Bitcoin, sour grapes, and me

A year ago I first started thinking about Bitcoin.

Slovenia was making it a legal requirement for stocks and bonds to be handled through an agency, so the stocks and bonds given during Slovenian independance all had to be put somewhere. All of a sudden, people were looking at what to do with their money, money which had been tied up in businesses and hidden in a sock drawer for years. It all made me think.

Where's the best place to put money?

I thought about Bitcoin, I thought a lot, but I was squeemish about 'investing' in something with no capital and no guarentees. I was wary about the high price and although I see the appeal ('other' money) I don't have any feeling for how the instrument will survive in the long term.

So I didn't invest in Bitcoin. I invested in a local white goods appliance manufacturing company called 'gorenje', otherwise known as 'electrolux'.

The stock is way down this year. I've pretty much written it off at this point. I'm not terribly upset about the gorenje shares, I knew it was a gamble when I bought them, but I am very terribly sad and upset about not having invested in Bitcoin.

The sour grapes in me thinks it will just bust the second I touch it, and I won't even get an invitation to the shareholders meeting.

So question to the public, what makes bitcoin valuable? is it infrastructure? is it the name? How can the value of those things change over time?