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About 40 Percent of Bitcoin Is Held By 1,000 Users. If a Few of Them Want To Sell, That Could Tank Values (bloomberg.com)
On Nov. 12, someone moved almost 25,000 bitcoins, worth about $159 million at the time, to an online exchange. The news soon rippled through online forums, with bitcoin traders arguing about whether it meant the owner was about to sell the digital currency. From a report on Bloomberg: Holders of large amounts of bitcoin are often known as whales. And they're becoming a worry for investors. They can send prices plummeting by selling even a portion of their holdings. And those sales are more probable now that the cryptocurrency is up nearly twelvefold from the beginning of the year. About 40 percent of bitcoin is held by perhaps 1,000 users; at current prices, each may want to sell about half of his or her holdings, says Aaron Brown, former managing director and head of financial markets research at AQR Capital Management. What's more, the whales can coordinate their moves or preview them to a select few. Many of the large owners have known one another for years and stuck by bitcoin through the early days when it was derided, and they can potentially band together to tank or prop up the market.
Have held their value for THOUSANDS of years. Bitcoin, has been around a few years and is as VOLATILE as they come. Not to mention totally intangible. Anyone dumping REAL CASH into this BS that isn't one of those 1000 people... Is giving away all of their money to those 1000 people. Basically. Because WHEN it tanks, the little guy loses 100% of their investment while they try and scramble to sell. While the 1000 sell out using high powered brokerages during its fall, and keep up to 50%...
...because that's exactly what Bitcoin is. A pyramid.
An investment, but worse than any stock, because it's an investment in nothing.
And yes, it's also a "cryptocurrency" -- congratulations. Blockchain!
The whales could have much to gain from tanking Bitcoin: Hold the coins to keep the value up, wait for publicly traded companies to form specializing in BitCoin transactions, then (before governments clamp down on cryptocurrencies or any strong signs of a coordinated clampdown are apparent), short those companies and dump the coins. Quickly use the money from the coins to buy even more short orders, and laugh at the collapse all the way to the bank.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
no, the size of the money supply is too massive compared to any billionaire dollar holdings. There are *countries* that could affect the dollar with their holdings, but no individuals
"I'm no whale but I've been buying small amounts since 2012 and my bitcoin net worth is greater than all my other assets + cash + stock, but I'm not selling."
Bit Coins are so valuable that they are worthless.
It is like having an infinity dollar bill. No one will be able to give you change so you cannot use it. Bitcoins are growing so fast, that a complete idiot would purchase anything with them. Because you cannot purchase anything with them, then it is just imaginary wealth.
You could sell them, but if the price next year goes up by a factor of 100 again, then you will be kicking yourself for buying that car or house where its value will not match to what you had spent.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
nonsense, the banking system and countries will always be the big players and *by design* would grow to quadrillions in holdings as the trillionaires came into existence, it can't be otherwise since the debt the trillions represent are the banking system's asset.
Google 'slaying the bearwhale' for lolz; the last time a whale cashed out, Bitcoin nuts actually convinced each other to buy up the coins as fast as they were released in order to keep the coin value up. Obviously the smart move if you really believed in Bitcoin's long term viability would be to let the price crash and buy at the bottom, but the Bitcoin ecosystem isn't exactly chock full of rational players.
One who rejects your false dichotomy, you basement dwelling idiot.
I believe you may have misconstrued the problem with Bitcoin. It's not so much the volatility of fiat currencies... I mean of bitcoin. Whatever. One could just as easily argue that the USD (or whatever other fiat currency one prefers) is ridiculously volatile relative to bitcoin.
But no, that's not the issue. The issue is that an inherently deflationary currency such as bitcoin, any other cryptocurrency, or indeed any commodity with a strictly limited, unmanaged supply, such as gold, is a seriously crappy means of exchange. Nobody would want to spend bitcoin, or invest it, or even use it to buy merchandise for resale, because it will be worth more tomorrow. Better to hoard it. This is a recipe for a deflationary spiral, and a depression. It's just basic macroeconomics.
On principle, I'm no Keynsian, but I have to admit, I don't really see a way around this issue. The only answer seems to be some sort of monetary policy.
If you own bitcoin, and haven't converted to other forms of currency, then you're not making money: You're like a homeowner whose house value has gone up a lot: you have value on paper.