@gentoobro @alex "Some people somewhere will have purchased bitcoins but never be able to cash out."
Including someone called Satoshi Nakamoto who's decided not to be the world's first trillionare it would seem. :)

There's possibly too many very wealthy people who have too much in bitcoin at any given time for it to be banned.

Other than as a speculators' toy, it's possibly useful as a means to keep those managing their countries' currencies honest. And is useful to those locked out of the banking system.