[RexRollman]

My viewpoint is that things like Bitcoin are little more than cryptographically engineered Monopoly Money. That said, I do believe that eventually, paper money will go away (if for no other reason than to track every purpose for government surveillance).

[marcell]

Tongue in cheek: I believe this attitude proves grand parent. Of course, only if Bitcoin actually succeeds :)

[adrianmacneil]

This viewpoint comes up a lot on HN, but it's missing the point. Don't think about bitcoin as an alternate currency, think of of it as a distributed protocol, like TCP/IP or bittorrent, which supports arbitrary value transfer. The media tends to focus a lot on the price of bitcoin, but in the long run the price is irrelevant.

[api]

I deliberately said cryptocurrency not Bitcoin, since I view Bitcoin as an alpha version of distributed digital money.

[gnaritas]

> My viewpoint is that things like Bitcoin are little more than cryptographically engineered Monopoly Money.

Exactly like USD and all other first world currencies. Bitcoin is simply the next step in money.

[rhino369]

It's not a next step because the US dollar is monopoly money forced on you by the government. Also it's supply is controlled to keep the value steady.

Bitcoin has nobody forcing you into using it and nobody controls the price. Bitcoins are just bits on a ledger that maybe someone will buy from you tomorrow, maybe.

Even in the niche roles where bitcoin is superior to bank accounts, credit cards, and cash, there is nothing beyond momentum keeping people from switching to another type of cyptocurrency. That's why it's monopoly money.

[Frondo]

It's not the next step because it's anti-democratic. It's a step away from democratic government engagement in the money of a country.

Bitcoin encodes a lot of economic assumptions and values into its design, but there's no practical way for the people affected by those decisions to work to change them, unlike money backed by a democratic government.

I don't need to know how to code to vote in the regular elections that decide how the Fed operates, all I need is to be a registered voter.

The next thing after USD and other first world currencies will be something that gives more power to the people, not less.