Am I the only one interested in mobile payment apps that let you buy real things with dollars? Are dollars suddenly that uncool?
I think the biggest reason why bitcoin is so fast to innovate is that there is no barrier to entry, which means that anyone can create bitcoin android client. But if you want to create dollar-based android payment software, you have to be either visa or mastercard, or some big bank.
There are barriers to entry, such as laws; Bitcoin simply ignores them. Without real merchants, Bitcoin is useless to me no matter how fast it innovates. And even if it were useful, it's still [going to be] illegal.
Also, merchants don't have to jump through any of the bank's hoops to accept Bitcoin.
A grassroots initiative like this can allow for global, low-cost, payments from your mobile phone, without needing to wait for slow banking innovation.
Right, it is still not a given that it will succeed, but it's much to early to dismiss it...
Seriously though, it seems like Bitcoin is really vulnerable to this sort of attack, no matter what "hardening" features are builtin to make mining harder. NSA can spend a week and kill it all off. Is there a way to block whole hash blocks that the NSA or someone else who might have a large chunk of the bitcoin market?
Still I wouldn't write it off so quick, it's the branding/legitimacy question along with traction among merchants and usd<->bitcoin that's holding it back right now.
With the financial trouble in Portugal, Spain and Greece and the imbalance in monetary and fiscal health (Contrast those 3 with Germany) within the EU, the Euro looks very shaky indeed.