Bitfloor Indefinitely Suspends Bitcoin Trading

PerformanceDude writes "Bitfloor (a New York-based online exchange for Bitcoin) yesterday made the following announcement on their website: I am sorry to announce that due to circumstances outside of our control BitFloor must cease all trading operations indefinitely. Unfortunately, our US bank account is scheduled to be closed and we can no longer provide the same level of USD deposits and withdrawals as we have in the past. As such, I have made the decision to halt operations and return all funds. Over the next days we will be working with all clients to ensure that everyone receives their funds. Please be patient as we process your request. Roman — bitfloor.com" According to the company's Twitter account, money should be returned to users' bank accounts shortly.

Comments

Re: Bubble

[bobbied]

Invest in bitcoins if you wish, but there is NOTHING of value in a bitcoin. It has no real value, nothing, not even as paper and you cannot trade bitcoin without a computer to record the transaction. PayPal, Visa and banks trade in currency that *has* value or is backed by something with value. They trade in government backed currency and securities, which have value, real value. PayPal, Visa, Banks, etc all trade in real currencies.

Now if you want to argue that modern currency (such as dollars) has nothing behind it either, I'm not going to agree with you. At the very least there is the "full faith and credit" of the USA for the US dollar. It is managed (or mismanaged if you prefer) by a government. Bitcoin is not managed or backed by any government. Dollars and Bitcoins are not the same thing. One is the traditional *reserve currency* of world trade, was issued with value and managed by a government and the other an imaginary virtual invention which had zero value when first issued and entitled the owner to exactly nothing of value. Initial holders of Dollars held something of real value (usually gold), now we hold "federal reserve notes".

Dollars may be worthless someday but they didn't start out worthless. Bitcoins started worthless, and only have value because there are folks who think they have value. In reality bitcoins never had or will have intrinsic value.