But why compare to a peak that was nothing but a speculative bubble? Compare it to 12 months ago and it still looks good Particularly if you take into account the increased numbers of coins since then.

I really dont understand why people think this is somehow dramatic for bitcoin.  Let it go back to $1 or $0.1, so what? it doesnt matter (unless you happen to hold BTCs you bought at $15 thinking youd get rich). $0.1 is as much a speculative value as $10 or $100. At this point, none of them are "correct", and all that really matters is if it gets used more widely, and that is not dependent on its value.