It worries me to a certain degree that there doesn't appear to be a steady growth of services and stores accepting bitcoins.
So what?
Let's be honest , most people in this thread have no desire of spending their hard earned coins anytime soon. BTC is more like an electronic improved version of gold. And it's not like I can go to a shop with half an ounce of gold in my hand and buy me a smartphone... at least not for the moment. And I don't care... gold is a commonly accepted store of value nevertheless. Enough for me to hold it and change it back into fiat at need.
If anyone quotes this please save me the lecture about BTC having no intrinsic value as opposed to gold. Perception is value.
+1
Bitcoin is a great transaction currency. That will never go away. Whether BTC is $200 or $2, people somewhere on the internet will use it to transfer value anonymously across the globe.
But it also works as a digital container to hold value, securely, that is impossible to track. In theory it might end up being the ultimate off shore/tax haven/swiss bank account, ever. It can hold millions, it's easy to secure, and no one can ever prove how much of it you own of it or even that you own it at all.
Obviously it's a lot better at the first option, but the 2nd option is coming. The rally to $266 happened because people started hoarding Bitcoins. There will be a point in time where that happens again. The next extended rally, people will simply refuse to sell. There will be no supply. Which is why the price skyrockets. SR peeps start holding instead of selling. Businesses start holding instead of selling. Miners hold a little longer before selling. The price goes up every day people keep hoarding until it's too tempting not to sell (turns out that was $240-$260 ish). An extended rally turns everyone into a bullish speculative investor.
Turns out, same thing happens to gold. It will just take time for BTC to mature, but that time is coming no question. It is the new digital gold.