Bitcoin...?

[LiteCoinGuy]

[BillyBobZorton]

We'll get there way faster than we can imagine because all the infrastructure is already built. We aren't starting from scratch here, the internet, computers, etc, it's all ready. The internet needed the infrastructure to be built, that is already done for us, all that needs to get done is to get the software better and better.

[LiteCoinGuy]

We'll get there way faster than we can imagine because all the infrastructure is already built. We aren't starting from scratch here, the internet, computers, etc, it's all ready. The internet needed the infrastructure to be built, that is already done for us, all that needs to get done is to get the software better and better.

true but bitcoin needs some infrastructure too like exchanges, other companies, code, miners etc

[maokoto]

How many users (estimated) are there in Bitcoin right now?

It seems to me that 4-5 years are needed to achieve this...

[Chronikka]

How many users (estimated) are there in Bitcoin right now?

It seems to me that 4-5 years are needed to achieve this...

Oh its going to take longer than 4-5 years to reach a billion users. You're talking about 1/7 of the population of the planet. That many people don't even use VISA

[sana9821]

How many users (estimated) are there in Bitcoin right now?

It seems to me that 4-5 years are needed to achieve this...

Oh its going to take longer than 4-5 years to reach a billion users. You're talking about 1/7 of the population of the planet. That many people don't even use VISA

why so much time? if bitcoin would become more mainstream and more companies would accept it the interest would start growing really fast

[Chronikka]

How many users (estimated) are there in Bitcoin right now?

It seems to me that 4-5 years are needed to achieve this...

Oh its going to take longer than 4-5 years to reach a billion users. You're talking about 1/7 of the population of the planet. That many people don't even use VISA

why so much time? if bitcoin would become more mainstream and more companies would accept it the interest would start growing really fast

Yes but I don't think that will happen in the near future. Right now currencies in this world are controlled by the various governments that issue and regulate them. In order for bitcoin to be "mainstream" those government issued currencies would have to take a hit. There is no other way around it. If people are using Bitcoin they are not using USD, CNY, RUB, etc.

Governments don't take kindly to people messing with their money. I would expect the next 4-5 years are going to be quite difficult for Bitcoin as we have to fight through stifling regulation. Its a new technology, and its going to scare a lot of policy makers into trying to stop or at least limit the growth of Bitcoin. Especially considering the banking industry has the government firmly in its pocket, at least here in the US.

[figmentofmyass]

How many users (estimated) are there in Bitcoin right now?

It seems to me that 4-5 years are needed to achieve this...

Oh its going to take longer than 4-5 years to reach a billion users. You're talking about 1/7 of the population of the planet. That many people don't even use VISA

why so much time? if bitcoin would become more mainstream and more companies would accept it the interest would start growing really fast

whether or not more companies accept it, this doesn't give consumers a reason to adopt bitcoin. as it stands, there are little to no consumer incentives (even with Gyft i can get better cash back with my credit cards).....for whatever reason people will adopt bitcoin---imo mainly hedge against fiat/store of value/investment vehicle. merchant adoption has zilch to do with that.

[JeromeL]

True, infrastructure is already their but that's not all we need.

We also need bitcoin to be much less volatile to attract more than adventurous speculators, and become a relevant way to store value for everyone. And this will obviously take more time.

[NorrisK]

How many users (estimated) are there in Bitcoin right now?

It seems to me that 4-5 years are needed to achieve this...

Oh its going to take longer than 4-5 years to reach a billion users. You're talking about 1/7 of the population of the planet. That many people don't even use VISA

why so much time? if bitcoin would become more mainstream and more companies would accept it the interest would start growing really fast

whether or not more companies accept it, this doesn't give consumers a reason to adopt bitcoin. as it stands, there are little to no consumer incentives (even with Gyft i can get better cash back with my credit cards).....for whatever reason people will adopt bitcoin---imo mainly hedge against fiat/store of value/investment vehicle. merchant adoption has zilch to do with that.

Consumers incentives include that they can spend when, where and however they want. No need for banks, No problems with bank holidays, No problem with security checks. Just buy buy buy stuff.

[figmentofmyass]

How many users (estimated) are there in Bitcoin right now?

It seems to me that 4-5 years are needed to achieve this...

Oh its going to take longer than 4-5 years to reach a billion users. You're talking about 1/7 of the population of the planet. That many people don't even use VISA

why so much time? if bitcoin would become more mainstream and more companies would accept it the interest would start growing really fast

whether or not more companies accept it, this doesn't give consumers a reason to adopt bitcoin. as it stands, there are little to no consumer incentives (even with Gyft i can get better cash back with my credit cards).....for whatever reason people will adopt bitcoin---imo mainly hedge against fiat/store of value/investment vehicle. merchant adoption has zilch to do with that.

