They are the 99 per cent

So where is the Bitcoin tipping point? What exactly constitutes a genuine front-line development of the cryptocoin? Maybe, if around one per cent of the population, or even one per cent of computer users, regularly adopts Bitcoin for use as money, a major Rubicon will already have been crossed, in spite of the mainline economy still being dominated by fiat and big banks.

Recently, I was interested in a social attendance of a "murder-mystery" weekend, where a friend, let's call her S, bought a multi-party-discount ticket and thus I owed her some money if I wanted to come along. Due in part to time constraints, I offered her a bitcoin payment for its benefits, in particular its immediacy, while stating simultaneously that cash would be fine, subject to a time delay, for we would have to arrange to meet up for the payment. (While I sometimes use PayPal for purchases, I do not have a live registered account with them, primarily because of their asinine rules.) This all culminated in S being practically offended even at the notion of Bitcoin, in spite of me protesting that it's the government and central banks who can coerce us to use fiat and I have no power to coerce her into accepting BTC.

Since you're reading this, there's a fair chance you have some kind of interest in Bitcoin. But for every one of you, how many like S are there? I've been pondering this for a while and drawn a tentative conclusion that it does not matter that much. There are bound to be dozens like S for every Bitcoin user/enthusiast, aren't there? On the other hand, if even about one per cent of computer users get seriously into Bitcoin, the market cap will be more than sufficient to sustain a viable Bitcoin economy, maybe even in the event that governments or other exterior forces stifle cryptocoin-fiat exchange.

Alternative cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin (LTC) may yet prove to play a greater rôle in this economy than perhaps might currently be envisaged.

If you meet people like S above, do not despair - they'll always be there. And hopefully it matters not.