Do you have a feeling BTC has slowed down a bit?

[Minerjoe]

After quite turbulent events during the last few years, I somehow feel BTC economy s been slowing down a bit. Maybe people are losing interest after not seeing those price jumps/decreases which we witnessed in the past. I know statistics ll probably dispute my claims but this is just my feeling. How do you feel about it, are people still into BTC?

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[bryant.coleman]

There is a lot of negativity surrounding Bitcoin right now. Mt Gox, Sheep Market Place, Silk Road, Silk Road 2.0, to name a few. A large majority of the public thinks that it is risky to own Bitcoins. And those who think otherwise are discouraged from collecting coins by the frequent robberies and hacks. It is anyone's guess on who is waging the propaganda war against BTC.....

[Minerjoe]

There is a lot of negativity surrounding Bitcoin right now. Mt Gox, Sheep Market Place, Silk Road, Silk Road 2.0, to name a few. A large majority of the public thinks that it is risky to own Bitcoins. And those who think otherwise are discouraged from collecting coins by the frequent robberies and hacks. It is anyone's guess on who is waging the propaganda war against BTC.....

Yes, I feel the same way. Do you think these investment funds which we all expect this year might improve the situation? If not, what can?

[spazzdla]

We are in the 1994 phase of the interenet IMO.

The phase everyone thought that is as far as the web goes.. no where.

I currently have a phone in my hand connected to the web more powerful than any computer from 94. 

Hands of steel, HODL your wealth in your own hands.

[Minerjoe]

We are in the 1994 phase of the interenet IMO.

The phase everyone thought that is as far as the web goes.. no where.

I currently have a phone in my hand connected to the web more powerful than any computer from 94. 

Hands of steel, HODL your wealth in your own hands.

Yes, I ve been hearing that story for the last 2 years. But somehow I feel there hasn't been many new entrants to the market for the last couple of months. Maybe its me.

[arlekyn13]

Maybe people are losing interest after not seeing those price jumps/decreases which we witnessed in the past.

Some times ago people were complaining about the lack of price stability. Now people start missing the roller coaster? Price is still very volatile imo. Anyways, as long as the number of BTC users is going up, we're still good. Even if the rate slows down at times!

[xDan]

The first rocket was launched, we got bitcoins to space and they came down successfully. There were some tragedies along the way.

But now, we learn from this experience. Work has been started on constructing an interplanetary spaceship. It's being prepped, fuelled, tweaked and adjusted. Sometimes, it's even taken for a little test flight, usually ending in a crash landing.

But... One day. One day, we shall FLY.

...

Maybe it has. But there are lots of things being built that can enable further, actually useful, economies, so I remain hopeful.

Think of something like OpenBazaar. Development may be slow. But, I think ideas like that have huge potential. Though it may take years for it to gain any large amount of adoption.

[Taras]

We are in the 1994 phase of the interenet IMO.

The phase everyone thought that is as far as the web goes.. no where.

I currently have a phone in my hand connected to the web more powerful than any computer from 94. 

Hands of steel, HODL your wealth in your own hands.

Yes, I ve been hearing that story for the last 2 years. But somehow I feel there hasn't been many new entrants to the market for the last couple of months. Maybe its me.

I'm optimistic. Two years ago, I'd have said we were in the 1992 phase.

[GenTarkin]

OP, all the previous bubbles had 'cooldowns' of significantly more time then it took to form the bubble.
Bitcoin always went 'dark' before it exploded in more popularity ... I suspect thats where we are again ... gearing up for round 4 =)
Of course we could be in this rut for quite a long time then the others, who knows.
It was a good 1.5-2years from the $30 bubble to the $266 =) , in between we were stuck between $2-$10

[BitcoinNewbie15]

I also think BTC has slowed down.. But i dont think it will stay this way for long

[MicroGuy]

After quite turbulent events during the last few years, I somehow feel BTC economy s been slowing down a bit. Maybe people are losing interest after not seeing those price jumps/decreases which we witnessed in the past. I know statistics ll probably dispute my claims but this is just my feeling. How do you feel about it, are people still into BTC?

Bitcoin is like the web crawler. It opened a lot of doors, but the Google's of the future are in the alternative currency section of the forum.

[frankenmint]

We are in the 1994 phase of the interenet IMO.

The phase everyone thought that is as far as the web goes.. no where.

I currently have a phone in my hand connected to the web more powerful than any computer from 94. 

Hands of steel, HODL your wealth in your own hands.

if this is 1994 in Bitcoin, what were those CRAZY stories of govt and corruption and scandal for the internet back then?  I remember napster as the beginning and a bunch of dcma stuff but thats it.

[QuestionAuthority]

After quite turbulent events during the last few years, I somehow feel BTC economy s been slowing down a bit. Maybe people are losing interest after not seeing those price jumps/decreases which we witnessed in the past. I know statistics ll probably dispute my claims but this is just my feeling. How do you feel about it, are people still into BTC?

Bitcoin is like the web crawler. It opened a lot of doors, but the Google's of the future are in the alternative currency section of the forum.

That's an interesting analogy. Bitcoin the BBS. Which one do you think will be Google?

[gentlemand]

It got further than it really deserved to considering how fucked, mediocre and corrupt most of the exchanges and other ecosystem elements were up to 2013/14. It's borderline laughable that a multi billion dollar market depended on one autistic weirdo in Tokyo until relatively recently.

There's been such a disgusting smell left behind that it's in a lull waiting for it to be blown away by some people who really know what they're doing. That means real exchanges, multi sig wallets with simplified interfaces, the ability to hedge, the ability to put money in with the worries taken out of your hands.

The next couple of years is when we'll see whether it can leave all the old shit behind and start to fulfill some proper potential. It could go either way but there are lots of bright minds beavering away.

[Minerjoe]

It got further than it really deserved to considering how fucked, mediocre and corrupt most of the exchanges and other ecosystem elements were up to 2013/14. It's borderline laughable that a multi billion dollar market depended on one autistic weirdo in Tokyo until relatively recently.

There's been such a disgusting smell left behind that it's in a lull waiting for it to be blown away by some people who really know what they're doing. That means real exchanges, multi sig wallets with simplified interfaces, the ability to hedge, the ability to put money in with the worries taken out of your hands.

The next couple of years is when we'll see whether it can leave all the old shit behind and start to fulfill some proper potential. It could go either way but there are lots of bright minds beavering away.

So what do you guys see as the greatest obstacles in the future?

[rememberme]

What will pull the mainstream into BTC, thats the obstacle. All blockchain updates are appealing to the coding community. In order for BTC to be strong it must have world wide adoption. The question being; who will do it first.

[Amph]

It got further than it really deserved to considering how fucked, mediocre and corrupt most of the exchanges and other ecosystem elements were up to 2013/14. It's borderline laughable that a multi billion dollar market depended on one autistic weirdo in Tokyo until relatively recently.

There's been such a disgusting smell left behind that it's in a lull waiting for it to be blown away by some people who really know what they're doing. That means real exchanges, multi sig wallets with simplified interfaces, the ability to hedge, the ability to put money in with the worries taken out of your hands.

The next couple of years is when we'll see whether it can leave all the old shit behind and start to fulfill some proper potential. It could go either way but there are lots of bright minds beavering away.

So what do you guys see as the greatest obstacles in the future?

fighting a possible new coin, that can surpass bitcoin in technology, and the early adopters problem, which lead to high instability in price, and heavy manipulation

[gentlemand]

So what do you guys see as the greatest obstacles in the future?

General indifference is the biggest one. You can have the greatest tech ever but if there aren't enough people to care about it, it won't go anywhere.

