I've thought about this some more.

There's another linked problem. Every day companies are striking contracts with employees, customers and suppliers. They promise to pay or receive an amount of money in return or with a promise to deliver a good or service.

These are documented contracts enforced in a court of law, and often very complex and in place for many years. Government has nothing to do with it. It's just a system for active agents in the economy to know where they stand, and know they have recourse if the other side breaks the agreement. Both sides benefit in other words.

Of course in very small companies (say family owned stores) more can be done for cash and on a word of mouth and trust basis. But for large and complex businesses this would never work.

So if governments move to ban the receipt of payments in bitcoins, chances are it will work. Bitcoins would become significantly less valuable, maybe  worthless. Relegated to a small niche of small transactions. The bulk of the economy would move on and ignore it in future.

Even in a hyperinflation, a return to gold backed currency is more likely than adoption of bit coins. Gold has a long history and is deeply ingrained in many cultures of the world (such as Asia and Middle East). If this was a horse race, I'd back a return to gold over bitcoins at this point.

Maybe I don't get it. But then I didn't get the "new paradigm" of the dot com bubble either. And I didn't lose money as a result.

I wish bitcoin luck because the idea is genuinely innovative and thought provoking, and will watch with interest. But I doubt it will be more than a short term fad in the real world.