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Bitcoin Prices Surge Past $5,000 Three Weeks After Passing $4,000 (fortune.com)
Less than three weeks after surging past $4,000, Bitcoin reached $5,000 on Asian exchanges Friday. An anonymous reader quotes Fortune: The idea of Bitcoin breaking the symbolic milestone of $5,000 would have been unthinkable to most people at the start 2017, when the price topped $1,000 for the first time. If you're keeping track, the digital currency is up 500% this year, and nearly 2200% since mid-2015, when it was in the doldrums at around $220. There appears to be no single reason for the recent run-up. Instead, it can likely be explained by the same factors driving this year's cryptocurrency bull run: Publicity-driven speculation; New financial products creating unprecedented liquidity; Trading surges in Asian markets; Institutional investors treating digital currency as a permanent new asset class.
"Magical Internet Money Hits $5k" writes Bitcoin News, adding "so far in 2017 bitcoin has outperformed all government issued tender and a vast majority of stocks and commodities."
While the head of the Bitcoin Foundation has urged people to invest "no more than they can afford," Bitcoin now has a market capitalization of $82.6 billion.
"Magical Internet Money Hits $5k" writes Bitcoin News, adding "so far in 2017 bitcoin has outperformed all government issued tender and a vast majority of stocks and commodities."
While the head of the Bitcoin Foundation has urged people to invest "no more than they can afford," Bitcoin now has a market capitalization of $82.6 billion.
Time to buy, it's going straight to the moon!
Nasdaq hits 5000, everyone started piling in, and then came the big crash. This is no different because many bought stock in companies that are gone or worthless. It's a sham.
It's basically one big ponzi scheme, let's wait and see who's left holding the bag. Can always jump in you think the game will be played a while longer, but when it ends, it will end quickly.
If the inevitable crash of Bitcoin has negative ripple effects into other areas of the US financial sector, the government can and will start regulating it like you cannot believe.
It's back down to around 4500USD at the time of writing.
...one of those things in life you'll either stand idle by and watch it like it was a show, you'll think "oh why - oh why did I not invest when it was new and cheap", and when it plummets down, you'll sigh a relief and think to yourself - oh, I'm glad I didn't do that, those fools - or you'll be a part of it, getting free money if you pump it out at the right time.
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
They've been well over 1000 for years. I've been invested since 2013, where is TFA getting its info from?
It was $400 like 15 months ago, which is when I last bought drugs on the internet
We all know where this is headed.
I don't read AC
Might I remind everyone that it is now September, the month when pins are most often stuck in bubbles.
you can't regulate internationnal crowd.
aaaaaaa
We all know where this is be headed.
aaaaaaa
Nahhh.. this don't smell weird at all. Nope. The Chinese aren't gaming the exchanges one bit. You can be assured 100% that bitcoins will forever increase in value and isn't being played like some massive pump-and-dump scheme.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
The belief that there is always someone out there willing to pay more and bug it off you.
Currently, it's Bitcoin, Tesla, and Amazon flying to new highs for no reason.
What a time to be alive, children! Money for nothin AND your chicks for free!
Google it children.
In the case of bitcoin, it is used to trade with. exchanges like Bittrex trade everything against bitcoin. All money has to funnel through bitcoin either directly or indirectly. All other arguments and benefits aside, as long as bitcoin remains the de facto gold standard backing the entire crypto world, and as long as money goes into the crypto world, the price of bitcoin is not going to go down (volatility aside).
They are getting rich by cashing out while others put their money in. Bitcoin is like a stock with no inherent value, but which is pumped in a pump and dump scheme. The only difference is that the people buying into it KNOW that the stock is a pump and dump, but are hoping to get off before everybody else stops piling in. Because it has no inherent value with which to compare it to, nobody can say that it is "overpriced", unlike a pump and dump stock however, so keeps going up. People will say "all currency has value simply because people trust it has value" but most currency is used to actually buy and trade for goods and services. Bitcoin, while it has SOME value for goods and services, is generally traded against other currencies. You get rich because the price of bitcoin goes up, vs. currency, you don't get rich just because you have Bitcoin.
That said, I expect that it will continue to go up, as people pile on the hype train, but at some point, the train will have a last stop, and everybody left on it at that time will realize that the last stop is just a cliff. Consider this--what happens if someone realizes there is some inherent flaw in the bitcoin blockchain system, and can corrupt it? How much value would be left?
He's increased the value of nothing to stunning new heights.
At least if you had bought some gold, you could throw it at Roman.Mir
What a bunch of luddites, on slashdot no less.
How this currency can last? It has no backing from a governing body. I guess it acquired its initial value from the initial vestment by early investors and then the currencies invested since.
But, how stable will it be in the long run? With it being so difficult to purchase and use BTC in everyday purchases, how long before the bubble bursts?
Vendors don't change their prices downwards when the value of the currency increases. They only do it when the currency is devalued for crashes. I doubt I or many others will be willing to buy a loaf of bread at 1 BTC if, when we purchased it, it was $1.00 USD and now "worth" $5000 USD.
At some point, it will need to be regulated.
