Topic: Right now: Are we just before the big "boom" for Bitcoins? (Read 1917 times)

Yes exactly,  I don't really know anything about Ripple so I can't commit but I do know the people behind it are 1) smart 2) have some financial backing to help get it more mainstream more easily.  Or I was thinking along the lines of something like imagine if a company like google decided to get into crypto currency, that would probably change the playing field pretty heavily.

Like Ripple?

It would seem that cryptocurrencies can be severely disrupted and even destroyed when they are infants.

The biggest challenges to cryptocurrencies will be the huge banks and the governments they own.  This will be the big fight.  How many will continue to own and use bitcoin if it has been declared a felony?  A lot of fair-weather people will bail, but bitcoin will continue even if it's underground.  Eventually it will have widespread adoption.

These are fascinating times indeed.

I think the big boom will be 2014. I think this is the last phase of early adopters. Next year Bitcoin will explode in group because by then there will be much more infrastructure meaning Bitcoin will be much more useful.

I agree, a lot of smart people starting to get behind bitcoin. It's going to be interesting to see what type of services and companies pop up over the next couple years.

If it's not bitcoin that will have a huge boom in the coming future, i tihnk some form of p2p crypto currency will. When talking about people and companies getting behind something like bitcoin, I wouldn't be suprised if there's some very smart people and some very big companies out there possibly thinking about creating their own "bitcoin"

well the day comes when im sailing a big yacht with a private bar and staff. all of which I paid in bitcoin. all around the world. id have a giant big plastic bitcoin for my steering wheel and id anchor it just of my private island. oh how I like to dream id do all this with a bank account of 0.0001.
that's the day my friend. that's the day.....

Circlejerk alert

oh that is great!  a new classic!

agreed exciting times. we are still in the era of the victorian/wild west where this newly created currency is only really used for whores in a saloon (cams4bitcoin) food(www.foodler.com) and general household objects(bitcoinstore).

people are still using other methods to get everything they want, so its still early before you can get everything for bitcoin.

as for when will these startups begin.

they already are. but learning from the facepalm of BFL and leaking info early such as 'mtgox litecoin' too early.. many startups are going to keep hush and develop in the background until they atleast have a final product/service to offer.

no alpha test releases. but fully functional working products/services

many people are adopting the phrase "don't do a BFL"

time scales wont be given as anything promised today may be delayed tomorrow. so yet again avoiding doing a BFL.

just enjoy the fact that your reliving the wild west/victorian era of finance.

Increasingly over the next 5 years, starting now
Any kind that will boost widespread adoption among users and merchants
I don't know, it won't matter. It's a ball that is starting to roll, and it can't be stopped

on VC adaption also see:
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/2013-04-29-forbes-big-vc-says-bitcoin-is-gold-20-its-a-huge-huge-huge-deal-191089

The future is bright. 

Yes, these are exciting times!

i think you're right.

I've had some thoughts lately, I would like to share them and hear your thoughts:
A month ago we saw the biggest media interest in Bitcoins, we've seen so far. This was way bigger than 2011, and a lot of people actually seemed to believe in Bitcoins for once.

Lately we've seen a lot of big players join the game. Globally such as Wordpress, OkCupid and Reddit. Locally in Denmark, the second largest Dating website just started accepting them (Single.dk), and I am sure this is a trend in most countries. We've also seen investments in different Bitcoin companies, and especially BitPay, CoinBase and CoinLab look extremely strong.

However, this is not the most interesting part. I know TechCrunch writes *A LOT* of Bitcoins about Bitcoins, but see this article+video:
http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/29/chris-dixon-plans-on-investing-in-more-bitcoin-startups-says-more-entrepreneurs-are-getting-involved/

6 Minutes in, Chris Dixon starts talking about Bitcoins and Silicon Valley. From what I could understand, it seems A LOT of very professional guys are building Bitcoin stuff right now, or at least have the ideas.

So far we've seen very little of this, and in my honest opinion: Most Bitcoins websites are not that professional yet. They will be, with these kind of people building stuff. This will bring Bitcoin to a whole new level, and hopefully bring the services to a lot of new people.

I don't know the average time from idea -> launch in Silicon Valley, but I guess it's 3 months at least (and adding 6-9 months if funding is needed). If we estimate many of these ideas started a month ago, I guess we will see A LOT of very interesting Bitcoin startups in 2-4 months.

I also think this will bring a huge amount of partnerships to Bitcoins. Many of the people in these areas know how to knock down doors, and make deals. Hopefully, they will do that.

Not only Silicon Valley is interesting, of course. Anywhere on earth with entrepreneurs is exciting.

Tl;dr:
A lot of people are most likely starting Bitcoin businesses right now, and many of them with a skillset we haven't seen that much in the community yet. This will bring partnerships, money and business models to Bitcoins - which most likely - will lead to a greater mass adoption.

Discussion:
- When do you think these startups will arrive? If ever?
- What kind of partnerships will be interesting to see?
- What types of businesses will we see first?