Tuur Demeester: Bitcoin 'is the solution to financial dissatisfaction' #BTCLondon

Modern society is becoming increasingly dissatisfied with mainstream financial systems and currencies, Tuur Demeester explained to the attendees of today's Bitcoin London event.

The misappropriation of client assets is rife, interest rates are being manipulated by central banks and savers are being abused, he said.

"Instead of bailout, the new trend is bail-in," Demeester explained, with savers' accounts being raided to prop up failing banks and economies.

Back in May, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch chairman of the Eurozone, told the FT and Reuters that savings accounts in Spain, Italy and other European countries will be used if needed to preserve Europe's single currency.

"How are problems with traditional currencies going to play out?", Demeester questioned. "I don't know and I don't care, because I own bitcoins," was his response.

He went on to extol the many virtues of bitcoin, highlighting that it possesses many features central currencies lack, including flexibility, durability and the provision of as much privacy as the users desire.

Demeester described bitcoin as the "ground floor of a new financial system" for those who crave a more stable currency and said it and other cryptocurrencies are, without a doubt, here to stay.

When asked by a member of the audience to explain the fall in bitcoin's value over recent months, Demeester said around half of the holders of the 500 largest accounts "have not budged" – they are "in it for the long-haul" and can see the decrease is only temporary.

The "weak hands", however, read negative reports about bitcoin in the press and their confidence in the currency is knocked, so they sell, which has a knock-on effect on the value.

Demeester projected that, over the next six months, there could be a further dip in the value of Bitcoin, providing the opportunity for people to "buy low", with prices rising to much higher levels by late 2014.