There could be further regulatory weirdness like the upcoming stuff in Russia. If enough governments attempt to suppress it, that's a disincentive for legit operators elsewhere.

Big players looking to enter the space will find the current distribution odious in the extreme. They'd probably prefer to build something from scratch that gets them in on the ground floor.

Then you have all the technical niggles like scaling, fees, mining. I wouldn't know enough about that to sound very convincing.

[Q7]

After quite turbulent events during the last few years, I somehow feel BTC economy s been slowing down a bit. Maybe people are losing interest after not seeing those price jumps/decreases which we witnessed in the past. I know statistics ll probably dispute my claims but this is just my feeling. How do you feel about it, are people still into BTC?

If btc did not attract attention of those traders who bet on price jump/decrease or whatever, that is still okay. It's fine for me because for all I know, speculators only hurt the btc economy and bring more harm than good which is the main reason that leads to all the volatility. Rather, more helpful is having businesses accept bitcoin as a form of payment currency, where people see bitcoin as having a value, and finally as a medium of exchange. That is more important.

[randy8777]

BTC has slowed down alot... But I cannot understand why, more and more big tech company's adopt it, more and more transactions everyday....

https://blockchain.info/nl/charts/n-transactions?timespan=all&showDataPoints=false&daysAverageString=1&show_header=true&scale=0&address=

bitcoin is more secure and used by merchants than it ever was. no problem here.
people look at the price which isn't doing much and say that bitcoin is going backwards and so on.

[Minerjoe]

I would also say that this huge number of scammers, ponzi pumpers and thieves which has occupied BTC ecosystem,  has also contributed to this slowdown. You simply cannot find a legit BTC investments any more.

[dothebeats]

After quite turbulent events during the last few years, I somehow feel BTC economy s been slowing down a bit. Maybe people are losing interest after not seeing those price jumps/decreases which we witnessed in the past. I know statistics ll probably dispute my claims but this is just my feeling. How do you feel about it, are people still into BTC?

People are still into btc, at least those people who came in earlier. The adoption rate is slower than what has been there these past few months due to the negative news and other news surrounding bitcoins. Also, I had a discussion with my fellow workmates asking about bitcoin. They insisted that bitcoin is not that "noob-friendly" compared to the current fiat system that our society uses. They also added that bitcoin is exclusively for the "Tech Savvy" and not the average Joe types.

[bornil267645]

Well if you consider that the price hasn't spiked for almost a year now and hovering in the same region, I guess you can consider it as "Slow". But it might be good, people will be able to trust bitcoin a Bit'more....

[opossum]

After quite turbulent events during the last few years, I somehow feel BTC economy s been slowing down a bit. Maybe people are losing interest after not seeing those price jumps/decreases which we witnessed in the past. I know statistics ll probably dispute my claims but this is just my feeling. How do you feel about it, are people still into BTC?

You are right if i am honest which i am,  the last few years have not been the most positive but it has hardly ever had a long streak of positivity since it's creation.

It does feel like it is slowing down and you are probably right with your feeling because think about how many people who brought in at 1000 and then probably decided to cut their losses at 200's to never come back here again, looks like we are not getting enough people interested in it that balances out that loss. People are still very much interested in Bitcoin at the moment and i see it having a big push but that will be side by side with a big rise in value imho.

[Minerjoe]

After quite turbulent events during the last few years, I somehow feel BTC economy s been slowing down a bit. Maybe people are losing interest after not seeing those price jumps/decreases which we witnessed in the past. I know statistics ll probably dispute my claims but this is just my feeling. How do you feel about it, are people still into BTC?

You are right if i am honest which i am,  the last few years have not been the most positive but it has hardly ever had a long streak of positivity since it's creation.

It does feel like it is slowing down and you are probably right with your feeling because think about how many people who brought in at 1000 and then probably decided to cut their losses at 200's to never come back here again, looks like we are not getting enough people interested in it that balances out that loss. People are still very much interested in Bitcoin at the moment and i see it having a big push but that will be side by side with a big rise in value imho.

I hope you are right. We do not need another price crash below $200. Not to mention any major Mt.Gox. alike disaster.

[fcmatt]

I still read the boards every now and then but I am out. Completely. Bitcoin solves nothing for me but it was a great way to make extra cash since I discovered it. But the easy money is gone for me personally and I think the people like me will move on to other things. Very neat idea though but just another type of fiat currency in monetary economics. A house built on sand in other words. I highly doubt it will have any value in 20 years as something else will replace it. Internet users are a fickle bunch.

[Bit_Happy]

Do you have a feeling BTC has slowed down a bit?
No, try staying away from here  for a few days and then come back and read the 'press' section.
Bitcoin is speeding towards the future at an amazing pace.

[Bitcoin Buyer Reload]

yeah it has slowed down a little. but not that noticable

[QuestionAuthority]

I still read the boards every now and then but I am out. Completely. Bitcoin solves nothing for me but it was a great way to make extra cash since I discovered it. But the easy money is gone for me personally and I think the people like me will move on to other things. Very neat idea though but just another type of fiat currency in monetary economics. A house built on sand in other words. I highly doubt it will have any value in 20 years as something else will replace it. Internet users are a fickle bunch.

I've witnessed that too. People are moving on. There's a small fraction of the users here now that were here when I first registered. Even the evangelistic born again Bitcoiners are gone now. I always chalked it up to kids graduating, growing up and starting their real lives. Everyone is idealistic in college. Save the whales, save the trees, free (insert current martyr here) slowly becomes feed the kids, pay the mortgage, please the boss.

[LiteCoinGuy]

hmmm, no

[Klestin]

"OMG Price keeps going up! Who will spend it when they can hold it and make money? Bitcoin will fail!"

"OMG Price keeps spiking! It goes up and down so fast! Who will accept it when they can't trust the value to be the same? Bitcoin will fail!"

"OMG Price is stagnant! It's been in the same range for months! Clearly interest has waned and the end is near! Bitcoin will fail!"

When you approach an analysis with the conclusion fixed in your mind, you will find a way to get there.

[manselr]

After quite turbulent events during the last few years, I somehow feel BTC economy s been slowing down a bit. Maybe people are losing interest after not seeing those price jumps/decreases which we witnessed in the past. I know statistics ll probably dispute my claims but this is just my feeling. How do you feel about it, are people still into BTC?

In what way, shape or form has Bitcoin slowed down when you look at this?




Calm down, just because people is dumb and dont see the benefits in BTC yeat, doesnt mean it has slowed down.

[nextgencoin]

You guys have got to love the irony. For the last few years of Bitcoin the biggest negative that the media said was its price volitility. Now it's sticks around at a dull $250 and everyone sees it as a negative.

[Bitcoin Buyer Reload]

You guys have got to love the irony. For the last few years of Bitcoin the biggest negative that the media said was its price volitility. Now it's sticks around at a dull $250 and everyone sees it as a negative.
[/quote

probably because it can have a drop of 100$ in matter of minutes or hours

[WhatTheGox]

After quite turbulent events during the last few years, I somehow feel BTC economy s been slowing down a bit. Maybe people are losing interest after not seeing those price jumps/decreases which we witnessed in the past. I know statistics ll probably dispute my claims but this is just my feeling. How do you feel about it, are people still into BTC?

When bitcoin was $10 going sideways for ages im guessing it was alot quieter then it is now.  There is nothing quiet like a price bubble to excite the community and bring in fresh blood when the world starts going crazy.

