Bitcoin Forum

This article gives a very concise, but accurate history of bitcoin, and what is going on with it right now.  I definitely agree that it is currently on track to start lowering debit/credit card/cash use by large amounts.  Also I have seen coinbase now allowing merchants who go through them have the option to give bitcoin paying customers a % discount on their puchases, giving an incentive for people to pay with BTC.  This I think could really start getting people interested.

Anyway, I think hes right about the "venture capital" phase being just about complete, allowing the "wall street" phase to begin this fall/winter.  It is interesting times coming in the near future no doubt!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterdiamandis/2014/06/23/my-insights-on-bitcoin-going-from-deceptive-to-disruptive/

The article will help.

good to see a banker publication behind bitcoin :)

I've noticed that Forbes is very high on Bitcoin for about a year now.   ;D

I think most people assume the price will go up exponentially in the next 1-2 years. 

Wow that is a positive article. If the timeline is what the author proposes this fall should be exciting.

Ugh, isn't Forbes allowing almost anyone to post articles on their website? I think most of us think that this really matters because the name Forbes has so much weight and reputation behind it, but I'm pretty sure this is just a random contributing article, not someone actually working for Forbes.

Great article. And I agree, bitcoin's image took a bad hit when it's exchange rate value exploded and MSM picked it up without knowing much about it.  All of that seems to be dying off though and more and more people are starting to realize bitcoins potential in being a huge game changer in the long run.

bitcoin = the force to be reckon with

The author is Peter Diamandis.

Hm, that's bearish, when MSM says something, usually do the opposite of what they recommend.

And here you go, the price kinda started sliding down to prove this.

Hasn't it already exploded? I guess articles like this will help gather more interest though.

If bitcoin ever becomes really successful, what we've seen so far will look more like a fizzle than an explosion.

eid is right.  Check out this presentation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7LQu-eIOO0&list=PLUOP0P68GJ3BGjfqoLLnzAefk3ZzXQtJ7&index=9) if you want to see bitcoin's true potential, price wise.

It already has 'exploded', but I'm sure we'll see another explosion soon enough. I think bitcoin will grow to where demand outstrips the supply and that should see some explosive growth.

I look forward to the days where sub $1000 bitcoins sound dirt cheap :)

The problem with exploding prices is that volatility inhibits usage as people are scared to go in or spend. But increased usage would make the price explode. Not sure how this can be tackled.

Yes. I think some senior-level bright-spark at Forbes loaded up large and has been quietly keeping the in-house view bullish.

thank you for giving the link of this article. I gain more knowledge about the development of bitcoin. so I can be more intelligent in the use of bitcoin

Yes, especially once a 100% legit US base exchange (potentially this is where the wall st money will go) is opened.  That will help people obtain BTC and start using it day to day.  The limited nature of BTC will also help drive the value up.

Great article, now we have to wait for the phase to begin. Maybe we'll get another pump this like the ones in April and December last year.

Yes, Forbes has been one of the publications to have literature on BTC almost every day.  It is nice that their articles are not all FUD too.   Many of the news outlets only report the bad news, and then when prices go way up, they just say "Bitcoin went up today.."

Yeah its nice to see he's got his money where his mouth is too, this author actually has some BTC and even is converting more of his gold to BTC.

Peter Diamandis's phases are well defined, but he is defining them in 2014 when we are already in phases 3. It would be really clever of him if he defined the phases with dates back in 2009. What he said in the article is what we already know for months. This article is for Forbes readers, not us.

It reminds me of the "Elliot Wave Theory". It is so easy to define phases and waves when it is history. It is much more difficult to pinpoint where we are among the phases when we are living it.

No, the true explosion has not yet even begun. We are preparing for launch (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHUPPYzzZrI).

Please fasten your seatbelts and keep arms and legs inside the rocket at all times.

I think it's only logical that bitcoin will see another spike at some point. More and more people are getting on board with bitcoin so its bound to happen sooner or later.

