What are the Benefits of Bitcoin?

The benefit of Bitcoin is NOT that it is anonymous, but that it is uncensorable, permissionless and requires no trust in a 3rd party. Even if they know who you are, they cannot prevent you from using the network because Bitcoin doesn’t care what your name is, what your tax status is or whether you even have a taxpayer identification number. The only place they can frustrate the use of Bitcoin is at the edge of the system where Bitcoin is converted to fiat currencies.

A Bitcoin enthusiast argued that he holds Bitcoin for the same reasons he holds gold and silver: to preserve purchasing power… as insurance against monetary debasement… a perpetual credit default swap on the US dollar.