[citricsquid]

The thing that makes me apprehensive about Bitcoin is that the majority of people that are buying in are buying in as speculators (edit: the people I've seen discuss Bitcoin), they're buying in because they think in a year or so the coins will be worth $1,000 each and they'll get to cash out, reddit is full of people labelling themselves Bitcoin millionaires. There's a disincentive to spend Bitcoins at the moment while the price is rising so much, if I spent 1 Bitcoin today buying something that costs $90 and in a week Bitcoins are worth $150 each, haven't I just wasted earning potential?

I haven't seen a single discussion of Bitcoin as a currency, it's always an investment. I asked someone a few days ago about how much is actually being spent and they linked me to a list of transactions but they all seemed to be either SatoshiDice or really low amounts, are there any statistics on who is actually spending Bitcoins on products and/or services unrelated to Bitcoins? I saw reddit mentioned that the volume of Bitcoin transactions they have (on reddit gold) is so low they're losing money and that's a site that has a big community of Bitcoin users / supporters.

[xoail]

That is indeed an interesting look. Although I think as more merchants start accepting bitcoins (especially on international websites), a whole new wave of opportunity will open up.

[tocomment]

A lot of merchants are giving 25% or more discounts when paying with bitcoin. That's a way to factor the appreciation of the currency into the price and encourage spending.

[r00fus]

But that itself is only there because the bubble is expanding right now.

What happens when a government decides enough is enough and buys then dumps BTC? It wouldn't take much capital to cause a bank run type of inflation attack.