It's not much different than Oil or Gold: all overshoots to the upside as well to the downside. Buy low, hold 5 years, and be happy.
Bitcoin revealed: a Ponzi scheme for redistributing wealth from one libertarian to another http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...hpModule_79c38dfc-8691-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394 If Bitcoin were a currency, it'd be the worst-performing one in the world, worse even than the Russian ruble. But Bitcoin isn't a currency. It's a Ponzi scheme for redistributing wealth from one libertarian to another. At least that's all it is right now. One day it could be more. Venture capitalists, for their part, are quick to point out that it's really a protocol, like the early internet, and its underlying technology could still be revolutionary. What are they supposed to say, though, when they've bet hundreds of millions of dollars on it? But that's not much of a consolation to anyone who bought anywhere near Bitcoin's $1,100 top. Or near $1,000, or $900, or $800, or, well even yesterday's prices. That's because Bitcoin hasn't just fallen 76 percent the past year. It's fallen 36 percent the past two days, as you can see below, with a 24 percent decline the past 24 hours. It's too bad Bitcoin doesn't have a central bank to help stabilize its value. (More at above url)
Well written piece indeed, but flawed as well... Because it's focused on just one aspect: "Incentives to secure the network (which is Mining)". Not only will happen what he writes: "The only solace is that, in the long run, the system should self-correct, as miners drop out and mining gets easier". This self-correcting will happen much faster than he imagines. Halve the current system is just as secure, and this volume runs on very low costs already and will only become more efficient by evolving technology. But, what he doesn't comprehend is that a significant amount of investment money (about 500 million) that otherwise would be invested in Mining-farms, will now be rerouted to Bitcoin and distributed-ledger related startups and software-projects. This will grow the ecosystem greatly, and thereby boost it all.