Will we see a 'golden age' of Bitcoin startups in the near future?

[Este Nuno]

With Mike Hearn's Lighthouse and things like Swarm coming, are we going to see mass funding of promising companies that might change Bitcoin for the better?

Outside of Bitcoin, in Silicon Valley startup incubators like Ycombinator have been attracting some of the smartest young minds to try their hand at starting the next dropbox or heroku. The immediate financial incentives are incredibly small considering the options that a young coder in Silicon Valley has(it changes, but it's probably not more than 20k upfront to each company).

So my question is if we're going to see some of that spill over into the Bitcoin world now that we have some infrastructure being developed that will hopefully enable the free flow of capital to those who deserve it.

I've followed Bitcoin for many years now and Bitcoin 'investments' in general have been wrought with scams and incompetence. Will it be different now?

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[LiteCoinGuy]

golden age yes, but with alot scams 

[PolarPoint]

There are many bitcoin startups in the past, but mostly in the gambling sector. Now we are going to see more serious ones, hopefully some will revolutionise the bitcoin ecosystem. We had the dotcom boom, this is the bitcoin boom.

[Chef Ramsay]

So, we're approaching the mid-90s ('96ish) in terms of the community taking off so w/i a few years it should be the roaring 20s all over again.

[WillyBTC]

Aren't we already there? Seeing so much VC capital flow these days....

[Este Nuno]

There are many bitcoin startups in the past, but mostly in the gambling sector. Now we are going to see more serious ones, hopefully some will revolutionise the bitcoin ecosystem. We had the dotcom boom, this is the bitcoin boom.

Hopefully that will be the case. It will be interesting to see what happens. That's for sure.

[RocketSingh]

golden age yes, but with alot scams 

In an unregulated atmosphere u cant eradicate SCAM ever. If u cant live with... go back to FIAT. Govt. will take action against FIAT scams.

[HigsonPP]

golden age yes, but with alot scams 

In an unregulated atmosphere u cant eradicate SCAM ever. If u cant live with... go back to FIAT. Govt. will take action against FIAT scams.

governments will take action against BTC scams too.... just give it time.

[RocketSingh]

golden age yes, but with alot scams 

In an unregulated atmosphere u cant eradicate SCAM ever. If u cant live with... go back to FIAT. Govt. will take action against FIAT scams.

governments will take action against BTC scams too.... just give it time.

Then they'll tax it too... just give it time

[HigsonPP]

golden age yes, but with alot scams 

In an unregulated atmosphere u cant eradicate SCAM ever. If u cant live with... go back to FIAT. Govt. will take action against FIAT scams.

governments will take action against BTC scams too.... just give it time.

Then they'll tax it too... just give it time

they already do where i am from. can't escape capital gains in the USA...

[RocketSingh]

golden age yes, but with alot scams 

In an unregulated atmosphere u cant eradicate SCAM ever. If u cant live with... go back to FIAT. Govt. will take action against FIAT scams.

governments will take action against BTC scams too.... just give it time.

Then they'll tax it too... just give it time

they already do where i am from. can't escape capital gains in the USA...

If u report uR gain, even Afghanistan will tax u !!!

[freedomno1]

golden age yes, but with alot scams 

Second or Third golden age with less scams than the first and second had XD

GLBSE Era ---> Mtgox Era??? --> Actual corporations era.

[Skele]

Of course ! but the answer to that question depends on what you consider as "golden age" :

From Bitcoin getting know worldwide and reaching 2k-3k each,

or becoming mainstream here and mars and paying an expensive Bitcoin about 1-3 million dollars each...

[Sindelar1938]

Just look at the flow of VC $ into the ecosystem
Coindesk's state of bitcoin that they published a couple of days ago highlights this in some detail
Golden age definitely around the corner

[jjc326]

It seems like we are possibly entering that golden age right now. We certainly are not at mass adoption yet but possibly the "smart money" is getting involved. Bitcoin just needs to watch out for some sort of huge blowup which would derail the whole thing, like a 51 attack or US somehow trying to ban BTC.

[wasserman99]

It seems like we are possibly entering that golden age right now. We certainly are not at mass adoption yet but possibly the "smart money" is getting involved. Bitcoin just needs to watch out for some sort of huge blowup which would derail the whole thing, like a 51 attack or US somehow trying to ban BTC.

Smart money is definitely getting involved. We're certainly seeing the type of VC/angel investment activity that signifies it. It's still a very high risk time, so more conventional, institutional money is still waiting on the sidelines for more clear regulation, and possibly adoption.

[Bit_Happy]

Aren't we already there? Seeing so much VC capital flow these days....

The % increases from previous years are huge, but the overall numbers are still small compared to something like the original dot com boom.

[Este Nuno]

golden age yes, but with alot scams 

Second or Third golden age with less scams than the first and second had XD

GLBSE Era ---> Mtgox Era??? --> Actual corporations era.

Woah, if the GLBSE era was a golden age then I think we have a different ideas of what constitutes a golden age.

But yeah, hopefully less scams this time around. Hopefully the community will be a little more diligent.

[elebit]

So my question is if we're going to see some of that spill over into the Bitcoin world now that we have some infrastructure being developed that will hopefully enable the free flow of capital to those who deserve it.

Absolutely. The trajectory of Bitcoin startups is just as logarithmic as Bitcoin itself. And things have just got started. 2014 is the first year bit retailers have started using it. Now it's up to the Bitcoin users to make sure it pays off.

I do fear a bubble however. Many of the startups are me-too's, just like the IT bubble of the 90s where people did the most idiotic things and got VC money anyway. The question is which of the Bitcoin companies that are our Amazon and Google's?

[Lauda]

Aren't we already there? Seeing so much VC capital flow these days....

No we certainly are not. This is just the beginning.