How can Bitcoin bridge the gap to our everyday lives?

Bitcoin has recently received favourable acknowledgement from Apple and significant recognition from the Bank of England, but it has just suffered another serious slump in value and some more fundamental questions are being raised about its future usefulness.
At least it still has oceans of web comment to keep the ball rolling. Bitcoin generates far more noise online than its current financial footprint would suggest. It only amounts to a tiny portion of overall financial activity, currently just under $6 billion at total market capitalisation – that is the current exchange rate value of all Bitcoins in existence. The most vociferous of Bitcoin advocates continue to talk about it as a kind of dawning social revolution, but the current state of play is a long way behind this rather utopian projection.
Bitcoin’s value fell from $622 in July to below $387 at last check, with big investors likely to step in to shore up the value soon. So this marks a useful moment to pause and reflect on where Bitcoin is and where it might be going. The currency has had an extremely volatile history but the latest dip is a rather more significant one – it does not appear to have been driven by any major regulatory warnings or a problem with a major Bitcoin exchange.

This post was published at The Conversation on 22 September 2014, 3.26pm AEST.