The future of BTC... is there one?

[barabbas]

Considering that, according to CEX-IO CEO Jeff Smith, "...$320 (per BTC) would be the price point at which most miners will get out of the red..."), and since we are presently at 26% BELOW that mark, one has to reasonable ask: What is the future of BTC AND, Is there one at all?

Due to the recent dip in price (to mid $160's), mainly, many companies have gone belly up... including CEX.IO. Batterfly Labs, HashFast, Cointerra... More will no doubt follow if there's not a sustained rebound. The rebound supposedly motivated by the $75 million dollars cash infusion by venture capitalists to Coinbase, along with their proclaimed regulation in 24 US states, was very sharp (to $310) but extremely brief, so price is back down perhaps on way to test those recent lows or even go lower. So, considering this sustained reality, what is the future of BTC and Is there any at all? Everyone concurs that the blockchain tech will be here to stay... but who would sustain it if miners have to look for a different, less costly hobby? No miners, no blockchain, right?

Meanwhile the other alt coins suffer a debacle in price often of higher proportions than BTC, so, obviously, markets are telling us that the whole shebang is held strictly by BTC.

Opinions?

[homeless hacker]

Bitcoin will be around for years to come. This is inevitable. Far too much money is invested for it to suddenly collapse. Many fail to understand who the key holders are of the top 100 addresses or so. Time will release all of the info we so very much crave.

[SOAD]

Bitcoin will be around for years to come. This is inevitable. Far too much money is invested for it to suddenly collapse. Many fail to understand who the key holders are of the top 100 addresses or so. Time will release all of the info we so very much crave.

It's not inevitable. Read his post. It's not sustainable if the value drops and stays below what is profitable to the miners. If they're losing money mining why would they bother? They'd be forced to stop and without miners mining that would be the end of btc.

[ajw7989]

Bitcoin will not go away however its value and economy might collapse to what it used to be. Single digit values. IF it drops to $100 or so its going to be a freefall downward after since the difficulty and 90% of companies can not sustain at that price.

[Daniel91]

Bitcoin will be around for years to come. This is inevitable. Far too much money is invested for it to suddenly collapse. Many fail to understand who the key holders are of the top 100 addresses or so. Time will release all of the info we so very much crave.

It's not inevitable. Read his post. It's not sustainable if the value drops and stays below what is profitable to the miners. If they're losing money mining why would they bother? They'd be forced to stop and without miners mining that would be the end of btc.

I agree with you.
Right now, bitcoin is very unstable, price going down already long time, many bitcoin users selling in panic, still not many ''big merchants'' didn't accept BTC...
Yes, BTC can stay forever, but if many people give up from BTC and choose some other virtual currency, I'm affraid that our future with BTC will not be bright...
Hope that I'm wrong here.

[btcrich]

Bitcoin will be around for years to come. This is inevitable. Far too much money is invested for it to suddenly collapse. Many fail to understand who the key holders are of the top 100 addresses or so. Time will release all of the info we so very much crave.

It's not inevitable. Read his post. It's not sustainable if the value drops and stays below what is profitable to the miners. If they're losing money mining why would they bother? They'd be forced to stop and without miners mining that would be the end of btc.

People were mining when the value of Bitcoin was $0.

The network adjusts to variations in the network hashrate. If some miners decide to stop mining, the difficulty drops and mining becomes more profitable for those that continue to mine.

Also, I know a lot of miners that don't have to pay anything extra for their electricity so there is no reason for them stop.  

[SOAD]

Bitcoin will be around for years to come. This is inevitable. Far too much money is invested for it to suddenly collapse. Many fail to understand who the key holders are of the top 100 addresses or so. Time will release all of the info we so very much crave.

It's not inevitable. Read his post. It's not sustainable if the value drops and stays below what is profitable to the miners. If they're losing money mining why would they bother? They'd be forced to stop and without miners mining that would be the end of btc.

People were mining when the value of Bitcoin was $0.

The network adjusts to variations in the network hashrate. If some miners decide to stop mining, the difficulty drops and mining becomes more profitable for those that continue to mine.

Also, I know a lot of miners that don't have to pay anything extra for their electricity so there is no reason for them stop.  

You can't compare the early days of mining to now. The cost of electricity and hardware was next to zero to mine back then and it was a hobby for most. Now it's more than a hobby and a costly business. I can also guarantee you the big miners are not getting their electricity for free. If all the big miners dropped out and it was left just to smaller ones I think we could see trouble.I guess only time will tell.

[Anillos2]

Bitcoin will be around for years to come. This is inevitable. Far too much money is invested for it to suddenly collapse. Many fail to understand who the key holders are of the top 100 addresses or so. Time will release all of the info we so very much crave.

It's not inevitable. Read his post. It's not sustainable if the value drops and stays below what is profitable to the miners. If they're losing money mining why would they bother? They'd be forced to stop and without miners mining that would be the end of btc.

