Noah Smith had a good blog post about how the world order is likely to shift if Bitcoin reaches $500,000 USD. It would mean that many (most?) of the world's wealthiest people will have made their money from Bitcoin, which selects for a different type of person from the typical tech entrepreneur. It might breed a certain resurgence of libertarianism in mainstream politics, simply because of the money involved, and there could be financial support for ideas like these from idealists with disposable income