I think people are saying it's gambling in the sense that the currency fluctuates a lot, and you cannot more or less reliably predict the trend. Other than that, it doesn't have anything at all to do with gambling, it just another currency and another form of investing.

 I wouldn't use exchanges as wallets. I try not to leave any coins in my exchange accounts. I don't know if I'm paranoid but it never hurts to be prepared. Better safe than sorry.

It will not reach $10K within the year, methinks. However, it is quite possible that the level may be reached early next year.

The people not trusting the currency anymore. Barring any government intervention of course. The only internal problem which would lead to bitcoin "imploding" would be people losing their confidence in bitcoin for whatever reason.

Not necessarily, no. However, it will take some time for non-knowledgeable people to catch up on it, since it is a completely new mechanism and it's complicated even for people who would normally consider themselves tech-savvy.

Don't you think it is? I mean both the $41bn cap increase and the 14% price increase are incredibly remarkable numbers. And within 6 days!

I still don't see bitcoin's appeal as a form of payment, at least under the current circumstances. Transactions are not instant, transaction fees are high, and given bitcoin's rising trend, people tend to rather save it for long term earnings instead of using it on a day-to-day basis. I think the infrastructure around bitcoin has to improve in order for it to be used as a mode of payment.

As others have said, buy now and forget that you have bitcoin for a while. If you expect to make short term winnings, then bitcoin may not be your cup of tea.

It is never too late. You don't want to look back at the $8K level a few months later and say "I wish I had invested back then."

It probably will not hit $10K within the year. It will happen early next year though. So let's all wait a little bit more.