[Minerjoe]

After quite turbulent events during the last few years, I somehow feel BTC economy s been slowing down a bit. Maybe people are losing interest after not seeing those price jumps/decreases which we witnessed in the past. I know statistics ll probably dispute my claims but this is just my feeling. How do you feel about it, are people still into BTC?

In what way, shape or form has Bitcoin slowed down when you look at this?




Calm down, just because people is dumb and dont see the benefits in BTC yeat, doesnt mean it has slowed down.

Yes, I ve seen all this data before but somehow I feel there are less people interested in the concept. Less articles in the news. Maybe it just me.

[QuestionAuthority]

After quite turbulent events during the last few years, I somehow feel BTC economy s been slowing down a bit. Maybe people are losing interest after not seeing those price jumps/decreases which we witnessed in the past. I know statistics ll probably dispute my claims but this is just my feeling. How do you feel about it, are people still into BTC?

In what way, shape or form has Bitcoin slowed down when you look at this?

*snip old news*

Calm down, just because people is dumb and dont see the benefits in BTC yeat, doesnt mean it has slowed down.

Yes, I ve seen all this data before but somehow I feel there are less people interested in the concept. Less articles in the news. Maybe it just me.

It's not just you. If you invested in everything venture capitalists have invested in you would have lost three life's savings. They make bad investments all the time. I'm not saying Bitcoin is one of them. I just want to see some verified profit and loss statements before I get excited.

[fcmatt]

that chart is not logarithmic so it does not count.

sorry, could not resist.

and it is that type of investment money, millions, required to start a decent bitcoin business that turned me away from it. I wonder how much of it is spent to integrate bitcoin into the world's fiat system to make it actually usable for everyone? Almost all I imagine.

[Hazir]

Non bitcoin users are only familiar with crypocurencies via mass media coverage. And guess what media are mostly spreading? Love and peace? Not really, they are only talking about how bitcoin is used by terrorist to fund their cause, how criminals operate black market with the help of bitcoin and how we don't know how exactly bitcoin was created (like it has something to do with anything in the long run) No wonder mass adoption slowed and people who are not familiar with bitcoins are reluctant.

[flyingplows]

One of the problems I think is that there a little immediate rewards for getting interested in crypto. Well, ok, you buy some bitcoins, then lose a bit on gamble, a bit on scammers, a bit for other things mostly because of noobish mistakes and the experience is not that good. Another scenario is that you buy something with bitcoins, but overall you don't save much if at all. I mean if people are not enthusiastic then the rewards are not enough to get interested and give a shit for crypto currencies. Of course somebody will say - but they can become millionaires in future if they hold. But the thing is that to most people these promises looks like a general scam or some shady scheme like those pyramid sales of hygiene shit products.

[Cryddit]

I dunno.  I was there at the very beginning, and I reviewed the code but I figured it was just another electronic-cash idea, and cryptographers had been watching those FAIL for years and years and years.  The digital graveyard is littered with their corpses.

So...  I didn't even buy in.  I could have just put up a node in those early days and CPU mined thousands of bitcoins.  I didn't even get involved.  Hal Finney went for broke, I just went "hmm, looks okay." 

A couple years later I had a look...  The price was up around $30 at the time, and that was encouraging, but as far as I could see the value was 100% due to criminal use.  That would be the same kind of DOOMED as all the previous digital-cash and e-gold and so on that came out of the cypherpunks and all that crew, and had mostly ended in messy takedowns and prosecutions and SEC investigation for securities fraud, money laundering, corruption, etc... As I said, cryptocurrencies are not a new idea and if you're in crypto for any length of time you've seen dozens of them.  And as long as it was looking just as DOOMED as all the others, even though it had lasted longer, I continued to stay the hell away.  But I started watching, and from time to time, I went "hmmm, not dead yet."  But the community tended to be mainly Anarchist/Rebel/Anti-Banking/Anti-Legitimacy, and I felt pretty strongly that unless it got better it had no genuine future outside of criminal enterprises and an eventual law-enforcement takedown.  Let's face it; you're not going to build genuine value in criminal enterprises and you're not going off by yourself where the government is going to leave you alone.

I didn't buy in, in fact, until the community started showing signs of a will to go legit.  When there started to be voices on the forum that answered setting-up-a-market questions with "you need to lawyer up and be careful" rather than "FUCK THE GOVERNMENT! WE'RE ABOVE THE LAW!  DO WHAT THE HELL YOU WANT BECAUSE THE AUTHORITIES ARE ALL CORRUPT ANYWAY!"

Yeah, it was when I saw that there were, in fact, a few sane people who were interested, who might actually build legit businesses and make Bitcoin into something valuable and real rather than just a way for crooks to hide money movements that would be doomed to fail -- That was when I bought in.  So I didn't make nearly as much money as those early whales.  But I think I feel better about it than if I'd done otherwise.

[LiteCoinGuy]

After quite turbulent events during the last few years, I somehow feel BTC economy s been slowing down a bit. Maybe people are losing interest after not seeing those price jumps/decreases which we witnessed in the past. I know statistics ll probably dispute my claims but this is just my feeling. How do you feel about it, are people still into BTC?

In what way, shape or form has Bitcoin slowed down when you look at this?




Calm down, just because people is dumb and dont see the benefits in BTC yeat, doesnt mean it has slowed down.

the problem is: most people dont even read news on coindesk and they would never ever look at charts or vc investment graphs and reports. they only look at the price. because its easy. because most are lazy.

and then:

"OMG Price keeps going up! Who will spend it when they can hold it and make money? Bitcoin will fail!"

"OMG Price keeps spiking! It goes up and down so fast! Who will accept it when they can't trust the value to be the same? Bitcoin will fail!"

"OMG Price is stagnant! It's been in the same range for months! Clearly interest has waned and the end is near! Bitcoin will fail!"

[futureofbitcoin]

You can't just take 1995 money for 2015. As an example, people in China made maybe 100-200 yuan per month in 1995. Nowadays, the same people make anywhere from 5,000-50,000 yuan per month. It's not just inflation, people are getting richer in an absolute sense as well.

So I think if we take everything into consideration, we're no where near the importance of the internet for VCs in 1995 yet. I like what Cryddit said though, and I'm in absolute agreement. I didn't hear about bitcoin as early as he did, but I don't regret not getting in when it was only drug money, and I really feel that bitcoin needs "normal" people, those who are not lawless anarchists or extremely tech savvy nerds. And these people, like me, are slowly coming into this field.

[Hazir]

One of the problems I think is that there a little immediate rewards for getting interested in crypto. Well, ok, you buy some bitcoins, then lose a bit on gamble, a bit on scammers, a bit for other things mostly because of noobish mistakes and the experience is not that good. Another scenario is that you buy something with bitcoins, but overall you don't save much if at all. I mean if people are not enthusiastic then the rewards are not enough to get interested and give a shit for crypto currencies. Of course somebody will say - but they can become millionaires in future if they hold. But the thing is that to most people these promises looks like a general scam or some shady scheme like those pyramid sales of hygiene shit products.

Bitcoin is decentralized so you won't get anything anything like "promotional" bitcoins or tax free transaction just for free from bitcoin CEO. They only way you will have some promotions for new bitcoin users is when external services like exchange markets will start doing some events like that, and for now most of them are like... not rich enough to do so.

[QuestionAuthority]

One of the problems I think is that there a little immediate rewards for getting interested in crypto. Well, ok, you buy some bitcoins, then lose a bit on gamble, a bit on scammers, a bit for other things mostly because of noobish mistakes and the experience is not that good. Another scenario is that you buy something with bitcoins, but overall you don't save much if at all. I mean if people are not enthusiastic then the rewards are not enough to get interested and give a shit for crypto currencies. Of course somebody will say - but they can become millionaires in future if they hold. But the thing is that to most people these promises looks like a general scam or some shady scheme like those pyramid sales of hygiene shit products.

