Posted on 12/18/2013 7:48:27 AM PST by Bubba_Leroy
China’s biggest Bitcoin exchange, BTCChina, has stopped accepting deposits in Chinese yuan. The shutdown has sent the currency into a downward spin, stripping it of half its value overnight. It is trading at $572 on Mt.Gox, down from a high of about $1,200 last week.
(Excerpt) Read more at techcrunch.com ...
The more I see, the more I want to stay away from all things digital. Tangible is good.
wtf?
can you sell short on them?
some one made a bundle, I bet
While I believe there is a bubble, this particular bit of news is that the Chinese government is manipulating the value of Bitcoin by banning it, thus dramatically affecting demand. That’s not the same as a “classic bubble.”
So, not just like tulips . . . in this particular instance.
You would have better odds betting red or black on a roulette table. Plus at the better casinos you get drinks and take in a show.
That was the pin prick, but a bubble always bursts eventually.
There is no question that bitcoins are a speculation bubble. The only thing driving up the price for the past year has been the expectation that whatever you pay for them you will be able to sell them later on for more.
The trick with any bubble is getting on early and knowing when to get off. If anyone claims that they can predict when a speculative bubble is going to burst they are either clueless or selling ocean front property in Arizona.
One born every minute!
buying opportunity?
Bitcoin Crashes After China Bans New Deposits; PBOC Gets DDOSed In Retaliation
Lol (Twitter):
MORE: PBOC TOLD MEDIA THIS AFTERNOON "WAS FIXING WEB"; MEDIA BLAMED "FOREIGN BITCOIN INVESTORS" FOR DDOS ATTACK story:http://163.fm/AC2HPOd
Bitcoin has been losing value for the last week and a half. Trading at between $650 to $700 yesterday and at $600 right now, it didn’t lose 50% of its value overnight.
BTW: It was $1200 week before last...
Right….we keep seeing these “50% overnight” headlines for like three days in a row…..but there was on real 50% move…the 1200 range to the 600 range…..
US Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network "Reaching Out" To Bitcoin Businesses
"Recently some of the more naive, not to mention top-ticking, financial commentators assumed that just because US regulators had not snapped shut a trap surrounding Bitcoin and other digital currencies yet, that this state of blissful cohabitation would continue indefinitely. Unfortunately, as we warned back in March during the initial leg higher in BTC following the Cyprus deposit confiscations, the well-known "honeypot" strategy was meant to draw out as many digital currency fans and participants as possible - who after all were warned by none other than the ECB that the current regime will never adopt a parallel, and quite threatening monetary unit - only to see the regulatory and enforcement fist of the nation that (still) hosts the reserve currency slowly but surely start to clench around the binary currency."
And, as Reuters further adds, the fist grab is almost ready to pulverize:
While some Bitcoin businesses reject FinCEN's assertion that they are money transmitters, a number have still registered with the agency, a search of the Treasury bureau's website shows.
FinCEN sent letters to Bitcoin-related businesses on the Internet that appeared to fall under its definition of money transmitters but had not registered, Hudak said. He said FinCEN will keep sending letters to unregistered Bitcoin businesses.
"As we come across them, and as people tip us off, we'll make inquiries. That is part of what we do," Hudak said.
Today, that would nclude the US Dollar, which Bernanke has digitized….and which explains the Bitcoin phenomenon to a large degree. The Bitcoin may be fake, but it's a real fake….the US Dollar is a fake real…….
The parallel for this is confederate money during the civil war.
“Today, that would nclude the US Dollar,”
Absolutely, that’s why when I get it, I trade it for things that are real.
Not really.
Confederate money was backed by a government that lost a war and was then dissolved.
Bitcoins have never been backed by any government or by anything else. Bitcoins have no innate value. They only have value because people think they have value.
The price for bitcoins was determined purely by supply and demand. Demand exceeded supply so the price went up. Demand was driven by the fact that the price kept going up. Because of the Chinese, demand suddenly dropped causing the price to plummet. Classic bubble with the Chinese being the pin prick.
U.S. dollars are not the same thing. They are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. Sure, that doesn't mean what it used to, but the U.S. is still a fairly powerful nation with the ability to tax millions of productive citizens and a vested interest in propping up the value of its currency.
BWWAAAAAHAHAHA, idiots.
I agree, and as a slang term it fits in the light of a long term situation. It can be quite misleading in a headline tied to one event such as the Chinese recent move.
In the last couple of weeks, it did lose half it’s value.
Folks should know that the week before last it was at 1050, dropped to 600, went back up to about 1000, and is now at 600 again. I would expect some fluctuation because of the holiday season we’re in.
It’s status after the first of the year will be interesting to watch, as business activity picks up and we get back to a more normal situation.
“The more I see, the more I want to stay away from all things digital. Tangible is good.”
Yeah. I like money that can be held in your hand (or at least touch) if you so choose, an attribute that almost all money has except for bitcoins. Bitcoins are really not much more than an idea.
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