Quote from: GratefulCoin on December 16, 2014, 07:06:35 PM

Quote from: BitUsher on December 16, 2014, 12:44:57 PM

Perhaps the OP needs to spend more time at Bitcoin meetups and tradeshows instead of forums. The bitcoin ecosystem is exploding with innovation, startups, and venture capital and many businesses are hiring in this space if you are a developer.

What you're saying here very well may be true. Behind the scenes maybe things are moving at a pace that I can't see from the internet. From the things I see, that doesn't seem to be the case. I'm surprised by how little development there is online. I know there are big sites now accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment. But, I'm surprised there isn't more online shopping focusing only on Bitcoin customers. A lot of the ones that do, seem like scams.

When I started to get interested in Bitcoin I expected everything to be popping. There would be cottage industries popping up all over to cater to Bitcoin customers. I get the feeling that's really not the case. I could be 100% wrong. I admit that. But, there isn't the free flow of money like there was in the past on the internet. There seems to be something that's holding people back. There doesn't seem to be enough commerce in the world of Bitcoin. There needs to be more buying and selling. You can't just have people investing in the currency and doing nothing with it. If people were spending them, there would be more sites focusing only on Bitcoin customers.

I want people to understand I'm not saying anything bad about Bitcoin. The idea of it is fantastic. Anyone that has ever done business online knows just how valuable something like this has the potential to be. But, it seems quite a ways off from what it could potentially be.

Quote from: GratefulCoin on December 16, 2014, 07:06:25 AM

Maybe somewhat similar to what a lot of people experienced with eCommerce in the late 90's early 2000's. This doesn't feel anything like that at all. Not even in the slightest.

You're about 5 to 15 years to early. Bitcoin is just a protocol at this point. It's still in its infancy, and it really doesn't have the ease of use yet needed for the sort of growth you're talking about. It's more like the state of eCommerce in the 1980's.

Quote from: GratefulCoin on December 16, 2014, 07:06:25 AM

My guess is that it's mainly rich people or people with income sources that don't care if they lose it. I don't see the average person putting their retirement savings in Bitcoin.

That would be a horrible idea for anybody , no matter how much money they have.

At this point, the amount of value that you hold in bitcoin should be less than the amount that you would fell devastated if you were to lose it. It is still VERY high risk with complex security and huge volatility in exchange rate.