You really do kind of need to buy into the libertarian propaganda to appreciate the value of Bitcoin. Most of my friends are older (35+) because I am and they don't see the advantages for ordinary everyday use. When I attempt to get them to give Bitcoin a try and do my best pitch they always decline and give one reason that I can't defend against - fraud protection. They tell me they don't mind a few fees or having to wait a day or two if they are guaranteed their money is safe. Then I start hearing the stories about the time some crook charged something on their credit card or debit card and they got all the money back immediately.

If some intermediate company solves the fraud protection problem Bitcoin will stand a much better chance of success. Bitcoin (or some blockchain variant) would be great as a hidden system for companies to use to transfer funds around. The company could guarantee and insure the funds transfer. The citizen could transfer funds in any fiat value quickly and cheaply without ever knowing Bitcoin was the system used to do it.

[acquafredda]

I totally agree with Litecoin guy

the problem is: most people dont even read news on coindesk and they would never ever look at charts or vc investment graphs and reports. they only look at the price. because its easy. because most are lazy.

Too many lazy people around.
 

[dothebeats]

One of the problems I think is that there a little immediate rewards for getting interested in crypto. Well, ok, you buy some bitcoins, then lose a bit on gamble, a bit on scammers, a bit for other things mostly because of noobish mistakes and the experience is not that good. Another scenario is that you buy something with bitcoins, but overall you don't save much if at all. I mean if people are not enthusiastic then the rewards are not enough to get interested and give a shit for crypto currencies. Of course somebody will say - but they can become millionaires in future if they hold. But the thing is that to most people these promises looks like a general scam or some shady scheme like those pyramid sales of hygiene shit products.

I've introduced bitcoin to my Economics teacher last year and the thing that really hurts me as a bitcoin user is this question:

"So, is it a scam?"

I had a hard time explaining the positive side of bitcoins to her. Also, I'm not a bs person so I also explained to her that there are some crimes happening around the bitcoin ecosystem as well. The thing is, most user fail to explain to other people the whole of bitcoin; the different sides of it and what it really means to hold a piece of the digital currency. If we, as users, deliver everything that a potential user need to know, then maybe he/she will reconsider everything first before saying no or staying. It's hard to see people cursing bitcoin to the ground after they found out of themselves that bitcoin is related to many dark activities in the interwebs, and in the real life as well. I don't know but this was the impression shown to me by the same economics teacher that I'm talking about. If we only deliver every single aspect and side of bitcoin, we might as well get serious people who has a strong belief in bitcoin because they already know what they are going into, instead of having people believe that bitcoin is all good. Fiat is also tainted with crimes and the likes, so as every other currency available. Then why not tell it to others while it's early? It's like giving them a warning that this is not all about good stuffs. You're holding money, and as history states, money is tainted and is forever attached to crimes and illegal doings.

[Kprawn]

I cannot see any "slowing down" ..... The daily transactions increase, and it stays at the same high levels.

The huge price volatility is gone .... something most merchants asked for and are now complaining about. We humans are never satisfied.

Merchant adoption increase daily.... and this shows their are interest in the market for Bitcoin. 

[QuestionAuthority]

I cannot see any "slowing down" ..... The daily transactions increase, and it stays at the same high levels.

The huge price volatility is gone .... something most merchants asked for and are now complaining about. We humans are never satisfied.

Merchant adoption increase daily.... and this shows their are interest in the market for Bitcoin. 

Things like this are slowing Bitcoin down ever so slightly:  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1005634.0

[Minerjoe]

Well I guess this slowing down feeling s been also caused by this price decrease. When the price was being pumped up, everybody wanted piece of the cake. Now, weak hands have left and only true believers are here.
However, BTC can grow without these weak hands. More positive news and events are needed.

[Hazir]

Well I guess this slowing down feeling s been also caused by this price decrease. When the price was being pumped up, everybody wanted piece of the cake. Now, weak hands have left and only true believers are here.
However, BTC can grow without these weak hands. More positive news and events are needed.

The problem with bitcoin is that it is too volatile. Bitcoin has been on a roller-coaster ride, losing more than half its value last year. Do you really think it will stay strong because of some "true believers"?
I will tell you. That it not gonna happen. And I think we need something to make bitcoin stable. If we don't find anything to back bitcoin soon with then digital currency backed by a physical commodity will be more appealing than volatile bitcoin in the future.

[Snipe85]

Well I guess this slowing down feeling s been also caused by this price decrease. When the price was being pumped up, everybody wanted piece of the cake. Now, weak hands have left and only true believers are here.
However, BTC can grow without these weak hands. More positive news and events are needed.

I partially agree, but the majority seems to be tired by all the positive and negative news. There's been so much FUD and manipulation in 2014 that even news are losing impact.
Bitcoin is still doing fine and the price is decent. If you bought last year then probably you'll say it's weak, but Bitcoin hasn't started from the 2013 pump, but has been around for years before and the average price is still on the rise.

[gentlemand]

I will tell you. That it not gonna happen. And I think we need something to make bitcoin stable. If we don't find anything to back bitcoin soon with then digital currency backed by a physical commodity will be more appealing than volatile bitcoin in the future.

Maybe the only thing that would give stability would be world dominance. If it 'stabilised' at $250 it could be smashed upwards or downwards every time a fresh group of people discovered it. Said volatility on the way up pretty much negates potential world dominance but you never know.

[tss]

This WHOLE POST is a signature campaign.  
I am glad to see sig spam on a whole new level. 
If op has no substance than it makes it easy to add to the discussion and sig spam.

[tokeweed]

After quite turbulent events during the last few years, I somehow feel BTC economy s been slowing down a bit. Maybe people are losing interest after not seeing those price jumps/decreases which we witnessed in the past. I know statistics ll probably dispute my claims but this is just my feeling. How do you feel about it, are people still into BTC?

Like anything, people will tend to lose interest in it.  But for the long term, I think cryptocurrencies are here to stay.

[Beliathon]

Do you have a feeling BTC has slowed down a bit?

Nope, sure don't.

[Saw]

Do you have a feeling BTC has slowed down a bit?

Nope, sure don't.

https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fi664.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fvv10%2FJimboToronto%2FBtcGrowthChart.jpg&t=550&c=GGqZfgtjKtteyg

https://i.imgur.com/F92kEVT.png

 That's an informative graphical depiction.Perhaps I should refocus my efforts to acquire more BTC.

[bitbets]

I don't agree with the idea that all early bitcoiners were in it for the drugs or drug money.

That makes no sense to me at all.

I found bitcoin in the fall of 2009, but that was just because I had some fun at a virtual stock exchange in 2007,
and I was searching for something like that.
It had nothing to do with drugs at all.
I like to speculate on  things that other people rejected, but I see opportunities.
(sure, I didn't buy or get involved with bitcoin back then, and i feel robbed because of circumstances,
but I dont intend to make the same mistake again)

Similar to why I am into smartcoin now. I see opportunities when other people reject something sometimes.

I never have understood people who won't take chances on speculative investments,
which might pay 10x, 100x, 1000x or more.

bitcoin is hardly dead. its just getting started is what i think.

