Bitcoin Forum

The realization that bitcoin is a strategic global asset will trigger an "arms race".

Currently, the market cap of bitcoin ($7bn) is simply too small to facilitate a large buy of bitcoins from any governmental organization. If bitcoin started to surge globally, it could become of strategic interest to a government, and therefore other governments. I believe this would trigger something akin to a digital commodity race.

Read the article here : http://www.coindesk.com/2016%E2%80%8A-brought-bitcoin-awakening/ It's really interesting for those have some doubts :)

It could be like a snowball gathering size while rolling down a hill or the opposite - like a mountain climber getting more weighed down in a snowstorm. Worldwide it seems to be getting more volatile and alternative currencies could gain in popularity as a store for value. Stability is key because people don't like to see vast drop off's in the value of their holdings.

7 Billion only? Really :( ? Thought it had more of the market than that  ???
With all the media coverage and interest brought to it in the last couple of months due to good, bad and the ugly in the news lately. The number of transactions shown every second made you would think it would be double that amount.  :-\

Indeed an interesting article that had valid reasons (almost). Regarding the trust in exchanges for purchasing BTCitcoin, overall there might be few that stand out but in general, there have been rather a lack of trust lately due to recent events surrounding exchanges. I also do agree that regardless of the halving event, the price is on the rise and it's matter of time before governments jump in and make a good impact in it's value.

Dont worry. Its just a begining. Bitcoin has been more popular this year and it will take some time to be more popular. Lets be patient and watch how the markets reacts.

But what size does the market have to be to be big enough?
I would say at least 1 trillion, but that is a 150x rise from here.  I am optimistic, but I don't see 1 bitcoin being worth 50k anytime soon!

Baby steps should raise the cap to over 15 Billion again at some point, still chicken feed for economies and even super rich people, but a good bit better than now!

Probably this year plus there will be halving this year and that adds up the excitement of the people to invest in bitcoins. Due also to the altcoins developers who make a presentation on their projects then people would interest who is the pioneering of all the coins and that lead to finding out bitcoins.

if we even manage to get the market cap of bitcoin to be 1% of the market cap of gold we can see that as a great achievement already. 1% of the market cap of gold equals $76,500,000,000.

If banks/governments and companies as well as CEOs and investors and gold bugs all think of bitcoin as a safe asset class to hold 'just in case' and to split their capital a bit into another asset class (cryptos) then yes, bitcoin will take of big time.

if and when it happens remains the question, but when it happens we will notice, and it will likely rigger a chain reaction.

yes 2016 year is awesome for bitcoin because of many things, one important reason is openbazaar, people couldn't pay with bitcoins in ebay so they are happy that they can use it here

and steam now accepts bitcoins, and halving in July, all these things increases price of bitcoin and it will be more and more popular because of that, so it is good year for bitcoin

yes, 2016 is best for bitcoins

The people that say that's "too late to get on bitcoin" when the market is not even 10 billion dollars yet is laughable. The potential for the Bitcoin price to go 6 figures during the next 10 years is so freaking high that I feel sorry for all the idiots that don't see this obvious opportunity to be a pioneer and profit from it becoming rich as fuck in the process, but then again, that's exactly why few make it.

If anything now is the time to buy into bitcoin. All going well with adoption price should continue to go up the next few months and years. imo if we get bitcoin to double what it is now in a couple years then its still a good investment.

If governments and especially central banks would be led by intelligent people, they would have set aside a small pot of venture capital to invest in emerging technologies. Buying Bitcoin at its current valuation requires only minuscule financial resources for a central bank while at the same time having a potential of extremely high returns.

An arms race between central banks will only occur if purchases of Bitcoin by central banks will become public. Most probable, CB's will accumulate Bitcoin in secret. However once the first central bank announces that it already has bought Bitcoin, buying panic might ensue... The first movers will clearly win. If I had to bet I'd say it will be a rather small country that will move first.

ya.ya.yo!

It's going to be a lot of time for large investors to get their hands on bitcoins because most of the supply of bitcoins are already being held by some other big companies/individuals. Check out the richest addresses and you'll be surprised how much bitcoins are stored in them.

