We're talking about an ATM spitting out chits in one coffee shop in Vancouver. I will give you that this is a step above getting paid in SecondLife Lindens that cannot be converted to cash. However it's not much of a step up because THIS ISN'T CASH.

If the goal is to transfer currency online without the lag of EFT or ACH (which I understand well, as I handed funds transfer investigations at Bank of New York in the 1990s), that isn't clear from the hype of this ATM and the Silk Road bust.

If we want to spend or get money online, then we should be able to use normal currency. Otherwise people are converting real money (USD, CAD, EUR, etc) to a highly volatile peg so they can swap the pegs. Meanwhile the pegs are not worth the same on egress as ingress. Right now they're going up way too fast, which suggests they'll crash just as quickly.

I also understand not trusting PayPal. While I use it, I know that they aren't as tightly regulated as a real bank (and love playing both sides of that fence -- something I saw when they were my software customer). However I only use them to buy things -- I won't open a credit card with them.

Combine these thoughts and I'm even more leery of Bitcoin. If it's just a protocol, there isn't even anyone to sue. There is no accountability. You put in usd5 and get... nothing?

Does this protocol even track its value compared to conducted currencies? If not, then this is a rather expensive "dialogue".