BTC has stalled @ $800 (market cap @ 10 bil) and all the alts have effectively followed suit. The US gov, SEC, etc can step in anytime and effectively kill BTC/scrpyt-coin profitability and everyone's current holdings. Yeah yeah, I know they can't completely kill cryptocurrency, but we all know that will kill profitability/current-value.
I think there is potential for big growth this year, but I'm not seeing any sort of "marketing" going on for cryptocurrencies, which is what will increase total market cap.... which is what makes mining profitable, awesome and fun.
Seriously considering selling my miners off as more GPU miners and SCRYPT-ASICs come online even though it's still profitable right now. Just curious where everyone thinks BTC & co. is headed in 2014.
I agree on the potential for big growth. The way I see it, we are still in a situation where average joe doesn't really know what bitcoin is all about. But once a person understands what it's about, they are likely to want to support it. Average joe may spark a 2nd buying frenzy of wanna be speculators that aren't into mining/computer geeks, but have learned enough to appreciate that it's the future.
As for government action to stop bitcoin, that is a very high risk because the adoption of bitcoin comes at the huge loss of profits to credit card companies and banks that have predatory tactics for raking in huge transaction fees.
But imagine a world in the future, where Amazon, Newegg, Overstock, etc. offer you a 1% discount at checkout, if you choose to pay via bitcoin.
Think about that. Already, when you get to the checkout page, you pick from credit card, or google payment, or amazon payment, or paypal. Why not just add the bitcoin option?
The killer reason to add it, is that the customer will be jumping at it to save his 1%, and then the vendor *ALSO* can save 1%-2% again. So both the seller and the buyer can save money. All that saved money would have instead went directly to middlemen like visa or paypal. But now it's given back to the buyer and the seller.
We have grown accustomed to current prices that already include a ~3% markup for transaction fees extracted by middlemen. Bitcoin unlocks that and gives the money back to those who deserve it, the buyer and seller.
So in other words, this is the future. And companies threatened by the future will pour huge resources into fighting tooth and nail against it, to get unfair legislation passed to block and delay the inevitable future and the improvements it will bring.