Asking for a friend.
Not safe in terms of the volatility or the bet going bad, that's risk I'd be happy to assume. But if the bet goes good, a place where you can cash out 5+ digits of actual money without being raped on fees or a risk of some rando website shutting down and taking your real money with it?
If you do not the Tulip reference, you are doomed to get burned. Even Newton lost money.
It's never been easier to exchange bitcoin for fiat.
People continue to assume that those who hold bitcoin never cash out any into dollars etc. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Many millionaires have done nothing but either mine or buy bitcoin, ethereum, dash, monero etc. cheap and sell a large chunk of it for enormous amounts of money. I'd say Monero has made the most recent batch of millionaires.
You don't like it? That's because you didn't get in. Neither did I but I'm proud of the people that stood by bitcoin and embraced the virtual Austrian economics and flipped the bird at the government(s). GET OVER IT.
Blockchain technology will survive and likely be incredibly important to the future of banking and finance. However that is something completely different from bitcoin. Bitcoin is just one of many users of the technology.
For Wall Street, the blockchain is the future, bitcoin is just a current speculative instrument. Wall street has played a large role in the current price spike, if their attention moves elsewhere a huge crash is likely.
Keep in mind that bitcoin has already gone off plan. It is no longer under the control of the masses, ordinary people and their computers, with respect to maintaining the public ledger. The ledger is maintain by an ever more concentrated group of people who can afford the expensive hardware necessary to "mine". The is absolutely contrary to the design and security of bitcoin.
you can't regulate internationnal crowd.
Yeah, that is what users of BTC-e thought.
"The BTC-e website is offline since 25 July 2017, following the arrest of BTC-e staff members and the seizure of server equipment at one of their data centres. In addition, suspected BTC-e operator Alexander Vinnik was arrested while vacationing with his family in Greece and is currently awaiting extradition to the US. These events led to the temporary suspension of the BTC-e service.
On the 28th of July 2017, US authorities seized the BTC-e.com domain name.
On the 14th of August 2017, BTC-e confirmed they would be returning under a different brand name and would be returning 55% of customer funds."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Merchants who accept bitcoin often never see or touch a bitcoin and are largely unaffected by volatility. They can do their account and pricing in USD, EUR, etc as normal. If a rare individual shows up offering BTC they use a BTC payment processor. This processor converts the USD/EUR price to BTC in real time and provides a BTC price and payments address to pass on to the customer. If coins show up at the address the processor informs the merchant and credits the merchant's account for the USD/EUR originally specified. The processor takes on the risk for the minutes the transaction took to verify. The merchant is out nothing more than a processing fee, much like when they accept credit cards.
They've been well over 1000 for years. I've been invested since 2013, where is TFA getting its info from?
No. BTC was $1,000 in 2013, $450 in 2014 and $250 in 2015. 2013 had an incredible vertical spike like the current spike to $5,000 (which has pulled back to $4,500 by the time this article made it to slashdot), and not surprisingly it popped. Wiser investors than you who don't trust vertical spikes and expect bubbles to pop purchased in 2014 and 2015 and made two to four times as much money as you. Well, assuming they cashed out. If you or they are still holding, you made nothing.
Firstly, let's clear things up.. I consider crypto currency a highly speculative and highly risky thing to invest in. However, I think a lot of people don't fairly it. I was a sceptic at first and still remain one, but I think it needs to be described more accurately. Statement: Bitcoin is a ponzi scheme. Fact: No it's not. It is open and it's not fraudulent. A ponzi scheme by definition is fraud. Statement: Bitcoin has no intrinsic value. Retort: Bitcoin is a brand name. Brand names can have intrinsic value through brand recognition. High liquidity is also another intrinsic value, and so is anonymity (particularly with coins like Monero). It also has intrinsic value to the unbanked. People are willing to pay for things like that.. but how much is the risky speculation part. Statement: Bitcoin will never replace cash because it's too slow and can't scale to tens of thousands of transactions a second like the Visa network can. It also has high fees and takes a long time to confirm. Fact: Very true. This is where the speculating about technologies like Lightning Network (no fees, instant transaction) can have a big influence over the price of a coin, the possibility that the surge in the value of litecoin was tied its LN integration is one example. Statement: Bitcoin will never replace cash or card because there's no reason to change, particularly given its price instability. I don't think grandma will ever pay by bitcoin. Fact: That's why it has been seen in a similar light to trading precious metals. For it to have worldwide adoption, it will require a stable price, the banks or a major currency to collapse, most people to become IT literate and many people to be using it for day to day transactions. In other words.. that's probably a very, very long time away.
A man leaping from the roof surely passes another man taking the stairs.
Much depends upon a rucksack of Houdini Handkerchiefs 2.0 sandwiched betwixt our hero's blades.
And that's what is scary; bitcoin and other "block chain" currencies GUARANTEE traceability of every financial transaction you have ever made. Even worse than credit cards do (in that you can get credit cards with different names, addresses, and even anonymously). Bitcoin is an absolute dream for Governments and big business in that they can completely record and reconstruct everything you have ever bought or paid for. That kind of data isn't just a dream for the IRS, but for companies that thrive on your personal information.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
The Rothchilds about 3 weeks ago sold 1 trillion worth of all kinds of assets.