In fact I don't know why most central banks are still ignoring bitcoin, but are often recommending people to stay away from it. Perhaps government is not believing in the sustainability of altcoins in the long run.

They want to protect their own local fiat currencies and they have to stop things like capital flight. The governments doing this, is mostly corrupt and they have hidden agendas. The more honest governments < There are not a lot of them > says they want to protect the consumers against a possible threat, but that is also just a story.

The central banks are puppets for politicians to protect the interest of rich individuals and investors. If these people do not want Bitcoin to succeed they will use the governments to stop it.

Ofcourse, they are not into adopting bitcoins, because many hackers can just easily penetrate to their systems, there are still banks that doesn't have high security. if they are going to adopt that bitcoins of course they need to upgrade and security and it will cost them another big budget for that improvement,

If bitcoin is adopted in its current raw form, it has the potential to undermine the longstanding bond between sovereign and its currency.
Bitcoin is becoming so prevalent throughout society that central banks will lose the power to control monetary policy.

Because it takes away business from them! Bitcoin is a viable alternative to traditional currency, especially as digital payments become more ingrained in our day to day lives. If they were to promote Bitcoin and say "Hey, you lot should go download Electrum and look into using this to avoid middlemen", it takes away from their livelihoods of creating and regulating traditional currency. Ignorance is the best course of action, as if they were to actually look at it, they would be forced to say "This is a valid technology and a valid form of payment. Go utilize it where useful". By staying silent, they protect themselves.

To be fair to them, however, it could be that they're still concerned about the relative volatility in comparison to currency.

I really hope banks and countries just allow to people to use bitcoin , i dont wanna any countrie or bank getting into bitcoin as they will try to control something that is decentralized ,sure the impact at bitcoin would be huge as the current value for banks will be pennies making the value to hit 1000 or above ammounts in a short period,but well i hope bitcoin mainstream around the people ,and became a way to pay as currencie that would be enought.

Yeah, that's what I thought as well when I first read that topic post. 7 billion seems really small for something like bitcoin, they really need to make the cap larger.

We all hope for that brother because we want transparency and we want to get rid of huge bank charges, just like they say we need banking but we don't need banks. But if it helps to boost the popularity of the bitcoins then that would fine with me cause the possibility of massive adoption is high.

Interesting article. I like the idea of a bitcoin arms race. Many countries wanting to be a player in the world competing against each other to buy as many bitcoin as they can. All the more reason for individuals to buy and accumulate bitcoins while they still can at relatively low prices. Imagine what prices will be once the global bitcoin arms race begins and ramps up.

Bitcoin Armageddon

In order for the market cap to increase, there is also a need for the increase of bitcoin value.
There are several ways that we can achieve that. In a short-span of time, we'll probably need large investors.

It will come in due time, bitcoins is getting more popular today and with the world always moving forward, comes a time that different industries of the world will understand how useful bitcoins are in our life in transacting business.

it is really starting to kick off, soon bitcoin will start snowballing in popularity and grow so fast we can't even imagine it right now.
for me the biggest companies that started using bitcoin recently was Steam which seems so huge to me and that effect will be noticed over time when all those steam users switch to using bitcoin instead of credit cards.

What would be the most obvious gain if governments start to buy BTC? And if all governments in the world start to buy, at what price would it be considering that demand has risen more than tenfold. Would that end the decentralization of BTC?

Bitcoin has now not the best year that it can have and that is because it was stable for a long time and that is not what the people want with Bitcoin.
People with Bitcoin want to make some profit of course and they have to know that it will always start with a nice start so maybe it will be a better year in 2017.

I think yes, this will be the year of awakening Bitcoins. Developed countries rely on Bitcoin, and injected into the turnover, set payment terminals accepting Bitcoin, or take payment of utility services Bitcoins. In poor countries cryptocurrency will be used as an alternative to conventional funds, which will improve the situation of people. And all this happened in the present 2016, although he has not even ended!
I think that the rest of the country, in spite of the developed countries will follow their example.

After the halving we can tell as we are gonna be seeing a good price then, this is the year that different industries of the business world will slowly adopt bitcoins and they can understand the benefits this coins brings. With continued support on bitcoins by spreading the good news to different sectors on the worlds in no time we can achieve mass adoption.

