We already passed the tipping point of BTC

[franky1]

How many of you guys actually spend bitcoins for transactions?   Sounds like all you guys care about is the price

my 'tipping point' is innovation based.

the biggest tipping point for me was the protocol itself and then the big companies joining, the pricepoint is im-material to me. im in it for the long haul so this years price and next years price mean nothing.

but i dont think the community's 'tipping point' is there yet. we are not yet at the general pubic readiness stage yet. although bitcoin has the infrustructure to win me over, its still not there for 'granny' or 'little billy' to use.

and it wont be an overnight big swing which some are calling a 'tipping point' the general community change would be a curve

[seth556]

Won't the tipping point be when we quit caring so much about the price. How many average US citizens are constantly checking to see how valuable the dollar is compared to other currencies? That's basically where bitcoin is right now. Getting past that will be the tipping point. We will think of value in terms of BTC instead of dollars. A pack of gum costs so much btc while gas is at a different level. That's the ultimate goal.

Until we move to a point where BTC is commonly accepted by everyone the value doesn't matter as much. Right now the value counts on two levels, for those who are trying to make money off buying BTC and hoping the value skyrockets (basically everyone), and the other level, it's a good indication of how well BTC is catching on. The rise in price seems strongly correlated with the amount of people learning about BTC. In other words, the price is the level of how quickly people are catching on.

I think a better word for these "tipping points" are milestones. They're big achievements but it's certainly not all downhill and easy from here like if they were a tipping point.

[beetcoin]

Won't the tipping point be when we quit caring so much about the price. How many average US citizens are constantly checking to see how valuable the dollar is compared to other currencies? That's basically where bitcoin is right now. Getting past that will be the tipping point. We will think of value in terms of BTC instead of dollars. A pack of gum costs so much btc while gas is at a different level. That's the ultimate goal.

Until we move to a point where BTC is commonly accepted by everyone the value doesn't matter as much. Right now the value counts on two levels, for those who are trying to make money off buying BTC and hoping the value skyrockets (basically everyone), and the other level, it's a good indication of how well BTC is catching on. The rise in price seems strongly correlated with the amount of people learning about BTC. In other words, the price is the level of how quickly people are catching on.

I think a better word for these "tipping points" are milestones. They're big achievements but it's certainly not all downhill and easy from here like if they were a tipping point.

there will never be a point where no one cares about the price. people care about their own wealth more than bitcon's adoption rate.. that's just the way shit works. i'm not saying it's wrong either.

[Possum577]

Trying to stop btc at this point is like you know standing in front of the ocean thinking your urine stream is gonna influence the tide or depth of the ocean

BTC is entrenched as the first legitimate digital currency unit

As mentioned above, just 10% acceptance means 8.5 Trillion of GWP on btc network

That's 500K btc in basic math

We don't need 100% acceptance

Just .1% of gwp the next bubble is 5K btc

1% of gwp is 50K btc

So a btc millionaire is positioned to become a btc billionaire

All the big tech players moving into btc shows it's REAL

What is "GWP"?

And to another poster, are there really 1000's of retailers doing business in BTC? If so, the next step is for those retailers to advertise their acceptance of BTC better...I'm aware of much less than a hundred retailers accepting BTC for payment.

[Possum577]

The biggest problem/hurdle for mass adoption of BTC is new user's having to exchange fiat for it. That transaction anchors them in an exchange rate cost and if the value of BTC (to USD for example) goes down they may feel they've lost money and sell the BTC they purchased.

[Minecache]

I'm more realistic. I think 2013 was the peak in price and we've finally reached bit coins true stable value. Not much venture capitalists can of with adoption and price now.

[minimalB]

How many of you guys actually spend bitcoins for transactions?   Sounds like all you guys care about is the price

I use Bitcoin on daily basis for all sorts of things and whenever i can. And i igree with you that there is too much focus on price. Also, whenever i introduce people to Bitcoin, first thing they care about or ask about (most of them) is possibility for further appreciation and what is the risk for Bitcoin to go down... it's quite annoying to be honest...

[Harley997]

I think we have not even seen a glimpse on what BTC will one day be! It will go very far and I cannot wait to see it in a year or 2 time I expect the value to be at least double maybe even triple of what it is now

[qwerty555]

The biggest problem/hurdle for mass adoption of BTC is new user's having to exchange fiat for it. That transaction anchors them in an exchange rate cost and if the value of BTC (to USD for example) goes down they may feel they've lost money and sell the BTC they purchased.

Agreed .....that ease of exchange to/from fiat and a stabilized rate is needed for mass adoption.

Many...very many... are working on this now like

atm's..prepaid bitcoin cards,  stabilization funds ,etf's etc and I am 100% sure this will all be achieved in time. We are still in the early stages.

The price at which bitcoin will be stabilized however is likely to be very different from what it is today and therefore we will just need to go through the process including the ups and downs that come with that.

RE wanting to sell if the price goes down..some (few)  may do if it is prolonged.....many however will hold in the hope of appreciation to the level or higher than they bought in at so I suggest that is less of a factor.

