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[pyedpyper]

It is already mainstream, haha!

[Ryan Dugan]

I think it is still a far way away. I think that is still a good thing since it gives us early adopters a chance to gather as many bitcoin as we can before it goes mainstream and be rich. 

[Junko]

Still a while to go before bitcoin is mainstream. When people are using it regularly like fiat for their usual everyday purchases, without thinking twice about the fact that they are using it.

Same with computers and the internet. Before they became mainstream, when people first started using them, they were like, "Oh wow, I'm using a personal computer and I can surf the world wide web. AOL is so cool."

Nowadays, we take computers and the internet for granted Everyone has a device with access to the internet. And we don't really think much about it when we use the internets and apps on whatever devices we have. That's when you know something is mainstream. When it is so ubiquitous and widely used, that people don't even think about the fact they are using it. They simply just use it without any extra thought.

[Nasty23]

Still a while to go before bitcoin is mainstream. When people are using it regularly like fiat for their usual everyday purchases, without thinking twice about the fact that they are using it.

Same with computers and the internet. Before they became mainstream, when people first started using them, they were like, "Oh wow, I'm using a personal computer and I can surf the world wide web. AOL is so cool." Nowadays, we take computers and the internet for granted and don't really think much about it when we use the internets and apps on whatever devices we have. That's when you know something is mainstream. When it is so ubiquitous and widely used, that people don't even think about the fact they are using it. They simply just use it without any extra thought.

Yes using it regularly is a sign of mainstream and bitcoin is going on that if the different country continue to accept bitcoin as a legal payment method. It would be a helpful currency for everyone if this make a legal payment method because the money that you hold via bitcoin will grow even there is a high transaction fee.

[Celsiuss]

Depends on what you consider 'mainstream'. By mainstream, do you mean widely used by everyone in the world? Then we're very very far away. If you mean mainstream coin within cryptos? Then bitcoin has always been mainstream. It depends on what you define mainstream as.

[Za1n]

I think we are one step away from it being mainstream. However, one needs to consider the cycles Bitcoin needs to go through first, as the "next" step may still be one to two years away.

The first cycle was from Bitcoin's inception to the Nov 2013 high of $1000. This period included pretty much the computer nerds and hobbyists, and eventually some tech savoy investors. The later's involvement propelled Bitcoin into the wider world of public awareness, but with the peak and bursting of the initial bubble much of its early momentum was lost.

The second period, that we are in now, many people have seen the first rise and fall of Bitcoin and may have gotten in because they decided to ride the on the way up. I think many are now starting to see the writing on the wall and may be selling their assets in anticipation of another crash. I don't think the crash will be as severe as in 2014, but it will still hurt a lot of people. Once this next period is over and Bitcoin is sub $1000 for some time, probably at least a year, will people start getting in again once it stabilized and hopefully rises again with more restraint.

In the meantime, 1 to 2 years, hopefully more establishment type of exchanges come online that are following regulations of their respective governments so as to eliminate much of the current drama and probably much of the "mainstreams" hesitation to get into Bitcoin. Once it is not subject to being shutdown or banned simply on a whim of a government, or the exchanges are not so shady as to simply vanish overnight, then the more mom and pop type investors will start to enter.

As far as day to day usability, we will need more and some major merchants to start accepting Bitcoin directly, giants such as Amazon, Walmart, as well as most online stores will need to make taking crypto payments as easy as they now offer credit card payments. Again, much of this will depend on how much larger exchanges and possibly banks deal with Bitcoin and of course the surround government regulations that are sure to be in place by then.

[Jose Mourinho]

Hopefully soon, users who continue to increase make very strong bitcoin. besides the support from the government will soon accelerate bitcoin to being mainstream.

[DoublerHunter]

As of now, it is not even close for bitcoin to become mainstream because if bitcoin is mainstream right now then we don't need to worry for the price of bitcoin because it will pump more and more because of the demands that are coming from different parts of the world because of being mainstream, bitcoin still needs to prove something before it gets mainstream.

[jseverson]

Not at all close before the China exchange ban, and even further after that. To be fair, though, China's actions kind of acknowledge Bitcoin's growth, in a way. It is making waves so to speak. We currently have a problem of a few groups/individuals holding a large percentage of coins such that a little cause of panic can cause these players to move, and the market along with them. We also have people like Dimon who tries to manipulate the market for enormous gains. A larger population base holding coins should alleviate these problems somewhat, making Bitcoin value more stable, and then we can go from there. I believe volatility is really the only big hurdle for Bitcoin to become mainstream.

