Some sibling comments argue that the USA is a religion in the same sense, which is a nice thought experiment and a fair comparison. However, I think it's incum

Some sibling comments argue that the USA is a religion in the same sense, which is a nice thought experiment and a fair comparison. However, I think it's incumbent on us compare bitcoin as a religion to the prevailing mode of social organization (or religion, as it were) where money is concerned: The Rule of Law and it's missionary arm International Trade Relations Except for this, whatever one realizes from bitcoin holdings (read: exchange ledger holdings for legal tender) is just numbers on paper. I just don't see how bitcoin can fulfill any of it's purported roles (asset, currency, value-store) outside the rule of law, and yet flouting the established legal ways of settling transactions, asserting ownership and saving for the future were all part of the elevator pitch. This begs the question: What effect will bitcoin have on the rule of law? I fear that, on net, it may serve to undermine our legal, liberal traditions by antagonizing proponents to the regular economy and pursuant democratic processes for improving its shortcomings. More directly, the unregulated nature of the bitcoin economy leaves affected societies knee-capped in managing externalities and second order effects right where the incentives are the most perverse (on the ledger), forcing heavy-handed and perhaps illiberal responses from regulators. Success on it's own terms will spell bitcoins demise so long as belief in the rule of law remains stronger than in crypto-utopia (I will take that bet).