Many have been semi-following the news in Venezuela and the hyperinflation that has been progressing over the last few years. I noticed this article today from 'The Atlantic' which was interesting.
A few noted points:
To survive Venezuela's hyperinflation, many have taken to mining bitcoin to afford basic necessities
It is also made affordable due to the low cost of power in the country's heavily-subsidized electricity market
Bitcoin miners can make as much as $500 a month, which is enough to afford things such as baby diapers and insulin from overseas
The full article from The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/big-in-venezuela/534177/
I did see another article a few weeks ago from Bloomberg that graphed Venezuelans increase of the purchase of BTC. You can see they started purchasing in May of 2016. (The chart is up to June 2017)
Looking at the BTC chart, I did see a rise in the price right around the mid May timeframe. Is it coincidence?
India also started forcing their population to turn in the larger denomination notes for 'new' currency in the latter part of 2016. Some were not able to make it to the banks in the time allocated for the exchange. Were they purchasing BTC instead? (If they held onto the old notes, they would be worthless).
With many countries around the world debasing their currency, is the general population 'waking-up' and taking positions in BTC? I think a VERY small percentage of the population in the United States has ever heard of Bitcoin and even a smaller percentage invested in it.
Here is a chart of Bitcoin (Blue line) and the US Dollar Index (Candlestick) from December 2016 to the current day. Who is selling off the US Dollar? China holds the most US Treasuries out of any country. Are they bailing before the dollar devalues even more? With the Fed/Treasury QE programs, I would not want to hold onto a lot of USD's...
Chart from 2012 of the largest US Debt holders. (From the Guardian Datablog)
One complete speculation is that China is slowly dumping the dollar for BTC...??? We already know they are one of the largest purchasers of Gold.
In the past, people flocked to Gold and Silver as a safe-haven when the economy had problems. With the digital age, that may have changed and now people may be seeking safe-haven in crypto currencies. Will the population of the US eventually grasp the fact that the purchasing power of U.S. Dollar is declining? Or will they keep watching the Kardashians?