And therein lies the problem with non-traceable, uninsured currency.<p>One of the benefits of using a major bank (in the United States, for this example), is that your money is federally insured. You'll always see little logos or blips of text advertising that the bank is a "member, FDIC."<p>People take this for granted -- after all, if your bank is robbed, why should it be <i>your</i> loss? It's a little harder when the currency is anonymous and completely uninsured.<p>Many bitcoin exchanges will do their best to dip into their profits to reimburse users after they were hacked. I know that several major exchanges have already dipped into their own coffers to reimburse their users. However, they need to pay for this completely out-of-pocket, and even then there's nothing that indicates that they <i>have</i> to do so.<p>I think that bitcoin is an interesting idea, and certainly has gained a lot of traction for more privacy-minded individuals. Those that want to active day-trade it, though, should stick to standard forex markets, in my opinion. In fact, there is nothing to guarantee that the organizers of an exchange won't simply steal your money and disappear -- there'd be no way to prove that it was them, short of seizing their machines and hoping an incriminating bitcoin wallet was sitting there.