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Bitcoin Tumbles Most in Two Weeks Amid South Korea Hack (bloomberg.com)

Posted by msmash on from the for-the-record dept.

Bitcoin extended losses for a third day, tumbling as much as 6 percent Sunday as South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinrail said there was a "cyber intrusion" in its system. From a report: The largest cryptocurrency declined 4.6 percent to $7,277 as of 10 a.m. time, the biggest drop since May 23, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from Bitstamp pricing. That widens Bitcoin's losses for the year to 49 percent. Peer cryptocurrencies Ethereum and Ripple fell 5 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively.

4 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. Not news. by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 3, Informative

    All widely traded cryptocurrencies have been trending downward since the crazy peak last December. There have been multiple larger events where values dropped precipitously without definable causes. Bitcoin and it's associated cryptocurrencies are a racket wherein people want to get rich by merely transferring money from others to themselves. There is no investment behind purchasing, it's all just taking.

    Tell me when it really crashes and who's left holding the bag. Until then, shut up with this crap.

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    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re:Not news. by symes · · Score: 3, Informative

      Are you comparing rare elements dug out of the Earth with bitcoin? One has limited supply, the other is unlimited. When it gets too difficult to mine one coin, just go and invent a new one. When you've dug all the gold out of the Earth then that is that.

    2. Re:Not news. by rgmoore · · Score: 4, Informative

      The difference between precious metals and cryptocurrencies is that precious metals have some practical uses. Apart from their use in jewelry- which in many cases is ultimately a form of bullion- they have industrial uses. Admittedly, those uses alone would result in a lower price than the current one, but they do provide some kind of absolute price floor. In contrast, cryptocurrencies have no use except as a medium of exchange, and their price will fall to zero if people decide to stop using them that way.

      And yes, you can say something similar about any fiat currency, too; there's no inherent value to dollars, euros, or yen. The practical difference there is that governments demand you use their currencies to pay taxes, which provides a real world use for them that isn't going away any time soon.

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      There's no point in questioning authority if you aren't going to listen to the answers.

  2. Re: In before by LordKronos · · Score: 2, Informative

    Nope, Ripple is only susceptible to something MUCH stupider.

    The whole bitcoin craze was quite pointless IMHO, but at least they thought they were solving some problem...namely eliminating the need to trust in a government fiat currency and banking system and it's inherent downsides (inflation, stability, vulnerability to government confiscation, bank failure which is only partially mitigated by FDIC for people with large balances, etc).

    But now with Ripple, the whole design is founded on having trust in a "bank" who holds your value. If that bank is deemed not trustworthy, then your dollar equivalent worth of Ripples isn't even equivalent to a dollar anymore. Thus we have the downsides of a banking system, without the benefit of FDIC to insure your value, government regulation to keep the Ripple banks accountable, or the decades of actual use to help expose the flaws in the system.

    So no, you aren't vulnerable to 51% attacks, just single-entity attacks. Yeah, so much better.