If governments would buy Bitcoin the gains would be huge!The value would be easily something in the 6 figures at least.
And be sure when governments invest, other big institutions will have done so already.Think about Hedge funds, Pension funds, insurance funds etc.
And no it wouldn't be the end of Bitcoin's decentralization.Just because someone invests into BTC doesn't mean he will have access to the core protocol.

or even more, dont forget that ATM with the small users arround the world who use it, we have the high value of any of the current currency in the world... so is easy to understand that if goverments start to do that, the price would be more than 6 digits.



that's the problem, you know that "they" are always searching for it, i mean to take control of everything....

It will surely happen when the price of bitcoin increases happen. And these businesses will see the potential of bitcoins that then help it boost their sales to their particular products because it can be send online and paid instantly.

In time people will realise that Bitcoin is going to be the new currency and then they will invest in it. Maybe then the market cap will be raised.

If countries get interested into bitcoin they will just manipulate the price and make the real costumers left it,do you think if bitcoin reach 1500 dollars with the banks and countries playing with it,any of crypto holders would dump their coins and will be very happy to had bitcoin and roi.

I think to invest their money into it first of all they should be aware about the bitcoin and if they don't know what bitcoin is its difficult to expect that they will invest in something that they really don't know.

We need to hit those volumes 1st to get the market cap we want lol.

And that means "new" buy order which also means more players in the market making new money to come in.

Regardless what article is said, those elements need to happen before anything.

That true, we just need to patient here and wait for the good news. We just have to help the bitcoin community by spreading the good words to the people who has not heard of bitcoin yet. I am optimistic that in the near future we can see more players coming in especially from the merchant side.

Bitcoin have not the best value in this year and as you can see that because the value is now already stable for a long time so it needs now a longer time to rise and that is bad.
But they have also to know that it can takes a long time until the value will be more because it is not rising that fast.

Bitcoin has been awakened again, the price was stable for such a long time and because of that people decided to leave and quit Bitcoin. Those days are now over and Bitcoin is back on top again. 

Yeah and bitcoin will continue to rise in future too and I don't think that we will see major dump in coming days, price will rise in coming months for sure.

You are so up sad, don't take tension, it is starting of bitcoin career, bitcoin will be bring more something for us. better hope always for everything. you know one our earth will be finished. but we all know that and instead of this we are doing working daily, because we want established ourself. so every fields has same situation, but still do work one day we get your reward. we all know that bitcoin is best and it is also best for investment or trading or something where you wanna use it but only need constraint at your work.

anything can happen, and remember no one can ensure bitcoin will be fine. bitcoin is not necessarily the future.
will always see the big dump, because bitcoin prices are very volatile and difficult to predict.
but I expect better in the future, because it all depends on the user bitcoin, one of which was no big dump of whales.

Anything in this world cannot be ensure except death, if we believe in bitcoin then we should be positive with it even though we do not see and hold the future. This year while the halving is coming is a good year for the bitcoin price to rise and to have a stable value.

I feel like bitcoin slowed. Maybe this feeling is caused by unusual stability of the bitcoin price lately?
I know that adoption is progressing (Steam!) but it seems like there is not so many innovative bitcoin startups anymore.
Maybe bitcoin awakening means that we will see less fluctuation and stability?

I think the oposite, the "new" Satoshi Nakamoto that was showed on TV recently made people to be interested more in bitcoin, also this year is the halving which awaked the community and other people.

if you keep on watching the movement right now you will answer your own question as the price goes up and make it stable @ 450$ this year shows many interest coming from the new investors and traders

I agree and that is because of the nearing halving where they believe that the price will increase substantially after the halving. On the other hand, their are also other investors from different sectors of gambling, merchandising and like that adopts in bitcoins.

Really? Hmmm can't find any stable thing in around $450 or even with the current price. -_-

Can you point it out of me out of curiosity and let's see what youv'e really got.

The price will not hit at $450 again, believe me I have dream about his already. I thinks its going to go upwards until the end of the halving. Its the power of halving we are witnessing now so lucky are those who bought bitcoins at a lower price.

I agree that the price is no longer expected to reach $ 450 and will only continue to grow.
But I think this is due to sharply increased demand for the Chinese market, where local traders have to make important decisions in relation to the falling value of the yuan.