Mass adoption may be a lot closer than many think..now the big players like bitpay have entered with a target of a 33 fold increase in merchants in 29 months to 1 million..should they get close to that or even surpass it that goes a substantial way to mass adoption

Personally I believe that the ease (and cost) of buying bitcoin for the masses in order to buy from these and other merchants is the hurdle that requires the most attention.

currently if you have currency other than the majors ( $ EUR CNY JPY) the conversion cost is running about 3%  that's too high. Worse if you then need to reconvert to another fiat in order to spend. A card which can easily be loaded and reloaded with bitcoin using almost any currency at 1% or below AND is easily available to the consumer and easily useable almost anywhere will probably be the route to mass adoption and someone will soon provide that.

in fact its already here  

http://www.coindesk.com/exchange-anx-launch-reloadable-bitcoin-debit-cards/

but they charge 2.5% and there is a currency conversion charge and balance is in $'s so its not quite a true bitcoin card YET

and the prepaid card

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=699415.msg8095199#msg8095199

which i do not think is rel-oadable YET  has a 10% cost ( but they have been asked to reconsider the pricing). This is just a few days old so we WILL get to a reloadable 1% cost sooner than later.  At current speed it may even be available within weeks or days


and of course Xapo

http://www.coindesk.com/xapo-bitcoin-debit-card-launch-month/


EDIT..I have rechecked current rates for exchange in Philippines..they are already down to 1% as of July 9th  This will eventually be the norm ( or lower) for everywhere. 

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2a7ze3/we_at_rebitph_have_decided_to_cut_down_our/

[JayJuanGee]

We've seen nothing yet, man! People still don't know what I'm talking about when I mention Bitcoin and tell them that I am a BitcoinMillionaire. They think it is some kind of Habbo Dollars or something, haha. But I rather not tell them how much they are really worth, or they'd be just begging for money. I don't want that. People don't need to know, I'm a stinkin richt BitcoinMillionaire! Don't wanna brag about that.

Having more than 2,000 BTC is currently going to make a person a bitcoin millionaire and that person is going to be in a pretty good position after the next bubble, I suppose. 

Maybe also having more than 200 BTC will also be pretty good? 

Having more than 20BTC seems to be the minimum level of prudence that investors should strive to achieve before the next bubble, it seems?

Having more than 2BTC is going to take a few pretty good sized bubbles in order to bring a meaningful quantity.

[gelar24]

hope bitcoin will last longer and will enliven the real market: D

and with bitcoin we can easily buy anything: D

and it's my hope, eternal hope and hopefully haha: D

[JayJuanGee]

In my opinion this VC money isn't going to jack shit for bitcoin.  The ONLY thing that is worth anything is people buying bitcoin.  That's it.  If that doesn't happen, all the great bitcoin infrastructure in the world won't help.

Seems to be a Catch22 b/c we/they are only going to continue to buy BTC if we/they see that an infrastructure is being built around BTC.

[bitkilo]

The OP is right we have seen a lot of great things happen with bitcoin in the las 18 months but i dont think we've quite reached the tipping point. Lots of VC's have come on board and are staring to throw some good money around but i belive the real money will come when the Winklevoss EFT launches and the big well know traditional investors are putting putting there cash in, then it will expload. 

[giveBTCpls]

Whenever I mention Bitcoin to friends or strangers in real life they have absolutely no fucking idea of what im talking about. Tipping point = seeing a change on this. I think ebay is key.

[joshraban76]

I totally agree on this, bitcoin does hold a lot of enterprises in the future. I know a few who are a bit skeptical still to this day, and possibly bitcoin will never be universally accepted. Despite that, I do believe that gives us an edge in the free market.
As far I’m concerned, the majority who find bitcoin defective are those who believe an apocalyptic event will happen, and shut down the internet. What are the odds of that happening anyway? Probably not as good as the odds of bitcoin being adopted by the massses IMO.
Its pretty much like paypal before, a lot where skeptical to try it then. But hey, look at where it is now.
Anyway I look at it. I'm in it to win it! so I have no plans on bailing no matter what happens.

[fran2k]

The future is bullish!

[leex1528]

Listen, the bottom line is no one knows what is going to happen in the future...

My advice is not to put all your eggs in one basket.  It is extremely unstable and who knows what will happen in the future.  I hope for the best for Bitcoin but the fact is, anything random could happen and Bitcoins value could go down to 1 dollar....or it could sky rocket up to 5k/bitcoin!

[JayJuanGee]

Listen, the bottom line is no one knows what is going to happen in the future...

My advice is not to put all your eggs in one basket.  It is extremely unstable and who knows what will happen in the future.  I hope for the best for Bitcoin but the fact is, anything random could happen and Bitcoins value could go down to 1 dollar....or it could sky rocket up to 5k/bitcoin!

It does NOT seem that advice is being sought in this thread, and it seems as if you did NOT even come close to answering the question about whether BTC is at a tipping point or NOT.....


On the other hand, if you did answer the question by stating that anything can happen at any time, then that kind of an answer would imply that BTC is NOT at a tipping point b/c anything can happen.  

So I will take it that your answer is NO.... BTC is NOT at a tipping point.   

[MasterOwel]

I totally agree with this. Partially because more and more people are educating newcomers about Bitcoin, myself included.
There's plenty of ways to increase the population that uses bitcoin and I see them slowly but surely unfolding. I've currently got a fundraiser going to bring bitcoin into the highschool I'm a senior at via the economics classes. That's just one example.

[FUR11]

There's so much potential still undiscovered. I'm really looking forward to see what future surprises Bitcoin still holds for us. Just remind yourself of all the possibilities that await you when you're getting scared and think about selling!