The issues with virtual currencies are not technical, rather it is a social issue of trust. You trust that a $100 note will be accepted and exchanged for goods or services according to the note's face value in the general economy. This is backed up by laws and businesses must accept this as payment, hence "legal tender". So, our economies can function by exchanging these notes instead of each of us carrying around three pigs, a sack of wheat and some chickens to pay for goods and services.<p>I would never take my universally accepted "legal tender" and convert it into a less liquid form of currency that is not universally accepted in the economy, that is backed only by a company and not by law.<p>Even if it could get universal acceptance and was backed/supported by law, it would then be the same as our current system of currency, so why bother?<p>I have had hundreds of thousands of frequent flyer points disappear due to an airline collapse. This would be my biggest fear of adopting any virtual currency.