Re: Investment? Speculation!
I see the biggest problem with crypto currencies, especially bitcoin, is that they're kind of a victim of their own success.
The idea of a digital asset that has the properties of gold (limited supply, large liquid market, can be subdivided, can potentially be traded between two sides without any knowlege of central authorities) with the advantages of being digital (transferrable via the internet, zero weight, can be backed up) is revolutionary.
The problem is, that these properties also make it desirable to the point where the price balloons and nobody is crazy enough to actually spend it, instead it becomes a speculative asset, hoarded as a means to make vast quick profits, thereby undercutting any real utility it had which justified its value. It's like a catch 22 situation.
That said, governments aren't exactly helping. There are plenty of other speculative bubbles, such as the UK housing market or the stock market, which the authorities not only tolerate, but positively feed, effectively underwriting risk by always stepping in to reduce the price of borrowing and hose money into the market whenever the bubble looks like popping. Such actions only feed the price of gold, crypto and other assets which also benefit when the fiat currency is being debased.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
