Sadly it may not crash soon enough. I'm actually really surprised that supposed smart people are being lured into this blantly tipped scheme. I met a gentlemen once (2013) that was clearly a programmer and highly intelligent in all things computers/technology. He was an avid, and I mean avid Bitcoin proponent. He was carrying around his little Bitcoin mining box, handing out brochures, etc. Seemed like a little hit at that gathering. He got with me and we began discussing Bitcoin. I am a bit of a Libertarian, as he was too, so we are both very familiar with the trending dislike of Fractional Reserve banking. (i.e. The Federal Reserve) It was apparent very early on in our discussion he was investing in Bitcoin. One of the main talking points my fellow Libertarian used while attempting to "sell" me on the value of Bitcoin is it's decentralized control. (Libertarians go fucking nuts for this shit!) Another so called value is it's security and anonymity. (Homerun 2, for attracting Libby's!) I stated that those things he just mentioned were a moot point in my decision that Bitcoin is a terrible idea as an alternative to the current one. After telling him I fully understood his version of benefits. I then began to explain to him why the benefits were moot by examining his understanding of Moore's Law , specifically relating to encryption algorithms and our govt-military complex's ability to cracking them. I began discussing nano computing and when he thought we'd see our govt use it to crack algorithms we're currently unable to crack. I then asked him if that technology would be considered a threat to national security. Anyway, what once was a logical and left-brained techno type, turned into an illogical blabbering idiot. He quickly began looking at his buddy who up until this point hadn't contributed a thing to our conversation and like a fucking robot began talking about the security of it again. Attempting to grill me on every fucking detail I knew about Bitcoin. Just fucking sad to see him attempting a save at this point. Things I remember them countering me on were that it wasn't going to be as big as I was projecting it to be, globally that is and that I was waaaay over thinking it's penetration. (I thought to myself: So why the fuck are you going around at a Libertarian gathering with a fucking box, explaining to people how to mine bitcoins? Are you trying to "just keep it local?") 30 sec later they had left the table I was sitting at and moved onto the next huddled mass of Libertarians, showing off their pretty little mining machine, extolling the virtues of this ridiculous pet rock of a currency alternative.
To your point of popularizing 'alternative currencies' using e-currency, which clearly is designed to use computing power as the main means of obtaining bigger quantities is in fact a very dangerous alternative. In a reality, in which the laws of every single country are designed such that, if you created a computer to crack current classified encryption standards in a matter of minutes not only would your work be declared a threat to national security but you'd have your rights to that tech severely crippled or your work moving forward would become closely monitored. Do people honestly think the general public will have access to this type of technology in the future? How many years do we have left to "mine" Bitcoins? Over 100 years. You don't even fucking know who created this stupid fucking idea for a currency. NOT ONE FUCKING CLUE! And you're all running around (Globally!) propping up a currency, clearly designed to use emerging technology as the backbone as to who controls or can mine the most. For christ sake there's an industry standard ( Moore's Law ) that is in no other terms telling you what I'm saying is going to happen. Not if, WHEN!
I've met nobody else that really agree's with me or if they do it's in a very gentle backhanded (I'm already heavily invested and I'm not gonna stop now) kind of way..
So forgive me for blabbering on. I think part of my loneliness is somewhat alleviated by actually typing out for the first time exactly how I feel about it. Thank you for being ear.
with that..
TL;DR Oh! You'd better read this shit son!