I agree that halving alone won't bring us far, and if we want to move beyond $500-600, we need such fundamental developments jappening this year. To me an important question is what happens to Bitcoin after such a pump?
We had a 18 month long bear after Mt. Gox's pump and the price went really low, if compared to the ath. How many such pumps and dumps more would make many of the current users abandon Bitcoin completely due to price instability and loss of trust?
You seem to not really get that the current services on the market aren't really anything like bitcoin (not talking about altcoins, which are mostly designed after bitcoin.).
The speculators on bitcoin are a strong bunch, who don't really give up that easily, the code must be broken completely for it to be abandoned. To me it seems that bitcoin is only gaining momentum with all the fud and hate that it gets. Even when the miner fees would be 50 bucks per block slot, people would be saying shit like it must be expensive to have your transaction on the main chain.
So what I'm saying bitcoin won't be abandoned until it's broken and for it to get broken you'd need consensus to break it.
Read again what I wrote. It is not about speculators abandoning Bitcoin, or its code breaking. It is a about Bitcoin becoming a main steam currency. About mass public using it for their daily payments. If we have two or three Mt.Gox-like pumps (and dumps) more, I assure you that most of the broader public won't ever again touch Bitcoin. There will be still bunch of speculators in it and only them (limited market cap). And, I believe, the original goal of Bitcoin was different than to have a gaming tool for a bunch of speculators.
So you're saying adoption will decline when the price crashes? Well, the hype is over at that point you can't really hype a huge dump...
A lot of people are going to get burned, for sure but blaming bitcoin for their poor timing of the market seems a bit silly, ain't it?
However If they weren't in it for the quick buck and just hold, it wouldn't be like that. the network itself shows clear signs of a economy building itself. Currently if you'd know where to look, you'd find no shortage of places to spend bitcoins. But it still seems way too complicated for ignorant people. I'll just laugh when banks go belly up, no bail-outs this time.
One can only dream, am I right?
//Bunch of speculators are a potential audience for a business. Or am I wrong here?
Once again. If Bitcoin keeps being a den for speculators instead of attracting broader public, its fate will be limited to a market cap speculation tool. This, and only this.
If instead of hyping another pump and dump, this time due to halving, there will be more focus on adoption-oriented developments, e.g., block size agreement being one of them, there is a chance to achieve something much bigger. Banks, despite their obvious toxic situation, may survive much longer than Bitcoin, especially, if the mass-adoptoin efforts are only of secondary importance.
ps.
yes, bunch of speculators is an audience for business. The question is the size of the market cap.
