@r0ach, @OROBTC, @STT, and @tabnloz, regarding the recent discussion...

In short, the value of money is the public CONFIDENCE or expectation of the ability that others find it valuable as a store-of-value and/or unit-of-exchange. Bitcoin's confidence current derives primarily from expectations of its future utility, not its current utility. Although Bitcoin's volume is only 1/30,000th of the SWIFT system, it provides enormous utility as value transfer system of greater degrees-of-freedom in that it is unimpeded by top-down barriers, such as nation-state borders and different legal regimes. But the confidence in Bitcoin is limited to those who are smart enough to understand that utility, which is under appreciated by the masses and Bitcoin doesn't have the ability to scale to something that the masses could experience first hand. Yet I can tell you that I already know how to improve blockchains so they can fulfill their destiny. The necessary design is already sitting in an unpublished whitepaper already stored online for safe keeping. Thus @r0ach's complaints against crypto-currency are historic perspectives not forward looking.

Whereas, the confidence of goldbugs in gold is actually a historic perspective which is probably overconfident. The future of gold as a reliable settlement vehicle is dismal.