Abstract :
Is Bitcoin destined to become the Facebook of money, or the Second Life? That is, will Bitcoin become universal, a medium of exchange used by just about everyone, or will it remain a curiosity, a tool used only by a dedicated fringe (in Bitcoin´s case, criminals and privacy extremists)? As a mere language columnist, I haven´t the foggiest, but I can tell you that, no matter what its fate, Bitcoin is generating new words and phrases at an inflationary rate. Is this profusion of new terms undermining (that´s a pun, as you???ll see) Bitcoin´s quest for universality?