>The political examples you give are valid, but couldn't gold (for example) work as well to fund Wikileaks? I live in New York, how do you suggest I send gold

>The political examples you give are valid, but couldn't gold (for example) work as well to fund Wikileaks? I live in New York, how do you suggest I send gold to Wikileaks? How much gold would I have to ship to justify the shipping costs to whatever Europeans city they were based, even if it was feasible? On the the other hand I can send them $5 in litecoin or a dozen other cryptos and pay only a few pennies for the instant, hassle-free transfer. >If I can convince someone my bitcoin has real value and they trade me a bushel of wheat for it, why would the bitcoin have any value to anyone else? If I've been blocked from paypal and JP Morgan because of my currently-frowned upon political or cultural position, I'd be eager to accept your bitcoin for my goods. Especially if I could trade it for a needed bushel of wheat. >At some point you need to convert any currency to goods or services so to me the real value of a currency like this would be it's stability of value, but it apparently lacks that. This is true if you are holding it, or the goods and services you want don't accept it as a payment option, or it is difficult (usually because of regulatory hurdles set up by the government to prevent competition) to convert it instantly into whatever other currency (fiat or otherwise) you want to hold it in. Ironically, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies would be much less useful and more likely to fail if governments and central banks didn't design their network of financial institutions and payment processors to be a walled garden that have claimed the right to erase people who ran afoul of the powers-that-be for any reason (or no reason at all - rarely is a reason given to those who have been financially unpersoned). Unsurprisingly, those who are disenfranchised by the digital economic system are not going to just throw their hands up and starve. They will be forced into other financial ecosystems. In the words of Princess Leia, "The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."