>"The whole point of bitcoin was to decouple currency from institutions (banks/governments etc.)."> The above statement is incorrect. The "whole point of bitc

>"The whole point of bitcoin was to decouple currency from institutions (banks/governments etc.)."> The above statement is incorrect. The "whole point of bitcoin" per http://bitcoin.org/about.html http://bitcoin.org/about.html : >"Bitcoin is designed around the idea of using cryptography to control the creation and transfer of money, rather than relying on central authorities." As you can see - the intent is not to decouple the currency itself from institutions, but the creation and transfer of the currency from central authorities. To address your other points: Bitcoin is on equal footing compared to other currencies with regard to many things including: government confiscation, individual risk, and institutional risk. Other currencies have the advantage of: far greater acceptance, low barrier to use (you just physically hand something to someone else) Bitcoin has the advantage of: no central bank, no central banking inflation (by design, creation and transfer is via cryptography)