Bitcoin: The future of money is at stake
IT SEEMED like a good idea. Why not mark our special report on digital money by putting the price in Bitcoin on the magazine's cover? Alas, it was not to be.
Our money people weren't keen to add a currency whose value might plummet (or rocket) at any time. We weren't sure how we'd process payments. And we couldn't find a stockist who would accept Bitcoin anyway.
That pretty much sums up where Bitcoin is today. Mainstream interest is growing fast, but its value remains volatile and its infrastructure embryonic (see "Problems already cloud the currency's future"). As our reporter found during a Bitcoin-funded road trip, you can't yet use it to buy much in the "real" world without tedious workarounds – scarcely the seamless payment system you might expect, and no match for cash or cards (see "Can you live on virtual money for a day?").
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22129551.300-bitcoin-the-future-of-money-is-at-stake.html#.UvOi-YUmjBE
