indeed. if you say something, then at least make sure you know what you are talking about.

just a few large exchanges that were around at the time mtgox went full nuts:

bitstamp
btc china
btc-e
bitfinex
huobi
okcoin

and of course more, but these are the major exchanges that were also active at that time.

you can track your payments, but to a certain extend it's quite pointless as merchants use payment services for their bitcoin payments, and thus not get involved in the transactions at all. they just get a notification that the payment went through with as result that you get the goods you paid for. so yes, in this case there is indeed a third party involved. merchants do that so they are not exposed to the risk that the volatility brings with it.

aside from whether or not it will really happen, i think people aren't ready for it. look at how small the bitcoin economy is right now, and how low the number of people is that are spending their coins. and that while a lot people here are so optimistic about the currency aspect of bitcoin. as long as people don't see bitcoin as money/currency, it will be a more than difficult task to get people to spend their coins.

gathering information about altcoins won't do anything if you don't know that all coins in that industry are subject to pumps and dumps. that's the only thing people are interested in. it's basically gambling that they do. that's how i think the altcoin industry is.

banks being very interested in the blockchain as technology doesn't mean we get to benefit from it as well. banks only look to use the blockchain internally as private chain. they will not hand you over any freedom by allowing everyone to benefit from a technology as the blockchain. they want to rule every aspect of their business with iron fist. that's their system.

if more and more people will adopt bitcoin in the coming years, then the amount of people using bitcoin for illegal things will also increase. it's not that the number of people using bitcoin for whatever illegal things will decrease with more adoption. it doesn't make any sense.

as long as there is demand for a currency/investment tool such as bitcoin, then we can enjoy seeing the price go up and down and make profits as we are used to. i personally think that the store of value aspect that bitcoin offers will attract much more people to bitcoin than we can realize in the future. who doesn't want financial freedom? bitcoin can give people exactly that.

the majority of the people here don't have the patience to hold their coins for the long term. these people expect a certain amount of profits every one or two weeks. just look at how many people complain when the price keeps calm for a week or so. they directly shift their focus to other investment options.

the average fees will only go up in the coming years as pools will more and more depend on income from transaction fees. but right now you can already notice that when you use the recommended fee of 0.0001btc, that it isn't always enough to get your transaction confirmed within 2 blocks. and yes, i know that it also has to do something with the byte size of the transactions, but that's not the problem in this case.

whatever type of bitcoin fan people are, there is no way you can fully trust something. there are risks that people have to keep in mind. i have seen quite some people saying that when they hold themselves some coins, that it will make them rich guaranteed. first of all, there are no guarantees when it comes to bitcoin, and second, get rich quick times are over. it's not that you buy $1000 worth of btc, and that your coins will become worth $50,000 after a few years. we're in a different time now.

hoping for something to happen is one thing, and seeing something actually happen is something completely different. i think at this point we'll more likely see the price go down further. we may even test the $600 level again in the coming weeks. there is no upwards potential right now. support is also very weak. all that combined makes it not likely to reach $660 any time soon.

remember the time when the price was below the $300 price level for such a long time back in 2015? i think we should be happy with the fact that we reached this price. it's more than 100% increased in that period till now. better enjoy the current stability than asking why the price is stuck.

the price has been volatile from the very beginning. and guess what, bitcoin is still holding strong. difficulty is only going up which means that farms have incentive to constantly upgrade their hardware in order to keep their network share equal or higher.

even if bitcoin was accepted nearly everywhere in the world, then still i can't see people massively using bitcoin as currency tool. we have to change they way how people think and act, as their mentality is purely focused on bitcoin being an investment tool. this has to change. if this doesn't change, then everything will stay the same as things are right now.

people always come up with these things. bitcoin is freedom. people are free to use bitcoin the way they want. people that are against storing bitcoins don't realize that storing bitcoin is a more than important aspect for the price. people holding their coins makes sure a lot coins remain off the market. less coins in circulation means a better overall price.

it all depends on what your targets are. if you're looking for a slow but steady long term store of value solution, then that person might advice you to take positions into gold. especially if this advisor is the typical old school type of person. bitcoin wouldn't even be on his list then.

not sure whether or not we'll see $700 any time soon, but smart traders have already done their buying well below the current levels. right now it's up to the dreamers and doubters to start buying. but mostly these type of people will start buying as soon as the price has gone up. they don't have the balls to buy beforehand.

luck is something that yolo investors depend on. if you're trading wherw you purely depend on the level of experience, and you're able to make profits, then you're doing the right thing where you can call yourself a decent trader. but the major part of the people here depend too much on the luck factor. one day they make profits, the next day it vanishes into hot air.

you can also spread your investment into smaller buckets. for example, you buy right now with 25% of the money you have, and keep the rest aside in case the price goes down. it will allow you to benefit from a potential decrease. and you'll also benefit when the price does happen to go up since you bought yourself some coins. that's exactly how i have been doing it since the very beginning.

it's actually very simple. as long as there is demand for cash money, people will keep using it on a massive scale. also, cash money is needed to transact offline as bitcoin can't offer us that option. with bitcoin you always depend on internet when sending and receiving transactions. in that regard fiat is still the leading factor when it comes to offline transactions.