If bitcoin ever goes mainstream

[ensurance982]

I disagree that Bitcoin increasing in value decreases the value of fiat.
If I can buy a house for $150k now and in the future I can still buy a house for $150k, but instead of being 680BTC it only costs 20BTC, the fiat owners haven't lost a thing, but the Bitcoin holders have gained.

I live in Germany, and the euro has weakened recently.  I haven't become poorer (unless I go on holiday) as prices stay the same and everything is priced in €.  The same will be true with other fiat currencies.

Well but in this hypothetical case people in Europe would adopt Bitcoin to a certain degree and thus the value of the Euro would decrease proportionally. In that case it could be true that FIAT holdings could lose quite a lot of their initial/previous value!

[Daniel91]

I didn't loose hope that this will happen once in the not too distant future.
It would be enough that some really ''great player in on line payment industry'' like PayPal add BTC as a payment option, and bitcoin will become mainstream in very short time.
Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen because the BTC is actually competition to PayPal.
Bitcoin has a lot of opposition but sooner or later we will become mainstream, there is no doubt about it.
Turning point will be when people realize the benefits of using Bitcoin compared to other on line payment option.

[Trading]

Bitcoin can have an inflationay effect over fiat if a very high appreciation of its price creates a perception that bitcoin will keep raising and that fiat is an asset wih no value (good currency vs bad currency). That would induce people to dump (spend or exchange) fiat and shift their savings into bitcoin. Making its price skyrocket and fiat's price to drop not only to bitcoin but also to goods. This mechanism is one of the major causes of hyperinflation. No one wants to keep fiat in these moments.

[Skinnyman]

Hasn't bitcoin already gone mainstream?

I didn't loose hope that this will happen once in the not too distant future.
It would be enough that some really ''great player in on line payment industry'' like PayPal add BTC as a payment option, and bitcoin will become mainstream in very short time.
Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen because the BTC is actually competition to PayPal.
Bitcoin has a lot of opposition but sooner or later we will become mainstream, there is no doubt about it.
Turning point will be when people realize the benefits of using Bitcoin compared to other on line payment option.

Paypal seems to already be looking at implementing it in some capacity. It's not really a threat to it because bitcoin needs payment processors and that's what they'll be.

[bensam12345]

It is just a matter of time for bitcoin to go mainstream and get worldwide adoption and once it happens its price will be really high and the centralized authorities will find a hard time fighting against the freedom of bitcoin and eventually surrender, the countries should either adapt an flourish or non confirm and perish.

[manselr]

Hasn't bitcoin already gone mainstream?

I didn't loose hope that this will happen once in the not too distant future.
It would be enough that some really ''great player in on line payment industry'' like PayPal add BTC as a payment option, and bitcoin will become mainstream in very short time.
Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen because the BTC is actually competition to PayPal.
Bitcoin has a lot of opposition but sooner or later we will become mainstream, there is no doubt about it.
Turning point will be when people realize the benefits of using Bitcoin compared to other on line payment option.

Paypal seems to already be looking at implementing it in some capacity. It's not really a threat to it because bitcoin needs payment processors and that's what they'll be.

No it hasn't it's far from it. Go to the street and ask people what Bitcoin is. 99% don't even know what is and the rest don't know how to properly use it and don't see a point in doing so. We are still in ancient times compared to mainstream adoption.

[sdmathis]

Hasn't bitcoin already gone mainstream?

I didn't loose hope that this will happen once in the not too distant future.
It would be enough that some really ''great player in on line payment industry'' like PayPal add BTC as a payment option, and bitcoin will become mainstream in very short time.
Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen because the BTC is actually competition to PayPal.
Bitcoin has a lot of opposition but sooner or later we will become mainstream, there is no doubt about it.
Turning point will be when people realize the benefits of using Bitcoin compared to other on line payment option.

Paypal seems to already be looking at implementing it in some capacity. It's not really a threat to it because bitcoin needs payment processors and that's what they'll be.

Bitcoin has made tremendous strides in that direction, but it's still far from mainstream.

[JackRipper]

Hasn't bitcoin already gone mainstream?

I didn't loose hope that this will happen once in the not too distant future.
It would be enough that some really ''great player in on line payment industry'' like PayPal add BTC as a payment option, and bitcoin will become mainstream in very short time.
Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen because the BTC is actually competition to PayPal.
Bitcoin has a lot of opposition but sooner or later we will become mainstream, there is no doubt about it.
Turning point will be when people realize the benefits of using Bitcoin compared to other on line payment option.

Paypal seems to already be looking at implementing it in some capacity. It's not really a threat to it because bitcoin needs payment processors and that's what they'll be.

Bitcoin has made tremendous strides in that direction, but it's still far from mainstream.

I have to agree. It still has a long ways to go.

[Nas]

How many Bitcoin users are there in the world right now? 500.000? 1 million? I think it's less than 250k. We have a lot of time and there are a lot of room to improve. This tech is so new that people can't learn it quick. We need at least 3-4 years to attract average joe. When Bitcoin goes mainstream we should expect 6 figures per BTC.

[Trading]

"Blockchain's February announcement that it hit 3 million bitcoin wallet downloads illustrates the product's continued rise in popularity, (14%) this quarter (Slide . The total number of bitcoin wallets [taking in account all major wallet providers and downloads] has almost doubled since last year, closing Q1 at 8,457,207." (see http://www.coindesk.com/5-facts-coindesks-state-bitcoin-report-q1-2015/).

