Hehehe. Good one. Ok, rain is confirmed.
 And I do think it is "possible", but 10k is a high bar. Even if it ended the year at $400 it would be a stellar performance in value appreciation. I'd be cool with that.

My advice is to forget about bitcoin for a moment and think about good old fashion demand. Look at where people are already spending money, then consider how bitcoin could give your business an edge.

I think as people know more about the world they live in and the science behind how it works, religion is going to continue to wane. It is just going to get harder and harder to convince people that a sky man is secretly controlling the universe. It seems silly to even say it anymore.

I'm sure there are players who try in all markets. However I don't think it's rigged. That would require some control over what others can do. There are many mechanisms for that in fiat/NYSE. But in BTC markets anyone can (and will) come in an spoil your party. If some evidence showed it then I would be more inclined to believe it. Whenever I pursue such evidence I find the source is just an opinion with no facts to support it. Something like:

A) "The market is being manipulated!!!!!"
B) "Oh, how do you know?"
A) "because I just lost $300!!!"
B) "Hmmm..."

Yes. But in the same way that I think it could be raining in exactly 1 year. That is to say, no one on Earth knows.

Really? I sleep like a baby with a gold spoon in his mouth. But if that's your assessment then I see how attractive shorting looks. However, I think a lot of people who tried shorting this week are very sad.

This is a real, actual space alien from another world. Earth.

Your going to be bummed out when your target changes his password 30 years from now.

No one controls the price. 

If you have bitcoin then you have money. You mean you want to sell out for fiat.

I assume you have a plan to leave the evil U.S. You would not want any part of this evil country. So where you moving to live the anarchist dream, Somalia or the Islamic state?

I don't know. There has been a huge increase in the number of wallets in Europe in the last two weeks and the number of businesses that take bitcoin continues to grow. I think we are just seeing natural growth.

I know I'm not. I don't do delusions or illusions. The glass is not half empty or full, it's completely full. Half with water, half with air. 

Reality is my guide.

There is a lot more talk of pump&dump than actually happens. The price went up because people are adopting bitcoin not because someone is behind the scenes manipulation everything.

I like to keep three types. Cold wallets for long term storage offline. This is where larger amounts are kept. A spending wallet on a secure computer. This is where I keep amounts in the hundreds for larger purchases. I keep it synced to the network. Then I also keep about $100USD on my smartphone for most purchases. This is less secure, but very convenient, and IMO, worth the risk.  

This week we saw U.S. intelligence agencies asking for business to give access to users encrypted data. They want to do away with end to end encryption to "fight the terrorists", of course. Well I for one am far more afraid of future abuses by my government that daesh. Since bitcoin is a system that uses anonymous encrypted data, I wonder what impact a law would have on BTC. In any case this will not stand without a fight. The people who just today told us that they lost all the data for all their employees and their families. Some 21 million people, all their personal info, financial info, the answers and results of their background checks, the whole F-ing motherload; now want to hold your data. Please.

http://www.darkreading.com/endpoint/3-reasons-why-giving-government-a-backdoor-is-a-bad-idea/d/d-id/1321248

I don't think there will ever be a zero percent chance of a catastrophic event. But the fact that it has held so long is a good sign.

Oh, and I should mention. Half the people here are infowarz, tin foil hat crazy.

Great news. This opens up a market for another Uber like service to accept bitcoin. I would certinly use them. Uber died for me after they announced that you must risk your life if you want to ride in an Uber taxi. What a stupid response.

http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-driver-with-concealed-handgun-prevents-mass-shooting-in-chicago-2015-4

Hi and welcome fellow peer!

A few things that might help you to start out. First the sad news. 

The mining game is now moving to an industrial level. It will require a huge capitol input to make a real go of it. The image below is a modern BTC mine. As you can see, it's not a gaming computer in your spare closet anymore. You are going to need a lot of money.
 


The good news is that this is still a new project and the future continues to look bright. If you want to get into bitcoin then I highly recommend two things. One is that you set up an account at an exchange and buy some bitcoin then spend it online. That may help to see what all the commotion is about and why bitcoin is the fastest, safest, and cheapest way to move money.  Don't screw around with faucets or schemes to increase your bitcoin. At best you will work long hours to literately make pennies, and almost all the deals here are scams. Just buy some and move on.

Next you should read the white paper by Satoshi Nakamoto.  This paper is what all this is about. The white paper is the straight dope. You can see a link to it in my sig, just below this post. Cheers.