I think everyone is missing the biggest factors here - faith and integration. The way something becomes currency, is that people believe it will still have valu

I think everyone is missing the biggest factors here - faith and integration. The way something becomes currency, is that people believe it will still have value in the future, and it becomes widely accepted for goods and services. These are, by far, the two largest factors that could drive even a digital currency into use, by themselves. This is why Bitcoin is so risky - nobody knows if the general public (albeit the entire public) will eventually accept Bitcoins for their product. I'm pretty sure that if certain companies had not started accepting them as valid currency, the Bitcoin would already be worthless. But because companies, which are large groups of people, believed enough that the Bitcoin would be worth something between the time that it was received for a product and then spent again, Bitcoins survived and even increased in value. Since there is no way to know if people will want to use these other than to throw currency to the wall and see what sticks, it is extremely risky. I would NOT recommend anyone pay for Bitcoins with an already-tested currency such as cash or credit. If you are, however, interested in acquiring a few of these Bitcoins, try getting free ones for online services, such as "mining", completing surveys, answering captcha's, etc.