in the land of the bulls.
Network transaction count continues to look very healthy. It seems to be on a solid uptrend. It's just one indicator but it's definitely one of the best. We have recovered to transaction levels of late August / early September.
Raw:
http://blockchain.info/charts/n-transactions7 day avg:
http://blockchain.info/charts/n-transactions?showDataPoints=false×pan=&show_header=true&daysAverageString=7&scale=0&address=Just a few days ago we had one of the biggest merchant announcements in the history of Bitcoin, which just might spark a new wave of real merchants that start to accept Bitcoin:
http://www.thebitcointrader.com/2012/02/spend-your-bitcoins-at-16-st-louis.htmlAs far as the exchanges are concerned, it certainly looks worse than it is. Paxum isn't as relevant as some think it is and Tradehill shutting down was not surprising at all. From my perspective as a European citizen it's actually better these days than it was a few months ago. Mt. Gox works fine for SEPA deposits, Intersango SEPA works both ways and Cryptoxchange's cheap international transfers work both ways as well.
I'm not happy with some of the news lately but honestly the glass looks half full to me.