I think Bitcoin's greatest strengths (anonymity and decentralization) are also it's greatest weaknesses. Anonymity helps certain people but hurts others. For

I think Bitcoin's greatest strengths (anonymity and decentralization) are also it's greatest weaknesses. Anonymity helps certain people but hurts others. For example, you don't want to be the victim of identity theft or other fraud within a totally anonymous and decentralized financial system, because then there is little hope for restitution. There are many stories of Windows malware and viruses stealing the wallet.dat file from a PC which literally wipes out all of that person's BTC wealth. I hear some Bitminers saying "it's just like cash" - yes, but most people do not hold their entire life savings in physical cash. They trust banks and credit card companies whose systems allow everyone to transact with a high level of confidence. If we went back to the days where people physically held and/or had ultimate responsibility for their entire net worth, I think the world economy would look very different than it does today. I think the best comparison for Bitcoins is to people who hold physical gold in their homes. However, even between these two stores of value there is a pretty fundamental difference. In order to keep a BTC wallet secure - REALLY secure (e.g. what the BTC community calls "cold storage") - you have to be technically adept and constantly security conscious. I would say that even with some training, less than 10-15% of the population has the intelligence and skills necessary to safety receive, store, and spend Bitcoins. Unencrypted wallet.dat file? Oops, a trojan just stole all your Bitcoins. Keylogger? Oops, all gone. Downloaded a compromised BTC Windows client? Sorry, better luck next time! Whereas it's pretty simple for someone to understand how to stash away a few gold coins or bars. I think this will be what ultimately keeps BTC in the realm of a hobbyist currency, full of speculation and very useful for certain online transactions but not comparable to a real fiat currency.