That doesn't happen.

If the price is too low, SOME miners could shut down their mining hardware, so the rest of the miners will have less competitors.

And if the price rises too fast, new miners will enter, so the money will be almost the same.

[coinableS]

Bitcoin will never end, period. Even if it fades away, price drops to < $1 USD and something else takes it's place; there will always be hardcore fans that will be willing to mine for free, run bitcion-qt or willing to pay for coins.

[1Referee]

It's all about demand.

If the outside economy thinks there is place for Bitcoin to function as optional payment method, then it will stay.

At some point if there is not enough demand it will slowly fade away. That's with everything in life.

[TheButterZone]

Bitcoin is worth $1250/USD until a new ATH is reached. People need to stop fucking selling at a loss.

[Lauda]

Bitcoin is worth $1250/USD until a new ATH is reached. People need to stop fucking selling at a loss.

Exactly. People complain about the low price, yet they persist on selling so low or 'using' via merchants that directly convert 100% Bitcoins into USD.

[Anillos2]

Exactly. People complain about the low price, yet they persist on selling so low or 'using' via merchants that directly convert 100% Bitcoins into USD.

This is better for people who purchase bitcoins now, because if the price rises up, they will have more money.

[Kazimir]

Considering that, according to CEX-IO CEO Jeff Smith, "...$320 (per BTC) would be the price point at which most miners will get out of the red..."), and since we are presently at 26% BELOW that mark, one has to reasonable ask: What is the future of BTC AND, Is there one at all?

Complete and utter bullshit.

There is NO price level at which mining bitcoins is profitable or unprofitable. The thing is, it solely depends on how many people are mining.

So, yes, there IS a future of Bitcoin. One where the number of miners will always be a dynamic equilibrium of their combined hashing power costs, versus the current block reward. Like it was always intended to.

No matter the Bitcoin price level - by definition, mining will ALWAYS remain profitable for 'enough' people.

[Kazimir]

It's all about demand.

If the outside economy thinks there is place for Bitcoin to function as optional payment method, then it will stay.

At some point if there is not enough demand it will slowly fade away. That's with everything in life.

In that case, it's the Dollar and Euro that will fade away. My guess, it'll happen in a decade or two, three from now.

There is by no means enough demand for the trillions (or, in fact, the practically infinite amounts) of fiat they're printing out of thin air.

[countryfree]

There is a future in BTC because I, for one, will start a new business around it this Spring, and I'm not the only one making projects. There are dozens of start-ups working on BTC right now.

[Kazimir]

There is a future in BTC because I, for one, will start a new business around it this Spring, and I'm not the only one making projects. There are dozens of start-ups working on BTC right now.

Excellent. With more and more start-ups appearing every day, it's obvious that Bitcoin is getting bigger and bigger. May I ask what your business will be about? Or do you prefer to not announce details until the actually launch. Either way, good luck and godspeed, sir, in your endeavours!

[thompete]

Bitcoin will not go away however its value and economy might collapse to what it used to be. Single digit values. IF it drops to $100 or so its going to be a freefall downward after since the difficulty and 90% of companies can not sustain at that price.

I think the same. The value might crash, but it still will exist. It has after all. The only difference for merchants, would be they will be selling somethings at the monetary value, but not hoarding the bitcoins for price rise. I just wonder how will the value be stable at even single or double digits .

[runpaint]

The only reason the price of BTC isn't higher is because so many of us have already put all of our extra money into BTC.  There is a huge demand among the few early adopters, and most of us would buy another 5btc right now if we had the money.  But we already bought those 5btc last year.  We're buying more as we are able - but so are the growing numbers of new adopters.  Since there are relatively few of us right now, that means it will only take a few more people to double our numbers and therefore double the demand for btc.

[gogxmagog]

true runpaint,

and, of course, sentiment is at an all time low, maybe, at least it's down there anyways. Sentiment can make or break, and there's a lot of wonky news, good and bad, plus there are many who bought waaaaay high and are most likely losing sleep/hair/mental health right now. The tears are louder than the success stories.

I'm really hoping for the moon, its why I got in, SPENDING WAY LESS THAN I CAN AFFORD TO LOSE, unlike like many a many crazy ATH adopters who are no doubt pretty sour on the whole crypto scene right about ... the last year or so!

This is what I see in my crystal ball; BTC is not like the internet. BTC is like mobile phones. They existed, at the consumer level, in the 80s! they were prohibitively expensive, unwieldy huge, you could only call other people who owned one, they became the butt of jokes. The general public was loath to accept the idea, no one wanted it except insane yuppies (see American Psycho)

Now every single last one of you, your parents, their parents, your kids, everyone you see or meet... they all have a mobile phone. The very meaning of the word "phone" has changed. the world changed.

give BTC a few more years of trials and tribulations. If it survives...moon. If not...c'est la vie.

Its only money...