[guessing] Perhaps you need to be in China to open an account there? In That case few people will be in a position to do arbitrage between the Yuan and Dollar.
[/guessing]

A few more weeks of this and we are going to have to learn Chinese to buy bitcoins. 

Doesn't seem logical to me. Who would spend millions of dollars to inflate the price of bitcoin, then throw it all away in the hope that maybe it will go back down when they sell?

The banks? No. Can you imagine what investors would say if they found the bank doing that with their money?

China? China wants to see a move away from the dollar. Bitcoin's success is in their interest. A crash may hurt Chinese bitcoin peers more than anyone else. They paid the most for their coins and they are the biggest consumers of BTC. 

Bangkok would work out well for me if the price holds off a while. I have rented a house in Siem Reap Cambodia for the spring. Just a day's drive away!

God is real because God says he is real. Hmmm.

I haven't had a phone in my name in years. And I don't think I have ever had a locked phone. That is not going to change.  

I even tricked the phone company into having a land line under the name RodeoX.

The loss of net neutrality. That would be awful for bitcoin. 

I personally oppose most regulation and use all manor of privacy software, however once you involve fiat money you run into existing law. There is the rub. You don't "own" dollars, you have the right to use them. And there are all sorts of laws about how you may use them.

We could choose to not engage with government, but what would happen? Countries around the world would try banning it's use and eventually it may be seen as simply a tool for crime. I think it is much wiser to develop our own approach to address their concerns and shape future regulation.

I support anyone's right to disagree. Anyone could form a group of like-minded peers and make an attempt to give bitcoin a special legal status that can disregard laws. A status that allows you to receive stolen goods or transfer money around the world with no need to obey international agreements. But I don't think it will work.    

EDIT: @NorbyTheGeek   Well said sir.

It must be because I'm an idiot, but I fail to see what bittorrent has to do with anything? It is a tool for downloading. Why would that garner financial regulation?

Yeah, that should work.

You guys seem to think regulation is some kind of option. It is not. There will be regulation no matter how you feel about it. If you feel that destroys bitcoin, then sell yours to a grown up.

I'm guessing not many of you have dealt with regulators before.

The problem is doing nothing is unacceptable to any government. There are no other exceptions in financial law. Stocks, bonds, precious metals, real estate, currency markets, all such transaction require taxation and AML/KYC practices.
The recent value increase in bitcoin is largely driven by serious investors in the currency. Failure to devlop a regulatory regime will result in a flight from bitcoin and their will be no reason or path to ever see it realize it's potential. You wont even be able to buy alpaca socks.

What other measure would you guys suggest to meet existing legal requirements? Trying to convince lawmakers that bitcoin should be anonymously traded is an absolute non-starter. If that is the foundation's opinion then bitcoin may be declared illegal and the tracking of coins will move to law enforcement. So, what are our other options?

Speculation is also called guessing and never involves proof. If the future price were provable every one with a calculator would be rich.
I'm not dis-ing you man. But I have seen hundreds of threads like this.

Save the dust. One day you may be able to use it to buy a new computer. 

Let him think what he wants. It doesn't change the truth.  

Mike does not decide, lawmakers will. Have you contacted your congressman, senator, any regulator? No?, then I guess his opinion trumps yours.
You will get nothing complaining here. Like it or not, bitcoin regulation IS coming to the USA. If you want to be heard then write. Not here, write your representatives. If you want no regulation then write your own code and fork the chain. Maybe someone will use your alt-coin.

Good point. Skeptical thinking is a virtue. And no one should be beaten up for not understanding.

That's a good point. I don't fault anyone for a successful strategy. You executed a clear plan and made a big profit. So what if the price goes to $1000.

As weird as this sounds, a lot of scientists and philosophers would say that this idea has merit. The idea of consciousness being outside of our bodies may be correct. In this model we living things tune into consciousness rather than create it.