I think we will know when bitcoin has attracted too much attention when the US Government outlaw it. As in, anyone doing business in bitcoins is classified as a money transfer business and either has to get a licence or quit it. At the moment the wall street bankers are attracting most of the attention of Government trying to recoup some money from 2008 fiasco. But if bitcoin gains too much attention, and somehow is no longer is allowed in the USA, see how strong the coin will be then.

i'm in the us and am worried about this scenario. I assume the price would drop dramatically if the US tried to ban it, but if China and much of the world uses bitcoin, wouldn't the value simply spring back up?

as long as the crash stays above 200, I'll be happy.

absolutely - they are fearless, and that's why they own much of the US at this point. Bitcoins at 400? i don't think they see that as expensive.  

someone I know sold a violin for 30K and I told him - buy bitcoins ASAP, and he laughed. That was when they were at the SR rebound - $120 or so. Oh well, I've certainly made mistakes with trading, but never again will i underestimate the power of this coin...

so glad I didn't sell anything! thanks to this board, I kept my cool 

what's interesting is the psychological effect of these kinds of numbers. I mean if people get it in their head that bitcoin COULD be worth a million, then 1000 seems pretty realistic (especially now at 300+). And if/when we hit 1000, then the idea of going to 10 thousand seems realistic, and so on, and so on. I mean, if the idea gets seeded and people believe it, it does seem to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

You know there's the story of the runner Roger Bannister - who broke the 4 minute mile when everyone said it wasn't possible. Even doctors at the time were saying that the human body could never function at that kind of speed. Within 46 days of him breaking the record, another person broke it, then another, etc. Today this is not so uncommon (although still amazing). The power of belief can't be underestimated here. The internet, which seems so obvious now, had it's firm disbelievers as well in 1993.

it's understandable that the questioner would be concerned about a currency who's value changes radically at times, but when you look at the long term charts, it would seem that more and more businesses would gladly accept them once they understand the risk/return.

Imagine selling one computer to someone for 20 BTC (when bitcoin was $65 = $1300) earlier this year, and keeping them safe in a cold wallet. Meanwhile all the others you sold with USD. That one computer sale would now net you close to $8000 so far. That's not a bad profit from simply having a "buy with bitcoin!" button next to your product.

that is outstanding. Maybe they have plans to implement it somehow? I wonder how B of A can take advantage of bitcoin so that everyone wins....

by the way, that's my bank. They seem to be very up on technological advances, which is why I went to them. 

wow - falling fast on Stamp. Not sure if I want to catch this knife... .

down the rabbit hole we go...

i just want to pay everything with my phone. hopefully sooner rather than later.  

unbelievable - I think coinbase is taking a break from selling for a few days....

"Due to higher than normal buy volumes, we are unable to provide exact price quotes right now.

Instead of pausing buys entirely, we decided to give people the option to purchase bitcoin at the market price in a few days. Once your USD funds arrive, we will exchange them to bitcoin at the market price at approximately Friday Nov 22, 2013 at 12:10PM EST.

Note that you can cancel your order at any time up until your bitcoin arrive from the transfer history page. "

maybe they are expecting a bubble pop as well - any ideas?

they seem to be making up the rules as they go along. I need to get my money out of there...

yeah, but they give you the option to cancel the order in case you aren't pleased with the price on the 22nd....um I guess that's good? I can't really figure out what's happening. Maybe they all just need a long nap.

I did too - I consider it insurance. You know how many times i wished I walked away from the table when I was gambling? Well, I learned that lesson well. I still have a healthy amount, so I'm just now waiting to see if I want to buy back in lower.

i prefer the commentary here!

i like the chairman - he seems very reasonable to me....

interesting read - this might go much higher than we all think. I'm holding for now...


http://money.cnn.com/2013/11/18/investing/bitcoin-china/

coinbase down too...

lol me too - maybe because I sold some on the way up....

now this feels like April for sure. we were at 900 for what -5 seconds?

i was thinking the same thing for the US. I'm on the east coast and just logged in to see this. Won't be selling though as we've seen this a few times before.

certainly hope so, kept twitching my finger on buy at 720...

perfect!

i'm liking this 800 slow and steady rise. The last time we were here, I felt like a ticking time bomb was about to go off.

as bitcoin is $800+ at this point I think you're going to see a lot of the cryptos raise in price. People are interested in BTC, but a price close to Google's stock seems too much for most "average" people.

