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Bitcoin itself as a protocol will evolve. Many people forget the simple fact that it is a protocol first and the money part just happens to be the first app written over it. Think of it like the Netscape browser written for (predominantly) HTTP. It was good at its time, but then other browsers took the mantle and Netscape was dethroned. The same analogy
could apply to bitcoins (the money). It could be dethroned and for all we know Dogecoin or Litecoin could prevail.
The Buying process of Bitcoins will have to be made much more simpler than it is at present. All indications point that the process will get more streamlined, so buying bitcoins will be an easy task.
In most countries (US included), companies that trade Bitcoins onto the local currency would be regulated. More exchange companies will mushroom.
Acceptance. Until and unless Buyers keep pressing / asking Merchant to accept Bitcoins, merchants will be oblivious to the demand. If you walk into a store and ask if they accept Bitcoins and they answer No, this is the expected answer. Repeat this scenario with 10 other Buyers asking the same and the Merchant will think differently. They just might start looking at Bitcoin acceptance.
Much of the developed world where payment systems that enable instantaneous person-to-person payment are not available, would love to adopt Bitcoin. The barriers are the regulators and the almost near vacuum of local Bitcoin exchanges. Look at India - no exchange in India. Same can be said of Pakistan, Bangladesh, GCC, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand (though there are a few players in Thailand who are selling Bitcoins), North Africa, etc. There is a very large population that simply does not have access to buying bitcoins. Since they cannot buy it - they cannot trade with it. This will be changing in the coming months/years.
Volatility will minimize. I won't say it will disappear, the public at large is too sensitive to everything the media spews out relating to Bitcoins.
Arbitrage will almost be negligible.
You will see the movement pickup speed with a few authoritative anchor users accepting Bitcoins. (See this excellent article by our resident Payments Maestro
Brian Roemmele - Starbucks To Accept Bitcoin In 2014. by Brian Roemmele on Accepting Payments ).
As more and more larger corporations start offering Bitcoin as a payment alternative, many companies waiting in the shadows will jump onto the bandwagon. This chain-reaction trigger is very important for Bitcoin to survive. Many are waiting for the trigger.
I don't think the price for the next 2-3 years will break $5,000 (the expectation of it going to $25,000 to $500,00 - will be bad for Bitcoins in my opinion, too many speculative money will enter the ecosystem, which will cause regulators to clamp down hard on Bitcoin). My personal estimation is that it will hover between $1,000 to $2,500 (for the next 24 months at least).
Acceptance of Bitcoin as an alt. currency in developing countries would be very important (as opposed to outright banning it). I however, have my reservations on this. The regulators in the developing have a very myopic vision when it comes to alternative currencies. Such obtuse undertaking will kill Bitcoin (in a legal manner) in the developing world.
The market capitalization indicates in some manner that the currency is now too big to collapse (not that it cannot happen), by a measure of its own self, it will most likely survive.
Bitcoin will be featured regularly in the Remittance World (a sure sign of its success would be the World Bank reporting remittance figures on the Bitcoin platform) - How this will be done, is debatable and questionable, but I'm leaning in as a proponent.
Snap Payments with Bitcoins for Websites, Freelancers, etc. would be enabled. This means, very quickly accepting $25 in Bitcoins, which are in turn converted to Euros and available in your pre-paid Debit Card (all by inserting some simple code on your website to accept the payment). Think
BitPay or Coinbase on steroids, globally.
Currency Brokers will be trading and dealing with Bitcoins more regularly.
Bitcoin exchanges in the West (perhaps US, or UK) will prosper and take over in volume (provided international clients are allowed to hop in and trade).
Incorporation of Bitcoin payments within Social Media would be the norm. You would definitely see native or plug-in based activity around Bitcoin. Think Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
Apps not related to money, but related to the open-ledger system of the Bitcoin protocol will start emerging. I'm absolutely lost when it comes to giving such examples, but I am sure, someone out there is thinking of a kick-ass way of using the Bitcoin protocol and building a non-payment app on top of it.
Currencies based on the Bitcoin protocol or modified protocol, will start seeing a market themselves for specific purposes. It could very well be that Litecoin might dominate the Remittance market, or changing Linden Dollars to Litecoin. Or Mastercoin is used on boards like Warrior Forum or Digital Point (the Affiliate Marketing Ecosystem) or Peercoin is what is most accepted and traded in South Asia or South America. Such patterns and/or segmentation may very well emerge.
