I totally agree that the fluctuations are no good for a currency. People like to say that bitcoin is a currency, but it really could be a lot more than that.

I totally agree that the fluctuations are no good for a currency. People like to say that bitcoin is a currency, but it really could be a lot more than that. Even with wild volatility, it can still work great as an international funds transfer system (assuming the conversions to/from national currencies are smooth enough), and it can still take on Visa, Mastercard and paypal at the online payments game. It also acts as a hedge against bank account confiscation, as a speculative bet against inflationary monetary policy, and as a direct (although more risky) competitor to precious metals. Moderate success in any one of those categories would be huge for bitcoin. Acting as an everyday currency can come later.