Bitcoin has been controversial since its mysterious release by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. Some say Bitcoin is only comprised of a small minority of anarchist computer nerds, or that it supports criminal activity as just another Ponzi scheme. Others herald the arrival of Bitcoin as financial freedom for the masses after years of abuse by a centralized banking cartel. Passionate views surround this ethereal yet hard-to-ignore beacon-or-bust proposition. Is Bitcoin a myth or a pathway to mass monetary self- determination? We are living in a day and age where Bitcoin promises what more and more people claim they want: disintermediation, decentralization, freedom from transactional parasites, restoration of trust in peer- to-peer interaction and commerce, and a possible exit from the financial cartels who hold all the coins. There has never been a viable alternative. Until now. Is Bitcoin a house of cards waiting to collapse? Or is it exactly what is needed as governments and central bankers siphon fees and funds from savers and debase fiat currency?