Yes it won't change your life within weeks or only a few months, but if you have spare cash then you have the choice between bunkering it under your pillow or comparing assets that you would like to potentially hold because you think they will increase in value. The thing is that you can own satoshis in bitcoin, but you can't really own a tiny fraction of real estate. I think there are some possibilities out there, but nothing grants you as much self control as bitcoin does. It is a young innovative technology and it is far more inclusive and accessible than gold is. It still seems that a lot of people are hesitant because they only want to buy tangible things that they can touch, but ever since the world went digital I think it is high time to go with the times. To not own bitcoin is probably a bigger mistake than owning at least some and learn that it was the wrong decision to buy it if it goes down in value forever. But when you see what the younger generations are willing to spend money, then it is far more likely that a digital currency will thrive. They buy gloves and swords in World of Warcraft and spend a fortune on ring tones for their mobiles. They buy digital flowers and send it to their girlfriends and most of the time the value of these digital items is zero and yet they buy it.

And last but not least the risk of bitcoin crashing to zero isn't any higher than big banks crashing to zero. I am not saying all of them, but the financial system is very fragile whereas bitcoin has proven to be remarkably robust. The interest in the bitcoin network being healthy forever is genuine, the interest of bankers for their banks to be healthy only refers to whatever terms they serve the bank. Whenever the chance comes, they will take the gamble and put tax payers and customers at risk.