It seems to me that the beauty (and probably the downfall) of bitcoin is that it is equivalent to cash. If you're careful, you can use it anonymously. No charge

It seems to me that the beauty (and probably the downfall) of bitcoin is that it is equivalent to cash. If you're careful, you can use it anonymously. No charge-backs - just like cash. You need to use the same care with bitcoin as we used to use with cash. Credit cards are far more forgiving, thanks mainly to the charge-back mechanism (which incidentally is a US thing - in most countries it is un-heard of). My biggest fear for bitcoin is that governments will kill it, because they have no control over it. They've been delighted to see cash fading away, but I predict that if bitcoin ever does get traction with the general public, we'll see a deluge of "bitcoin is the currency of the terrorists and child-molesters" propaganda which will make copyright scaremongering seem quaint.