I just wanted to dissect this a little bit.
the online currency used to buy Alpaca wool socks and illegal drugs
Among hundreds (thousands?) of other things.
whose value dropped from $17.50 to pennies after a June 19 hack into its currency exchanger, Mt.Gox
The value did not drop, just
one of many exchange rates. It's also back up to $17.50 a week later.
Solving that small change problem has made credit cards very popular since they made it much easier to buy and sell with precise amounts while cutting down on the transaction costs. Nevertheless, credit cards do cost consumers in the form of fees, interest, and penalties and merchants as annoying merchant fees.
Bitcoin might survive as a currency if it can find a way to make consumers and merchants better off.
Maybe more precise pricing with fewer transaction costs?
one lucky fellow paid $20,000 for Bitcoin in February 2010, only to turn around and sell his holdings in early June 2011 for about $3 million
I call bullshit.
Mann notes that Bitcoins ultimate ambition well might be illegal in any event. After all, he points out, there are federal statutes that make it illegal to produce a separate currency. Whether Bitcoin violates those statutes depends on how far it can go along the lines of becoming a true medium for exchange.
This guy is
so full of shit.
likely to go the way of Flooz (bankrupt in August 2001)
Oh noes! Bitcoin is going to go bankrupt!