If you look closely you can see a repeating pattern that has been growing in size and frequency.

In July 2011 there was a spike in Bitcoin’s market cap to $206 milion followed by a levelling off to around $25 million. In June 2013 there was the same spike shape at $2.6 billion, magnitudes larger than it’s predecessor. It then levelled off to $90 million. Finally in June 2014 again there was the large spike which caught the mainstream media’s attention. The market cap spiked to $14 billion before steadying at around $4 billion.

Bitcoin’s all time market cap chart reminds me a lot of this scene:

What’s driving this wave? There’s probably a bunch of different factors all converging at the same time. The one I’m most interested involves non-developers. While many of the early adopters of Bitcoin have mostly moved on to work with the banks and focus on the blockchain, many more average folks are turning to Bitcoin as a cheaper alternative to Western Union and a more open alternative to Paysafe cards. Bitcoin isn’t perfect, but it’s good enough and really the only viable alternative. What I’ve found amazing is helping someone buy Bitcoin and seeing them go from “This is way too complicated, I don’t get it!” to “This is so easy! It’s better than my bank!” in an instant. My favourite quote was “I keep telling my bredrin, yo just send me Bitcoin it’s easier. It’s easier than going to the bank and getting cash.”

I keep telling people, The Banks want the Blockchain but The Streets love Bitcoin.

I’m James McNab co-founder of NectrPay a retail financial startup focused on simplifying the Bitcoin user experience.