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.
Ah, the forced $50,000 per Bitcoin in 2017. Let's see what this means.
If miners decide to sell all their mined Bitcoins, (or 50%), this is how much daily fresh money is needed on the exchanges for the price to be stable:
2014-2016 : $180 million ($90 million daily if 50% sold)
2017-2020: $90 million ($45 million daily) <--- look here
2021-2024: $45 million ($22 million daily)
etc.
Don't forget that they have to sell to cover their electricity costs. So, if Bitcoin is $50,000 in 2017, good luck in finding that daily fifty million dollars.
It's an interesting point.
But then, at 50,000 a coin, with around 15,000,000 coins in distribution (for the sake of argument), that gives a market cap roughly equivalent to the annual GDP of Benin or Moldova.
IF (and that's a big IF) Bitcoin does start really taking off
worldwide, then 50m p/d is nothing. Forex sees around $5 trillion traded a day - around 0.2% of the daily Bitcoin USD trading volume in mid-Jan.
I know, I know. These numbers aren't direct comparisons, but it helps to put these big numbers in perspective now and again.