Can bitcoins break $5,000 in 20 years?

[markm]

You have it in reverse. Within 57 months bitcoin will be the only currency on mars. Earth will take longer to adopt it due to the lower robot/human ratio.

Martian BotCoin (MBC) is already doing quite well in its earthbound prelaunch phase: http://galaxies.mygamesonline.org/digitalisassets.html

-MarkM-

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[Melbustus]

Yes, but $5000 will only be enough to buy a burger and a beer.

Nice.  Ok how about can bitcoin break 1 oz of gold in 20 years?

Yes.

[owdbetts]

Yes, but $5000 will only be enough to buy a burger and a beer.

Nice.  Ok how about can bitcoin break 1 oz of gold in 20 years?

If someone figures out how to transmute other (cheaper) elements into gold, then it certainly could :-)

[dree12]

Yes, but $5000 will only be enough to buy a burger and a beer.

Nice.  Ok how about can bitcoin break 1 oz of gold in 20 years?

If someone figures out how to transmute other (cheaper) elements into gold, then it certainly could :-)

These exist and have for a long time. They are not economically feasible.

[HeavyMetal]

Yes, but $5000 will only be enough to buy a burger and a beer.

Nice.  Ok how about can bitcoin break 1 oz of gold in 20 years?

Since there is about .6oz of gold above ground for every person on Earth, and far far less bitcoin then I think it is possible if the people of the world adopt it as a currency.

Somehow I think by the time the world embraced a common currency it will be the next thing after bitcoin. After all, us normal people have bitcoin, that just won't do.

[Raize]

This thread is dumb. In 20 years the dollar will likely be inflated into oblivion that we are no longer using the current dollars we use today.

I agree, people used to ask me in person "Do you think someday Bitcoin will be worth * A THOUSAND * dollars. Just like that, they say "a thousand" like it's a lot of money. I used to say yes and blah blah, and talk to them about fiat currency and everything.

Now I've just moved beyond that and said, "Listen, I don't think it will be "worth" USD because someday USD aren't going to exist anymore. We've hit an untenable course with fiat money. Those of us now using Bitcoin and GLBSE no longer have to pay taxes, so we don't. That means the only people participating in fiat are eventually going to be the ones benefiting from the system, and those people are a net drain on fiat. Fiat is untenable, therefore it cannot continue.

Will Bitcoin ever be "taxed"? Sure, maybe, there's a number of ways this could be done, by imposing fees on operating nodes, forced transaction fees, and etc. None of them are easy to implement, but the governments of the world have force behind them. The problem is, they will realize this too late and by accepting Bitcoin for taxes, we've won.

We shouldn't be asking when a Bitcoin will be worth X USD, we should be asking when a USD will no longer be able to purchase Bitcoin.

[kneim]

Gold is a better competitor to Bitcoin, as in my opinion many western currencies will vanish in a global crash soon.

My prediction is that Bitcoins doubles his value to gold every year (If technology resists, what is unsure).

[DeathAndTaxes]

We shouldn't be asking when a Bitcoin will be worth X USD, we should be asking when a USD will no longer be able to purchase Bitcoin.

Not in our lifetimes.  The USD may be inflated all to hell where $1USD has the purchasing power of less than a penny and the banknotes are $500 USD, $5,000 USD, $10,000 USD, and $50,000 USD but the USD will outlive all of us.

[dree12]

We shouldn't be asking when a Bitcoin will be worth X USD, we should be asking when a USD will no longer be able to purchase Bitcoin.

Not in our lifetimes.  The USD may be inflated all to hell where $1USD has the purchasing power of less than a penny and the banknotes are $500 USD, $5,000 USD, $10,000 USD, and $50,000 USD but the USD will outlive all of us.

Depends on how much is left in our lifetimes. I hope to live for 80 more years yet!

[DeathAndTaxes]

I think the dollar (or "new dollar") will be around in 80 years so maybe I am a pessimist.

[evolve]

No.

I doubt it will even be around in 20 years (save for a few die hard enthusiasts, perhaps), honestly.

[misterbigg]

Will the US Dollar even exist in 20 years?

Do you think that's air you're breathing?

[labestiol]

Don't underestimate the possibility for dollars to be replaced with Ameros 

[evolve]

Will the US Dollar even exist in 20 years?

Yes.

 Even the war-torn wasteland, somalia, (which has no government or central bank) still uses the pre-war somali shilling. I highly  doubt the Usd is going anwhere, particularly in 20 years.

[Killerpotleaf]

Will the US Dollar even exist in 20 years?

Yes.

 Even the war-torn wasteland, somalia, (which has no government or central bank) still uses the pre-war somali shilling. I highly  doubt the Usd is going anwhere, particularly in 20 years.

the key to their success?

 

[crazyates]

In 2032, there will be ~20 million coins. At $5,000USD a coin, that's about 100 Billion USD.

Now 100 Billion spread out among 1,000 miners is quite a lot of money for those select few! But it's not really feasible that it will be worth that much if only a few people own it.
100 Billion spread out among 100,000? 1,000,000? 10,000,000? Now we're getting there.

I say it depends on how many people adopt BTC in those 20 years. When we have millions of miners, the difficulty is in the billions, mining a full BTC could take months, and everyone's bank accounts and phones are wirelessly paying for things in Satoshis rather than dollars, it could be worth 5,000 or even more.

[FreeMoney]

Will the US Dollar even exist in 20 years?

Yes.

 Even the war-torn wasteland, somalia, (which has no government or central bank) still uses the pre-war somali shilling. I highly  doubt the Usd is going anwhere, particularly in 20 years.

No bank = no money flooding

We might not be so lucky.

[misterbigg]

At $5,000USD a coin, that's about 100 Billion USD.

The original question is equivalent to "Will Bitcoin's market cap reach 100 billion within 20 years?" I think yes.

[Luno]

Just before Pirate's defaulting, I was anticipating the article : "Bitcoin now priced higher than Facebook".
At that time BTC was above 15 and FB @ 19 on the way down. It might still happen though, either way!

[Melbustus]

Just before Pirate's defaulting, I was anticipating the article : "Bitcoin now priced higher than Facebook".
At that time BTC was above 15 and FB @ 19 on the way down. It might still happen though, either way!

No, bitcoin's market cap would have to exceed about $41 Billion (FB's current market cap) for it to be even remotely accurate to say "bitcoin is priced higher than Facebook". The price per trading-unit is not relevant in a vacuum. So that equates to about $1952/BTC (using the full 21,000,000 coin issuance).