Of course, it would be important to know how much of these wallets have an actual balance. And many people have several wallets and downloads every new release.

[minerpumpkin]

"Blockchain's February announcement that it hit 3 million bitcoin wallet downloads illustrates the product's continued rise in popularity, (14%) this quarter (Slide . The total number of bitcoin wallets [taking in account all major wallet providers and downloads) has almost doubled since last year, closing Q1 at 8,457,207." (see http://www.coindesk.com/5-facts-coindesks-state-bitcoin-report-q1-2015/).

Of course, it would be important to know how much of these wallets have an actual balance. And many people have several wallets and downloads every new release.

But also the total number of transactions is at an all-time high. Of course that number can also be falsified or manipulated, but I believe it gives at least some sort of real insight into the traction BTC has achieved as of now. Download numbers are a very bad metric, that's for sure.

[tescomatty]

If bitcoin goes mainstream, all the current problems will disappear. It will become like fiat, just a digitized version.

[minerpumpkin]

If bitcoin goes mainstream, all the current problems will disappear. It will become like fiat, just a digitized version.

It can't be FIAT, since as per definition FIAT money is money that's been issued by a centralized entity and is destined to be the currency as per law. You also can't exert financial controls, to e.g. counter inflation, like you can with FIAT, since you can't regulate or control Bitcoin in the same way as you can with FIAT.

[imamanandyou]

If bitcoin goes mainstream, all the current problems will disappear. It will become like fiat, just a digitized version.

It can't be FIAT, since as per definition FIAT money is money that's been issued by a centralized entity and is destined to be the currency as per law. You also can't exert financial controls, to e.g. counter inflation, like you can with FIAT, since you can't regulate or control Bitcoin in the same way as you can with FIAT.

Maybe not technically fiat as tesco said, but If the government controlled enough of it, couldnt they exert the same economic controls they could with fiat?

[minerpumpkin]

If bitcoin goes mainstream, all the current problems will disappear. It will become like fiat, just a digitized version.

It can't be FIAT, since as per definition FIAT money is money that's been issued by a centralized entity and is destined to be the currency as per law. You also can't exert financial controls, to e.g. counter inflation, like you can with FIAT, since you can't regulate or control Bitcoin in the same way as you can with FIAT.

Maybe not technically fiat as tesco said, but If the government controlled enough of it, couldnt they exert the same economic controls they could with fiat?

Hmmm... I guess they could try if they held enough coins, but I think it would even be quite difficult and maybe impossible to attain that many coins, because they would have to be bought from the open market, much unlike regular FIAT money that can be printed by the issuing entity as it pleases.
In conclusion I guess they would be far too limited in their choice of monetary controls.

[ensurance982]

"Blockchain's February announcement that it hit 3 million bitcoin wallet downloads illustrates the product's continued rise in popularity, (14%) this quarter (Slide . The total number of bitcoin wallets [taking in account all major wallet providers and downloads] has almost doubled since last year, closing Q1 at 8,457,207." (see http://www.coindesk.com/5-facts-coindesks-state-bitcoin-report-q1-2015/).

Of course, it would be important to know how much of these wallets have an actual balance. And many people have several wallets and downloads every new release.

We shouldn't be using blockchain.info as a source or metric for the rate of adoption Bitcoin has achieved. They're just one company, and even only a provider for online wallets! The best metric I can think of is the transaction volume, and the mere number of transactions that happen per day/week.

[Mr. Burns]

"Blockchain's February announcement that it hit 3 million bitcoin wallet downloads illustrates the product's continued rise in popularity, (14%) this quarter (Slide . The total number of bitcoin wallets [taking in account all major wallet providers and downloads] has almost doubled since last year, closing Q1 at 8,457,207." (see http://www.coindesk.com/5-facts-coindesks-state-bitcoin-report-q1-2015/).

Of course, it would be important to know how much of these wallets have an actual balance. And many people have several wallets and downloads every new release.

We shouldn't be using blockchain.info as a source or metric for the rate of adoption Bitcoin has achieved. They're just one company, and even only a provider for online wallets! The best metric I can think of is the transaction volume, and the mere number of transactions that happen per day/week.

No one should be using Block chain.info to trade Bitcoin.  It is perhaps the most unsafe way.

[shulio]

"Blockchain's February announcement that it hit 3 million bitcoin wallet downloads illustrates the product's continued rise in popularity, (14%) this quarter (Slide . The total number of bitcoin wallets [taking in account all major wallet providers and downloads] has almost doubled since last year, closing Q1 at 8,457,207." (see http://www.coindesk.com/5-facts-coindesks-state-bitcoin-report-q1-2015/).

Of course, it would be important to know how much of these wallets have an actual balance. And many people have several wallets and downloads every new release.

We shouldn't be using blockchain.info as a source or metric for the rate of adoption Bitcoin has achieved. They're just one company, and even only a provider for online wallets! The best metric I can think of is the transaction volume, and the mere number of transactions that happen per day/week.

How is that transaction volume is a measurement to say that bitcoin has goes mainstream? this is not really a measurement either and by mainstream shouldnt it be measure by how many people that actually knows and use bitcoin? since the transaction volume can be fake as I can keep on sending and receive bitcoin to make it higher

[Trading]

I posted here what I mean by bitcoin at mainstream: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=641048.msg10766608#msg10766608

[cozk]

Hasn't bitcoin already gone mainstream?

No.... Nobody (like on the street people) knows what the fuck bitcoin is... yet.