valuable because people have to use them to pay taxes, to use natural resources, etc. Remind me why we should use a currency that someone merely imagines into existence. At least if I hand you an IOU scrawled on a piece of paper, I'm promising you something, and anyone who would find that valuable would be placing a bet on my trustworthiness, as dubious as it may seem to some. But bitcoin doesn't even offer that.