A Prediction: Bitcoin Is Doomed to Fail

You can also pay in tulips.

Nope. It's good policy to expect that a govt. can do anything, unless presented with evidence to the contrary.

This is a good rule of thumb, mostly because its true. I'm not sure why people have trouble understanding this (poor civics classes? too dense?) but the US govt. can do anything it physically can. Sure, it may require a constitutional amendment, but if the political will is there the govt. can do anything.

But even in softer formulations, Congress can use general welfare to get away with anything SCOTUS will let them get away with.

Luckily though, unlike everyone else on Hacker News, I actually read the Constitution and thus happen to know this line:

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

Exactly...

Even if you take the assumption that bitcoin will fail, the problems/issues the protocol or something similar solves are far too beneficial to ignore.

So basically if bitcoin fails, some other similar form of digital currency will rise up in its place. I feel as though its a 'cat is out of the bag' scenario.

My prediction is that Bitcoin (or some other alt-coin/cryptocurrency) will eventually become a single worldwide currency. It's reached a point where if a government tries to regulate it too tightly, they will effectively be shooting themselves in the foot and cutting their country off from outside trade.

The result is that the cryptocurrency will continue to gain momentum until it is used everywhere worldwide. This will eventually lead to a single worldwide government or an agreement between all countries across the world to act uniformly in regards to the currency. This will become a necessity to properly administer taxes and/or settle cross-border contract disputes.

Once you have a single government, worldwide government ids will be initiated (or all local ids, like driver's licenses will require integration with a wordwide database). At this point, the single government will then co-opt the cryptocurrency or initiate a new cryptocurrency and require everybody to tie their id to their cryptocurrency usage. The reasoning will be to crack down on crime, tax evaders, etc. Because it's a one world government or all governments are working together in lock-step, they would then have the capability of controlling/banning the cryptocurrency. Anyone not properly linking their identity to the currency will be breaking the law, and it will be very difficult to participate in commerce because there will be no more physical cash or coins.

Either way, the only way I see this playing out is a currency that most people assume was initially intended to break from government control will eventually lead to ultimate government control.

As a side note, I realize the concept of a one world government is controversial, but my personal opinion is that it is an eventuality.

"Price fluctuations in the value of currency" is the definition of inflation/deflation. Monetary policy can cause inflation, but it's not the only way inflation can occur.

Wikipedia: "In economics, inflation is a persistent increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy over a period of time. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation reflects a reduction in the purchasing power per unit of money – a loss of real value in the medium of exchange and unit of account within the economy."