What possible event on horizon will rocket bitcoin to the moon again?

[jamesc760]

As the title states...

I was here for the April'2013 ride and the December'2013 ride. The April'2013 rollercoaster was started by the media's frenzied coverage. The December'2013 was caused by the Chinese mania over the bitcoins.

Will there be another singular event that causes massive swings in bitcoin price in the next six months or so?

Does anyone foresee any event(s) in the near term that can induce mass hysteria to rocket bitcoin to the moon again?

Are we in a period of prolonged stability around $800-$900 for the foreseeable future?

What say you?

[GreekBitcoin]

kill retarded clone coins.  this is already happening
make more companies/services accept bitcoins.  this is already happening
make more services/ideas specific for bitcoins    this is already happening
make bitcoin easier to understand and use even for those with 0 knowledge of computers   this is already happening
make it even more well known to the world. Spread the world   this is already happening
try to persuade a country or a billionaire to use Bitcoins. For example Cuba has problems with dollars when exporting stuff (not that i am saying that cuba will ever use bitcoin of course). Same goes for Iran and North Korea.

relax and wait...

[alexeft]

As the title states...

I was here for the April'2013 ride and the December'2013 ride. The April'2013 rollercoaster was started by the media's frenzied coverage. The December'2013 was caused by the Chinese mania over the bitcoins.

Will there be another singular event that causes massive swings in bitcoin price in the next six months or so?

Does anyone foresee any event(s) in the near term that can induce mass hysteria to rocket bitcoin to the moon again?

Are we in a period of prolonged stability around $800-$900 for the foreseeable future?

What say you?

Prolonged stability will increase use of bitcoin. Use will increase demand. Demand will force the price to go up!!!

Stability is a very good thing! 

[Chalkbot]

Drivers this year will probably include:

National financial crisis' - Something like Cyprus is almost guaranteed to happen this year, somewhere, and bitcoin gets speculative attention during those events.

A major merchant adoption - We will see a few more Overstocks and Tigerdirects before a big player jumps on board, possibly out of the blue.

Bank or Credit union cooperation - I think some small bank or credit union will declare themselves "bitcoin friendly" on the tails of all the senate hearings, enabling much needed infrastructure and alleviating some fears and hesitations.

Hedge fund and ETF money - Winklevoss and other similar funds have the the potential to provide an avenue for a major cash influx, some hedge funds have already made indications that they are positioning for this possibility.

Network effect of public awareness - this is the year regular people are going to learn about bitcoin. The more there are, the more there will be. Don't underestimate this.

Industrial mining operations - While I don't believe difficulty drives price directly, I think it does put pressure on future prices. Little guys will be squeezed out of the mining space this year, and all of that money will go to coins instead of equipment.

Protocol and hardware "user friendliness" - This year we will see bitcoin become a lot easier to use, both in protocol updates and service providers. We will also see a flood of "hardware wallets" that will make security and transactions as simple as using a credit card.

Edit: formatting for readability

[keithers]

As much as a lot of people don't want to hear this because of the ideals of many bitcoiners, one of the major banks coming forward and publicly supporting or backing bitcoin (by pumping a lot of money into it), could push the value significantly higher quickly).

I have heard from a few people in the industry that this is close to happening and may happen in the next few months.    Wells Fargo is obviously sticking their feelers out there right now.   They have usually been the most cautious of the major banks in the past (which is why they did not even really need any of the bank bailout funds).  While all the banks were making money hand over fist with the Negative-Amortization Mortgages, Wells Fargo pretty much steered clear.

It would be weird to see them jump in first to bitcoin, but it could happen.   Another thing to keep in mind is that Wells Fargo is partially the United States Gov't, so it could be a way for the Gov't to get there hands into bitcoin without the general public even realizing it...

[x86Daddy]

There's somewhere around 196 independent nations on planet Earth operating something like 180 fiat currencies.  Each time such an entity has a financial crisis related to its fiat currency, disillusioning its constituent humans, Bitcoins shine brighter.  For quite some time, the US Dollar has often replaced a destabilized currency and becomes the de facto standard in that region or nation.  Now that there is a new alternative with direct transferability world-wide, lacking interference from any party, including that of failing nation states... people may choose that.  Their neighbors will begin to dabble as well.  We saw this with Cyprus, and I anticipate we will see it again soon.  At any given time, there's problems with a handful of them, and Argentina currently hovers at the top of the list.

And this is just one type of event that will boost Bitcoin.

