Federal Reserve

If one of the great advantages of bitcoin was avoiding traditional banks, all bitcoin did was make traditional banks and fiat currency look fantastically stable by comparison. There is no advantage to bitcoin. It's fiat currency without the fiat give it value.

"When banks operate with fractional-reserves, whether those reserves are defined in fiat currency, bitcoins or gold, bad things happen. At the very least, that should be the real lesson we can take away from the misfortune befalling the empty-pocketed depositors of Mt. Gox."

The other lesson is that confidence matters.