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Message| (110)    Back in late 2010 I heard about Bitcoin and
foolishly laughed it off as ridiculous. Now I wish I'd
understood it better. Bitcoin is a fascinating economic
experiment, which has challenged our conventional idea of what a
currency is.  A currency is liquid trust. Look at a one dollar
bill, it states 'In God We Trust'. The intrinsic value of paper
notes or numbers in a bank is little or nothing. The only reason
a currency has any value is because of the trust we place in it
and usually it is backed by a government, which promise us it is
worth something. Coins and notes are really just bearer bonds.
For example the British 10 pound note says 'I promise to pay the
bearer on demand the sum of 10 pounds'.  (click to enlarge)  In
this respect Bitcoins are no different from a paper currency.
Without the trust of others they would be worthless. Gold is
different since it does have some commercial application.
However most demand for gol