Religion, usually, is an accident of where one happens to have been born.

In other words, bitcoin is much like the Internet itself.  Bitcoin is the Internet of finance.

In my view and your own thoughts will vary:

Why sell for a quick one-off profit that yes, is a good profit but in the scheme of things will not be a life changer for you?  What's a couple hundred dollars (minus taxes - you ARE paying taxes on your gains aren't you?) when there is the possibility your bitcoins could be worth tens of thousands of dollars at some point?

Get yourself some bitcoins, buy stuff with some, keep some.  But don't cash out just yet for a few baubles when there is a reasonable chance you could have a tremendous return five or ten years from now that may be life changing as in cars, houses, retiring early.

But yes, if you do cash out now that makes bitcoin all the cheaper for the rest of us to obtain so we really do not mind.  Up to you.

Beautiful bitdogs!

I asked my banker what he thinks about bitcoin:

"Bitcoin should be banned", he replied as he sniffed up a line of coke with a hundred dollar bill in his nostril, "'because people use bitcoin to buy drugs".

It's just like drugs.  Governments often make them illegal but does that stop drug use?  LOL.  They find a way.  The market finds a way.  In fact, that only makes the illegal item worth even more!

No matter what happens it will be easy to use bitcoin, just as it is easy for anyone to go downtown and obtain all the drugs they want.

Everybody knows there are plenty of people in government who are in on the drug trade and profiting handsomely.  The big banks too are always being caught laundering drug money.  Look it up - these are facts and reported even by the mainstream media.

There is no stopping freedom.  People find a way.

So go ahead and ban bitcoin - that will only serve to indicate even more that we are onto something.

You can bet the big credit card companies, Paypal, and others will attempt to bribe public office holders to make bitcoin illegal or put controls on it.

That is the American way, after all is it not?  To purchase the force of government to do your dirty deeds.

It will not work in the long run.

If Amazon and others do not accept bitcoin, that is fine.  The market will simply go around them and create a plethora of businesses that do accept bitcoin.  So there are absolutely zero worries on that score.

LOL - you mean like illegal booze in the 1930's, illegal drugs today, and file sharing?

Making it illegal only serves to make it more popular.  Freedom is truth.  And truth always wins out over the practice of persuading someone to do (or not do) something by using force or threats.

"Neither a borrower nor a lender be, do not forget - stay out of debt"...

Well here's the thing - unless you actually spend your coins, you have gained nothing in reality from them.

Think about it: you acquire 10,000 coins.  Then die with 10,000 coins in your wallet.  Brilliant!

So even if you bought at $10 and sold them at $20, hey you've done very well and have actually done more with your bitcoins than most people I know.

The large holders will eventually spend their coins (houses, cars, food, entertainment) or loose them etc.  This your opportunity to get more bitcoins by providing something of value to the world.  

Don't get bogged down with envy and wishing for wealth redistribution (we all know what the welfare state gets us by observing our current experience).  With bitcoin there is nobody with a gun or a club standing over the net producers and forcing them to give to the net consumers.

Did early adopters get alot of coins?  Yes, sometimes they did.  And they took the risks, made the efforts before anyone really knew it would take off.  You could have done so too, but you didn't.

If you want more bitcoin, don't go home crying to your momma...

Go out and get some using your own energies!  Invent, create - This makes the world a better place.

No one can say for sure, especially since bitcoin has not matured.

Adoption by new people coming in and more and more businesses accepting bitcoin means the network effect continues to be strong and growing every day.

Since there are a limited number of coins, it would seem that if bitcoin survives the value of a bitcoin will likely rise in the long run for quite some time.

Of course there will be ups and downs as the herd spooks (down) or becomes exuberant (up).  That is the nature of the herd.  Be the wolf instead.

Just growing pains.  Over time the rises and falls will be less dramatic percentage wise.  If the trade value falls to $100 and then rises back to $200 you've lost nothing as long as you still have your coins.  Look at the longer term picture rather than quick buck speculation and you may be rather pleased at the outlook.

If you can't pay for something now, how is it you can afford to pay even more later?

"Neither a lender nor a debtor be, do not forget - stay out of debt!"

Words to the wise.  Just sayin.

As a business owner I can tell you that customer fraud is Rampant and they often use chargebacks and threats of chargebacks to get free stuff.  Some customers game the system so badly that it is likely they pay for almost nothing they order online.

The cost, of course, is passed on to the honest customers.  That is the only way a business can stay in business.

By putting the onus on the customer to do due diligence and only trade with reputable businesses, the way is much more clear.  Reputable businesses work with you to solve problems that may arise.  With bitcoin they do not have heavy handed credit card companies who profit from chargebacks and give customers free reign to commit fraud.

Consider this: is a 10 Million dollar company going to try and cheat you on a $20 item?  No.  If they do they won't be in business very long as word of mouth is #1.  In addition, that is alot of work in order just to make a couple bucks.  They just don't do it and its simply not worth their time and effort.

Would a customer try to cheat a 10 Million dollar company out of a $20 item?  Yes.  Many hundreds do as a matter of course.

My humble opinion based on real world experience.  Your results / beliefs may vary but I believe that if we eliminate the chargeback customer fraud problem then prices will fall for all of us honest people in the long run.

If it does "crash" it could be a much softer landing than last time - there are many more people becoming aware of bitcoin and coming on board.  They seem to be sucking up much of the coins being put onto the market by the "old hands" who experienced the last crash at $200.  Things have changed a bit since then.

Also, $200 is just a round number that does not correspond to other currency values.  For example, 1 bitcoin may be trading at 1654 Smemblics (or whatever).  In their case they might spook at 2000 Smemblics but 1654 seems fine.  Just numbers.

Perhaps it will hit 150 again.  But the longer term prospects are it will eventually go higher.

Not nervous at all.  Crash or no crash, I will still have the same number of coins as a month ago.  No loss, no gain until I exchange them for fiat money, goods, or services - I am not nervous about numbers on a computer screen.

Yes, just like they were saying back in 1994 that the Internet was bullshit.