Given that MtGox was the dominant USD bitcoin exchange for quite some time, it's a beautiful metaphor.

Except for miners, people who want to support the bitcoin ecosystem per se, and privacy buffs who prefer to buy their bitcoin in ways that minimize traceability, it's hard for me to get excited about using bitcoin to make online purchases right now. If you don't hold any bitcoin and just want to use it as a transfer mechanism, you have to have extra motivation to buy bitcoin and then send it (waiting for a few confirmations). This process takes longer than using a credit card, so generally it seems that one must have additional motivation to use bitcoin (at least in the US).

As a mechanism of money transfer, though, I do find it interesting.