Amin Rafiee spent three years in Europe living on bitcoin as a contractor and asking to be paid in the cryptocurrency.
"I would use it to pay my rent, my daily expenses, and find ways where I could exchange it for cash so I could do other things for leisure. So back then, it was a lot harder. But now, you have bitcoin debit cards, so you can just register, verify yourself and, from there, use your bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies to exchange it to fiat money, which is the US (dollar) or Australian dollar or whatever it is. And like any other VISA card or Mastercard, you can use it to pay your bills."
The self-labelled "cryptoanarchist" from Sydney says, for him, it is not a money-making exercise but a way to control his personal freedom.
"Once you have a choice, it's very empowering, because you can be like, 'Well, my government is going into hyperinflation, what can I do?' The choice then becomes, 'Why don't I exchange some of my money into crypto, or change some of my assets into a smart asset?' Things like that. So, by doing this, you empower individuals to have a choice."
Canberra economist Stephen Koukoulas says the lack of consumer protection concerns him, though.
"I would be extremely cautious about getting into bitcoin at any price really, let alone these multiple tens (of) thousands of dollars, because it isn't regulated. You are putting your trust in an entity that's not regulated by any government and giving them money to buy this bitcoin and you're not sure whether you're going to get your money back. There's already been a few scandals where the bitcoin transactors have gone bust and people have been unable to access their money. That causes me a lot of grief. We do know that the regulators throughout the world are looking at it very closely."
At the weekend, a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange was hacked, with more than half-a-billion dollars stolen.
Global authorities, particularly in South Korea and China, are talking about banning the use of cryptocurrencies.
The Australian Tax Office is also cracking down, making sure for now all relevant taxes are paid.
Amin Rafiee, as a bitcoin user, says it highlights the need for users to understand the risks, spreading their holdings and backing up their savings.
"The first thing we need to think about is personal responsibility. You don't use a service unless you know it's safe, even though you can have a million users. Keep stuff like your private key to yourself. And back up everything. You just have to become very wary of it. You can also have multi-signature wallets, so, if I lose my part of the deal, two other people that I know can unlock my wallet still. The other part is that you would treat it like you would cash. What if you lose it? You would try and not lose your cash. You would try and split it up. If they don't feel like they can keep it safe, then they shouldn't really be doing it."
As the debate continues about the viability of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, what seems to have universal support is the technology behind them, blockchain.
Stephen Koukoulas agrees.
"The blockchain technology is allowing for the settlement of transactions to occur instantly and without the risk of the third party in the middle of the transaction, who, of course, inevitably involve some fees and other costs as well. But blockchain is going to be ... it's still evolving."
While organisations such as the Australian Stock Exchange investigate how they can use blockchain, some users, like Amin Rafiee, say its use goes beyond finance.
"You can have things like everyone's 'computitional' power come together to solve problems. So, currently, you can have university computers kind of trying to solve problems such as how proteins form and diseases occur, or searching for interstellar activity, or solving mathematical issues, financial analysis. These things can all be done by you saying, 'Well, I'll share a bit of my computer power at home that's not doing anything overnight, and I'll get rewarded for it in cryptocurrency.'"
There are believers, and some are trying to cash in.
CMC Markets analyst Michael McCarthy says some companies are reinventing themselves as cryptocurrency providers.
He says others are adding the word blockchain to their names or buying blockchain assets to inflate their value.
"We're clearly talking about the higher risk, higher potential reward scenario, so any investor going into this space must be prepared to lose everything they put into it, because nobody knows the future."
