I don't believe the question can be intelligently answered, or at least addressed, until we get a handle on what, specifically, drives the price of a Bitcoin. This is the component of it that drives me crazy. Why do we think that more widespread acceptance will make the price go up, or this or that government taking a benign position on it, or whatever?
Let me put it this way...a dollar has the same "price", the same buying power, the same "value", whether a hundred thousand merchants accept it or a hundred million merchants accept it. The relative general acceptance of the dollar has nothing to do with its price or value. It certainly is a stablizing force, but not a price mover. I can't wrap my head around what, precisely, is driving the price of Bitcoin, up or down, other than the actions of a few wealthy Chinese speculators at this point.
Please, if I'm missing something damn simple, explain it to me. I would love to comprehend a connection between some market fundamental and the Bitcoin price.
I already answered what drives the market, it's rather simple but in accepting my explanation you also have to accept there is a disguised pyramid in effect in the form of mining hardware prices and ever increasing difficulty. When miners can't ROI they hoard their coins, it created artificial scarcity and all new buyers gobble up the coins until they are at a price that makes it viable for miners to see a ROI on their mined Bitcoins.