In the last couple of months, Bitcoin has passed the phase of "BC is nature's way of teaching economics to nerds" and entered the phase of "BC is natures's way of teaching political power to nerds"

Reading through the recent Treasury Department guidance this morning, it looked to me like the U.S. is initially attacking where hard currency comes in and leaves the system -- no matter where in the world that takes place (plug: http://freedom-or-safety.com/blog/the-other-bitcoin-shoe-dro... )

I imagine they'll leave that decision out there for a while -- months or years -- before they start heavy enforcement. But enforcement is coming. And reading through the AJ link, it looks like BC is beginning to integrate quite nicely into the EU banking system.

So now I have an anonymous virtual currency -- that governments can track the movement of. Which might require special licensing, permits, and insurance to broker. Perhaps I'm missing the point here?

We're getting to the point where the big boys step in, and my bet is that it's not going to be comfortable for the people who started the whole thing. I expect more "integration" into the traditional banking system, at least until there's no value-add between cash and BC, and then we've reached our starting point. BC becomes nothing more than "collecting sharp sticks" in such a fashion as to be closely monitored by world governments.