How many people have not heard about Bitcoin?  I ask people about it all of the time and almost everyone looks at me puzzled and then asks me what it is.  Only a couple people have even heard about it.  One was very much of a "libertarian" mindset so he had studied it.  I live fairly close to Los Angeles so this is a highly populated area in the US and even pretty "high tech."  I am starting to see more things in the news though and it is slowly gaining some awareness.  But there is no way we are at the "halfway point" yet.  I guess if it remains a "niche" currency, perhaps, but there is so many things in the works that it is highly unlikely that happens.