Posted on 01/31/2018 8:52:44 PM PST by cba123
A growing number of virtual currency investors are worried that the prices of Bitcoin and other digital tokens have been artificially propped up by a widely used exchange called Bitfinex, which has a checkered history of hacks and opaque business practices.
In December, Bitfinex was subpoenaed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a United States regulatory agency. The news, first reported by Bloomberg on Tuesday and confirmed by a source familiar with the subpoena but not allowed to publicly discuss an ongoing investigation, led to a sell-off in most virtual currencies.
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Didn't know about Bitfinex until reading this article. Interesting details at the article link.
(Please see link for full article)
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Forget bitcoins. The next big thing is going to be tulips. I can just feel it.
There does seem to be resilient support near $10k, and there’s no way it’s all coming from one exchange.
In any case, the day-to-day price action is only important to traders. Those of us who believe fiat is ultimately doomed hold a cache of crypto in the same manner many of us hold a cache of ammo. The idea is to have the item on hand when/if it’s needed. If it’s never needed in our lifetimes, then our heirs can decide what to do with it.
I doubt many of us who hoard ammo are in the habit of closely following ammo prices for the purpose of determining the current dollar worth of our cache. That’s not why we hold ammo. Or crypto.
If Bitcoin shoots up again I may directly exchange some for PM, but otherwise it’s just something I like to have in reserve. I started accumulating in 2013 and my average cost is a bit over $500 USD per BTC. So far I haven’t sold or exchanged any.
Have to disagree there. Bitcoin is on EVERY governments radar, and that is a fact. The current drop in crypto is largely due to Korea's regulations and possible ban. Even in the US the IRS has been pushing to regulate crypto and they sure are a trustworthy bunch. We've had other government agencies throw out trial ballons. Some have suggested a ban on bitcoin. Nearly every big bank in the US and the world for that matter has tried to suppress the rise of bitcoin. The banks have called bitcoin a "ponzi scheme", a fraud and anything else they could think of to scare people. So they either don't know what a Ponzi Scheme is or the are lying. I'll go with the later.
So no one knows where Bitcoin is ultimately going but it has ALL the right people hating it so that is a very good sign. Even Paul Krugman has said bitcoin is a fraud. That alone should signal it's a sound investment for sure. LOL
While this might be an immediate reason for a price drop, the biggest reason is the huge speculative pump over the last five months. A strong correction just like the earlier three or four big pumps was to be expected. That along with the unresolved technical issues with Bitcoin leaves me expecting a continued pull back over the course of 2018. We could end up bouncing around in the $2000-4000 range for a while.
So it’s got governments worried because it’s a commodity an investment vehicle & not a currency. Okay. I’ve wondered for a while why it’s called “cryptocurrency” when it should be called “cryptostock”. Bitcoin has 0.1% chance of ever being a currency that gets spent like a dollar or debit card. Like I stated in my original reply, you can’t spend it like a dollar. Which a dollar is what gets taxed by the US govt every time it’s spent. Which is where the US govt gets a fair amount of its income (taxation on transactions). So until the dollar bill is replaced by something better & EASIER then why should the government be worried?
Whenever someone tries to discuss the reality of bitcoin as a currency the discussion inevitably morphs bitcoin into an “investment” and then the discussion continues on with it in a commodity category but still talked about as “coin” or “currency”.
So if bitcoin/cryptocurrency is a commodity then why can’t governments wherein it is used then regulate it? If it’s not just an investment vehicle but a viable currency that’s superior to the money in my pocket then why can’t I walk into the local gas station & buy a Mountain Dew or pay my power bill with it? Is it a cryptocurrency or a cryptostock? Is it an investment vehicle or a currency?
Buy bitcoin at your own (very high) risk. It’s not currency.
Yes totally agree. The price drop was just a sell off, some made good money real quick and got out. Others got out for other reasons. It only matters if you are trading. It wasn’t price manipulation, it was a price drop.
Nope. They tried that but it didn’t work. The cat is out of the bag and it’s too late to control it.
Bitcoin is a currency, a medium of exchange. Like other currencies you can “invest” in bitcoin. Right now bitcoin is accepted at relatively few places but that is changing fast. Bitcoin is also only one of many crypto currencies.
Korea is “yesterday’s FUD”...India is todays FUD: https://cointelegraph.com/news/india-bitcoin-prices-drop-as-media-misinterprets-govts-regulation-speech
FR crypto threads indicate that some additional info./studying is in order...one good resource: http://www.lopp.net/bitcoin.html
I have to ask. Where do you get the federal government taxes the dollar everytime it’s spent? State governments can collect a sales tax but not all the time and not in all cases. Are you not in the US? We don’t have a VAT tax here.
I only mention Korea in response to the poster saying bitcoin is not on any governments radar. That's pretty much the polar opposite of reality.
"FR crypto threads indicate that some additional info./studying is in order." --- Big Time !
I’m in. :D
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