For months, I have been intrigued by the Bitcoin phenomenon. I am not alone, obviously, since the decentralized digital currency has been the red hot subject of policy conversations and investment flurries for the past year.

Fueling that interest is the fact that Mercatus is the home of three of the best Bitcoin experts—Andrea Castillo, Jerry Brito and Eli Dourado—in town. So Wednesday, after talking with Dourado and Brito about their research, I decided to buy my first bitcoin—or half of one really—and see for myself what the buzz was all about.