The points are these:

1. New Bitcoin only enter the market at a predetermined rate. The next 4 years are scheduled to see only an additional 5 - 6 million of them introduced to the market.

2. Bitcoins are divisible down to 100,000,000 parts of a bitcoin, so they can be used for trading all kinds of things.

3. When you have a limited number of desired Bitcoins in an ever increasing and expanding market, like everything else that's limited, the price will rise. Gold isn't way above pre-1950 prices because you can find it lying all over the ground. No, it is rather rare, like Bitcoin.

4. Expect two basic kinds of things to happen with Bitcoin: A) there will be continual fluctuations in price - bubbles that will come and go; B) the bubbles will become larger every time they grow again. If Bitcoin remains safe and usable, expect a single Bitcoin to be on a par with an ounce of gold within the next year.

Almost forgot. It wouldn't surprise me at all if I found out that Bitcoin, more than PayPal and the other ecurrencies, more than Occupies and million-man-marches, wasn't the final straw that caused DHS to purchase that big billion plus of rounds of ammo, along with all those armored vehicles that have been reported in Arizona and elsewhere.