[OpenOcean]

It just feels that way because the market is a voting machine and not a weighing machine. Just remember that BTC started at 0.0001 USD

[Amph]

the current market is stagnant this way you feel it in this way, but it's a good thing it mean that the price is stabilizing, we are correcting in price slowly

bitcoin is on a right track, the price from now will rise naturally, without any stupid manipulated pump(aka 1200)

[crazyivan]

Well it all comes to the BTC adoption rate. I simply cannot belive that 6 years into the game the market still cannot consume these couple thousands BTC produced every day. I do not believe early adopters dump a lot so this slowing down caused by the price drop which s caused by supply being over demand must be the reason behind the lack of faster BTC development.

[frankenmint]

I still read the boards every now and then but I am out. Completely. Bitcoin solves nothing for me but it was a great way to make extra cash since I discovered it. But the easy money is gone for me personally and I think the people like me will move on to other things. Very neat idea though but just another type of fiat currency in monetary economics. A house built on sand in other words. I highly doubt it will have any value in 20 years as something else will replace it. Internet users are a fickle bunch.

I've witnessed that too. People are moving on. There's a small fraction of the users here now that were here when I first registered. Even the evangelistic born again Bitcoiners are gone now. I always chalked it up to kids graduating, growing up and starting their real lives. Everyone is idealistic in college. Save the whales, save the trees, free (insert current martyr here) slowly becomes feed the kids, pay the mortgage, please the boss.

I'm not gone, I'm just on other platforms more often.  I find that a lot of people here seem to ask the noob stuff all too often.  I think you can find many of us still active on places like facebook twitter reddit instagram has some... This place is good, but relatively, but I wish that the marketplace section was more active. 

[frankenmint]

Well it all comes to the BTC adoption rate. I simply cannot belive that 6 years into the game the market still cannot consume these couple thousands BTC produced every day. I do not believe early adopters dump a lot so this slowing down caused by the price drop which s caused by supply being over demand must be the reason behind the lack of faster BTC development.

It will be interesting to see what happens if/when bitcoin gets to 3k or more...will many adopters hold or cash out?

I look at BTC as an investment, but I probably wouldn't exit unless BTC reaches less than 5 dollars a coin and EVEN THEN, I would probably just triple down anyway on the notion that we're back to the good ol speculation days with huge volatility.  As often as I'm around the ecosystem though, I would probably see signals that its worse than just a currency crash - like fundamental thefts everywhere along with movement of millions of early coins - that would probably signal me to exit my bitcoin holdings. 

As someone else here said, the network effect will be what determines crypto 2.0's winer.  If we use sidechains and they are indeed superior, many (including me) will transfer a little bit of BTC to those new chains, but will keep BTC as a true stored reserve of value in case the new instrument crashes, or even perhaps, we speculate and trade with those pairs instead of USD btc. 

[crazyivan]

Well it all comes to the BTC adoption rate. I simply cannot belive that 6 years into the game the market still cannot consume these couple thousands BTC produced every day. I do not believe early adopters dump a lot so this slowing down caused by the price drop which s caused by supply being over demand must be the reason behind the lack of faster BTC development.

In 2013 there was a serious influx of money, especially from China and a lot of that money was withdrawn in 2014 when their government's stance changed. Bitcoin went back to the prices from before the 2013 pump, which is completely normal, and did not collapse.
You're also wrong about early adopters not dumping. I remember that about 2 weeks after Hal Finney died last year there were huge regular dumps and people suspected his family of cashing out. Those dumps made the price go down by $200 and reach the lowest point in 2014, so there was obviously at least one whale involved.

Well, only mindless people can dump that way. If they do want out, selling over longer period of time makes them earn much more. I doubt any early adopter s that dumb.
I understand that this constant price decrease might actually be due to higher retail adoption and selling BTC as soon as retailers get them. However, there has to be a bottom line, thing need to pick up soon.

[HI-TEC99]

I still read the boards every now and then but I am out. Completely. Bitcoin solves nothing for me but it was a great way to make extra cash since I discovered it. But the easy money is gone for me personally and I think the people like me will move on to other things. Very neat idea though but just another type of fiat currency in monetary economics. A house built on sand in other words. I highly doubt it will have any value in 20 years as something else will replace it. Internet users are a fickle bunch.

I've witnessed that too. People are moving on. There's a small fraction of the users here now that were here when I first registered. Even the evangelistic born again Bitcoiners are gone now. I always chalked it up to kids graduating, growing up and starting their real lives. Everyone is idealistic in college. Save the whales, save the trees, free (insert current martyr here) slowly becomes feed the kids, pay the mortgage, please the boss.

I'm not gone, I'm just on other platforms more often.  I find that a lot of people here seem to ask the noob stuff all too often.  I think you can find many of us still active on places like facebook twitter reddit instagram has some... This place is good, but relatively, but I wish that the marketplace section was more active. 

This place comes alive when there are big movements either way in bitcoin price. The most activity seems to happen when bitcoin gets pumped, but it's still very active when it suddenly crashes. The tumbleweeds start blowing around when nothing is happening.

[franky1]

After quite turbulent events during the last few years, I somehow feel BTC economy s been slowing down a bit. Maybe people are losing interest after not seeing those price jumps/decreases which we witnessed in the past. I know statistics ll probably dispute my claims but this is just my feeling. How do you feel about it, are people still into BTC?

some say no because:

3 years ago it took ALOT of effort for prices to move from $6.20 to $6.60 in a month ..
but now prices are moving $225-$270 every week roughly.

$50 dollar movement as oppose to 50 cent movement means that alot of dollar is moving about...

.... or (my theory) not much bitcoin is on exchanges allowing movements to be rapid, without much dollar involvement

[ensurance982]

After quite turbulent events during the last few years, I somehow feel BTC economy s been slowing down a bit. Maybe people are losing interest after not seeing those price jumps/decreases which we witnessed in the past. I know statistics ll probably dispute my claims but this is just my feeling. How do you feel about it, are people still into BTC?

No the VC fundings are through the roof already and things are still very much alive, pace has picked up last September/October again, which is even more impressive given the price decline!

[Lorenzo]

After quite turbulent events during the last few years, I somehow feel BTC economy s been slowing down a bit. Maybe people are losing interest after not seeing those price jumps/decreases which we witnessed in the past. I know statistics ll probably dispute my claims but this is just my feeling. How do you feel about it, are people still into BTC?

Bitcoin tends to have short bursts of highly rapid growth surrounded by long phases of slow, zero, or slight negative growth. If you look at the history of BTC adoption as well as historical price charts, you will see that there was very little growth or activity happening in the BTC scene between January 2009 and January 2010. In the beginning of 2009, the network difficulty was 1.0. On January 2010, the network difficulty was 1.18. One month after Satoshi launched Bitcoin, the network hashrate was 5 MH/s. Ten months later, it was 6 MH/s. Much of this hashrate could be attributed to Satoshi himself as well as a few extremely early adopters such as Hal Finney mining on their home computers.

In 2010, Bitcoin adoption grew at a slow but steady pace. The first significant spike in terms of activity didn't really happen until early to mid 2011. That was during the June bubble which pulled a lot of mainstream users into the BTC community. The price went from cents to $33 before crashing back down to $3 later in the year. A lot of miners joined in resulting in the hashrate exploding from 100 GH/s to 10,000 GH/s. Many businesses started accepting Bitcoin too. Silk Road and BitPay were both also established in this year.

(Keep in mind that before mid 2011, Bitcoin was almost completely unknown to the outside world. Those few months constitute a very special and significant event in Bitcoin's history.)

Compared to 2011 however, 2012 was another lackluster year for Bitcoin similar to 2010. Bitcoin's price started off at $7 in the beginning of the year and only grew to $13 by the year's end. Bitcoin was still growing, new companies were still entering the scene, and new Bitcoin startups were still being created although most of this happened behind the scenes.

