Is bitcoins the gateway to currencies of the future

This paper provides an overview on the viability and performance of bitcoins as a payment alternative. The history of the Crypto-currency is briefly covered followed by the operation and potential technology failure. The paper then discusses consumer acceptance of bitcoins by analyzing a survey conducted by and the positive and negative observation of the results will be discussed. Fiat Currencies, Traditional E-commerce and Alt-Coin are identified as bitcoins direct competitors and a comparison done on bitcoins against its competitors. The regulatory issues and the legality of bitcoin are also discusse