[UnDerDoG81]

kill retarded clone coins.  this is already happening
make more companies/services accept bitcoins.  this is already happening
make more services/ideas specific for bitcoins    this is already happening
make bitcoin easier to understand and use even for those with 0 knowledge of computers   this is already happening
make it even more well known to the world. Spread the world   this is already happening
try to persuade a country or a billionaire to use Bitcoins. For example Cuba has problems with dollars when exporting stuff (not that i am saying that cuba will ever use bitcoin of course). Same goes for Iran and North Korea.

relax and wait...

make bitcoin much easier to buy and sell

[Walsoraj]

Zero fees + no gov regulation = hyper price manipulation

[meanig]

Euro bail in, currency meltdown in emerging markets (Turkey just raised their interest rates from 7% to 12 %, what's that going to do to mortgage holders ) and the Winklevoss ETF.

[Torque]

As much as a lot of people don't want to hear this because of the ideals of many bitcoiners, one of the major banks coming forward and publicly supporting or backing bitcoin (by pumping a lot of money into it), could push the value significantly higher quickly).

I have heard from a few people in the industry that this is close to happening and may happen in the next few months.    Wells Fargo is obviously sticking their feelers out there right now.   They have usually been the most cautious of the major banks in the past (which is why they did not even really need any of the bank bailout funds).  While all the banks were making money hand over fist with the Negative-Amortization Mortgages, Wells Fargo pretty much steered clear.

It would be weird to see them jump in first to bitcoin, but it could happen.   Another thing to keep in mind is that Wells Fargo is partially the United States Gov't, so it could be a way for the Gov't to get there hands into bitcoin without the general public even realizing it...

I agree with the Wells Fargo scenario.  One of the regulators on the panel even hinted as much, with his comment of "have you guys thought about becoming or funding/supporting a bitcoin bank?"  The implication being that US banks already have to comply with US state money transmitter and KYC laws/regulations, and so thus a US bank would have a much easier time becoming a US-based bitcoin exchange.  

But the question becomes, what exactly does a US bank have for incentive to becoming a bitcoin exchange?  Perhaps fiat conversion fees?  Trading fees?  Or maybe they wave the fees... I could see them only supporting their own bank accounts for ACH transfers.  Not exactly decentralized and unbiased, if you ask me.  But the average US-based Joe bitcoiner might see this as a "lesser of two evils" as opposed to relying on Coinbase and the foreign bitcoin exchanges for everything bitcoin-related.

If a US bank jumped in, I could see others follow in short order...

[TERA]

Bitcoin is already on the moon. You need a different target, like Mars, or the Oort Cloud.

[empoweoqwj]

Amazon.com accepting it. Job done.

[windjc]

Major Internet company paying employees with bitcoin. Bitpay is in discussions with companies now to set this up. Once employee payments are as widespread as companies accepting bitcoin are becoming, then this will be a major step forward. If people can accept a portion of their paycheck in bitcoin then accessibility goes to an entirely different level.

[Bitbuy]

Major retailer / company accepting BTC in an EASY and FOOLPROOF way...
when that happens, others will follow suit...TO THA MOON!

[billyjoeallen]

If we liken the Bitcoin network to the early internet, we need the equivalent of a mozilla browser. The software is not yet ready for mainstream. The metadata layer is pregnant with possibilities. such as:

Id really like an email service where I could charge milibit postage for the privilege of spamming me. If enough of us migrated to a service like that, it would reach critical mass and we could ditch our regular email accounts.

I don't want a bitcoin friendly bank. I don't want a bank. I want to eliminate the need for banks. I want to get paid in bitcoin, spend bitcoin, lend bitcoin, borrow bitcoin, save bitcoin and only convert to dollars to pay taxes.

Hey, how about a cable TV show about Bitcoin millionaires similar to MTV's CRIBS?

[Holliday]

Zero fees + no gov regulation = hyper price manipulation

FTFY.

[Elwar]

After the Feds sell off all of their bitcoins it will skyrocket. But when they sell off the price will drop first.

[empoweoqwj]

After the Feds sell off all of their bitcoins it will skyrocket. But when they sell off the price will drop first.

"All of their bitcoins" implies successful prosection against DPR. That could be years away ............

[Hyena]

Bitcoin is already on the moon. You need a different target, like Mars, or the Oort Cloud.

+1

It's time for Mars now. Early majority is starting to ask questions about Bitcoin. Soon it will go viral and that could be the next nitromethane for Bitcoin's rocket. Bitcoin is a vote against banks. I wonder who will be left holding all the fiat in the world , laggards?

[600watt]

Bank or Credit union cooperation - I think some small bank or credit union will declare themselves "bitcoin friendly" on the tails of all the senate hearings, enabling much needed infrastructure and alleviating some fears and hesitations.

first little steps have been taken regarding bank cooperation

http://www.coindesk.com/kraken-partners-fidor-bank-offer-bitcoin-trading-services/