>The best case for Bitcoin would be inheriting the transactional characteristics of cash, i.e. facilitating transactions that one wishes to keep anonymous (or a

>The best case for Bitcoin would be inheriting the transactional characteristics of cash, i.e. facilitating transactions that one wishes to keep anonymous (or at least pseudonymous), and asset characteristics of gold It definitely already has the first, but whether its volatility reduces to a level comparable with national currencies remains to be seen. Even if it never achieves relative price stability, it could still make a good global money transmission system. People will continue to save in national currencies, and just convert to BTC to send money overseas, or use buy other currencies with lower fees, or buy stuff from global BTC merchant sites.