Exchange rate volatility is harmful to commerce, yes. There are metrics showing Bitcoin becoming more widely used, but there's not 100% more use in two months.

Exchange rate volatility is harmful to commerce, yes. There are metrics showing Bitcoin becoming more widely used, but there's not 100% more use in two months. Maybe it finally registered that the upcoming block reward (to 25 BTC per block) was coming and people bought some up ahead of time.