Consumers incentives include that they can spend when, where and however they want. No need for banks, No problems with bank holidays, No problem with security checks. Just buy buy buy stuff.

why would that matter to consumers? i use bitcoin all the time. that doesn't mean im stupid. banks and credit cards aren't going anywhere. credit cards net me better incentives ---> i use credit cards over bitcoin any day of the week. with credit cards, i also have no problem with bank holidays or security checks. all instant. and credit cards are actually accepted everywhere, unlike bitcoin.

[Chronikka]

I think you guys are missing the point about consumers and merchants. Both of those are at the mercy of the laws where they conduct business. If the government is making it difficult to transact in Bitcoin then people are not going to use it. Its not worth the financial risk to cross the government. Why do you think so many companies pulled out of New York when the Bitlicense nonsense passed?

Merchants don't care what currency the buyer uses as long as they can seamlessly exchange it to something they want. Services like Bitpay already exist for this purpose. What stops most merchants from accepting Bitcoin today is uncertainty. They don't know where this technology is headed in the future, and more importantly they don't know how their government is going to react to it.

Mainstream adoption is great but its not going to happen quickly. The more people start to use it the harder governments will regulate it. Eventually I think Bitcoin will break through but not after years of working through bad legislation put in place by people who don't want to see the status quo change.

[gentlemand]

If it can ever scale, one billion machines will be using it an awful lot sooner than a billion people will.

[Echye]

One billion users if you count each machine=1 user. Other than that it's kind of impossible to reach it.

[n3o111]

How many users (estimated) are there in Bitcoin right now?

It seems to me that 4-5 years are needed to achieve this...

There is not even 1 billion computer users worldwide right now. Considering less than %0.0001 of computer users know Bitcoin and maybe only %1 of them use it, it's impossible to achieve 1 billion in 4 years, not even in 14 years.
Some countries discussing colonizing on Mars when others busy for middle age religion fights, others can't find clear water. The world is not equal.

[gentlemand]

There is not even 1 billion computer users worldwide right now. Considering less than %0.0001 of computer users know Bitcoin and maybe only %1 of them use it, it's impossible to achieve 1 billion in 4 years, not even in 14 years.

If there aren't already, there'll be one billion smart phones very soon. A lot of people in developing countries have skipped computers completely and gone straight to those.

[LiteCoinGuy]

How many users (estimated) are there in Bitcoin right now?

It seems to me that 4-5 years are needed to achieve this...

people estimate between 500k and 5 mio. i tend to estimate 1 mio.

hard to estimate the growth in the next 5 years  


maybe in 2020 we have 50 million users.
in 2025 we have 1 billion. who knows...even Instagram got 400 mio users within 4 years  

[Denker]

How many users (estimated) are there in Bitcoin right now?

It seems to me that 4-5 years are needed to achieve this...

people estimate between 500k and 5 mio. i tend to estimate 1 mio.

hard to estimate the growth in the next 5 years  


maybe in 2020 we have 50 million users.
in 2025 we have 1 billion. who knows...even Instagram got 400 mio users within 4 years  

Yes these predictions seem to be more realistic and achieveable but still really optimistic imo.There are actual issues we have to solve.For instance like the blocksize debate, to reduce the uncertainty in which direction Bitcoin will be heading.A lot of work has to be done. And therefore time and patience is needed.

[Amph]

How many users (estimated) are there in Bitcoin right now?

It seems to me that 4-5 years are needed to achieve this...

around 3M , but maybe a bit more in the recent days, otherwise we are stuck there since long time

anyway i would not look so much at this number, there is the possibility that it may grow really fast to 1B if the right "catalyst" is found

[dothebeats]

How many users (estimated) are there in Bitcoin right now?

It seems to me that 4-5 years are needed to achieve this...

people estimate between 500k and 5 mio. i tend to estimate 1 mio.

hard to estimate the growth in the next 5 years  


maybe in 2020 we have 50 million users.
in 2025 we have 1 billion. who knows...even Instagram got 400 mio users within 4 years  

Well it seems that the number of bitcoin users are sitting between 1m - 2m. Though the numbers aren't that big compared to other social networking sites, at least we're here, given the fact that bitcoin is not that easy to be familiar with (given the technical terms and other geeky stuff). In the next years, maybe we'll see a huge spike on the user base of bitcoin, if people tries to see what bitcoin has to offer.