I can't foresee any of the current crop gaining serious traction, though I'm sure there'll always be enthusiast niches for them and uses we don't even know of yet.

If Bitcoin does become as mainstream as it seems to be slowly becoming the alternatives that do a better job might never gain the attention they deserve.

Once you're past a certain point of awareness the actual merits of something become less relevant. You could find much better alternatives to almost every market leader in every single area of our lives. More often that not the average user is going to go with the best known choice.

I haven't researched it enough to know what its rightful place is.

What I guess is that as Bitcoin's awareness grows, every new wave of people will be dreaming of time machines back to 2009.

They'll look a little closer and see there are other coins that are pennies. These coins will be marketed in increasingly sophisticated and attractive ways.

By the time Bitcoin is truly entrenched there might have been several hundred alternate propositions. The humongous majority will turn to dust. The majority will probably make certain people a very respectable amount of money while they ride it.

Cynical but more than likely to be true.

Considering the attention it's getting, it's worth throwing a hundred dollars or so at it.

Let's face it, many of the people looking into crypto currencies right now probably haven't actually spent any time at all considering the technical merits of a coin. They're just going to throw money at random and hope for the best.

The coin that really will be worth it for a brief period of pure speculation will be one built from the ground up by PR pros.

As above. Start the best exchange out there. The skills must be on this forum. Bitcoin goes up - you make a ton of money. Bitcoin panic sells - you make even more.

You're suddenly totally immune to anything the market does and you create a massive cash cow.

Once your year is up you have your fortune. Either sell it for megamillions or keep it yourself and accumulate megabillions.

Localbitcoins all the way for me.

Sometimes there's a massive premium when things are rising but when they level off or fall it often matches the market rate. I've bought online from there with no problems at all.

The enormous amounts of fiat money would be from institutional investors and major players. Right now the entirety of Bitcoin is less than chump change to any of them.

Making the transition from a market cap that entices enthusiast investors to professionals is where things might falter.

If it can't make that leap then it most definitely still has a future, perhaps a 'purer' one, but it won't reach the serious figures being thrown around.

I wouldn't try to guess a future valuation, but C feels like a realistic scenario. As an asset class its future would be pretty peaceful and secure.

There would be a dedicated attempt at all-out eradication if it ever came close to completely upending a major currency. I've no idea whether such an attempt could ever succeed, but the wars on drugs and terrorism don't make a whole load of sense either and they're piffling sideshows in comparison.

What's worth taking into account are the uses that are still to be fully explored. It's possible previously unthought of new economic opportunities could be created.

He'll be restricted as to what his fund can buy. I assume it has to be through more formalised exchanges.

It feels to me like people are basing mega valuations on a very narrow set of criteria. If Bitcoin stays inside those then it's still going to rise significantly but perhaps not to the levels some are saying.

I believe that it's going to have a role in global finance and areas of commerce and daily life that few have begun to guess yet.

I'd liken it to discovering oil. At the moment people are throwing it on their fire at home and thinking 'cool, it burns'. Right now it has value as a flammable sludge. Once you realised it could be refined further and you could use it in vehicle fuels, plastics, tyres, industry etc. it's going to be worth a whole lot more to you.

Once its true potential is explored and utilised to the fullest, that's when a proper explosion will occur.

It's definitely an interesting site. I couldn't be bothered with messing around with the funding options so skipped it.

But isn't anyone ever so slightly bothered that there's no proper contact information of any type?

Isn't anyone ever so slightly bothered that the majority of companies they're entrusting vast sums of money to could vanish into thin air without having much of a clue who they ever were?

This is a side of the Bitcoin economy that I well and truly don't get. No one would ever dream of handing over their 'real' cash to totally anonymous strangers.

I've definitely been learning a great deal. I was considering LTC at $6 and then got distracted. Ah well. I'm thinking PPC.

Probably the best decision I made was to use localbitcoins for most of my purchases rather than wait to get on an exchange. Even with the premium I paid about $250-300 for most of my coins. By the time I was deposited and verified on Bitstamp they cost $797.

I feel like I just got on the boat in time by a matter of days. I could've doubled the amount of coins I had for the same money if I'd been more organised but I reached the goal I wanted.

The cost per coin averages out at a level that I wouldn't sweat if it dropped by a few hundred. I've no idea what'll happen in the future. I don't think I could bring myself to buy any more coins at these prices or beyond. If it went back to 400-500 I would grab a few more.

It might be worth throwing some tiny amounts at other coins just in case it makes you a winner in the future.

On May 4th 2019 the price will be $5715.

I will be 48kg heavier and will have regrown my virginity. I will also have a limp, skin tags and Donald Trump will the president of the USA.