Very well written post. Thank you. Encourages me today after the week I've had.

It also got me thinking about the future price of Bitcoin discussion in a new way. I've seen semi-convincing arguments of $100,000 or $1,000,000 per coin, but they don't mention mining or difficulty. If the price really gets that high, as you said, the number of mining operations would double all along the way. From $100 to $200? Double. $200 to $400? Double. If the price does go through the roof and people don't invest in mining to get some "free" coin, they'd be missing out. Your post got me thinking about mining as an anchor to the price. For the price to get too high without those profits being reinvested in mining equipment would be silly. If the mining hardware can't catch up, we'll probably see more big future bubbles pop.

Anyway, just wanted to say thank you for the thought provoking post. I hope this doesn't spin off into a future price of Bitcoin thread.