Bitcoin is the most interesting thing I've seen in decades.
Leaving aside the technology, which is pretty amazing in itself, it
also created an ecosystem that is like a pure capitalistic dream
micro-laboratory.
Consider:
- we have a stock market exchange (GLBSE)
- we have a banking industry (see the lending forums)
- we have a budding credit reporting bureau (
bitcoin-otc.com)
- we start to see the first financial derivatives for sale (
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=74552.0;all)
- we have dedicated hardware design startups (various FPGA makers, Butterfly Labs, Largecoin)
- we have 16 year old high school students selling mining bonds to start their own FPGA mining company (
www.cognitivemining.com)
- we have a ton of startups trying all kinds of crazy ideas around commerce, technology, charities, etc ...
- we have money exchangers (GoX, Intersango, ...)
I could go on., but just to say I haven't fell that level of excitement
and creativity since the internet started to make it to the mainstream
consciousness in the 90's
So TL;DR : what I value is the entirely new and huge realm of
possibilities that has been created from ex nihilo by the bitcoin idea.
So would you say it has even got some sort of voyeuristic value?
I must admit that I don't really understand the concept of somehow "lending" bitcoins. Sooner or later, someone is bound to come up with a "Bitcoin backed" fractional reserve currency, which will
really confuse people.