Clearly the run up has been much more on a percentage basis, but I feel that if either of the two "bubbles" is going to pop, it will be Litecoin, and it will happen soon. Of course, we are all in uncharted territory here, so .......

First, I think that Pangea's comment about the ease of purchase is definitely valid.  The average Joe doesn't feel comfortable with the current mechanism.  To buy your first coins with USD there are several steps that must be taken that include either connecting your bank account to strange websites that you have never heard of, or wiring cold hard cash to "weird" addresses. I have talked about Bitcoin to a lot of friends and family, and none of them are even close to comfortable with the purchase process. 

Another problem is getting average Joe to even understand how Bitcoin works, since most people have a hard time finding the button to turn on their computer. 

Of course, this is all getting better, and easier.  But acquiring and using bitcoins has to be an absolute no-brainer process that grandma can do before we really see mainstream acceptance.  We are not even close to there yet.

Of course, I don't think that the value of bitcoins right now is something we should be concerned with.  What matters is how many people adopt BTC as merchants, consumers and investors.  It is the transaction volume, especially by people spending them on stuff, that will make the value go up.  If bitcoins come to represent even one percent of the global economy one BTC would be worth 100,000 USD, minimum.  Bitcoins are worth a little over $100 each, with the total value at just over 1 billion.  When compared to the global economy 1 billion is nothing.  You do the math.

What I find most encouraging is that BTC survived the crash from a couple of years ago.  Even if the price does collapse, as long as they are being used, by the end of this decade, or much sooner, current prices will seem ridiculously low.

The Moderator needs to move this thread to the "alternate crypto currency" discussion.  

Nobody should be surprised that since BTC now has a genuine value all sorts of competitors and wannabes will pop up.  Heck, many already have (litecoin, terracoin, etc).  If BTC goes into orbit we can expect dozens, if not hundreds.   They don't add anything, as BTC can go down eight decimal places, and all they can do is confuse the general public, which we really need to get involved.  Lots of people are mining "litecoins" and "terracoins," desperately hoping not to miss the bandwagon this time around.  I sense fail. 

One article I read concluded that *if* bitcoins really do gain mainstream acceptance, they could represent 1-10% of the global reserve currency, which would be $100,000 - 1mil each.  A Huffpost article argued that the next big "jump" for bitcoins would be when/if they surpass global silver reserves, which would put their value at around $3000 each.  Will this actually happen? Who knows.

Mine hit yesterday, but clearly this site doesn't have its act together.  I have had no problems with btcsportsbet, bit365, and blockbet.  That's enough choice for me, at least for now. 

Same here. I made a deposit three days ago and so far nothing.  Also no support responses.  These guys should be labeled a scam