Sci-hub is such a great example of a clear and compelling use-case for Bitcoin. Bitcoin is censorship-resistant money that doesn't rely on countries, laws, central bankers or politicians. The US dollar cannot be used for purposes not aligned with the US government. Sometimes ideas that the US Government doesn't agree with can be useful (e.g. Wikileaks, Sci-hub.)
When I hear complaints that Bitcoin has no use except for speculation, I think of Sci-hub, Wikileaks and other organizations that may be bad for the interests of the US government but may be good for mankind.
It's a censorship resistant technology that also indelibly records, publicly, every transaction you ever participated in. Talk about a double-edged sword...
Agree, it's an interesting trade-off: Completely private if you can use an anonymous address but completely traceable if the address is identified. I wonder if Satoshi intended it that way or if he would have preferred the greater anonymity of Monero.
When I hear complaints that Bitcoin has no use except for speculation, I think of Sci-hub, Wikileaks and other organizations that may be bad for the interests of the US government but may be good for mankind.