By BitGo CEO, Will O'Brien.
"We are now entering the third stage, in which core financial infrastructure and services will be built by veteran entrepreneurs backed by institutional money, and in accordance with the regulatory framework of the United States and other nations. This stage will end with mainstream adoption of Bitcoin and consolidation of Bitcoin companies as large financial incumbents embrace digital currency."
"The fourth stage will begin when Bitcoin becomes a widespread medium of exchange and can be used to revolutionize industries outside of financial services, such as real estate, contracts, supply chain, and machine-to-machine commerce."
"The promise of Bitcoin is self-evident. The financial services industry has not seen much innovation over the last 50 years, and digital currency is poised to deliver 50 years worth of innovation in the next 18 months."
So just to be clear, you think stage three will take 18 months or in 18 months Bitcoin will be at stage four?
I think the major financial services innovation will occur over the next 18 months (it's happening already), but stage 3 will last about 3 to 5 years. It will take time for adoption, regulatory clarity, and enough scale that other industries are ready to take on digital currency.
That said, as humans we have a hard time intuiting exponential curves. Things could move a lot faster than imagined.