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Bitcoin Breaks $1,000 Level, Highest in More Than 3 Years (cnbc.com)

Posted by msmash on from the new-heights dept.

The price of digital currency bitcoin has hit the $1,000 mark for the first time in three years. From a report on CNBC: The cryptocurrency was trading at $1,021 at the time of publication, according to CoinDesk data, at level not seen since November 2013, with its market capitalization exceeding $16 billion. Bitcoin has been on a steady march higher for the past few months, driven by a number of factors such as the devaluation of the yuan, geopolitical uncertainty and an increase in professional investors taking an interest in the asset class. "We are seeing the aftermath of zero interest rates run amok. So bitcoin is a healthy reminder that we don't have to hold on to dollars or renminbi, which is subject to capital controls and loss of purchasing power. Rather it's a new asset class," Bobby Lee, chief executive of BTC China, one of the world's largest bitcoin exchanges, told CNBC by phone.

5 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. Speculators by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    So long as speculators can make money holding onto bitcoin while the value shifts, it will not be a viable means of exchange. Currencies need a stable value for people to want to use them as a currency.

  2. Shocking by Luthair · · Score: 4, Informative

    Someone involved in bitcoin thinks its relevant and people are doing big things with it. Next thing you know companies will be sending out press releases saying they're releasing great products.

    1. Re:Shocking by Baron_Yam · · Score: 4, Informative

      No, the VC idiots have finally learned that Bitcoin is a way of stealing their money. The smart VC money never went there, except a few 'drop in the bucket, just in case' experiments.

      Slashdot really ought to just ban these stupid 'stories'; we don't post about Beanie Baby market fluctuations, and there's nothing technically interesting left with Bitcoin to discuss. It's just the latest attempt by scammers and cultists to pump their obsession.

    2. Re:Shocking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

      You sound like a broken record, same shit over and over.

  3. Re:Any way to hedge USD using smart contracts? by Aighearach · · Score: 3, Informative

    Bitcoin as a currency has built-in deflation, so you can't peg it to anything.

    There are real reasons why all the serious, real fiat currencies are managed for low inflation. Having guaranteed deflation makes bitcoin useless long-term, and it even makes it hard to understand price changes.

    The supply is constrained. A bitcoin will always have more purchasing power in the future. So it can only ever succeed temporarily in "pyramid scheme" fashion. Success would mean demand, but demand cannot be sustained in those circumstances.

    The only reason it is in use is because drug dealers don't realize that it is more traceable than dollars. Ignorance is not a good basis for an economy. See also: information theory (economics)