You don't have to be a Randian hero to have interest in Bitcoin. Like you said, the cryptography is interesting. We can build scripts and sophisticated contract

You don't have to be a Randian hero to have interest in Bitcoin. Like you said, the cryptography is interesting. We can build scripts and sophisticated contracts and smart property and open transactions, all financial instruments that cannot be violated yet have enormous potential. Distributed bond markets and all of the curious things we can build on top of Bitcoin -- stuff that couldn't _exist_ before Bitcoin. Imagine the federal reserve releasing their own Bitcoin-like cryptocurrency with their own inflation rates and restrictions. I could see it happening and I think it would be very interesting as well, maybe even more successful than Bitcoin. You do not have to subscribe to some libertarian fantasy to be in awe of what Bitcoin could accomplish. To simply discard all of that because criminal can use it, is a weak and lazy argument. I don't know how you could expect innovation to ever occur with currencies or economies without some growing pains and experiments. Hell the lead developer of Bitcoin meets with the CIA to tell them how easy it is to track all of the economic activity of Bitcoin. These people are not trying to start a revolution they're trying to build software. I'm sure the government will save you from the drugs and everything else you're scared of, so don't worry about it.