I have resisted replying in this thread for a long time because frankly, nobody knows anything. Those guys calling for tops are clearly not taking into account mass hysteria, but the perma bulls are also I think very ignorant to the fact of how much can go wrong with this. All you really need is regulation in the US to shut it down, or even some major hiccup by one of these big exchanges. Seriously, anything can go wrong at any time and given the fragmented nature of all of this, there will be no rescue, unlike more traditional investments or holdings.
I also wonder how any of this can have mass appeal when I read about the amount of computer power and electricity that is needed in order to facilitate these transactions. Its a total joke to assume there will be any large scale adoption given these technical issues, and its also a joke to think that governments around the world will not one day come down hard.
Clearly, until something happens, it can keep going up to the moon because all you need is some sucker to pay more, so there could be lots of money still to be made on this parabolic rise, but those guys who sit there with their coins on their computers and not in their wallets might one day find they have something with absolutely no value in the blink of an eye.
I find it quite ironic that in order to trade this, you need to have your coins in a wallet, but while they are in a wallet, they aren't all that safe. There will be lots of people screwed in the end, the guys holding to the very bottom, so the only true winners will be the ones who are lucky to get out. I never hear of anyone selling though. I only hear people excited cause the price is going up, but until you sell and get cold hard cash in your hand, you really don't have anything and shouldn't be excited. Too many exchanges have problems when activity heats up, and during the down move when people want to get out, that's exactly when you want to log in to sell. So it seems to me that this thing is going up only because the long side is the only way to trade this. But once enough people want to take profits, which you clearly have to do at some point, there is no telling how this will end.
To assume that this wont end, to assume that this thing will be mass adopted despite the technical challenges, and to assume that the governments wont do anything about this is really like hoping your lottery numbers come up. The blockchain technology is separate from BTC, and really, I don't see that much use for it when you need shit loads of computer power to get it done. Besides, even if the blockchain technology takes off, there is no guarantee that BTC will go along for the ride. Back when the internet was new and hot, Netscape and AOL were major players, but where are they now? BTC can also be finished, even if the technology gets adopted in some other form.
So in the mean time, I'm not calling for a top, but I'd like to hear after it all ends where the perma bulls stand. Maybe they will be lucky and cash out at 100k, but if they are hanging on for 1 million and it crashes and disappears before then, I hope we get that update too. Not everyone will be a BTC winner.