For years, 100 Sri Lankan rupees were worth about $1, now these two are worth $1.58.
Bitcoin has advantages over real currencies because it is decentralized. Central banks can just print money or as it's called now 'quantitatively ease' which basically devalues all a nation's liquid assets. For example, it once cost me nearly $1.40 in Canadian currency to by a US dollar. With the Federal Reserve's policies, my Canadian ones are now worth a few cents more than a greenback.
Bitcoin will have a maximum circulation, sort of like a built in gold standard. At this point in time only about half the currency has been 'mined' by computer computations. Just to ensure low inflation, new coins are released by algorithm and only to those who throw a lot of computational processing power at the quest. Eventually though, when the limit is reached, that will be it! Even gold can be continually discovered and brought into the market.
Another main advantage is the low fees for transfer and transactions. Presently banking institutions employ staff, and own a great deal of real estate . Bitcoins, however, can pass from person to person basically friction free privately. They are secure and untraceable very much unlike using a debit or credit card today.
During 2012 the value which people willingly paid to convert fiat currencies into bitcoins grew several times over. Money is basically all about trust. I have more trust and faith in a system which is decentralized and less prone to political manipulation. I think I will eventually convert some hard currency into this emerging cryptocurrency.