A Thief Is Attempting To Hide $100 Million In Stolen Bitcoins — And You Can Watch It Live Right Now

[phantom power]

12. One of the social-experiment aspects of bitcoins that interests me...

is that the majority of FUD surrounding bitcoins has nothing much to do with bitcoins-as-a-technology. For example, this entire story is now being seen as "more proof" that bitcoins aren't for real. When in fact the one aspect of this story that is actually bitcoin-technology related -- the tagging -- is an example of a useful thing that bitcoins can do that other kinds of currency can't.

I also keep hearing bitcoins described as a "ponzi scheme," which makes no sense to me. Bitcoins aren't a "ponzi scheme" any more than U.S. dollars, yen, gold, clam-shells or bartering chickens are a "ponzi scheme."

A lot of the FUD appears to come in two categories:
(a) guilt-by-association (a lot of the early adopters are criminals, or libertarians, which specifically makes it unpopular with many democrats)
(b) lack of government and/or legal endorsement.

But (a) and (b) are, in the end, purely a question of emergent behavior or public policy. The more people who use bitcoins for transactions, the less it is dominated by fringe elements. If governments decide to extend legal coverage to bitcoins, then -- voila -- they are "legitimate."