Yes, it already exploded some time ago, but the magazine said "bang!!" just now....  :)

Bitcoin is future so future is bright :)

yeah, i think it hasn't reached its vertical point yet - it's still way too nascent at the moment. but we don't know for sure if it will even reach the vertical line. bitcoin shouldn't really be compared to twitter or facebook.. it's much, much more complicated and it brings new rules to the game that we've never seen.

A publication like Forbes should know better than to take a hard negative stance against Bitcoin. If Bitcoin succeeds they can say, "see, you heard it here first folks". If Bitcoin fails no one will remember and they can blame their contributors.

Agreed. I can't see Bitcoin going fully mainstream until the price has stabled out. Any guesses on how long that may take?

But with mainstream acceptance, naturally loads more people will be acquiring BTC.  So I would think that would cause value to rise.  Then once acceptance has grown to a large enough level, I imagine the price would stabilize.

in that case, it would be considered more of a speculative asset than an actually useful currency. and that's why i think it'll never be a currency, and if it does become one, it won't be for a long, long time.

Another explosion is on its way, when it is coming no one knows. We know that the adoption rate of bitcoin is growing and its value will fall in line with this.

Even today bitcoin does have some characteristics of a currency. It is lacking being a store of value as it's price is volatile however the price volatility has subsided this year and hopefully the price will be mores stable in the future.

It is difficult to predict the direction of the transformation of the bitcoin. But it is clear that bitcoin is in the begining of its life cycle. So, time will show if it will be the "beauty" or the "beast".

It is something in between the currency and speculative asset. So, the "kind of" regulation might have positive impact on the price stability of bitcoin. But is the price stability what the bitcoin holders are expecting today? I am not sure.. :)

ok, another positive article. This will bring some new users to our community.

I'm not sure if wall street is ready to move in by this year already.

Also not sure if i should be happy if they do, because it will leave me less time to buy more bitcoin.

Looks like bitcoin is going to hit the proverbial big-time before it's technically even out of beta!!  ::)

bitcoin has indeed exploded multiple times, and i also agree that we will see another boom, hopefully with slower growth and more stability.
true outbreak would happen if bitcoin had more positive publicity, and not just bad ones.

3 things:

1: The Satoshi Million(s)
2: The uncanny mining industry
3: The uncanny Bitcoin industry

Crypto is indeed the future. But Bitcoin has issues that are big enough, IMHO, to make even a 7 billion USD valuation a bit bullish.

This, of course, won't stop the Wall Street guys from moving in and emptying the pockets of unsuspecting investors. By no means.

I'm used to living in a world run by bankers with no sense of ethics whatsoever. And I know how to keep my own world habitable.

Now your yelling for a 10.000$ bitcoin. And a transfer of power into the hands of people that are even more uncanny than our current overlords :)

Price stability is ultimately what it needs to prosper. I would def say that bitcoin is closer to a speculative asset then a currency

It stands somewhere in between. But i think i will be moving to the "currency" side.

Bitcoin already has utility and fungibility. To prosper, the only thing necessary is time. The world needs Bitcoin much more than Bitcoin needs the world [read: global adoption].

A US Based exchange is pending the government somehow making a profit out of bitcoin right? Otherwise I just dont see it happening.

It is defiantly moving in that direction, it is just not there yet. The concern is that a lot can happen before it gets to that point and a lot needs to happen for it to get to the point of it being a currency

touche :D
sometimes there are insane theories why such article now... thats true reason probably

He never said it would explode. It said:

Forbes is always so pro bitcoin.  I think the editors own a lot. 

But for every editor of every newspaper that invests and then publishes, bitcoin will grow.