Regardless of the reason on why bitcoins price is beginning to go skyrocket again as long as this will continue we can make a decent profit by just doing simple jobs here, with a little investment and trading equals more profit int he future.

It is the sign of the coming halving, that's why bitcoin now is awakening from it's short term sleeping. It will continue to go to skyrocket
for the next year, that's for sure guys.

Bitcoin has this year not the best year that it can have and that is because it was not rising that much in this year and we have to wait a longer time until the value will be more.
But we need also the patience to wait a longer time until we can sell it with huge profit and that would be nice.

There is a big possibility that the price will increase by the end of the year, what is special with this year is the halving. Due to the event people are buying more bitcoins to save for the future.

It makes no sense for CB's to buy bitcoins, and they are not fools (whether you like it not). Unlike gold, Bitcoin doesn't have intrinsic value (well, mostly), so what's the purpose of doing that?

Even with gold, all CB's plus the IMF hold cumulatively less than 20% of all gold out there

What made 2016 gave Bitcoin:

On world markets increased volatility, and therefore any liquidity problems. As a result, funds and investors found Bitcoin as a way to store assets with low risk.
Installing an increasing number bitcoin terminal and development-friendly Bitcoin transfers platforms have allowed more and more people around the world to send money via Bitcoin
By all indications, 2016 Bitcoin became incredibly successful - perhaps that's when investors realize they can no longer afford to ignore the fundamental paradigm shift in the financial industry.

Good info, that is what really happening in this year and we could tell it' real due to the evidence of price increase. Not only the halving is pushing the price to go up but with real good news and improvement of bitcoins in the system to make it more convenient.

Yeah you are right 2016 maybe the year of bitcoin to go even further,,cause the 1st quarter of this year bitcoin has struggled and go down up to 250.,and after months bitcoin awakened and go up at 780,,well see some big changes on last quarter of the year.

Looking at this thread, to think that in mere months, the market cap has gone from 7 billion to an excess of 10 billion, while it took more than 7 years to get to 7 billion. Boy, does the tech world move fast.

half of this year have been passed,until this june bitcoin price really shocking us,some people predict that bitcoin price will to the moon when halving or after halving,but this month we are notice that bitcoin price have raise so high.

This is a good news because we are still half year and we have already witness a good success on bitcoins, and with the current halving that is happening in the 2 half of the year we sell great changes in prices and would likely to end up to $1,000.

The main difference with the current price and the past prices, when it achieved the 1000 dollars is this time bitcoin has a big community supporting it, being solo miners, big farmers and several holders. Bitcoin its just readjusting the value as the miners rewards will go down, it makes pressure into the miners and they are for sure the reason under the pump that should cross the 800 dollars this year.

Yes, I also think that the current market capitalization of bitcoin is still very small, and almost insignificant compared to other markets. It is true that this year its capitalization has considerably grown, but this is just the beginning of a long track to run.

Well we are experience of low increase this is not the same as 2013 when the price of bitcoin is increase fast at 1k value unlike right now we are still not experiencing it that the price is hit into 1k value.. well see after block halving maybe it will happen..

I agree that it is no as high as VISA or even PayPal market cap but you can easily notice that since Op posted this thread in May Bitcoin capitalization rose from 7 billion to 11.9 billion now.
There are not many assets I know that can achieve similar grow percentage ratio. In fact bitcoin is the only one AFAIK.

yes, I think 2016 is the year of revival bitcoin, even some media that preach about the increase in bitcoin. I think this year will be an interesting year for bitcoin. with so very many people who will be using bitcoin

Of course, because this is the only year where experience a good growth on bitcoins price and increase on adoption, this year the halving will also happen that is the most anticipated event for the investors here like me.

This year only?? Look like you forgot some big happenings last year.

Also how did you know that we have good increase of adoption this year?

2016 adoption is a chaineffect of what the adoption stats of the past years brought in this crypto world.

i think investing this year is more profitable than last year and at least that is base on my experience. I don't really know about others because the price is not the basis to be successful in investing here as we can make money even with little price fluctuations.

At least the stone touched the water and the wave is spreading slowly

The price rise this year could attract some people to the bitcoin and they might use bitcoin and help further price rise.