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CNBC: Nearly $2 billion has been wiped off bitcoins value in three days
- Thread starter Tripon
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j_k_redtail
Member
Ethereum is the more interesting technology right now. Will be interesting to see how it develops.
echoshifting
Banned
Hmmm, I missed out on bitcoin, should I buy some ether
FF Seraphim
Member
Was reading up on that. Debating if I should in to it.
This isn't just market fluctuation, the drop this time is because of a fundamental way bitcoins are being verified now.
? How so?
Its a joke from the Bitcoin craze days, when anything and everything that happened was "good for bitcoin"
IE Bitcoin goes up! Good for Bitcoin! Bitcoin crashes! Good for Bitcoin!
IndoAssassin
Banned
Because huge drops in bitcoin won't cause a global disaster?
Yes, so you mean its time to abdond this junk currency and reset everything?
Please don't get snappy with me just because you never learned history in high school thanks
I've lost count of how many times I've missed this damn boat now. Might as well start swimming...
I had history lessons, that you can be sure of, thats why I consider a value-loss of 2 billion dollar in three days as something that shows that the currency is very broken.
I am not even sure if you are the right person for this discussion, my post was sarcastic because usually when news like that about Bitcoin come up, there are people who say that that big variations of the value in such a short timespan is nothing to worry about. I can be wrong but I have no memory of a decrease of 2 billion dollar in the value of a real currency in the last few decades. I can be wrong, since I am not that much into economics and finances. I am pretty much aware that this could happen to any currency. But then no people in internet boards jumps in to defend it.
Every few months I see news regarding big variations in the Bitcoin value. Like I said, I am not that much into economics and finances but I know enough to recognize that this is not healthy.
PastorOfMuppets
Banned
Has anyone come up with a solution to the liquidity problem with Bitcoin - or any Cryptocurrency? Considering how valuable it is as a commodity and how volatile it is, what is motivating people from using it as a medium of exchange? Seems like its in your best interest to just buy and hold onto it until you wanna sell it again.
The 2 billion loss is so massive because it's been valued 1200 times the US dollar. There aren't many things or any other currencies tagged with such a high price.
I don't know how bitcoin can be made less volitile; I'm not sure it could be regulated in it's current state.
Zeus Molecules
illegal immigrants are stealing our air
It makes buying drugs off of the internet convenient
Reverend Funk
Comfy Penetration
very good to buy guns and drugs with online
Wasn't the major leaders in this magic card dealing sites? I can see how many slept on that.
PastorOfMuppets
Banned
Far as I can tell, it's more of a commodity than a medium of exchange. People buy and hold it thinking it will go up in value.
There are lots of merchants that accept it but with how valuable a single bitcoin and how much it fluctuates in pricing, the only reason to use it as a medium of exchange is because you believe the relative price of bitcoin to fiat currency is going to collapse soon so your getting items now for what you think is a major discount. Either that or you were one of the early adopters of Bitcoin and you're playing with house money.
j_k_redtail
Member
So this is actually the best article I've found about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general. It's a long, but very good read explaining the technology and its history (drama, etc) up to 2016.
Demand is driven by:
-Technology reasons: People who are interested in a decentralized means of exchange or decentralized databases (blockchains)
-Ideological reasons: Libertarian-leaning types, gold bugs etc who are interested in its potential ramifications for banking
-People who want to buy other cryptocurrencies (for the longest time, BTC was the only thing you could buy with cash/card, and you can trade BTC for other things)
-Victims of ransomware. There are many examples of this but Cryptolocker was probably the first.
-Tech savvy drug users - of all the stories around bitcoin, I think this is the most interesting one
-People who day trade it BTC vs fiat currency (USD, etc) to try to get rich - led to disasters like MtGox
-People who live in countries with capital controls
-Online gambling
etc etc
You can use it to buy things online too - for instance, you can buy Amazon gift cards with bitcoin at places like Gyft.
makingmusic476
Member
I've never really understood the mechanics of bitcoin mining. If it's all digital, why isn't it possible for someone to hack the process and give themselves extra bitcoins? Given it doesn't have all the checks and balances of our banking system where such discrepancies would be caught.
Also, I saw a dude leaving a gas station the other day super disappointed that the fact that the store accepted bitcoin didn't mean he could sell his bitcoins.
