I've been involved with bitcoin for over three years now. My initial involvement had nothing to do with money, but more of a fascination with "decentralized network tokens". Something has changed recently though and I wanted to share it. I've never said "to the moon" or imagined that bitcoin would really go "mainstream", but as I watch the cryptocurrency ecosystem develop I'm struck by the realization that bitcoin is going big.
Here are my top indicators. You may think some of these are no big deal, but remember it was only four years ago that Laszlo Hanyecz paid 10,000 BTC for two pizzas JUST to demonstrate that it was possible.
I used Mainstream Media references with actual headlines where possible.
In no particular order
- Apple Takes a Cautious Step Towards Bitcoin; Time
- BitPay to Sponsor St. Petersburg Bowl in First Major Bitcoin Sports Deal; WSJ
- U.S. Marshals Service to auction off $18 million in bitcoins; USA Today
- Venture Capitalists expect bitcoin to bring in $250,000,000 in VC funding in 2014; Money Morning(? unrecognized source)
- CNBC Names Coinbase a top 50 disruptor; CNBC
- MIT offers about ~0.16 BTC ($100) to every undergrad in the fall of 2014; MIT
- Top tier companies accepting bitcoin for payment (Dish Network, TigerDirect, Overstock.com, Expedia, Yelp); WSJ; DISH Network
- Multi-Signature Transactions and P2SH have improved the security and reliability of transacting bitcoin; (Succinct source unavailable)
- Distributed Autonomous Corporations (DACs) are on the very near horizon and will utilize bitcoin as a unit of value; (several potential vendors)
For the first time in my involvement with bitcoin, I'm not wondering if it's going to go big. Now I'm just wondering when and how big.
It's only in the past 6 months or so that the mainstream media narrative has changed from bitcoin being "magic internet drug money" to something far more legitimate and trustworthy.
It's been awesome to see this transition play out!
it's just now beginning to get serious mainstream acceptance and the adoption rate is taking off.
I think this is just a little bit off, and this is coming from someone very bullish on BTC:
I think we're beginning to get serious mainstream acknowledgement and attention, but we are still a bubble or two away from mainstream acceptance and adoption
Sure, companies are starting to accept it now - but of my friends and family and (working in a tech field) co-workers, I'm the only one I know who has actually transacted with BTC.
I do think that will change, and we will be seeing it - but we're not there yet and I don't think it has begun.
I also think that is good news if you are bullish - because once these things do take place, this ~$600 price will seem very, very, very low.
I think it's on point, although we may be getting into semantics. Mainstream awareness is arguably here. If you offered your colleagues btc - eg to buy the beers or lunch for ur colleagues, where they pay the bill in fiat and u help them with a wallet and pay full bill to them in btc, you could do that easily several times and get 'em all started.
6 months ago would have been a struggle and 12 months ago really impractical. In that way I think it is 'just starting to take off' is on point.
Although i agree with you I sometimes have my doubts. For instance Coinbase has been stuck on 1.3 million wallets for 30 days now. The first time it hasnt gained 100k in a month in many months. Adoption seems to be slowing down. The people I talk to about bitcoin either think its a pyramid scheme or just dont underatand it. Idk I just keep buying faithfully every week and pray for the best.
I wouldn't sweat that. Mass adoption tends to come in waves and my contention is that a new wave is coming. Very few of my current friends actually understand bitcoin, but they're missing the boat anyway. I was an evangelist when the exchange rate was $2 and my friends thought I was crazy. When it shot up to $30 everyone asked me why I didn't push them harder to invest - very few of those people (if any) bought in and they are the same people who are still trying to decide when to buy now. All I can say, is be willing to talk about it with people who ask questions, but realize that 99.9% of them are too scared to put their money where their mouth is.
In March 2013 I tried to tell my brother about it. He was never rude to me or anything, just didn't pay it much attention. Then when BTC hit $1,000 i told him how many I had and he said "Why didn't you get me to buy some?!?" in a half serious tone :) In full disclosure though he was never rude to me, and we just chuckle about it.
On the other hand, I've had various pricks I know talk down to me regarding BTC. When MT Gox collapsed a couple of them posted the news story to my wall, like they were trying to prove something, LOL. I told them not to worry, that I'm actually happy that we can move forward.
If they would've listened to me they could've doubled their money by now!
Yeah, I'm kind of sheepish about it myself sometimes. Yesterday, an intelligent older family member (someone we only see a couple times a year) asked me about my bitcoin shirt and I half-jokingly said I didn't know what it was, it was just something I picked up at the Goodwill. I didn't really address his questions until he showed that he was interested and not ready to harass me. It turned out he was aware of bitcoin, but was more curious about the honey badger meme.