I think each of these arguments do not hold up. Most people have already discussed but I will summarize. Severe Problem Number 1: Seeding Initial Wealth This

I think each of these arguments do not hold up. Most people have already discussed but I will summarize. Severe Problem Number 1: Seeding Initial Wealth This problem is similar to Gold Miners or anyone initially to an asset class. You already retracted your scam comment, so thanks. Remember, governments are currently seeding banks and itself with wealth through inflation. Its a different set of winners based upon market forces. Severe Problem Number 2: Built in Deflation The money supply is actually inflating (slowly). People will make educated, market based choices about how to act with their money once the currency settles down. That will likely be assigning higher value over time to Bitcoin. The Euro or Dollar have the opposite, and many would argue much worse problem: you don't want to hold them because the issuing government slowly saps value through effectively built in inflation. Severe Problem Number 3: Lack of Convertibility Try trading government currency in a collapse situation, you will encounter problems. Right now, Bitcoins are roughly as easy to convert as any other currency. Bitcoins are inheritly no more or less convertable except for the lack of current market makers (a good point you brought up). Severe Problem Number 4: When Something Goes Wrong, It Will Die Look at Zimbabwe to see an example of governmental currency collapse. Any currency can die. People used seashells at one point, they died. I'm not sure Lyra or Franks are worth anything today. Bottom line: Yes, Bitcoin can fail (so can any other currency). It is earlier than other currencies in its lifecycle, so has a different set of risks. Is there speculation going on right now, almost surely. Bitcoins appeal to people because it is not government based, electronic, and low cost. Many of the problems you note are just different problems than existing currency, for better or worse.