I would say yes to both, but not in a sustainable way if that good has compelling utility and no real direct competition.

forget about speculation. Just buy some and use it first to determine it's potential for yourself and place a long term bet. No one knows the answer to your question. Speculating is gambling so you might as well ask what number will come up on the dice.

Cut the guy some slack here. If he was speculating to profit in USD and did then it's hard to argue with his success. Especially on the basis of future potential profits. Even if the price is $100 tomorrow he has won as a speculator.

Well, I meant it's major in that money was actually stolen. Not in terms of sophistication. Serious break in may be better.

Yeah, even though it's a major break in 12k is peanuts. Maybe bitinstant is slowing things down a bit while they sort out the theft?

Did Bitinsatant say they were compromised?

Oh great, newbie #68255 here to explain why bitcoin is about to fail. 

Yes. remember bitcoin is not a company. If this is in reference to some kind of account other than the bitcoin client, you will have to let us know. 

Ok, then you know. I just feel for people who go out and buy a Dell because it's a name they recognize. Only to find that Dell has sold them to the bloatware bundle they call free software, and outsourced their tech support to a call center in Duntbotherme-Anymor India. Not that this behavior is limited to Dell or computer manufacturers for that matter.

That is interesting. But I wonder how they might differ in adoption also. For example, many people were aware of the internet for years before connecting. With bitcoin it seems like many people go from goggling to some ownership in weeks. The internet was also becoming something you "can't live without", while bitcoin is an option for payment among many.
me-->  
 

Sorry to hear about your dealing with Dell.
Dump the concept of a "name brand" computer. they mostly buy the same parts and put them in different cases. If you have a source for used computers, like say a local college, try a clean install. Local is better, as shipping will costs wil ruin the deal. Below is where I go for example:
http://www.bussvc.wisc.edu/swap/computers.html

They sell used computers that have been *checked and given a fresh winXP SP2 install. You could also buy some larger memory cheap to update a laptop. That may be all you want, but I would further suggest installing the latest long term support version of Ubuntu instead of XP.
My Thinkpad frickin sings with linux. I don't know when the University bought it, but it must be about 8 years old. I paid about $180 4 years ago. That's 45/year computing cost. lol  When it dies I will just get another one. Then using Ubuntu's cloud backup I can carry on working.

    

If it is coming from China, that could be interesting. There are many intriguing possible actors. 

I will buy your coins now for $1 That's 100 times the expected low of $0.01 !!!
ACT NOW! and don't forget to tell your friends and spread panic among them!

Is someone making big buys in Europe? It seems like these spikes are happening overnight for us in the U.S.

Hopefully they are not all posts about the same problem.   

Please ask for help here.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=128314.0

Cheers.

Thanks guys, interesting stuff.
It's quite cool to see such a powerful idea rise up from anonymous people cooperating over the internet. We are reinventing money!

A lot is focused right now on the price of bitcoins, but what is their value in your mind?
For me it's mostly utility and privacy. I like how it can be used worldwide and trust the decentralized and open source nature of bitcoin.  I think that is a powerful idea and worth owning a chunk of. I'll let the market decide what the price should be. It doesn't change the properties I like about bitcoin.

What, if anything, do you see of value in bitcoin?

Oops, I read over that part.
I do think something like your plot is theoretically possible, but I can't see who would do such a thing. Forget about motive and means for a moment. Who would attempt something with such a high risk of failure and discovery for so little return? After all, bitcoin would not really be broken and people would eventually figure that out.

No. There is no one with the expertise you seek. Even the best Wall street analysts do only slightly better than odds. This is a new phenomena with out a real comparable. Bitcoin should still be considered in beta and a somewhat risky option when used as an "investment".