it depends on where you invest your money in. if you put your money into hyip's and other obvious scams just because they offer "high returns" then you'll surely end up on the losing side. if you stick to holding your coins safely in cold storage, then there is not much that can go wrong. holding bitcoin is probably the least risky form of investing. just make sure you're not panic selling when the price does happen to go down. just relax and everything will be just fine.

the price will rise slowly throughout the years. a lot people may not even notice the growth as they focus too much on peaks and stuff. these people will also be the first to start complaining that the price didn't go up much, while in fact the price has gone up like 50% if you look at the longer term charts. that's however something they don't see.

people already know about it, so it can't be seen as big news anymore. maybe that the price will go up around $100 once it is implemented, but that would be it.

if governments force an exchange to release personal information about one of their customers, then the exchange must cooperate. that's why i always mix the coins that i withdraw from exchanges.

one important thing is to increase the block size to 2mb as that will be enough for the coming 2 to 4 years. and maybe that the core developers will also release a light weight wallet. and yes, i know there are already light weight wallets from other parties.

i am already happy if we manage to see the price settle above the $700 price level for the rest of this year. that would be a great achievement. right now the price can go into any direction as the sentiment seem to be neutral.

the current price is realistic. if you bought your coins around the $350 price level, and kept holding till now, then you can sell and secure profits without any problems since you made a very good profit. if you bought your coins at $630 and the price right now is $650, then it's of course different. then it's not worth to sell your coins at such prices.

bitcoin is growing year on year, so it's fairly easy/safe to assume it will continue to grow in the upcoming years. i hope that the people that are going to adopt bitcoin will actually start investing in bitcoin instead of chasing faucet dust and other things that don't add any value to the overall price.  

governments do recognize bitcoin as being part of your "normal" fiat holdings. as with all the things you do, you also need to pay tax over what you own in btc. if you keep everything you have in btc hidden away from the government, then there is nothing they can do, and thus you avoid paying tax over your coins.

while i agree with you that a quick price increase isn't the best increase that you can have when you are long term minded, it doesn't mean that it will result in a long lasting bear market. the previous bear market was the result of bad news after bad news. it had nothing to do with the price going up high.

you're being way too conservative here. $700 will surely be reached this year with maybe a peak all the way to $800 as the best case scenario.

when it comes to online merchants in my country accepting bitcoin as payment tool, then there are quite a few. but when it comes to local businesses accepting bitcoin, then there are barely any. there are 2 bars where you can pay with bitcoin for your beer and other drinks, but you'll need to drive around 30 kilometers to get there. i have been there once just to see how it is, but never again as it's not worth it for me to drive there for a few beers.

bitcoin brings me this.

# it allows me to store my money outside the reach of banks and governments.
# it allows me to instantly send any amount that i want to anywhere in the world.
# it allows me to make more than decent profits with trading and also makes my wealth grow by holding coins in cold storage.

i am the full owner of everything with bitcoin. no one can tell me what to do. this is the kind of freedom i have always been looking for.

i hope that you are realizing that you are reacting to some one that wrote his post at the time the price was slightly over the $400 price level.

if you are holding your coins long enough, then you'll surely get to see your coins double in value. however, not many people have enough patience and dedication to keep holding for that long. it's easy to say 'i will hold my coins till $1000 or $2000 before selling them', but the majority of the people will sell their coins as soon as they see they have made around 20-30% of profit. a very tiny percentage of the holders will find themself doubling their money due to holding. only the real holders can.

bitcoin is already popular as its userbase is growing and growing. that aside, having a lot merchants that are accepting bitcoin is great and all, but people are waiting for the day that their local businesses start accepting bitcoin. that's how you get people to spend their coins. also, trading/investing will always be the major aspect of bitcoin. nothing will change that.

everyone here is looking for a legit way to make that much interest in a day. i am doing day trading and make around 10% per month on average. this is without much volatility. with volatility i can make a much better profit. the only thing i can advice you is to do the same thing as me, day trading. other than that there is nothing that gives you such returns. and btw, i am solely trading btc/usd.

the best thing of mistakes and missed opportunities is the fact that you learn from them. at least, normal people do. patience and knowledge are the key to success. i also managed to benefit greatly from the recent rally that stopped just below the $800 price level. i kept buying and buying since 2015, and kept holding till the recent rally. and look now, i am very happy with the profits that i made.

savings don't have any risks as the money that you have is secured up to $100,000. for people that have more money than that, and the bank goes bankrupt, then everything above that amount is gone. and beside that, interest rates on savings are far below 1% here where i live. saving is good for the purpose of having money for when you need it, but not for the interest.

it's true that we can't without fiat money the way the entire world economy is shaped. however, i don't believe in fiat as it will only make your wealth be worth less year after year. that's why i am extremely happy that we have bitcoin to use as investment tool and store of wealth. this way we prevent that our wealth is decreasing in value while the amount of fiat that you hold stays the same. people should act now.