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

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.

Comments

Not news.

[Gravis Zero]

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.

Re:Not news.

[symes]

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.

Re:Not news.

[rgmoore]

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.