The report you refer to, about the bot at MtGox, is itself speculative, interpretative, and proves nothing. Just a heads up, before you jump into your radical conclusions:
An Occam's Razor approach to understanding the data, is that the bot was performing legitimate buys for an institutional investor who would have made a deal offline, and directly, with MtGox. There is a perfectly plausible explanation to the bot that is not nefarious. So, please reconsider you "irreparable" decision, since its basis are far form solid.
There are many reasons to believe the rise is 'real', especially that the fundamentals are enormously more solid now than when it crossed $650 now than when it reached that price for the first time (in november).
Fundamentals, you say? I am afraid that there are more serious ways to learn about those than whether the "normals" you interact with are using it or talking about it just now. Your personal perspective might not necessarily provide the whole picture! I recommend you get your data from a site like http://www.bitcoinpulse.com/ check it, please, and tell me if you still stand by your arguments.
Also, 'volatility' is not argument enough to eliminate the reasons why people like to be paid in Bitcoin. I prefer Bitcoins over Dollars without hesitation, and I am very glad I have been paid in Bitcoin in the past. Other people just want to accept any kind of money their customers want to give them, and eliminate the volatility exposure by using Bitpay and the like.
An Occam's Razor approach to understanding the data, is that the bot was performing legitimate buys for an institutional investor who would have made a deal offline, and directly, with MtGox. There is a perfectly plausible explanation to the bot that is not nefarious. So, please reconsider you "irreparable" decision, since its basis are far form solid.
There are many reasons to believe the rise is 'real', especially that the fundamentals are enormously more solid now than when it crossed $650 now than when it reached that price for the first time (in november).
Fundamentals, you say? I am afraid that there are more serious ways to learn about those than whether the "normals" you interact with are using it or talking about it just now. Your personal perspective might not necessarily provide the whole picture! I recommend you get your data from a site like http://www.bitcoinpulse.com/ check it, please, and tell me if you still stand by your arguments.
Also, 'volatility' is not argument enough to eliminate the reasons why people like to be paid in Bitcoin. I prefer Bitcoins over Dollars without hesitation, and I am very glad I have been paid in Bitcoin in the past. Other people just want to accept any kind of money their customers want to give them, and eliminate the volatility exposure by using Bitpay and the like.