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Bitcoin Exchange BTCChina Says To Stop Trading, Sparking Further Slide (reuters.com)
Several Slashdot readers have shared this Reuters story: Chinese bitcoin exchange BTCChina said on Thursday that it would stop all trading from Sept. 30, setting off a further slide in the value of the cryptocurrency that left it over 30 percent away from the record highs it hit earlier in the month. China has boomed as a cryptocurrency trading location in recent years, as investors and speculators flocked to domestic exchanges that formerly allowed users to conduct trades for free, boosting demand. But that has prompted regulators in the country to crack down on the cryptocurrency sector, in a bid to stamp out potential financial risks as consumers pile into a highly risky and speculative market that has seen unprecedented growth this year. Just hours after BTCChina announced its closure, Chinese news outlet Yicai reported that the country plans to shut down all bitcoin exchanges by the end of September, citing financial sources in Shanghai.
My best guess based on the available data is that China was previously propping up North Korea using BTC, and these exchanges were a politically good way of doing that so they allowed them to exist.. but now since North Korea is waving its Nukes around, they are closing them down as part of withholding payments and support as a punishment tactic.
Expect more China BTC exchanges to shut down as they centralize power and control.
Gold has at least been around for a long time, and has investment value because it is so easily recognizable and assayable, and has established value in every culture.
In Roman times, an ounce of gold traded for the best suit of clothes. After two thousand years of inflation, deflation and manipulation - it still does.
Gold has at least been around for a long time, and has investment value because it is so easily recognizable and assayable, and has established value in every culture.
In Roman times, an ounce of gold traded for the best suit of clothes. After two thousand years of inflation, deflation and manipulation - it still does.
Yet many people have lost life investments by buying gold at the wrong time. It is way too volatile.If You buy high and sell low, as so many do, that doesn't do much for you.
I actually have some precious metal investments, made in 1978. If I were to sell them today, I would make about 500 dollars per ounce. That's actually a loss, adjusted for inflation. http://www.macrotrends.net/133... So they sit, I don't even think about them unless in conversations like this.
Anyhow, if you buy low, and sell before you think they've hit their peak, you might do okay. But most people don't think that way. On the way up, they are counting their money, and congratulating themselves for how smart they are. Then after it peaks, they hang on, because it has to go back up, right? Then after it sinks below what they paid for it, they hold on in the forlorn hope it will rebound. Then they sell it at a big loss.
My guess is that if we are taking the apocalyptic fear version the investors trot out, yes, when the wheels fall off, you can buy a loaf of beard and some bullets for some gold. My hope is that I don't survive whatever causes civilization to collapse like that. Just bury those Krugerrands or Englehard gold bars in a concrete box in the back yard, and when the radiation dies down, dig it up and make your way in the brave new world.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.