Also, I saw a dude leaving a gas station the other day super disappointed that the fact that the store accepted bitcoin didn't mean he could sell his bitcoins.
It's the other way around here.
Night Hunter
Banned
Didn't this just happen to the pound, like over-night after the Brexit vote?
To add on this, the bitcoin system is skewed against current adopters because the theoretical cost of each bitcoin generation -- and thus value -- increases over time.
Ironically, this has the unintentional side effect of putting downwards pressure onto the use of bitcoin because no one would want to ever spend it.
But there is a government that controls the money flow so they can impose fiscal policies on money. We want to avoid Brexit type situations from happening constantly, which you cannot avoid with Bitcoin.
I got $20 in free bitcoin which is now worth about $50-$60. I guess as long as I do something with it before it becomes worth $0 I've done okay.
Yep. I could have gotten $20 worth of free stuff. I waited and can now get $50 worth of stuff. Maybe if I keep waiting I can get $200 worth of free stuff. But if the whole thing collapses I won't feel too bad about missing out because I didn't actually buy in.
Yep. I could have gotten $20 worth of free stuff. I waited and can now get $50 worth of stuff. Maybe if I keep waiting I can get $200 worth of free stuff. But if the whole thing collapses I won't feel too bad about missing out because I didn't actually buy in.
terencecah
Member
how do I buy etherum
Yes, I posted examples of hyperinflation that I thought would be easily recognizeable, but hyperdeflation has definitely occurred, even in the past 20 years (i.e. Japanese deflation during the 1990s) . Any currency can be vulnerable to either. It's not exclusively a bitcoin thing.
SodiumBenzoate
Member
Bitcoin is an asset, not a currency.
Zimbabwe would probably be jealous of sudden looses of just 2 billion.
Mechanized
Member
Why does bit coin even have value?
An even larger drop, percentage wise happened to the British pound during the Brexit.
Dollar wise it was much larger than this.
See below
http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=GBP&to=USD&view=1Y
radios shipping overview
Member
I feel out of touch. This thread is the first I've heard of Ethereum, which sounds really interesting, but I don't know what community or news feed I should have been following to have heard of it, except to have a preexisting interest in blockchain-related tech.
Jezbollah
Member
Because there is demand for them. And people are willing to sell them, and there's a finite amount of them.
The Horror the horror
Banned
Not easily with USD. It involves a work-around that makes your account susceptible to the risk of hacking.
Thursday War
Banned
Bitcoin is illegal in the states so you have to be extra careful buying it and have to do your research
I saw an article covering the rise of bitcoin over the last couple months so you have nothing to worry about
I've been following bitcoin for a few years, I even own some!
This dip wiped out the significant gains made the last few weeks. We're back at the start of February now. Bitcoin's volatility has been decreasing this past few years, but this is still a big shock.
The reason this is happening is the threat of hard fork. Two camps have formed and they want different things, this could split bitcoin in two, theoretically. It's a real mess and one of the risks when you don't have a central authority. This has always been both the strength and the weakness of this project.
A large chunk of bitcoin's price was created by speculation, but it DOES have some real merits. It is a hedge against inflation (if it's still around in x*10 years), it is accepted by many people across the globe and it neatly circumvents both banks and governments. In fact, the cryptography used guarantees absolutely nobody can touch your assets unless you share your private keys. So it's not like gold, it's not like foreign currency, it's not penny stocks, it's its own thing.
This dip wiped out the significant gains made the last few weeks. We're back at the start of February now. Bitcoin's volatility has been decreasing this past few years, but this is still a big shock.
The reason this is happening is the threat of hard fork. Two camps have formed and they want different things, this could split bitcoin in two, theoretically. It's a real mess and one of the risks when you don't have a central authority. This has always been both the strength and the weakness of this project.
A large chunk of bitcoin's price was created by speculation, but it DOES have some real merits. It is a hedge against inflation (if it's still around in x*10 years), it is accepted by many people across the globe and it neatly circumvents both banks and governments. In fact, the cryptography used guarantees absolutely nobody can touch your assets unless you share your private keys. So it's not like gold, it's not like foreign currency, it's not penny stocks, it's its own thing.
Currencies shouldn't be unreliable.
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