No, the sky will fall when Kevin Trudeau releases a new "How to get rich" video or book using "his patented method" of trading with BitCoin....

That is correct. And if it's easy to get robbed blind or exchanges keep getting hacked because of their incompetence - it will be just as easy to lose confidence in BitCoin, despite its solid technical foundation. Ultimately, you're dealing with people's nerves, trust, confidence, fear.... That overrules anything else, including rationality.

It does, for a while. Until it doesn't. Without exception, every criminal enterprise is eventually discovered, and its perpetrators pay the piper. It's not because they are stupid, mind you, it's because they are greedy and develop a god-complex. Rarely if ever do you see someone who's bent on stealing other people's money stop after one or two successful heists....

I know this is little consolation to you, but you need to grow faith in the fact that he will pay for what he/she did.

Awesome article!

Depression, my ass. Volatility is given, for the next 5-10-15 years - either until most BitCoins are mined out or the US Government calls it legal tender (probably the former will happen before the latter, but I'm wishful...).

What's not to lose sight of here is that even if everyone in the country buys 10 BTCs, and just hold on to it, it will do far more for BTC than any 'depression' or upswing or whatever....

BitCoin is looking for an all out adoption. This is going to take decades in the USA, and probably a lot lot faster elsewhere, especially third-world potato/cabbage countries.

Can US citizens technically still use it?

What about transactions that are criminal in nature, designed to deceive and rip off people?

I'm not necessarily talking about paying for drugs, hookers or extra-marrital love children here - all of which is a sin solely against God more than anything else (morality), but what about pure larceny and deception between humans (ethics/legality)?

Are you sure you want to keep ALL transactions private? That's the dubiousness of BitCoin's benefit.

There's nothing WRONG with Bitcoin in and of itself - much as there is nothing wrong with money or with sex in and of itself - but rather than with the DESIRE of any one of these items/activities in order to compensate for something that is missing at the core of all humanity.  What do you think that is? Cause once you have enough money to live and a partner to have sex with - what more do you really need that money or sex or drugs can fill?

Not like I expect this to happen - but if Schumer was to see how Congress/Federal Reserve/our banks have caused the rise of an "illegal" hard digital currency like BitCoin, by pointing the finger at the man in the mirror rather than at someone else, perhaps he might have a different idea about BitCoin and its potential benefit...

So here's the deal Chucky.... you can crucify BitCoin.... but you won't kill it.

I'm calling it: < 6 months before an institutional investor dumps more USD into BTC than all BTC enthusiasts so far.

In my view, you'll be a multi-millionaire in about 20+ years, if it all goes according to 'plan'... not before.

Someone whom shall remain nameless that we all know.... has been "dead" for 2000 years now, and there's still no middle ground on who he was, what he did for us and what he left us with...

So was SHA-256 (by the NSA, that is, US Government), the hashing function used by BitCoin..... uncracked as of yet, e.g. no collisions yet.

"Senators draw a bead on BitCoin" - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/08/bitcoin_under_attack/

How do you know that Harold Camping was wrong? Maybe Jesus doesn't come back on clouds and thunder. Maybe he came back as BitCoin.

I heard somewhere that legislating morality and ethics does not work.

One cannot force a junkie to be clean. You can lock him up, but you won't force him to be clean.

One cannot force a cheater to be a loyal husband/wife. You can divorce him/her, but she/he won't be forced to be loyal and committed to his/her spouse.

We once tried to force alcoholics to be clean by prohibiting alcohol. We only drove alcohol and alcoholics underground.

When are we going to learn that a indecent person will not be forced or legislated into decency unless that person arrives at his or her own beliefs about the pros and cons of living a decent life?

See, shutting down Silk Road is not good enough, because BitCoin and Tor will allow the creation of a new one. Next, we are going to go after BitCoin, until BitCoin "The Sequel" emerges, if it hasn't already in another way shape or form as I have been reading/learning on this Forum.

Are we going to shut down the internet next in order to force responsibility on people?

Are we going to then put cameras and wiretaps on every phone in the USA to force people to be responsible?

The only reason I am driving this to an extreme is because FORCE does not work. LET PEOPLE BE IRRESPONSIBLE BEFORE THEY CAN GROW INTO RESPONSIBLE ONES. There is no SHORTCUT to responsibility - everyone has to walk the road to responsibility, bumpy and thorny as it may be, at least, so it seems to me....

Yes, I know it's tragic to have 13 year olds smoke marijuana or crack.... or is it more tragic that parents are so fucking absent from that kid's life that he will be drawn to marijuana and crack? Which do we put first - the horse or the cart? It's a catch-22.

Legislating ethics and morality never pays off. Allowing people to arrive at their own conclusions of whether something works or does not work - DOES work, while we protect ourselves in the process.

Do I say NO GOVERNMENT at all? fuck no. If someone rampages on streets with an Uzi - by all means, apprehend and kill him and I am willing to pay for that kind of protection 24/7, a cut from my paycheck - but leave it at that - MINIMAL government.

The libertarians are apparently going to get their way with BitCoin.

Long live BitCoin, Libertarians and all the people of the world, all 6.8 billion!

They can't win because they know BitCoin is a God-send. The time was right and the technology is ready for a 'hard' digital currency, hard in the same sense as gold or paper bills (e.g. USD, EUR, GBP...).

Let's just pray that BitCoin's creators tested the crap out of it before letting it loose on us such that no cracks are showing in the heuristic driving BitCoin. That is what worries me more - cracks in the algorithm that can be broken by cryptoanalysts - although the way it is designed, it's a form of Aikido against the government, in the sense that it uses SHA-256 which is gov't endorsed ....  It thrives on true and tested technology, which is awesome.

I promise you, if Bitcoin's legitimate use spreads across the world like wildfire - which it undoubtedly will as most people aren't LSD junkies, spouse-cheaters or criminals - it has the potential of replacing all world currencies and uniting the world. Yeah, I may be a dreamer... but you just watch.

For legitimate uses, it CANNOT be shut down - just remember that. BitCoin, in and of itself is not ILLEGAL, just as money in and of itself is not illegal - it is the desire of a person to use it toward a particular fitness or a purpose that will render the act of using it as illegal or legal.

BitCoin = the light of the world.