No it is not imperative to have stability.
Futures contracts and options can easily manage risk.
For people who need something more simple, a company can "insure" the value for a small added fee.
That's actually a really good point; I hadn't considered that possibility.
That having being said however, a little more stability definitely couldn't hurt.
From a merchant's perspective, carrying BTC as an option for the customer would be very attractive so long as the fees (no doubt determined by BTC volatility - at least in part) for the service you mentioned are appropriately competitive with fees charged by card processors like visa and mastercard.
a little more stability definitely couldn't hurt
Agreed, last year featured "insane" price swings.
The BTC mega-Bulls always get crazy once the market clearly starts to move higher.
Maybe someday they will learn to calm down a bit?