What benefits does Bitcoin (i.e. cryptocurrency) offer? I really, really like moderate inflation. I live in Sweden where the interest rates just went negative because we are on the brink of deflation, and the rate of inflation we have now is far too low. We have huge problems attracting foreign attention and the swedes don't want to take out loans to invest since paying them back ten years down the road hurts just as bad as paying them now (and there's a real risk it might take more to pay them back later, if we go into deflation). It's a real head ache that's all the talk in our financial world.

Getting a hold of Bitcoin is very, very hard and expensive. The value of it has deflated dramatically from when it was introduced, and despite occasional crashes, it could very well just keep climbing in value. It also has a cap, which to me looks like it would unleash a deflationary spiral that would only end once we find a new currency (like the Great Depression was alleviated when we stopped using the gold standard).

But, I'm a computer scientist and I just can't stop finding bit coin supporters everywhere. It has thousands of evangelical missionaries using blogs and magazines to tout it as a means to liberate us from the bankers. I don't know, can't computer scientists be just as corrupt? It looks like dot coms with access to good cryptographic algorithms and server farms who can work in parallel could game the system even more, and once they've swept up all the bit coins they would wield more power than nation states.

Am I missing something? What does bit coin bring to the table that is worth disregarding deflation? Does it bring positive GDP growth? Ease of investment? Monetary power to the people? How? And, I keep coming back to this, wouldn't all these positives be completely wiped out once the 30s come knocking deflation style?

Why does this currency have so many supporters? Are everyone mad?
I'd say that some benefits of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies (i.e. "altcoins"), include:


Decentralization -- which is advantageous for those who are skeptical of monetary policy, runs on banks, etc.
Anonymity, or at least the perception thereof -- with increasingly comprehensive monitoring of transactions (particularly non-cash transactions), those seeking relatively anonymous methods of exchange have traditionally been out of luck in the realm of digital transactions. Bitcoin has widely been regarded as a "digital cash", providing some measure of relative anonymity in online transactions, though this is a decreasingly accurate perception as government databases cataloging transactions grow in sophistication (and some of these databases, such as that of the FBI's, have been opened up to public developers via coding marketplaces like Kaggle). Some altcoins, such as Monero (XMR), add measures to enhance the benefit of relative anonymity.
Portability -- they can be easily stored and transported offline (paper-based hashes or QR codes), on portable media, over the Internet, with or without the aid of a "wallet" or bank-like service.
Region Neutrality -- unlike fiat currency or Eastern-only currencies such as Perfect Money, cryptocurrencies seem to have less bias based on location or language.