The wallstreet boys and big banks hate bitcoins right now. Because their usual unethical schemes will not work or move this market, And they are so behind now they would stand to lose more than they would gain by using their normal business practices they use in the stock market and Forex. I love bitcoins because unless they are already sitting on a crap load of coins, which is very doubtfull, they wont be able to get in at a cheap price, and their normal tactics will have an opposite effect on their normal business strategy. I hope they are stupid enough to play the game they think they are good at, i hope they use their exact strategy they use in Stocks and Forex, and they will be the ones going broke while we are all climbing our way to the top. The reason people, like Forbes, are forecasting this bitcoin explosion, Is because places like them know how these big banks work, understand mindsets of wallstreet boys. In Addition a lot of others have researched bitcoins and big bank investments, and if you know just a little about both you will know it will be the big banks and high dollar investors that would most likely push its value up and over 10K per coin, on accident tho. Unfortunately for them they are not and will not  be the big fish in this sea of bitcoins, it will be the big miners out there, pools like Ghash and other large funded Bitcoin investments. The big banks and high dollar investors will only secure our future and be the pawns on our chessboard for a change.

General public did get scared of stupid ghash http://imgur.com/lpuGJpk

I wish he would explain how Wall Street plans to monopolize on BitCoin since it is inherently decentralized.
It was invented to work without banks.

So ironic how the new technology must be better then the old in every way. Almost no cost to send any amount anywhere in the world, but we MAY (emphasis on MAY because it is very unlikely bitcoin will ever require any trust) have to trust someone ... Im out. Meanwhile, every investment the average person has requires trusting a centralized system but they don't think twice about it.

Large investors didn't acquire their wealth by being stupid.

There are two major groups among them:
a) those that don't understand cryptos and won't invest in them because they don't invest into something they don't understand;
and
b) those that understand and have researched and come to the conclusion that Bitcoin is unsustainable with a number of flaws which nobody seemingly is going to patch or which are impossible to patch, and that it's just the first crypto that will pave the way for others, hence it makes sense to diversify into undervalued competitors in anticipation of the next big thing.

Once their vision is becoming more clear about this next big thing, they invest. Some will get burned because they invested into something unsustainable. It's the natural law - survival of the fittest.

As for banks, they will never get approval from central banks to invest into cryptos, because cryptos is their direct enemy. It would be like signing your own death sentence. Bankers can act as individual investors (but see the previous paragraphs on how those act).

Anything can be monopolized and centralized with help from the government.

Except porno!

The current popularity of Bitcoin really half uphill. No doubt if some technology companies that reside in Silicon valley became interested in using Bitcoin. In fact, many financial experts argue that Bitcoin could become a means of payment cyberspace. However, fluctuations in the price of Bitcoin makes menjadikurang safe current for long janga investment. At the beginning of this year the price of Bitcoin reached USD 13.
However, as quoted from Forex Ticket, the currency associated with the name Satoshi Nakamoto is known as the inventor is not a legal entity. That is, the government is not accountable for a variety of other transactions.

I may also to "explode", like a bubble. Bitcoin has a very limited connection with the real economy. And therefore its value today is based on expectations only.

I see the price of bitcoin is already rising. I hope it does explode but the question is if it does can it stay there?

What next to "explode"?

He's the CEO of XPRIZE, so I think he knows something about disruptive technologies...

Well, if you look at SlipperySlope's posts (Metcalf's Law), you'll see that the two are tightly correlated, so it's not a problem that needs to be tackled.

Fine by me.

so begins the explosion

I'm almost certain we'll see some explosive growth at some point this year. I think there will be a point where the demand will outgrow the supply and we'll see a great leap in bitcoin's worth. There seems to be more and more companies accepting bitcoin almost daily and I'm sure we'll see some really big companies accepting it sooner or later. The question is just when.

I really think if one large enough company started to accept bitcoin and gave some sort of advantage to using it (free shipping, 5% off on all bitcoin purchases) then it would give people an incentive to actually buy some bitcoin. Then if bitcoin speculators saw this and pulled or raised their sell orders, price could go up very quickly. I think the hardest part of educating the public is being done on a daily basis and is greatly helping with the potential for a big rise in value even if only some new people come aboard.

Last year Bitcoin really exploding, the price not so much though. The Bitcoin future looks promising.

it will not survive, the price can go up at any time is very high. or dropped off at the lowest price. no one can be sure. of course we hope the price is not stable. but continued to climb: D

All that was necessary for Bitcoin to explode was getting rid of all the thieves that latched on to it at the beginning. Now that they have been weeded out, plea bargained, prosecuted and bankrupt it's time for real businessmen to take over and make Bitcoin shine. The future looks promising.

