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Researchers Find That One Person Likely Drove Bitcoin From $150 to $1,000 (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Researchers Neil Gandal, JT Hamrick, Tyler Moore, and Tali Oberman have written a fascinating paper on Bitcoin price manipulation. Entitled "Price Manipulation in the Bitcoin Ecosystem" and appearing in the recent issue of the Journal of Monetary Economics the paper describes to what degree the Bitcoin ecosystem is controlled by bad actors. To many it's been obvious that the Bitcoin markets are, at the very least, being manipulated by one or two big players. "This paper identifies and analyzes the impact of suspicious trading activity on the Mt. Gox Bitcoin currency exchange, in which approximately 600,000 bitcoins (BTC) valued at $188 million were fraudulently acquired," the researchers wrote.
"During both periods, the USD-BTC exchange rate rose by an average of four percent on days when suspicious trades took place, compared to a slight decline on days without suspicious activity. Based on rigorous analysis with extensive robustness checks, the paper demonstrates that the suspicious trading activity likely caused the unprecedented spike in the USD-BTC exchange rate in late 2013, when the rate jumped from around $150 to more than $1,000 in two months." The team found that many instances of price manipulation happened simply because the market was very thin for various cryptocurrencies including early Bitcoin.
"During both periods, the USD-BTC exchange rate rose by an average of four percent on days when suspicious trades took place, compared to a slight decline on days without suspicious activity. Based on rigorous analysis with extensive robustness checks, the paper demonstrates that the suspicious trading activity likely caused the unprecedented spike in the USD-BTC exchange rate in late 2013, when the rate jumped from around $150 to more than $1,000 in two months." The team found that many instances of price manipulation happened simply because the market was very thin for various cryptocurrencies including early Bitcoin.
I was selling a bridge and some beach front property in Arizona...
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
(searches feelings)
Nnnnnooooooooooooo!!!!
This was discovered years ago. Why is it being published again now?
I got to hand it to you..... Um.... Sorry... You need to get that looked at.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
this is a disingenuous post. It doesn't mention the analysis is about the 2013 mt gox event until the second paragraph yet somehow infers during the first paragraph that bitcoin is a highly manipulated market subject to the whims of 1 or 2 individuals.
i don't believe that's the case in 2017. the market is completely different in 2017 vs 2013 yet a naive reading of this post may infer conclusions are being drawn about 2017/18.
Why do people get upset that 1% of the population owns 50% of the world's wealth. And in response they flock to something like bitcoin, where 1000 people or 0.007% owns 40% of the wealth?
Weev did it.
It is nice to have a lot of assertions, but without solid proof, the paper is as meaningless as a politician's campaign promise list.
Bitcoin's value is respected by a lot of people, so something purported in this paper falls flat on its face, especially with the fact that BTC is now twenty times that value, and still only going up. Someone is putting value into the currency, which means someone expects more value coming their way.
The fact that Bitcoin can't be tampered with is why the Chinese government is forcing their citizens to divest from it. If a government is forcing people away from a currency and back to their fiat currency, that shows everything.
Makes me wonder why so many people are dogging Bitcoin. Special interests perhaps?
"2013... highly manipulated market subject to the whims of 1 or 2 individuals... i don't believe that's the case in 2017. the market is completely different..."
meanwhile, the reality:
"Bitcoin's value is respected by a lot of people, so something purported in this paper falls flat on its face, especially with the fact that BTC is now twenty times that value..."
Like I said, stupefying. Two fools and their fiat shall soon be parted.
So they said "in which approximately 600,000 bitcoins (BTC) valued at $188 million were fraudulently acquired." and the article explains "The manipulation happened primarily via two bots, Markus and Willy, that seemed to be performing valid trades but did not actually own the bitcoin they were using." If you own BTC, all you can do is sell it. So someone who owns or controls a bunch of bitcoins can only drive down the price. Someone who owns a ton of USD can make the price go up. So at a fundamental level this article makes no sense. Now registering trades for currency they didn't actually own through some kind of security vulnerability makes sense because the exchange would register that the trade happened without verifying fund ownership change, which absolutely would drive up the price. So maybe they're saying that happened instead?
Thats all anyone heard bro.. you crying like a little bitch.
