14.) A Religion
True, in an odd way.
The word "religion" is thought to be derived from
religare, meaning to bind fast. The root of the form also gave us "liege", "allegiance", etc. The Sanskrit word
dharma means both "law" and "religion". What we call ancient religion in Asia, Egypt and elsewhere, the people of the time would have just called law.
Everyone using bitcoins is agreeing to be bound by certain laws of mathematics. We're all economically bound to the same laws by using Bitcoin.
Historically, whoever issues the money gets treated like a minor god. The Roman emperors and the various chairmen of the Federal Reserve prove the point. The first mints were temples and the word for "money" even comes from the temple of Juno Moneta,
moneta being Latin for "mint".
Bitcoin removes the temptation to godhood as there is no issuer. It might be the most revolutionary thing about the tech.
Damn...sorry for the rant.