Then came 2013 which was another repeat of 2011 except now there were two bubbles this time. The first happened when the price shot up from $13 to $266 by April before collapsing. Then it repeated itself later in the year when the price reached over $1,200 before collapsing again. This of course created huge publicity which brought Bitcoin back onto television screens and the mainstream media. Tons of people started entering the Bitcoin community.

Since the last bubble happened so quickly and was almost completely sustained by hype, naturally the price fell afterwards as the hype failed to materialize.

2014 was mostly about dealing with the after effects that this massive bubble created. You now had a lot more people involved in the Bitcoin scene than previously but the increase in price was still way out of proportion to the increased demand. People realized this and so money began leaving the scene. Then as prices dropped further, more people cashed in their coins and left.

TL:DR; Price goes up and people rush in = increased activity. Price doesn't go to the moon so people lose interest and start to leave = decreased activity.

[crazyivan]

After quite turbulent events during the last few years, I somehow feel BTC economy s been slowing down a bit. Maybe people are losing interest after not seeing those price jumps/decreases which we witnessed in the past. I know statistics ll probably dispute my claims but this is just my feeling. How do you feel about it, are people still into BTC?

Bitcoin tends to have short bursts of highly rapid growth surrounded by long phases of slow, zero, or slight negative growth. If you look at the history of BTC adoption as well as historical price charts, you will see that there was very little growth or activity happening in the BTC scene between January 2009 and January 2010. In the beginning of 2009, the network difficulty was 1.0. On January 2010, the network difficulty was 1.18. One month after Satoshi launched Bitcoin, the network hashrate was 5 MH/s. Ten months later, it was 6 MH/s. Much of this hashrate could be attributed to Satoshi himself as well as a few extremely early adopters such as Hal Finney mining on their home computers.

In 2010, Bitcoin adoption grew at a slow but steady pace. The first significant spike in terms of activity didn't really happen until early to mid 2011. That was during the June bubble which pulled a lot of mainstream users into the BTC community. The price went from cents to $33 before crashing back down to $3 later in the year. A lot of miners joined in resulting in the hashrate exploding from 100 GH/s to 10,000 GH/s. Many businesses started accepting Bitcoin too. Silk Road and BitPay were both also established in this year.

(Keep in mind that before mid 2011, Bitcoin was almost completely unknown to the outside world. Those few months constitute a very special and significant event in Bitcoin's history.)

Compared to 2011 however, 2012 was another lackluster year for Bitcoin similar to 2010. Bitcoin's price started off at $7 in the beginning of the year and only grew to $13 by the year's end. Bitcoin was still growing, new companies were still entering the scene, and new Bitcoin startups were still being created although most of this happened behind the scenes.

Then came 2013 which was another repeat of 2011 except now there were two bubbles this time. The first happened when the price shot up from $13 to $266 by April before collapsing. Then it repeated itself later in the year when the price reached over $1,200 before collapsing again. This of course created huge publicity which brought Bitcoin back onto television screens and the mainstream media. Tons of people started entering the Bitcoin community.

Since the last bubble happened so quickly and was almost completely sustained by hype, naturally the price fell afterwards as the hype failed to materialize.

2014 was mostly about dealing with the after effects that this massive bubble created. You now had a lot more people involved in the Bitcoin scene than previously but the increase in price was still way out of proportion to the increased demand. People realized this and so money began leaving the scene. Then as prices dropped further, more people cashed in their coins and left.

TL:DR; Price goes up and people rush in = increased activity. Price doesn't go to the moon so people lose interest and start to leave = decreased activity.

Hah, interesting analysis. So if this all true, when do you foresee the next phase of highly rapid growth?

[Amph]

After quite turbulent events during the last few years, I somehow feel BTC economy s been slowing down a bit. Maybe people are losing interest after not seeing those price jumps/decreases which we witnessed in the past. I know statistics ll probably dispute my claims but this is just my feeling. How do you feel about it, are people still into BTC?

some say no because:

3 years ago it took ALOT of effort for prices to move from $6.20 to $6.60 in a month ..
but now prices are moving $225-$270 every week roughly.

$50 dollar movement as oppose to 50 cent movement means that alot of dollar is moving about...

.... or (my theory) not much bitcoin is on exchanges allowing movements to be rapid, without much dollar involvement

you can't really compare like this, now there is more people "playing" with bitcoin, the volume is larger, more transactions, and the price is higher, which mean more money involved in any movement, it's called proportion

0.5 cent is rougtly 1/12 of 6 50 is 1/6(but that was just one case), normally we are moving of 20-30 only now, which mean 1/10-1/12, about the same as before

[QuestionAuthority]

I still read the boards every now and then but I am out. Completely. Bitcoin solves nothing for me but it was a great way to make extra cash since I discovered it. But the easy money is gone for me personally and I think the people like me will move on to other things. Very neat idea though but just another type of fiat currency in monetary economics. A house built on sand in other words. I highly doubt it will have any value in 20 years as something else will replace it. Internet users are a fickle bunch.

I've witnessed that too. People are moving on. There's a small fraction of the users here now that were here when I first registered. Even the evangelistic born again Bitcoiners are gone now. I always chalked it up to kids graduating, growing up and starting their real lives. Everyone is idealistic in college. Save the whales, save the trees, free (insert current martyr here) slowly becomes feed the kids, pay the mortgage, please the boss.

I'm not gone, I'm just on other platforms more often.  I find that a lot of people here seem to ask the noob stuff all too often.  I think you can find many of us still active on places like facebook twitter reddit instagram has some... This place is good, but relatively, but I wish that the marketplace section was more active. 

Yeah, I see some people that have been here a long time. Satoshi considered this to be the main forum for Bitcoin info and development and it's losing the oldest supporters. Either this forum is losing it's position in the Bitcoin world as you suggest or people are moving on and losing interest for whatever reason (graduating, scammed out of their faith in the system, scared of the legal standing, finally see the fight will be decades not months).

[crazyivan]

I still read the boards every now and then but I am out. Completely. Bitcoin solves nothing for me but it was a great way to make extra cash since I discovered it. But the easy money is gone for me personally and I think the people like me will move on to other things. Very neat idea though but just another type of fiat currency in monetary economics. A house built on sand in other words. I highly doubt it will have any value in 20 years as something else will replace it. Internet users are a fickle bunch.

I've witnessed that too. People are moving on. There's a small fraction of the users here now that were here when I first registered. Even the evangelistic born again Bitcoiners are gone now. I always chalked it up to kids graduating, growing up and starting their real lives. Everyone is idealistic in college. Save the whales, save the trees, free (insert current martyr here) slowly becomes feed the kids, pay the mortgage, please the boss.

I'm not gone, I'm just on other platforms more often.  I find that a lot of people here seem to ask the noob stuff all too often.  I think you can find many of us still active on places like facebook twitter reddit instagram has some... This place is good, but relatively, but I wish that the marketplace section was more active. 

Yeah, I see some people that have been here a long time. Satoshi considered this to be the main forum for Bitcoin info and development and it's losing the oldest supporters. Either this forum is losing it's position in the Bitcoin world as you suggest or people are moving on and losing interest for whatever reason (graduating, scammed out of their faith in the system, scared of the legal standing, finally see the fight will be decades not months).

You cannot lose interest in BTC, not if you are really into this. You can if you get scammed, especially multiple times. About people leaving the industry due to personal reasons, that can happen, but wouldn't these get replaced by new entrants. This is exactly what I am talking about. I do not see so many new entrants to the BTC economy as before. Consequently, the number of good projects has decreased. Who s to blame? IMHO, SCAMMERS.

