[battani]

1. Check out Stellar and Ripple who solve this better than BTC.

2. Is a volatile virtual currency powered by market speculation the best alternative for inflation-ridden currencies? I facepalm every time I hear this argument.

3. and 4. Agreed. Bitcoin is great for merchants. Unfortunately economic demand comes from consumers. More merchants accepting bitcoin does not imply more consumers adopting it, in particular because those same merchants accept traditional payment methods in parallel (credit cards). That's a big red flag for me.

[cgjaro]

Well numbers prove you wrong. A year ago 1 bitcoin was worth $125 and is now worth $480. A year ago 1 ARS was worth $0.17 but is now worth $0.12. One currency appreciated, the other lost value. Clearly an Argentinian would have been better off putting an investment in Bitcoin than in the Argentine peso.

Bitcoin certainly is volatile (down from $1000+), but on the long term, if you hold it for at LEAST 1 year, it seems to at least keep value, if not gain value.