Posted on 03/15/2018 7:53:45 AM PDT by NRx
Prices of major cryptocurrencies saw a sharp downward slide Thursday, amid closer regulatory scrutiny on the space and after Google announced plans to ban advertising related to the sector.
The market capitalization or value of all the world's digital coins stood at $310.4 billion early on Thursday morning, down from $372.9 billion a day before, according to Coinmarketcap.com, which tracks prices based on different exchanges.
Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market cap, traded as low as $7,676.52 on Thursday, the lowest since February 8, according to CoinDesk data. However, by 4.00 a.m ET the price had recovered to $8,219.77, pushing the total cryptocurrency market cap to $331.7 billion. Why did prices fall?
A number of factors have weighed on the price of cryptocurrencies.
The first major one was selling by the trustees of collapsed Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Mt.Gox. It closed in 2014 and filed for bankruptcy after losing around 850,000 bitcoins. Its founder Mark Karpeles, recently pleaded not guilty to charges of embezzlement.
A trustee of the now-defunct exchange has been selling large amounts of bitcoin that the exchange still owned in order to pay back creditors. This has been hitting the price of bitcoin.
Meanwhile, Alphabet-owned Google, the world's largest digital advertiser, announced it was banning cryptocurrency-related advertising, including initial coin offerings (ICOs), wallets and trading advice.
"The sell-off was triggered by a number of factors, notably, weariness over increased regulatory scrutiny of ICOs, the Mt.Gox bitcoin dump and what seems to be some heavily liquid traders pushing for future buy-back opportunities," Thomas Glucksmann, head of APAC business development at cryptocurrency exchange Gatecoin, told CNBC by email on Thursday.
"These bear signals have subsequently spooked many new crypto investors who are now looking to cut their loses."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
If future corporate earnings were expected to fall by 80% or
interest rates unexpectedly increased just such a fall would be justified. But if the price of stocks of some companies fell by 80%, they would have enough cash on hand to buy up all there shares.
When Bitcoin goes to zero, will investors jump off of virtual or real ledges?
...they would have enough cash on hand to buy up all there shares.
I don’t understand what this cryptocurrency business is all about. How does this affect me???
A month or two ago, a friend’s financial advisor, who manages her life savings, suggested she invest in bitcoin. When she stated she put 50K into the scheme, I simply freaked out. (Bitcoin was trading around 15K at the time.) She mentioned that she had three days to back out of the deal. I strongly advised that she take advantage of that grace period and get her money back. She did. She also thanks me (and buys me a drink) every time she sees me. ;)
glad to see it
Complete scam from beginning
Bitcoin will be between 20-30k by the end of 2018.
And that is the point. My late father and I did a little investing a day or so after the October 1987 crash. There were plenty of companies whose cash in bank was greater than the value of the companies on Tuesday morning. And they had other assets - liabilities in the billions.
There were real assets behind those companies.
And that is why some .com companies zoom up in value and then zoom down to zero. There is only potential income and no assets.
The bad news is what is behind the money you have in the bank is the same thing that is behind bitcoin. The intrinsic value of bitcoin and the US dollar are the same. More bad news is when the government wants to confiscate your wealth all they have to do is print more money, and they do this all the time.
Man, no one gets it less than Arjun...
How many shorts you think were made out of Google the night before with advance knowledge of the ad ban? How much of it leaked to the Korean and Chinese markets? And...it's not against the law. Bitcoin is unregulated. No Sarbanes-Oxley, no nothing.
Let the bidding start at 5000 guilders...
The bad news is what is behind the money you have in the bank is the same thing that is behind bitcoin. The intrinsic value of bitcoin and the US dollar are the same. More bad news is when the government wants to confiscate your wealth all they have to do is print more money, and they do this all the time.
With bitcoin, it can fail while the rest of the world hums along without a blip. If the US currency collapses, well, the political and cultural context within which it happens may actually be the real story.
Think Weimer Germany and Venezuela.
Where to BEGIN?
There’s a sucker born every nano-second?
BTW - it isn’t just bitcoin that is overpriced. Even Amazon (which apparently makes money, after many years of losses) is ridiculously priced based on a wide range of historical measures.
I sort of wish I knew more about how to prudently structure trades and options, etc. to hedge against the stuff where people say (later), “Oh, it was clear to any fool that so-and-so was way overpriced.”
You means us what buy nary a nummber of them 'air bits of coinses?
Of course, no one alive will ever see or do anything with this effectively intangible “real” thing, so it is all a mental exercise that is made practical only when exchanging for tangible currency or items.
This is what cryptocurrency effectively does, too.
You don't gotta, those here, whining about crypto, where doing so even back when it was below $500. lol
This is one of those threads where the idiot factor is high and where those who bemoan the concept of crypto having no value, don't or won't stop to consider what it actually costs to increase the quantity of fiat currency (nothing) vs. increasing the quantity of a cryto (about $3k for BTC currently) or mine precious metal.
People have to be some kind of stupid to invest on an ephemeral idea, and expect what amounts to a weird pyramid scheme to survive.
Totally reminds me of the G-doofus and his global-warming related "energy credits" scam.
How did that work out?
Anybody know?
I always thought it was amusing that a fiat currency was launched to oust other fiat currencies. I was shocked when they surpassed long held currencies of precious metals. Value is indeed in the eye of the beholder.
“I don’t understand what this cryptocurrency business is all about. How does this affect me???”
don’t worry about it. it’s not something you HAVE to know about, and whether you do or don’t, it won’t affect you.
“Bitcoin will be between 20-30k by the end of 2018.”
that’s certainly possible. equally likely though, it could be $2,000 or less ...
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