[QuestionAuthority]

I still read the boards every now and then but I am out. Completely. Bitcoin solves nothing for me but it was a great way to make extra cash since I discovered it. But the easy money is gone for me personally and I think the people like me will move on to other things. Very neat idea though but just another type of fiat currency in monetary economics. A house built on sand in other words. I highly doubt it will have any value in 20 years as something else will replace it. Internet users are a fickle bunch.

I've witnessed that too. People are moving on. There's a small fraction of the users here now that were here when I first registered. Even the evangelistic born again Bitcoiners are gone now. I always chalked it up to kids graduating, growing up and starting their real lives. Everyone is idealistic in college. Save the whales, save the trees, free (insert current martyr here) slowly becomes feed the kids, pay the mortgage, please the boss.

I'm not gone, I'm just on other platforms more often.  I find that a lot of people here seem to ask the noob stuff all too often.  I think you can find many of us still active on places like facebook twitter reddit instagram has some... This place is good, but relatively, but I wish that the marketplace section was more active. 

Yeah, I see some people that have been here a long time. Satoshi considered this to be the main forum for Bitcoin info and development and it's losing the oldest supporters. Either this forum is losing it's position in the Bitcoin world as you suggest or people are moving on and losing interest for whatever reason (graduating, scammed out of their faith in the system, scared of the legal standing, finally see the fight will be decades not months).

You cannot lose interest in BTC, not if you are really into this. You can if you get scammed, especially multiple times. About people leaving the industry due to personal reasons, that can happen, but wouldn't these get replaced by new entrants. This is exactly what I am talking about. I do not see so many new entrants to the BTC economy as before. Consequently, the number of good projects has decreased. Who s to blame? IMHO, SCAMMERS.

I think there were only a few types of people that were into Bitcoin in the beginning.

One would be the cypherpunk crypto-geek types that were into all the latest trends in the crypto world since the 90s. If you followed and liked the concept of Hashcash you were going to do the same with Bitcoin. These people are still playing with Bitcoin because there's a lot of data to sift through but they have a tendency to move on to the next leading edge development. That's what they do - they create and creating means moving on.

Another one (and a big group) was the college crowd that saw the original Slashdot and Galker articles about SR and they latch on to anything trendy, edgy and cool. Let's face it, there's nothing cooler than having ecstasy(MDMA) mailed straight to your dorm. These people graduate, grow up, get lives and move on. They aren't being replaced because SR is gone and the concept lost its trendy, edgy, cool aura. Now it just looks like another way to get busted.

Another big group of people were the scammers and opportunists. This group constantly searches for new ways to make your money belong to them or make you support their agenda. I dump the liberitarians and anarchists into this group too because they weren't really here to support Bitcoin. They were here to support their agenda and Bitcoin definately has those revolutionary components in its basic design. This group will move on too if they see Bitcoin isn't being used to further their agenda. BUT you are correct, this group will ALWAYS be replaced with new scammers and opportunists. So these people are what we're left with.

[Cryddit]

I think there were only a few types of people that were into Bitcoin in the beginning.
Another big group of people were the scammers and opportunists. This group constantly searches for new ways to make your money belong to them or make you support their agenda. I dump the liberitarians and anarchists into this group too because they weren't really here to support Bitcoin. They were here to support their agenda and Bitcoin definately has those revolutionary components in its basic design. This group will move on too if they see Bitcoin isn't being used to further their agenda. BUT you are correct, this group will ALWAYS be replaced with new scammers and opportunists. So these people are what we're left with.

Unfortunate, but true.  This is why civilizations eventually require laws and law enforcement.  The old "fuck the law" attitude that some of the aforementioned radical libertarians and anarchists adopt enables the ones who are just out for your money to flourish.  But if we want to build anything worth having in the long run, it has to be part of civilization, and that means it will have to have laws and law enforcement to control the population of scammers. 

I think the best we can hope for is that we get the opportunity to participate and try to make sure that the laws aren't stupid or oppressive.  Controlling the scammers is literally all we want the law to do. 

[crazyivan]

I read an article by some analyst recently claiming that the presence of scammers and opportunists in BTC economy is actually a good thing since it signals the vibrant and growing nature of BTC.
Hm, I would prefer they find some other more vibrant economy.

[snarlpill]

I don't think its slowed down but I think there are too many people getting in nowadays hoping to "Get Rich Quick" and it simply isn't happening fast enough for them so they get bored and exit their position. So many people, so many threads (everyday on this forum) asking how they can "double my Bitcoins" and similar. Bitcoin is not some magic money that you can just pull some trick and multiply it. You wouldn't expect to start out with 20 US dollars and raise your capital without doing some kind of work, providing a service, or selling something. I believe the price of Bitcoin will definitely rise in the long-term but I think the days of huge increases overnight might be over, at least for now. As a result, these Get-Rich-Quick people are so eager to multiply their BTC that they invest in so many shady sites/people/operations in hopes of striking it rich without doing their due diligence. I.e.- Shady Cloud Mining operations that can't even provide proof of actual mining, Ponzi schemes, investing in brand new casinos operated by anonymous people that exit with the bankroll, etc. Then these people get scammed out of their money and get even more burnt out.

I personally don't think we need more regulations, but people need to remember that a Bitcoin transaction is irreversible, and if they can't trust who they're sending it to 100% then they shouldn't "invest". Bitcoin was created so that YOU could control your money, not a third party site or centralization. HODL your private keys.

[crazyivan]

I don't think its slowed down but I think there are too many people getting in nowadays hoping to "Get Rich Quick" and it simply isn't happening fast enough for them so they get bored and exit their position. So many people, so many threads (everyday on this forum) asking how they can "double my Bitcoins" and similar. Bitcoin is not some magic money that you can just pull some trick and multiply it. You wouldn't expect to start out with 20 US dollars and raise your capital without doing some kind of work, providing a service, or selling something. I believe the price of Bitcoin will definitely rise in the long-term but I think the days of huge increases overnight might be over, at least for now. As a result, these Get-Rich-Quick people are so eager to multiply their BTC that they invest in so many shady sites/people/operations in hopes of striking it rich without doing their due diligence. I.e.- Shady Cloud Mining operations that can't even provide proof of actual mining, Ponzi schemes, investing in brand new casinos operated by anonymous people that exit with the bankroll, etc. Then these people get scammed out of their money and get even more burnt out.

I personally don't think we need more regulations, but people need to remember that a Bitcoin transaction is irreversible, and if they can't trust who they're sending it to 100% then they shouldn't "invest". Bitcoin was created so that YOU could control your money, not a third party site or centralization. HODL your private keys.

That s the problem. Most of people, at least from the developed world, come to BTC from money transmitting industries which are quite safe and regulated. In other words, their money s been generally protected. Paypal, Payzaa, credit cards, banks, etc, there s always someone to call and complain if something goes wrong. Now, they come to a "wild, wild west" industry where they can be ripped off at any corner and there s nobody to complain about it. I don't think we should change behavior of BTC users, I do not think they need to get accustomed to this kind of scam free economy, I think we need to change BTC to resemble some of more traditional money transmitting industry, ONLY in terms of consumer protection. Wild, wild west s not good for BTC, I do not want to think "is it a scam" every time I see a new business opportunity in the BTC world and this is EXACTLY the first thing which comes to my mind.

