Just like Panama canal scandal was only its investor’s issue, it still changed significantly how Stock Exchanges are regulated. BitCoin appears unregulated and

Just like Panama canal scandal was only its investor’s issue, it still changed significantly how Stock Exchanges are regulated. BitCoin appears unregulated and hard to make sense of: MtGox was an entry point for many newcomers , one whose obscurity proved damning. Those newcomers, attracted by business magazine covers (and drugs on Silk road) were the first wave that changed BitCoin from a crypto-geek game into a valuable currency. No body is challenging the fact that people have lost money, citing dollar figures -- a unit BitCoin was meant to avoid initially. You are right in saying it’s not a BitCoin disaster: it will trigger massive changes in the currency, just like Silk Road’s closing has triggered a legitimation of the tool. As for rhetoric: all publicity, even bad, is legitimation this is a worthy interest to look into; business magazines like blood, but their prefer victory in adversity. I promisse that you’ll have enough “How we step out of MtGox rumble and built a competitor to Visa” soon enough. Remember ‘Web 2.0’? that actually was the shortest version of that story, told by O’Reilly. You’ll have a similar catchy name for what BitCoin will become soon enough; my money is on an international payment system with lower fees. The tax-avoidance angle was as lame as only ultra-liberalitarian can be; the drug angle seemed to have missed both the decriminalisation trend, and the whole ‘Every transaction is recorded forever, publicly’ part of the protocol; the funky price chart is a sin of youth. It could become a (long-term) reserve for value, that has been the secondary angle through-out, but I don’t see it: I believe that should remained reserved for ventures, talent and fine wine.