Yep. Bitcoin did shoot up $50 in a day or two.

$50? It is very optimistic...

He's not being optimistic, he's just stating a fact:

https://bitcoinwisdom.com/markets/btce/btcusd


Lots of good news lately. I hope this is the start of something big. Now, shall I pay my CC bill or buy more bitcoins....

Its better than being pessimistic.

We all knew it would

I remember the days when an article like this would have led to a significant move in the price. The fact that it doesn't anymore I think is actually a good sign.

I think the potential that bitcoin could explode is part of what makes it exciting. I was there for the rise from $100-$1000 and the fall back again and it was a pretty big rush. I think it's only logical that it'll happen again as just look at all the companies and publicity bitcoin is getting. It seems a whole different world to what it was mid last year.

This is true for any investment. What is exciting to me, is the fact that you can use your investment to purchase any number of goods/services instead of having to use fiat.

Yeap more and more companies are starting to accept bitcoin, it is gradually becoming a social norm

people need to just use it once and they will understand the potential... its far superior to cash, its just going to take time to build the infrastructure and change old habits that have been habits 'for a looooong time'....

Its been 3 days. Any explosions yet ??

nano explosions every day.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=671389

I just exploded in the men's room at Whole Foods and used a Bitcoin gyft card to pay for my order. Does that count?

Waiting for another surge similar with Nov. 2013

I remember when btc was around 10:1 and every cent was meaningful, now it goes up and down 10's in one day.  Seems likely another explosion will happen the more companies like Forbes get on board.

if everyone expects a bubble, are we really gonna get one?

Bitcoin has moved by much more then $50 in one day before, it has swung by more then $50 in an hour. Bitcoin went up over $50 in the days after the USMS auction.

I'm predicting $10k / coin

I predict $1000 by the end of 2014 and bouncing around that price for the year of 2015.
"Trees don't grow to the sky".

Fucking ghash. What fuckers. What absolute cocksuckers. We could be en route to the moon now.

Primarily by purchasing Bitcoin as investment I'd say and creating financial products for their clients to do the same. The bank replacements are coming from the startup space which Wall Street isn't super involved in until the IPO stage as far as I know.

Bitcoin is actually a great way to create an entirely new class of equities, namely using layered protocols like Mastercoin or Colored coins to build a decentralized stock market.

Lots of opportunity for some on Wall Street to revolutionize the securities and equities trade.

I am  of the opinion that Monopolization of bitcoin by Wall St  or govt or multi billionaires is currently really easy with its market cap of just $8billion. Here is the theory which is open for discussion positive or negative.

1. buy and hold all coins that come to market

current trading is running about $50M/ day average. Of this approx $30M/ day is used in commercial activity and anything above that is mostly speculators based on a VERY approximate estimate for May 2014,( but arguably close enough to give an idea)

http://www.quandl.com/BCHAIN/ETRVU-Bitcoin-Estimated-Transaction-Volume-USD

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=635667.msg7082530#msg7082530

2 This will force the price to rise rapidly as $30M a day is needed to continue the commercial activity and they have to get the coins from somewhere. Those merchants that immediately resell for fiat ( most) and those sales to be bought by the "market manipulator/s as there is currently no laws governing this ") will lead to a vast accumulation of coin by very few ( a situation that already exists and will be compounded ..see rich list)

3 Yes there will be many that will not sell coin until it reaches "d moon"  but commerce will need coin on a daily basis and eventually this supply will dry up..( leading to the price getting half way to d'moon). Bubble....This will also cause more speculators to join in and the manipulator/s can and some will take huge profits ( x10 +++) by dripping their stash into the market at their target price.

This is not a new idea or practice..it has been going on for decades/centuries and the small market cap of all the existing coins makes it "piss easy" and has probably already been going on in the bitcoin market for some time on a limited scale. When wall st money ( trillions) gets involved and others can post the needed parameters for this..they WILL control bitcoin price although not bitcoin itself until it becomes too expensive ($50,000/ coin ++)or too risky ( Govt clamp down/ collapse of bitcoin demand etc)for them to do so.

