Bitcoin, its competitors and uses: Is this crypto-currency an alternative to World currencies?

Bitcoin is a cryto-currency – not a real currency, but acting as one [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin].  It is the new rage these days. > Bitcoin (BTC) is an online commodity that is based on an open-source [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source], peer-to-peer [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer]