I miss the times here when the idealist libertarians had highly visible, interesting debates almost every day. Without the "huge mass" of speculators (starting in 2011) BTC would still be under 50 cents, but...
There is a big difference between seeking honest profits and running Huge theft (or ponzi) scams. Hopefully the "free market" will eventually attract more honest people who are looking to earn their wealth.
It could ultimately be a self-fulfilling prophecy too; with the nature of the community putting honest people with honest projects off; whilst the 'quick-buck to be made' reputation drawing penny-stock and novice investors in. Which in effect keeps the money flowing and tempts scammers appetites alike. Hopefully some good developments will be able to breakthrough this market and change the scene, but I think if recent trends continue we might be stuck here for some time to come.
I think we'll be stuck here for some time yet. With a community of witch hunters Pump and Dumpers ect very few thing stand a single chance of succeeding before being shot down and trolled to death.
That being said I'm very excited for the year ahead, and I'm hoping for big things from Storj / Ether
Merry 2015 everybody \0/