There is (I think) a need for something like Bitcoin, because I believe there is no freedom without financial privacy. Financial privacy is an essential component to freedom.
But for Bitcoin or any equivalent to go mainstream there is a need for something like the equivalent to escrow or title insurance (in real estate) that verifies the transaction so that people cannot be defrauded with impunity. Obviously it needs to be real time or very nearly real time as well.
The anonymity of the system makes it hard to have any recourse if you open your account and the money is missing.
Where did it go? No one knows. There needs to be some way to verify and insure a transaction without giving up anonymity or the system is never going to be reliable. If your account isn’t safe, then the system has no value. But if you give up anonymity in order to have safety, then the system has no value. In my view... I’m interested in other points of view, though.
I admit I know only the vaguest details of how Bitcoin operates.
I guess the only reason Bitcoin is even remotely interesting to people is that banking secrecy has been destroyed in recent years.
But that's exactly the idea behind the blockchain, which is the heart and soul, sine qua non of Bitcoin. It's often described as "brilliant" yet it has many problems of its own (one of which is that it also serves as a "ball and chain") for escrow/verification of transactions. It doesn't do much against theft or accidental loss.
But that's the point - essentially, what you want is the "privacy, safety, convenience/freedom" (a little twist on "good, fast and cheap" trilemma™) - pick two of the three!ul