Am I the only one who thinks bitcoin is nothing less than Tulip mania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania fueled by Chinese hardware manufacturers & US VC firms like Andreessen Horowitz?
At least ~50 international financial institutions have R&D groups directly working with block chains / Bitcoin (search "R3CEV partners"). Central banks have reported positively on Bitcoin . As recently as last week a group of 90 central bankers met at the Fed to discuss the topic.[1] I can understand why it looks like a mania to an external observer's eye, but it is definitely not :)
[1] http://www.coindesk.com/central-banks-blockchain-federal-res...