Very generally, there are two classifications of how people see bitcoin, and people tend to fall to different degrees into the two camps. The first is the to the moon camp. These folks believe bitcoin is solving a fundamental problem that fiat currency doesn't address and that it is only a matter of time before bitcoin replaces the USD as the dominant currency in the world. Now, that's written to the extreme end of it, but I'm sure you've all seen variations of this sentiment on these boards. Also falling into this camp are people who think that the next major recession or market crash is going to send the bitcoin price soaring, as people flee the broken fiat currencies of the world and buy up all the digital gold (btc, of course) they can get their hands on.
The second group thinks bitcoin has serious flaws that will prevent it from ever becoming a major currency for the purposes of trade or commerce, and that it is at best a speculative investment. (Again, written to the extreme.) These people believe that the next major recession or market sell off will tank the price of bitcoin along with everything else, as capital flees the riskiest assets first. This group also believes that bitcoin is a flash in the pan, and other digital currencies will eventually surpass it or they will all diminish in value together.
There are degrees along this spectrum. If we were plotting this out on a scale of 1-10, let's call the first group a 1 and the second group a 10, and a 5 would be someone right in the middle who doesn't think going to the moon is any more or less likely than going to 0.
Where do you fall, and why?
3 on the scale
I lean towards Blockchain technology in one form or another superseding state currency mechanisms especially where significant transactions occur in global finance and trade where intermediaries such as exchanges and fees in conversion interfere and act as unnecessary parties in day to day transactions.
Why do I need to pay a middle man to convert my USD into Yen and Vice versa on currency exchanges when myself and my business partner make a transaction and use the blockchain for peanuts instead.
Of course the 3 comes in because the volatility may scare others at any point when it needs to be converted to currency and the implicit exchange risk is greater than a government backed currency as a part of the volatility of the asset.
At the same time I recognize that an implicit scale does not mean that I would be static in it, some parts from 10 are just as valid as the points from 1 and the weight I would put on any factors would variate based on the potential future outlook and utility it has relative to my point of view and the information available.