#just_saying...
Bitcoin is soaring because of rich Chinese trying to 1. evade capital controls, and 2. launder illegally-obtained money. (Would you rather have money that's a colossal pain in the ass to spend, or money you can't spend at all?) As long as that remains a thing, Bitcoin will remain valuable.
Minor point: Going from 1000 to 5000 is *only* a gain of 400%. gain = (final - initial) / initial.
The original pyramid investment scheme takes it's name from this phenomena.
http://www.historic-uk.com/His...
http://www.investopedia.com/fe...
Chinese people have played a large part, too.
Bitcoin was also supposed to eliminate the big transaction fees charged by banks. But in order to get a transaction processed you have to pay fees that even the banks might blush at.
The scariest thing though is that lots and lots of bitcoin is held by a few random anonymous nerds. If one of those guys gets greedy, desperate or bored and tries to cash out....
but I spent US$20k on video cards, US$10k on electricity, and all I got was one bitcoin. i r the smart.
Let's say that I had bought (or mined) 200 bitcoin back when they were practically free(*), and now I want to transition from "Bitcoin millionaire" to "actual US dollars millionaire" by selling all my bitcoins at their current value.
How would I realistically go about doing that? Is it really just a matter of going to a Bitcoin exchange site and clicking "sell 200 bitcoins"?
(*) to be clear, this isn't actually the case; if it was, I would probably already be Bitcoin-savvy enough that I wouldn't need to ask
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
so those above you profit and so you too can get in on the scam
Never did it break $5000 on a major exchange and it's sitting at like $2650 right now. Hurray for accurate journalism. Take one tiny little spike and report it as the norm as if it's real.
Bitcoin is not very useful as a currency if it is going to be a vehicle for speculators.
The whole function of a currency is to act as a stable means for exchange, i.e. something with a stable value.
To do what it would have to be linked some sort of performance process, or economic indicator. Hint : it does not. Bitcoin at this point is solely a commodity, a very speculative and volatile one, chinese money manipulation or not (see above post on Chinese money policy) it could drop toward 1000 dollar or much lower at a moment notice, indeoendenteky of world economy.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
> Bitcoin is just one of many users of the technology.
Well, I usually say that blockchain's killer app is money. And bitcoin is the first blockchain-based money. Network effect is really important in money, so if Bitcoin doesn't fuck up (which is a possibility, yes) or get fucked up (which is a possibilty, yes) it will be more than one of many "users of blockchain tech". It'll be the money of the internet or maybe even the "people's money".
Bitcoin is way to unstable a currency to get now, with it's wild swings and multiple forks it's just not worth it unless you managed to buy a load a few years back
The problem is that a 500% increase in value in 8 months makes it completely unsuitable as money.
Would you sign a 2 year phone contract that was denominated in bitcoin when you have no idea what the agreed amount would be worth in 2 years time?
> ... To understand that, try Googling "Currency controls in China".
Not all money in Bitcoin is from China
A lot of it came from the slushing funds as a result of almost zero interest rate that has been applied by central banks of Japan, Europe and the FED
This is the same product where internet thieves recently stole millions from people's hard drives?
My bank account was comprised not that long ago and the bank REIMBURSED ME FOR ALL STOLEN $$.
I'll just make a WAG here and say that bitcoin would never do that?
Just a matter of time before it's vapor.
I would agree this is a problem with bitcoin. and to think of the users who way back in the day spent 20btc to order a pizza. Hope that pizza was good because you would have about 92k today if you hadn't spent the btc on that pizza and just sat on the btc. Imagine the money that some of these small time shops are sitting on even if they made very few sales in btc and then just left it there.
http://www.blacklistednews.com...
Casteism
It is possible bitcoin will remain and hold a relatively high value as measured against it's value to state issued currencies. However, I think the real deal is actually quite simple.
Bitcoin is and always has been a new currency. It's value is seen as incredibly high at all different points in it's history because of it's abilities to function as a currency. ...And we are seeing such a high skyrocket in it's price, due, largely to the fact that more and better cryptocurrencies are emerging. Bitcoin is a fucking dinosaur compared to some of the other available options, and not only that, it's largely just a medium for cashing out of other currencies. Well, guess what the fuck that means? It means that the people who saw promise in bitcoin as a place-holder of value, see further promise in the newer currencies being issued. They see new features, more longevity, and perhaps even less volatility.
Bitcoin is and has been, along with other cryptocurrencies, volatile. This volatility is precisely what one would expect with non-state-issued currency/usurper of financial control. It can and always has had the ability to function as a currency, because that is what it is. Most people still use their state-issued currency, though. This is where the volatility comes into play.
If bitcoin is the vehicle, the exchanges are the shock absorbers; but, ultimately, it's still the wheels/tires that are getting the traction on the pavement. Big money players in this world don't need bitcoin to buy a twinkie at walmart. Further-more bitcoin was never designed to do that, in my opinion.