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This Is the Week Wall Street Went Nuts Over Cryptocurrencies (bloomberg.com)

Posted by msmash on from the growing-trend dept.

Wall Street banks that weren't already on the bitcoin bandwagon appear to be piling on, or least eyeing seats, after the cryptocurrency surged to all-time highs this week on the way to $6,000. From a report: Analysts are working to keep up with demand from clients for information. UBS and Citigroup published extensive explainers on blockchain technology, while senior executives at JPMorgan Chase warmed to the cryptocurrency during the bank's third-quarter earnings call. The digital currency has risen more than fivefold after trading at less than $1,000 as recently as December, breaking the $5,000 mark this week and already targeting the next thousand-dollar level. Throughout its rise, the cryptocurrency shrugged off tighter regulations, feuding factions and warnings from the likes of JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon of fraud and an eventual price collapse.

9 of 180 comments (clear)

  1. Bubble! by XXongo · · Score: 4, Insightful
    http://www.investopedia.com/te...

    What is a 'Bubble'
    A bubble is an economic cycle characterized by rapid escalation of asset prices followed by a contraction. It is created by a surge in asset prices unwarranted by the fundamentals of the asset M and driven by exuberant market behavior.

    1. Re:Bubble! by Lisandro · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Gold is not valuable because it is tangible; it is valuable because it is scarce. So is Bitcoin, BTW. Much like gold, as a currency it is inherently deflationary.

    2. Re:Bubble! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      My personal fingernail clippings are very scarce. But they are worthless since no one desires them.

      The moment people realize the Bitcoin is simply a shared delusion then we will see who the greatest fool of investing lore is, exactly.

    3. Re:Bubble! by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Somebody, somewhere, has a price listed for those items. Are they insured? Check their value there.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    4. Re:Bubble! by MangoCats · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Gold is very valuable because people have, throughout the past many hundreds of years, considered it very valuable. The fact that it is hard to mine, relatively easy to refine and store, etc. does help, but in the end the value of gold comes down to people's willingness to pay for it - and that willingness to pay for it has much more to do with its historical value than its current and future intrinsic worth, it's just a financial investment.

      Bitcoins have negative intrinsic worth, but they've managed to hang on as the "cybercurrency of choice" even while they are hardly differentiable from dozens, maybe hundreds of alternate blockchain based cybercurrencies. The only thing propping up bitcoin is people's willingness to continue paying for it and mining it. It's worse than betting on Coke or Pepsi. But, then again, plenty of people got stinking filthy rich by investing in Coke, or Pepsi.

    5. Re:Bubble! by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Cryptocurrency is inflationary, because anyone can create a new cryptocurrency.

      --
      Bruce Perens.
  2. Oh for fucks sakes by rsilvergun · · Score: 2, Insightful

    it's only valuable because it's backended by a ton of illegal activity (money laundering, gambling, drugs, ransomware). Nobody's buying much of anything legitimate with this stuff because it's not backed by governments, no will it be. Sooner or later the government will crack down and it'll all collapse.

    Wall Street has always been a combination shell game and method for the ruling class to skim 50-60% off the economy without doing any real work, but this is just ridiculous. Come to think of it that's the only way I could see Crypto currency get a kind of legitimacy. I could see the ruling class forcing us to use it to buy stuff so they can skim even more off us working stiff's wages. Like credit cards but without the convenience and buyer protections.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  3. So where can I go short on bitcoin? by Wrath0fb0b · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So in a functioning market, investors should be able to go long or short on an asset -- that is, it should be possible to assert that it will rise and to assert that it will fall (or if you're clever, buying options that assert the price will remain right where it is).

    As far as I can see, a hypothetical person that wanted to bet that bitcoin would fall doesn't really have a vehicle by which to take that position.

  4. Re:Thank you slashdot by Jzanu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm German, I just hate the direction of the US led economics and American idiots advocating the stupidity that is killing off everyone who isn't as greedy as possible. If I can help one person realize analysis requires more thought than that then I am happy. There are greater interests exist in the world, and greater purposes for existence. Family, community, peace, humanity itself.