WAAAAAH
Sold like 0.75 BTC the other day and made $10k. Most profitable investment EVER. It's the first time crooks have ever given me any benefits.
the paper describes to what degree the Bitcoin ecosystem is controlled by bad actors.
Jeez, Shatner gets the blame for everything these days.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
This old story making the rounds again? The paper underlying it was published over a year ago but the claims have been circulating online conspiracy boards since the fall of mtgox.
most of the folks I know who are gun-ho on bitcoin are libertarian types, not leftists. e.g. they're flocking to bitcoin because they see it as a way out using fiat currencies. The actual left are nervous about bitcoin for the same reason. Too much power in anyone's hands usually get abused.
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the market is completely different in 2017 vs 2013
Yes, in 2013 we only had geek speculators, today we have wall street and non-geek general public speculators. A far healthier environment. ;-)
I also heard him draw a shuddering breath.
And he was literally shaking until the stamina required to move the layers of fat encasing his body just overwhelmed him and he had a heart attack
RIP, lost bitcoin wallet, you are gone in the wind like Cheetos dust in ops moms basement
Bitcoins are extremely popular for drug dealers and human traffickers. Way nicer people than "evil gubnents!"
A) No sarcasm tag?
B) Actually, maybe that is extremely correct... have you ever MET a drug dealer? A lot of them are actually pretty nice, and wait for you to give money to them instead of taking it from you without even asking.
As for human traffickers they are scum but it's still hard to say many governments are that much more advanced morally, since they also prey on the weak and steal lives.
You're backing a currency that literally gets traded for human beings
The same is true of any currency though, especially the USD.... No-one can realistically in the modern age go without using some kind of currency. Although Bitcoin comes closest to making that practical because at least you are not supporting some central authority with questionable morals.
Someone who trades in human lives is going to take whatever for payment. Maybe it's USD or BTC today, but it would just be something else if you take both those away.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You think Bitcoin is a bubble?
Just wait.
I can't purchase and read the journal because they don't accept Bitcoin. Oh well. Thought Mt.Gox records were trashed when they sent me a bankruptcy letter years ago.
How many times do we need to keep telling you to quit posting from your iphone!
It's MtGOX - Magic: The Gathering Online eXchange.
I still find it funny that people entrusted their bitcoin to a server designed for trading cards and were surprised when it 'lost' their coins.
I am selling the White House for just 12 000 000 bitcoins, it's a bargain !
the second paragraph yet somehow infers during the first paragraph that bitcoin is a highly manipulated market subject to the whims of 1 or 2 individuals. ... i don't believe that's the case in 2017. the market is completely different in 2017 vs 2013
Maybe not 1 or 2 individuals, but didn't we just have this the other day? 97% of all bitcoins are held by 4% of addresses .
Since 1 user can have multiple or lots of wallets and 'trade' from one to another to another that the user (or group) all own, one user could drive the price up again and again without paying dollars (or paying fewer dollars than the total elevated value of their BTC). If this user is also a miner, then the transaction fees are not a real cost either. It is advantageous to the miners to both drive up the value of BTC and also increase the transaction costs.
I suspect George Soros, after all, currency manipulation is his shtick. That guy has truly harmed millions of people over his evil money destroying schemes as he made himself and his investors rich.
Remember when he screwed over the British pound: https://priceonomics.com/the-t...
Or when he screwed over Thailand: http://www.businessinsider.com...
Or when he was caught illegally insider trading: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12...
If you disagree, please post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like
If you want to get in on the cryptocurrency mining scene, you need a good motherboard that allows for multiple GPUs: ASRock H110 Pro BTC+, ASUS B250, Biostar TB350-BTC, and GIGABYTE GA-H110-D3A.
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The whole purpose and justification for Bitcoin, and all the other blockchain currencies, was that they "avoided central bank manipulation".
Oh, wait, I see. They did avoid central bank manipulation, at the cost of individual player manipulation. What that's so much better!
Also, "you believe"? We are supposed to take your reassurance on the basis of "you believe"?? WTF is that, are you just blowing shit out of your ass, or do you have some actual evidence to back up your position?
It's fine to disagree with the OP and the Bitcoin study it references. However they did some research, published a paper, and the evidence for their conclusions was presented. We know the authors and can review the whole argument. And your devastating riposte is "you believe"!?
How about you present some unambiguous evidence. And keep your unsubstantiated beliefs to yourself.