[Amph]

I read an article by some analyst recently claiming that the presence of scammers and opportunists in BTC economy is actually a good thing since it signals the vibrant and growing nature of BTC.
Hm, I would prefer they find some other more vibrant economy.

scammers usually dump fast, they aren't like hungry early adopters, this is actually a good thing because it help spreading bitcoin faster, even if there is a big dump for this, the price will eventually recover, but now with a greater chance that more people are owning bitcoin

[Daniel91]

I don't think its slowed down but I think there are too many people getting in nowadays hoping to "Get Rich Quick" and it simply isn't happening fast enough for them so they get bored and exit their position. So many people, so many threads (everyday on this forum) asking how they can "double my Bitcoins" and similar. Bitcoin is not some magic money that you can just pull some trick and multiply it. You wouldn't expect to start out with 20 US dollars and raise your capital without doing some kind of work, providing a service, or selling something. I believe the price of Bitcoin will definitely rise in the long-term but I think the days of huge increases overnight might be over, at least for now. As a result, these Get-Rich-Quick people are so eager to multiply their BTC that they invest in so many shady sites/people/operations in hopes of striking it rich without doing their due diligence. I.e.- Shady Cloud Mining operations that can't even provide proof of actual mining, Ponzi schemes, investing in brand new casinos operated by anonymous people that exit with the bankroll, etc. Then these people get scammed out of their money and get even more burnt out.

I personally don't think we need more regulations, but people need to remember that a Bitcoin transaction is irreversible, and if they can't trust who they're sending it to 100% then they shouldn't "invest". Bitcoin was created so that YOU could control your money, not a third party site or centralization. HODL your private keys.

That s the problem. Most of people, at least from the developed world, come to BTC from money transmitting industries which are quite safe and regulated. In other words, their money s been generally protected. Paypal, Payzaa, credit cards, banks, etc, there s always someone to call and complain if something goes wrong. Now, they come to a "wild, wild west" industry where they can be ripped off at any corner and there s nobody to complain about it. I don't think we should change behavior of BTC users, I do not think they need to get accustomed to this kind of scam free economy, I think we need to change BTC to resemble some of more traditional money transmitting industry, ONLY in terms of consumer protection. Wild, wild west s not good for BTC, I do not want to think "is it a scam" every time I see a new business opportunity in the BTC world and this is EXACTLY the first thing which comes to my mind.

I agree with you.
Online users really like paypal, for example, because of very good customer protection.
If they pay for some service and don't receive it, they can open dispute in their paypal account and receive money back.
With bitcoin something like this is not possible.
Yes, BTC should definitely change and offer some kind of protection for both buyers and sellers.

[bryant.coleman]

Yes, BTC should definitely change and offer some kind of protection for both buyers and sellers.

I don't think that is going to happen anytime soon. Something like this is against the most important concepts of Bitcoin, which is designated to be a decentralized currency.

Providing protection for both buyers and sellers is not the responsibility of Bitcoin. The marketplaces should do that.

[crazyivan]

Yes, BTC should definitely change and offer some kind of protection for both buyers and sellers.

I don't think that is going to happen anytime soon. Something like this is against the most important concepts of Bitcoin, which is designated to be a decentralized currency.

Providing protection for both buyers and sellers is not the responsibility of Bitcoin. The marketplaces should do that.

Well, then I think we have a major issue cause the number of scammers will be growing and the number of honest people will be reducing. This is exactly what s going on right now. Take a look at cloud mining for example. On every legit cloud mining operation, there s at least 20 ponzies and the new ones keep on emerging every day. Is this decentralization we want? Scammers at every corner? No, thank you, I didn't sigh up for this.

Also, you cannot teach people to select the good ones only. I ve been reading about people who got scammed once and they keep investing into another potential scammy operations. Until one day they say, fck this, I am out.

[bryant.coleman]

Well, then I think we have a major issue cause the number of scammers will be growing and the number of honest people will be reducing. This is exactly what s going on right now. Take a look at cloud mining for example. On every legit cloud mining operation, there s at least 20 ponzies and the new ones keep on emerging every day. Is this decentralization we want? Scammers at every corner? No, thank you, I didn't sigh up for this.

I agree with many of your observations. Scammers and conmen have been flocking to the bitcoin sector ever since 2013. They are using some of the disadvantages of Bitcoins to their own advantage. Right now, there is very little which we could do about it. But I hope that things will change pretty soon.

[calaber24p]

So what do you guys see as the greatest obstacles in the future?

fighting a possible new coin, that can surpass bitcoin in technology, and the early adopters problem, which lead to high instability in price, and heavy manipulation

I agree with Amph mostly because I think billion dollar companies and organizations will now start to create things that will use blockchain technology in a new form and ditch bitcoin all together. Whether or not they will be successful is unknown but wont stop them from trying.

[Hazir]

So what do you guys see as the greatest obstacles in the future?

fighting a possible new coin, that can surpass bitcoin in technology, and the early adopters problem, which lead to high instability in price, and heavy manipulation

I agree with Amph mostly because I think billion dollar companies and organizations will now start to create things that will use blockchain technology in a new form and ditch bitcoin all together. Whether or not they will be successful is unknown but wont stop them from trying.

There are already altcoins which surpass bitcoin in the technology department. But that is not the case here. People seem to not get that there will be always something what can be done better. There will be something to upgrade and advance even further. But we DON'T NEED IT NOW. All we need is one strong cryptocurrency and not distraction in the form of various other altcoin projects.

[mercistheman]

It seems like this train is doing anything but slowing down... we're on the cusp of some major players that are not only intrigued by the technology but willing to  recommend btc as a viable addition to their clients portfolio... I'm not sure this has fully registered with most members of the community... the future is indeed very bright [reaches for shades] 

[Miracal]

Due to the imposed regulation, Bitcoin price plummeted from the peak of $1200. A lot of traders or speculators are swiped out from the market. But it doesn't matter they are just for the quick profit. We need the true believer, who will buy and spend it. They are truely support the ecosystem of it.

[rokkyroad]

It has slowed down all right.

Well, then I think we have a major issue cause the number of scammers will be growing and the number of honest people will be reducing. This is exactly what s going on right now.

This quote from crazyivan explains one of the major reasons why. Anyone who gets fleeced on a scam or theft leaves the scene and does not go around promoting the virtues of btc afterwards.

[bryant.coleman]

It has slowed down all right.

Well, then I think we have a major issue cause the number of scammers will be growing and the number of honest people will be reducing. This is exactly what s going on right now.

This quote from crazyivan explains one of the major reasons why. Anyone who gets fleeced on a scam or theft leaves the scene and does not go around promoting the virtues of btc afterwards.

Personally, I know a few people (some of the earliest adapters of BTC), who gave up on Bitcoin after their life savings were stolen by Mark Karpeles in the Mt Gox scandal. So... yes.... I agree with you. 

[Powerpuff]

IMO Bitcoin would be much higher if a few top exchanges haven't scammed people millions of dollars. Of course so many people has lost interest and trust in bitcoin and it will take a while to gain it back.

[crazyivan]

IMO Bitcoin would be much higher if a few top exchanges haven't scammed people millions of dollars. Of course so many people has lost interest and trust in bitcoin and it will take a while to gain it back.

Its not exchanges only, it s small projects as well. Just go take a look marketplace part of this forum. At least 8 out of 10 projects listed there are in the lack of better word, fishy. What other industry s got that kind of ration. Sometimes I read about these project I feel like being on those HYIP monitor websites, I can back in a week and bunch of projects being advertised last week get that "scam" tag.

[bryant.coleman]

Its not exchanges only, it s small projects as well.

Absolutely. Check this thread:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=576337

Most important of them:

1. Mt Gox: BTC850,000
2. Bitcoin Savings and Trust: BTC263,024
3. Silk Road Seizure: BTC171,955
4. Sheep Marketplace: BTC220,000
5. Evolution: BTC130,000