Bitcoin as it stands today is an unstable currency, and one lacking any inherent value outside of the dollar that it can be traded for. As I've brought up in other threads, one of the biggest problems I myself see with Bitcoins is that people are (mostly) refusing to accept Bitcoins at their face value instead of relative worth. For example, I know there are places selling gold or silver for Bitcoins, but I've only ever seen it pegged to the dollar rate of silver.

What would it take to see a Bitcoin to Silver rate? Would it take one investor buying a whole load of silver and hoping that he doesn't lose his return by pegging prices? Would that even be a good thing? It might limit the worth of Bitcoins in some way, but stability would be a good thing, especially because at this point there seem to be some new major problems arising (particularly with regards to malicious programs).

In other words, could stability be forced onto the bitcoin by a single investor willing to peg it's rate to an intrinsically valuable resource? And if so, would that be a good thing? Would it have to be some big MTGox style thing or could it be a retailer?

Personally, I think the future of Bitcoins is dependent on convincing people to stop cashing out. As long as there is major concern over the dollar worth of Bitcoins then it is nothing more than a less stable bond, but if people can be convinced of it's true worth, then we can really see an economy begin to flourish independently of major economic structures.