I think it would 500s for me. I'm far from convinced we've said goodbye to sub 1000 forever yet. It really hasn't been that long since it was surpassed for the first time in a long time. Time will tell.

So what price would it have to return to make people feel sad? $900? $800? $700?

This action won't last forever. The question is whether it's just beginning to rev up or run out of steam.

You can because what matters is what people use something for. They are indeed radically different but Bitcoin can potentially completely fulfil the purpose that gold has as a hedge and store of value, plus some extras on top. That being the case it is a valid comparison.

It is of course absolutely nowhere near that at present but who knows what the future holds?

It's impossible to project yourself back to the mind set of people who were around in the earliest days. It could easily have turned to dust so anyone selling at $1 having paid 1c thought they were being sensible and financial ninjas.

As for the gullibility for scamminess, no, I don't understand that. I don't care if it's magic internet money, I'm not giving it to anonymous pricks with no comebacks who make ludicrous promises.

I got into BTC in 2013. Everywhere told me Gox was the place to go. I spent five minutes researching it and thought 'what the fuck is wrong with people? Why would they trust this shithole?' and shopped elsewhere.

And everyone here right now is still an early adopter.

So what would be the implications of this? I've never quite gotten the patent thing, especially patent trolling. I assumed that if something had been in use by millions for years you couldn't retrospectively apply patents, but that's why I'm asking.

Yes. I've been thinking similarly. I don't rate gold as any type of investment myself but it would be fun to own a lump of it. Then again even if less than one BTC buys an ounce I think I'd grow to loathe it in the years to come. I'll wait for 0.05 per ounce.

Cex. 250 high street stores should be enough to qualify as big. They also pay you in Bitcoin when you offload your filth on them. Scan and Overclockers take BTC along with a few others but it is a hopeless scene compared to others countries still.

I use giftoff.com for gift cards. They have a slightly weird selection but there's some biggies on there.

The Chinese government has shot their bolt. There's nothing much else they can do now.

The West has hit an ATH without China and probably from now on it's largely going to ignore a crippled Chinese market if and when it reemerges.

China will either have to develop a totally closed market which is possible if the government takes all exchange coins and give you an IOU, or ride everyone's coattails from now on. Their supposed command over the rest of us has been proven to be a paper tiger and I think that's permanent.

Mining is the last thing the government can do to scare us. What they may have failed to account for is that the rest of the world would be delirious with delight if Chinese mining was wiped out forever too. They're a cancer.

Because it was a totally empty pump orchestrated by a small number of exchange whales who probably didn't know the slightest thing about XEM.

It's eminently achievable but I'm not sure enough future newcomers will care about that. I can foresee them being offered Bitcoin or crypto trackers even when there are auditable alternatives.

All most people care about is a rising number. There are enough snake oil salespeople to lay that on while it lasts. The KNCminer ETN is backed by real coins but that's a purely voluntary action as far as I can tell. Future ones won't be.

The gold market has been fully developed for millennia. That's a deeply silly comparison.

GLD probably hasn't done gold any favours though. I wonder whether a Bitcoin ETF will do the same.

I think it's safe to assume that most of those pools are under the control of the same people. They know it's bad for PR unless they give the surface impression of decentralisation. If we really knew how few people commanded mining we'd probably all put our knickers on our head and run around the room screaming.

That very much depends on whether this run turns into a bubble and it certainly isn't a bubble yet. It would be unhealthy if one did develop but if it did then all bets are off.

When people start actually using it for something. Right now I assume the only movements are between wallets and back and forth to exchanges.

They also make the miners which is rather important. It would be a vast amount of fun if there was a concerted BU power grab and they were to find themselves permanently fired. I suppose they could rent out their mining warehouses to heat orphanages from then on. The mining cartels could do with a shot across their bows.

They initially set themselves a time limit about making the BATS rule change last year. If I remember rightly they allowed themselves three extensions of that time limit.

Once the final extension is up, which is this one, they have to make a decision. If they don't announce a decision by then then it's a yes by default. Weird setup.

Automatic approval has never happened. It be flabbergasted if it did happen with something with so many unknowns.

I suppose people are speculating with more agility because it's down to a few stuffy bureaucrats rather than entire populations. I wonder what they'd think if they had a perusal of the feverish speculation going on in pockets of the internet. The scale of it must be a first for them.

What with all our current action it's odd how rarely commented on it is that China is a goner for now. Who'd've thunk it just a short time ago and that elsewhere would shrug it off?

What form will the Chinese market take when it's reactivated? Will it not be reactivated at all? Will the PBOC kindly take charge of everyone's BTC and give them tokens to play with? Have the Chinese with coins remaining buggered off to Japanese markets? Will this affect mining eventually?

Give us your speculations.

I for one am sooo totally over chop now. Either it goes for it or it falls back. We'll know fairly soon what it intends to do. Any day above ground is a good day.

Don't forget the secret signalling to their masonic friends out there. That's to save a few goats and orphans being slaughtered in bizarre predictive ceremonies. And $1180 or so is 'suffering'?

Golly.