It is the first decentralized peer-to-peer payment network that is powered by its users with no central authority or middlemen.  If you use bitcoin, you are trusting your money to a complex system you don’t understand, people you know nothing about, and an environment where you have no legal recourse. In the traditional world of investing, this would raise enough red flags to make it a bad idea. On the other hand, the European Central Bank reports that Bitcoin is just one of over 500 digital currencies now in circulation around the world. Even it Bitcoin ultimately fails or is relegated a minor role on the world stage, one of its successors could radically alter the way the world thinks of currency.