But in the next 24-36 months, bitcoin is somewhere between 10k-50k. It simply has to be. The scale at which the entities getting involved now operate scale wise, bitcoin will be forced there. And 17 year olds that mined this useless Internet money will have their minds blown.
To be fair, you're taking a bet that e.g. the US government won't ban the use of Bitcoin in the US. Look at India and China, for example. Bans can be quite effective. If the US government banned Bitcoin tomorrow - not beyond the realm of possibility given the US Treasury Secretary's recent remarks and the difficulties regulators and the IRS will have addressing Bitcoin - it simply will not have the chance to grow to the size you want it to be.
I'm long Bitcoin too, but it's a gamble nonetheless.
Not that much of a gamble. If the USG bans bitcoin, the FBI will have to destroy their private keys and that would be very bullish. It would still be traded here, just underground. An outright ban is very unlikely, even if regulation tightens to the point of scaring institutional investors and certain whales off. I think that is unlikely as well. What's more likely is that mining difficulty will increase substantially due to some new hardware coming on line and the price will adjust up accordingly. More merchants will come online. QE will continue or even increase, one or more national currencies will hyperinflate, new applications for the blockchain will be developed, client software and apps will be released, and we'll all wish we bought more of those overvalued bitcoins.