wheelskjm said:
Prove it.
See, this is the hard part that bitcoin, thru its blockchain, has solved. Proof of ownership of a digital asset, provable and uncounterfeitable.
I find it hard to understand why you are such a fanboy for this brand. That's all it is, a brand. BitCoin is nothing special. Blockchain technology is. Cryptocurrencies, while bringing the technology to the mainstream, will not be supplanting traditional national currencies.
Blockchain technology will do wonders for MNCs and large banks, especially with regards to supplier/vendor payments and international or interbank transfers. Once fully matured, it will change the way we look at A/R and A/P (removing a few huge advantages that come with being the behemoth in the room). You will no longer have a company like WalMart dictating A/P or A/R terms to the companies they do business with.
We're 35 years from that being a serious consideration though. The first stage will be companies like WalMart implementing a blockchain-based A/R system - ensuring payments from vendors are confirmed and arrive instantaneously. They will do everything in their power to delay adoption of the same at their suppliers. Banks will (and already have) set up digital clearinghouses.
Using BitCoin as a currency rather than treating it like a high-risk commodity will ensure it remains volatile but useful to people in harsh political climates and those who experience hyper-inflation. It will rise and fall, not only with the market, but with the ebbs and flows of this supply/demand dynamic. It will never replace the currency of a truly developed country, because it doesn't behave like a currency.
And even if it ever did, it's funny that you say "Maybe, Maybe Not" to the question of regulation. You are a naive and short-term thinker if you don't think every single government would drop the regulation hammer if it began to hurt them or remove their power. Honestly, it's a situation like this that represents exactly what a federal government should be concentrating on. Consumer protection and trust in an economy - when a layman doesn't understand this technology, he will be taken advantage of - the government will (and should) act to prevent that.