Does anyone have a link or justification in any way for the rise in the conversion rate?
Yes. Nearly two years ago I wrote an essay with my thoughts on Bitcoin's potential for long-term appreciation at http://cs702.wordpress.com/2011/05/29/on-the-potential-adopt... and the essay is holding up pretty well so far, particularly given the recent reported spike in adoption by people in Spain[1] and Cyprus[2].
The TL;DR summary of my argument: the more people who adopt Bitcoin as a store of value or medium of exchange of last resort, the more demand there will be for it around the world. Supply being fixed, this growing demand will be reflected in a rising price. Should Bitcoin continue to work as intended, in the long run nothing prevents it from eventually gaining as much credibility as, say, gold.