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Bitcoin Slides as China's Central Bank Launches Checks On Exchanges (reuters.com)
An anonymous reader shares a Reuters report: China's central bank launched spot checks on leading bitcoin exchanges in Beijing and Shanghai, ratcheting up pressure on potential capital outflows and knocking the price of the cryptocurrency down more than 12 percent against the dollar. The People's Bank of China said its probe of bitcoin exchanges BTCC, Huobi and OKCoin was to look into a range of possible rule violations, including market manipulation, money laundering and unauthorized financing. It did not say if any violations had been found. Chinese authorities have stepped up efforts to stem capital outflows and relieve pressure on the yuan. While the yuan lost more than 6.5 percent against the dollar last year, its worst performance since 1994, the bitcoin price has soared to near-record highs.
The last time I speculated on /. about the share of Bitcoin being used by Chinese citizens to get capital out of the bubble, guess what happened? I was called a Japanese shittalker.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
We're not your pump-n-dump engine.
How is saying, "The price is falling!" going to pump up the price? Perhaps it's a short-n-spread-fud scheme.
> If only we'd noticed that every selling point of Bitcoin has actually been thoroughly debunked, that every major player in Bitcoin has been caught stealing or has failed (or both). If only we'd notice that blockchains have fundamental flaws that make them useless on any decent scale.
Bitcoin has died 119 times so far. Guess we'll make that 120 today then, based on your assessment?
source: https://99bitcoins.com/bitcoinobituaries/
After you pump the price and dump your bitcoin, you want to drop the price so you can buy more low in preparation for the next pump.
Now, it's unlikely MsMash is a top-level player in that scam, but there are lots of people who want to participate in hopes of enriching themselves.
Since the market is more or less entirely driven by fraud, this is essentially a guessing game of how far bitcoin will go during its ups and downs, so if you're NOT actually one of the big players who is moving the market through exchange fraud or controlling large amounts of bitcoin, you're probably not going to do very well... which seems to make them try all the harder.
Last couple of years have seen the wealthy in China resort to more and more elaborate schemes to exfiltrate their wealth, which they are officially restricted to moving just $50K/yr.
Like suitcases of cash brought on "vacation" to Hong Kong
And buying a $170M painting on a credit card.
Bitcoin is just the current fad for circumventing foreign exchange restrictions. When China clamps down, the wealthy will move to some other method, and bitcoin pricing will probably collapse.
There's nothing governments hate more than money outside of their control.
I use bitcoin to purchase stuff. I do not use it as an "investment." It seems to work for me. But I am sure it will die this year when the Linux Desktop takes over. (smh)
Wow, didn't Slashdot run a story just a few days ago boasting that Bitcoin is now "more stable than many of the world's top currencies?" Darn! How could I have been so silly as to believe them? If only I hadn't immediately moved all my assets into Bitcoin! Oh, that's right, I didn't. Well that's a relief.
"I'm too busy to research this and form an educated opinion, but I do have time to tell everyone my uninformed opinion."