Like many financial scams Bitcoin purports to offer something complex and sophisticated. The initial concept set out by “Satoshi Nakamoto” in 2008 suggested a digital currency that would enable peer to peer financial transactions, cutting out financial intermediaries extracting exorbitant economic rents. Owing to its self-imposed ceiling on the amount of Bitcoin outstanding it would also act as a superior “store of value” to conventional fiat currencies. Neither of these claims stands scrutiny: the notion of scarcity value of cryptocurrency is derisory; the real world non-criminal use case is so far unproven. [read more]