I have concluded bitcoin is a scam

[bhikkhu]

17. The value of currency is also its utility

...which leads to cash economies being convenient and efficient, and credit based economies having a large capacity for growth and adaptability.

But, based on that, bitcoin has very limited utility compared to other means. Anyone who has tried to transfer money from one country to another should be familiar with what a pain it is, and bitcoin (once you have fund in that system) is very easy to transfer. What it isn't is fast - it still takes longer to confirm transfers than most people would consider reasonable, which makes it useless for most day to day business. Other virtual currencies would work better, but a whole infrastructure is needed before any could really catch on.

Of course, that infrastructure is being rapidly built, but I'm not particularly interested in being one of the initial speculators myself. Perhaps it will work, perhaps not. I find myself on the same fence as when Apple first went public, and I couldn't quite generate the interest or confidence to put any money into it. In this case there's too many candidates, and I don't think bitcoin is the best one.