There are a number of benefits which Bitcoin advocates promulgate when spreading the word on cryptocurrencies in general and Bitcoin in particular.
However, in addition to the high volatility, there are a number of things that one should bear in mind to balance out the mainstream mania which has emerged in recent months.
Firstly, it is centralize-able – one of the key challenges of Bitcoin has been the tendency towards centralizing of the mining function given its high capital costs.
Consequently, Bitcoin is potentially control-able as a 51% attack remains a risk. Here is a link to a news story in 2014 highlighting the risks of centralization and control of the Bitcoin network due to the then largest mining pool called Ghash.io.