I think it's just a new awareness of this new "virtual currency" movement.  It's like the british invasion - Bitcoin being the Beatles.

you may be right, but when bitcoin hit 10 dollars or 100 dollars, I don't think we saw awareness of other cryptos in the media like this

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/in-bitcoins-orbit-rival-virtual-currencies-vie-for-acceptance/?_r=2

either way you want to see it, they are raising quite a bit in the last few months - that can't be denied.

fantastic article - thank you. The more level headed analysis of bitcoin I read, the more I'm glad I'm on this ride.

finally a breakthrough - wahoo!

fantastic news - congratulations to everyone! happy thanksgiving from the US!

more good news?

http://www.leaprate.com/forex-industry-news/entry/korea-decides-to-exempt-bitcoins-from-capital-gains-tax.html?goback=.gde_4874780_member_5810828129693892612#!

would we have to petition the exchanges for mBTC?

corrections are healthy. this thing isn't going to crash.....

some of the new buyers are going to have to learn about corrections. no need to panic when the whole word is going to be lining up to try and buy btc.

I'm not sure this has been posted - I tried a search and didn't find it. Some comments on facebook are saying this is fake....

Anyone have access to the full article?

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424053111903302604579234163250372446.html?mod=BOL_da_is

drug dealers and their websites are not to be trusted.

I don't know, but I wouldn't be leaving a large number of BTC on any blackmarket site at this point. Seems to attract unnecessary financial trouble.

If you read the blockchain messages, you'll get the idea that more than a few lost quite a bit of BTC. Why was their BTC on there in larger quantities? I have no idea. I personally don't keep more than a few BTC online at this point for small purchases of legal goods.

The stories of these thefts are going to make more criminals attracted to BTC. It seems easier to get away with this kind of theft than to rob a bank. I wonder if any police are looking for this guy right now?

I don't know the solution except keeping BTC offline as much as possible. Hackers don't seem to be getting worse at their craft, that's for sure.   

A really interesting development besides the financial stories, are the people realizing they can get money by showing their QR code.

What makes bitcoin valuable you say? Well, for one thing, you can receive money without sharing any of your personal information. Because of that, you'll have potentially millions of people freely advertizing the "brand" known as Bitcoin.  

Imagine when we start seeing this becoming the profile pics on facebook and youtube (if it hasn't started already)....

http://www.thebitcoinchannel.com/archives/28636

and have they started printing QR code t-shirts yet? someone is going to make a mint there...

the possibilities for growth in the viral world are pretty substantial. We've only just begun.

Krusty should have held.

Strong clown hands Krusty!

you are aware that businesses and individuals can transfer money around the world with almost no fee with bitcoin?

and you must also be aware that banks, western union, and other ways of transferring money to someone electronically all have hefty fees?

so, just compare sending bitcoins to someone versus sending a money order or bank transfer. Try imagining you are poor - like a few billion people in the world. Check out the difference in cost for sending a measly $1000 dollars and you might get a small idea of what this ONE use of the bitcoin protocol is worth.  

if you sell off bitcoins to pay tax, you'll have to pay tax on that as well. I don't think a lot of people are going to be selling much...

yes, the healthcare program is turning out to be quite an economic mess - and we've just started.

Another fire to pour gasoline (USD) on....

Yep, that one. Could also be on Tuesday

just because Google might make a currency, doesn't mean everyone would use it. How many people have an Orkut account?

wow, now that's balls. we could see public hangings of officials over this....

Love this!

I would think many people invested in Ripple are switching over to BTC after this announcement 

https://xrptalk.org/topic/2629-selling-my-xrp/

Certainty. Anyone who is a big player in bitcoin must be seeing these posts here and on reddit. This could be a huge moment...

Unfortunately it looks like he's pushing it sideways....

Whether the 51% attack is a real threat or not makes no difference. Perception is all that matters, and that is affecting the price right now. The perception of bitcoin in the media has improved dramatically, but this could set off another round of FUD articles.

Clever arguments to the contrary won't matter. Finding a solution to this perceived threat will. It can also show how the greater bitcoin community can fix its own issues, which any long term investor would find compelling.

I'm not going to wear an iwatch or any other computer watch. I think apple is taking a misstep here imho.

it seems very confusing market - wise. Yes, Iwatch is new and some people are going to get them, but they just introduced a bigger screen on the iphone. People want bigger screens on phones but smaller screens to wear? I don't get it. I'll be happy to read the reviews, especially for book reading and gaming - both of which I use my phone for. I can't imagine reading a book on a watch, but maybe I'm wrong. 

bought some today and hodling strong!

I'd rather gamble. Picking alts that get pumped is like throwing darts at a dartboard blindfolded. Gambling is more fun.

tried opening a bitstamp account twice but they wouldn't verify my proof of ID. Thank you lord Satoshi for looking after me.

the Left will certainly win in Greece. Having lived there off and on, there's nothing more satisfying to the Greeks than "sticking it" to the taxman, in this case - Germany.

http://boingboing.net/2010/05/04/satellite-photos-cat.html

I don't know, an old school banker who's going to retire soon knows what is going to happen to digital money in the next 20 years?

I have my doubts