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Bitcoin Currency Surpasses 20 National Currencies In Total Value
Velcroman1 writes "More than $1 billion worth of bitcoins now circulate on the web – an amount that exceeds the value of the entire currency stock of small countries like Liberia, Bhutan, and 18 other countries. Bitcoin is in high demand right now — each bitcoin currently sells for more than $90 U.S. — which bitcoin insiders say is because of world events that have shaken confidence in government-issued currencies. 'Because of what's going on in Cyprus and Europe, people are trying to pull their money out of banks there,' said Tony Gallippi, the CEO BitPay.com, which enables businesses to easily accept bitcoins as payment. 'So they buy gold, they put it under the mattress, or they buy bitcoin,' Gallippi said."
time to cash in
Or like has been stated before it's mostly being hoarded. (like when collecting anything, mostly of value to the collector and other collectors but not anyone else)
So, how do you "short sell" Bitcoin? I'd like to make a few bucks from this ridiculous bubble when it pops.
Perhaps Bitcoins can be packaged into securities, given a AAA rating, and sold to retirement funds. Win-win!
It means that ALL bitcoins are collectively worth more than ALL currency of the 20 countries listed. They're not comparing individual currency units.
They probably surpassed North Korea with their first nickel.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
The article should say that more than 1 billion dollars in bitcoins theoretically exists on the web. Given the horrific problems that a few bitcoin exchanges have had in the recent past, I think some skepticism is warranted. My prediction is that sometime in the upcoming years some kind of attack nobody foresaw will happen on bitcoins and the attackers will get wealthy and the bitcoin holders will be left holding dust or bitcoins will simply be another bubble that collapses. I don't see a bright future for bitcoins.
I have some experience with both cryptography and decentralized systems of this kind. Which doesn't make me an expert. But I know enough to ask questions. I have had grave concerns about the validity of their design since I first read about it on slashdot some years back. It seemed to me the case had not been made that bitcoin was not vulnerable to rapid destruction of value, due to attacks on fundamental flaws in its design.
The thing that really surprised me was that people decided to try to use it anyway. But I guess our desires often cloud our judgment. As much as I would love a decentralized digital currency, I do not believe it yet exists. I wouldn't invest 90 cents in bitcoin.
Many currencies can appear to be stable until they're not.
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Such things always remind me of the exploration of the Americas, or at the simplified myth. In this story the English brought back potatoes and the spanish brought back gold. The question is who brought back wealth, and who brought back merely riches.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
So could tulip bulbs, you better go get some quick.
Have you seen the actual numbers? Who owns the US national debt?
- China 8%
US gov't and pension funds 46,1%:
- The Federal reserve 11,3%
- Social Security fund 19%
- US households 6,6%
- State & local gov't 3,5%
- State, local pensions funds 2,2%
- Private pension funds 3,5%
http://www.businessinsider.com/who-owns-us-debt-2011-7?op=1
Enron's stock went up too. You might want to think about the fundamentals of what you're buying.
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But there seems to be this misunderstanding that China can just "call in" the loans. They can't. US securities are sold for fixed periods of time. They pay off on a given date, period. There is no ability to call them due early.
So all someone can do who wishes to cash out early is to sell them on the open market, and of course if you dump a ton of them the price will crash meaning you'll take a sizable loss on your investment.
People really need to go and look at how public debt in the US works before they chatter about it. Too many think it is the US going to China The Loan Shark and begging for money on any terms. Quite the opposite, it is China buying US securities (denominated in US dollars, held and tracked in the US exchange) when they are auctioned off.
It's only worth what people are willing to pay for it.
If confidence goes, so does the value.
No sig today...
Gee elucido; after seeing you post how bitcoins will increase 10x by 2014 in three posts now I can see that you selflessly want us all to partake in this great opportunity. I think I'll go and get some now!
// MD_Update(&m,buf,j);
Quote me. A year from now it will be approaching $1000 a coin. It will never be $17 a coin again.
You can keep on saying that, it doesn't make it so.
Magicking 'money' out of thin air *always* leads to a crash. No exceptions. Just wait and see.
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Reminds me of what people told me about investing in Enron.
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
We all know inflation on the dollar is crazy and trending toward never getting better.
We don't "all know" that, because it's not true. Inflation is at about 2% and has been basically unchanged since 1984 or so. Any ideas to the contrary are primarily in the minds of those who have a financial interest in convincing people holding dollars to buy some other kind of asset e.g. Glenn Beck and his gold interests.
I am officially gone from