[entrepmind23]

How much closer is Bitcoin to being mainstream, and how do you gauge that?  I noticed more ATMs in recent years, but other that haven't seen too many other signs.

We may have seen many developments related to bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general but I think we are still not that near yet to being mainstreamed. Though there are other countries that legalized bitcoin, there are others who are banning it. Some countries are ahead in technology while in other countries even electricity in some places are lacking so it would be hard for it to be mainstreamed.

As we are already part of the crypto world, it seems that we are getting closer to it but if I ask people randomly if they knew about bitcoin, many don't still have an idea what it is. Step by step we may be able to reach the day cryptocurrency will become mainstream.

[bitcoinmaniac52]

Every single day that goes by sees Bitcoin becoming closer and closer to going mainstream.

[Beicin]

Still a long way to go. Can you explain bitcoin and blockchain to someone who can barely use his computer/smartphone in less than 5min in a way they can understand? Until we manage to do that, it won't be mainstream - adoption it growing yeah, but still a long ways off being mainstream.

[Nawaytes]

Do you mean the word "mainstream" is used as a means of payment like fiat currency? Still not close enough for me, not all countries can accept bitcoin as a means of payment, and people only apply it as a commodity to take profits through trade (including me).

[URSD]

bitcoins is so related and close because it can buy you anything

[Mr. Legendaris]

I think it takes time for bitcoin to prove to be mainstream. we all know that the price is too easy in control though bitcoin is decentralized, if loyal users of course they are not easy to sell.

[ruskytailz02]

Isn't BICOIN is not mainstream

many of well known CEO's like bill gates who owns lots of BTC
some says that this need more attention but the thing is now bitcoin popularity is becoming strong
the thing is many of people not know and how these coins behavior and how it works I think that is the reason

[ss890]

Bitcoin is already catching up the fire and there is no doubt about its mainstream performance. It's been while since bitcoin has formed its presence and the investment, portfolios, media, news everywhere bitcoin is having best performance. Yup, it's true about bitcoin ATMs but there is a glitch in that picture and that is, it's not present yet in the developing countries because they might not be having that much advancement in the world of cryptocurrencies.

That's important to bring it here because that's the x percentage of crypto investment we are loosing for now. Otherwise bitcoin is outperforming already.

[Aura]

Bitcoin is already mainstream. Big media platforms are writing articles about it. Also when you look the unconfirmed transactions, the amount increases every second. It passed PayPal's marketcap a couple of weeks ago. PayPal is quite mainstream, even my mother knows it.

Nah... Bitcoin has become more widely known and people are just starting to realize that there might be something to it, that's true. But it's still quite far from mainstream, albeit we're slowly getting there.

Knowing about something and using it are two very different things. A lot of people knew about cars, computers and the internet before the general populace started using them.

PayPal's market cap is a useless metric in this regard, unfortunately. It will be mainstream once the userbase is the size of PayPal.

It depends on how you define mainstream. I mean you and I consider it as normal, for doing payments. But how much people need to consider it as 'normal' to be mainstream?
In my country iDEAL is widely, it's considered mainstream here. But if I would ask about it in the United States, almost nobody would know it nor use it to make payments.
And you can't really compare Bitcoin's user base to that of an one account per user service. I think it's better to compare the amount of transactions per second to that of PayPal.

[DenGreen910]

Haha it's so close. but anyway it's perfect opportunity to gain money, so go for it. just invest!  I think you should invest into real products or stable btc
If you are sure you wanna take risk, I'll ttry some of those: UnikoinGold or Confideal.
I have already invested and get some profit

[soham]

How much closer is Bitcoin to being mainstream, and how do you gauge that?  I noticed more ATMs in recent years, but other that haven't seen too many other signs.

I doubt that bitcoin will ever become mainstream like any other government regulated fiat currency because bitcoin is not structurally build that way. It has already created a parallel economy around the world but the legal status is still not clear in majority of the countries. While Holland has legalized it and Japan has started showing interest in legalizing it, but that will be just another currency inclusion in to their economy. It is far from being mainstream.

Also the major threat for bitcoin is the banks and organized financial institutions. They are loosing business because of crypto currency. The money invested in cryptos are mostly not channelized through the banking system. So they will try to create pressure on government and speak for banning bitcoin. So the road is still long and we have not completed even a quarter of it. Till the time governments don't show interest on bitcoin, is good for us.