Bitcoin Forum

So as I'm sitting here in the newbie section I can't help but wonder where this is all going..
 
Where do you believe bitcoin will be in a week? A month? 5 years?

My speculation:
-1 week.. Nothing too different, fluctuations going crazy
-1 month.. Maybe another few exchanges and services.
-5 years.. New world currency in which all government currency will be backed (if it still exists). Only countries that are too stubborn will still use their own currency. And inevitably, some wildly creative use that will revolutionize commerce.

week: around 100$
month: 150$
5 years : over 1000$

10 years: over 20,000 per bitcoin

Trust me... You will see.

Hopefully we will see bitcoin at around 10$ soon enough... Then back up. :)

Its going to the stars.

Hoping for a very slow but steady rise the next 10 years.

Sorry to discriminate but low post counters here all said things like it will be 20k per coin. Higher post counters have said maximum = $1000 per coin or a slow steady rise which is more believable to some extent.

But what are anyone's estimations based on? Nothing on that so far.

This. Exactly, nobody knows what is about to happen, I mean, you never know, BTC may get back to $2 per BTC and all the big miners will stop mining due to profitability decrease and it may, just as easy, die.

This whole Bitcoin thing is an economical experiment, and the network was mostly based in teenagers basements back in 2010. We all hope someday, BTC will be gigantic, used by all the people, including your grandma. I never thought Bitcoin will get to $100 per BTC, but it happened, as much as I didn't believe that from $250 it can go back to $50.

Week: $80-$150
Month:  $30-$10,000
5 years: What is this strange "dol-lar" you speak of? I have never heard of such a thing. *flyin' sneakers*

5 years seems a bit fast for this but still this is what is likely on the horizon if you ask me (but further out)

1 week: $100-120
1 month: $130
5 years: incredibly hard to predict... but I hope and believe it will be in the thousands range

I think any adverse economic news ala Cyprus style haircuts, stock market declines and continued currency devaluing leads to BTC looking more attractive as a store of value.

Fiat is at the mercy of central banks and they are acting irresponsibly, going deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole. Imagine you had BTC denominated in yen. Or held gold in yen?

But things just might stabilise and faith will be restored. Maybe the bernankes, krugmans et al of the world are right and all will come good. Then BTC might fall or serve no purpose? Or it might be regulated and this could both help or hinder.

Truth is, as another poster said, no one knows. There are many variables.

In saying that My uninformed opinion is that BTC is a positive development just because it cuts out the banks fees/PayPal middleman and transactions times & costs.

-1 week.. 75-125
-1 month.. 75-125
-5 years..  0..250

The OP was actually asking where bitcoin was heading in terms of economic and world impact, not price predictions.

Good questions. You should put it as a poll, if you can. I'm not sure how to do that myself. My newbie opinion is that it's too early to tell, still in beta. A lot of old timers here seem to be divided between nothing can stop it and the PTB's are going to crush it for having the gall to challenge the status quo of fiat currency. I like the nothing can stop it crowd. I like the idea that Bitcoin is a disruptive technology similar to the internet. Too widely distributed and invested to kill. Like AOL! (grin)

Who knows really. But it's fun to watch. I think putting as many BTC as you can afford to lose in an offline paper wallet, or physical coin is a good bet.

I blame the post right after :D

In 10 years I predict Bitcoin will be or will be nearly the dominant global currency, overtaking the US dollar.  What kind of implications this will pose, however, I have no idea.  I presume those in power will not like this one bit.

The MOON!

Of those in power:

The unintelligent ones won't be able to adapt and fight to preserve what they have, only postponing the inevitable.
The intelligent ones will takes this time to adapt and preserve their power. Honestly, not even that much intelligence is needed for them to pull that off.

Good point; those who aren't quite so bright will think they have a better chance trying to fight Bitcoin.  But that's like trying to fight the Internet; you just won't win, and from what I've gathered about men in power, they're not very tech-savvy, so I don't predict many will attempt to adopt Bitcoin, or even see why it's the path of least resistance.  The US dollar's a sinking ship, and those who take the time to understand why Bitcoin is so vital at a time like this will persevere in the end.

Agree with this completely. Good post sir.

Well for the most part. The not-tech savvy is not so important as the core concepts of Bitcoin are completely unrelated to the (extremely elegant) technical mechanism behind it. Everyone can understand scarcity. The cryptographic security might be harder to grasp but one can argue this is not technical but mathematical (although this depends on ones definition of technical).

I think most or all people in power who achieved that position under their own strength and not by being taken under someones wing, will manage to migrate most of their power to the new status quo. Most of those that don't deserve to be there will fall from their pedestal unless taken by the hand by those that do.

Heh, your post reminds me of "a fool and his money will be soon parted." I don't quite agree to the fluctuation of power, though. Power is about who you know, not what you know. I think once you are in one of "the circles" it's very hard to be removed.

100 - 150 - 500  :o

It should go down before it goes up. While I have no doubts it will hit 500+, it's more like:

100 - 120 - 130 - 125 - 110 - 140, etc. while slowly averaging a higher price over time.

Then this poses a completely different question. Once "those in power" realize the potential and shift to bitcoins, will they then try to control bitcoin? They have the money to drive up the market, and at that point they will have the bitcoins to demolish the market as well. So is bitcoin really as distruptive as we think it is? Perhaps this is not only an economic experiment but a social experiment as well. With the goal of understanding the socioeconomic balance of power and just how far "those in power" are willing to go to preserve it. So my original question was not geared towards numbers but social, economic, and socioeconomic implications.