I'll concede on semantics. It's smarter to speculate on the currency itself than invest in mining hardware. To be fair, there's disagreement over the differenc

I'll concede on semantics. It's smarter to speculate on the currency itself than invest in mining hardware. To be fair, there's disagreement over the difference between investment and speculation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculation I disagree that Bitcoin's value is nebulous, or beanie-baby-esque. I believe Bitcoin can become valuable in 3 distinct ways: 1. Store of value A universal store of value not controlled by governments. This isn't merely a hedge against USD inflation—it's a global means of protection against currency devaluation. Bitcoin is attractive to anyone living in a country with an unsound monetary base. This is already happening. 2. International money remittance Existing players in international money remittance charge exploitive fees. Western Union often charges more than 10%. Bitcoin offers a viable low-fee alternative. Bitcoin remittance services like http://buttercoin.com http://buttercoin.com are now starting to come online. 3. Programmable money The true value of money as a protocol is difficult to predict today. I believe this could be absolutely massive. At minimum, this means native cash for the Web. Merchants have an incentive to adopt it — they bypass Visa/MC/Amex's 3%+ transaction fees. But the ease-of-use isn't there yet. The margin on many consumer goods is very slim — an additional 3% profit could be huge for many online retailers. At Bitcoin's extreme, we could see self-sustaining profit-seeking algorithms. Corporations that don't employ people — algorithms providing services and collecting profits. We've never been able to wire up software so directly with the flow of money. I think that could lead to exciting things. Dismiss Bitcoin as get-rich-quick speculation if you want. But I think you'll find most Bitcoin fans aren't just in it for the money. They realize Bitcoin can be massively disruptive to the financial industry — an industry begging for disruption. I think that's worth investing in.