Forbes had one of the positive articles in 2011 that helped spark the first HUGE rally.
The strong media support for Bitcoin is sometimes disturbing.  :D

Oh that part's easy. Gold is a pretty good model for how it would work. With enough money, you could buy up huge amounts and then repeatedly game the system. There are only so many Bitcoins in circulation, and it's inherently deflationary, as mining them becomes increasingly more difficult.

At this point, only those with very specialized server farms can mine Bitcoins with any kind of realistic expectation of a return, so the sources are very limited. By controlling those sources, and controlling the coins that are already mined, I think you'd be surprised how much monopolizing can happen.

Sooner or later, it will explode

All BTC value game is based on expectations.

I'd have to say the expectations of merchant acceptance are being met.  Also hundreds of millions of dollars by very smart investors have been put into the bitcoin infrastructure.  Yes the expectations are high, but I'd say they are being met.

I would agree - are being met by now. But it is a speculative asset with the very limited connection to the real economy. And therefore the "explosion" could be more likely to the explosion of the bubble.

It will explode and spike again, not sure when, thought would be by late summer, now not so sure.
can't wait for it to go up and take alts with it, they are insanely low now

Isn't it going other way around? BTC falls, ppl go to alts to spread their wealth, btc goes up, ppl go back to btc to capitalize on growth?

With all the millions being poured into the BTC infrastructure, I'd say it's gained a legitimate spot in the "real economy."   As for any alt-coins, I would say they have no connection to the real economy, at least not right now

Try to pay bitcoin for your pizza. Alt-coins are connected to the real economy because YOU are using it day-to-day.

nope.

right now alts are worth nothing without btc.  it's only by confidence in btc that alts get any credence.

Optimism is very good for the health.

It counts as being inappropriate behavior in a public restroom... You really couldn't wait till you got home?

Should coindesk really be quoting this guy ?

Nice article, i wish whole world would read forbes for this while or atleast this article, that would be panic buy!

It's always interesting to see whether people proclaiming a bright future for Bitcoin have indeed an agenda of their own. Draper, for example, has of course got to foster Bitcoins growth and advertise its benefits. I wouldn't be surprised if quite a lot of journalists or so called experts just own a small stash themselves

If a reporter (like anyone else) believes in bitcoin, why wouldn't they buy some and continue to report positively on it? It doesn't imply an agenda necessarily. It just means they're willing to put their money where their mouth is.

Surely is a good news this :)

But, where is the explosion of the value? How much we'll wait yet?  ;D

Seems to be falling at the moment.

Falling? We are at 600-620 for few days now.

Exactly. Now the price is slowly moving down. We need a good news from the market to see a probably rise of price  ::)

i think someone inside forbes magazine wants to increase the the value of btc just by making people hear more and more about the bitcoin world.

The issue with BTC is too much hype buying and not enough legit new people coming in.  Probably the best news we've heard is 4000 Bitcoin ATMs in Ukraine but Ukrainians aren't yet lining up to buy BTC but could in a worsen currency crisis.

I thought it was rather 4000 outlets of exchange rather than 4000 machines.. am i wrong!? either way, it's insane, and I'm looking forward to some form of international 'case study' becoming a success story with no sting in the tail. I hope ukraine turns out to be that, but argentina could also prove very complimentary for bitcoin this year.

I agree with this comment about bitcoin having gained a real place in the "real economy".  One anecdotal observation on this point: I run a full node, but I turn my computer off every night.  I've noticed the last several days that it's taking longer in the morning when I turn on my computer for it to catch up with the blockchain than it used to take.  I'd call that a good sign as it means that there are more transactions taking place within the bitcoin ecosystem lately than there used to be. 

Bitcoin does likely have some place in the global economy and it's current price reflect that. The size of the economy that bitcoin is a part of will need to grow in order for bitcoin's price to continue to appreciate.