Could be. Maybe eventually as high as $100k. But it would probably happen very gradually in that stage.

Any thoughts on the earlier phases?

I think one of the most important questions within the next year will be how the bitcoin community reacts to the inevitable push for more government regulation. The hedge fund people and other wealthy investors who got in this year are going to want bitcoin to become something more mainstream and less of an ideological movement. I bet there will be a lot of controversy as we're already seeing with the idea of coin validation, etc.

I personally have mixed feelings, since I do like the idea of bitcoin as taking power away from big banks and putting it in the hands of the people. But on the other hand, I also want bitcoin to go mainstream, and I think the government and/or the banks themselves would stop that from happening unless there is more regulation.

The next year is going to be the make-it-or-break-it period for bitcoin. Maybe there will be a fork and there will end up being two types of bitcoin, the regulated kind which will soar in price as an investment, and the unregulated kind which will be extremely risky to own and mostly used for buying drugs, evading taxes, etc.