Quote from: nolimitnp on September 10, 2017, 07:25:16 AM

The overwhelming majority of Bitcoin in existence was obtained for essentially nothing by miners and early adopters for mere pennies.

first of all every single satoshi is obtained by miners. that is how bitcoin is programmed. it has never been like altcoins with premine.

secondly, it was not for nothing. it is for the work they have done. the so called "CPU power" they spent on bitcoin for proving us with proof of work. that warrants the payment they receive.

and as for early adopters, you can't really blame someone for seeing the potential before you did. it is like talking about early investors in Apple when they bought the shares for ridiculously cheap prices!

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Until mid 2016, the price had remained mostly steady, although still volatile. In just the last year Bitcoins value has increased from $500 to almost $5000.

it has never been steady. from day one high volatility is a part of bitcoin. the rises of 10x from $0.1 to $1 or $1 to $10 or the huge bubble of $2 are the things you have forgotten to check on the charts. and they seem lost to you now.

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But what is causing the price to rise so quickly to there incredible levels?

adoption bro, adoption.
have you checked the media lately? they are talking about bitcoin nonstop. countries are now calling bitcoin "a legal way of payment" or a "legal currency". don't you think that is more than enough for this "incredible levels" and more?

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....but a market simulation. .... more and more people are buying in.

haha, you just contradicted yourself Grin

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... people aren't converting back to fiat ...

how would you know?
have you seen my bank account before i started with bitcoin and compared it with now?
how do you think price goes down each time there is a rise? that is people selling. those red candles on the charts after a couple of big green ones are us selling to get the money out and then buy back at the bottom again with more profit or take some money out and invest back the principle.

the fact that you don't understand how the market works and the fact that you have never seen any other market that has gone up to $250,000 (yes it is happening in real world if you get out of the basement) doesn't mean they are impossible. it means your vision is limited.