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Bitcoin Falls Below $5,000 For First Time Since October 2017 (bbc.com)

The value of Bitcoin has hit a new low of $4,951, bringing the total value of all Bitcoin in existence to below $87 billion. Much of the turmoil can be attributed to the split of Bitcoin Cash on November 15th. The Bitcoin offshoot has been split into two different cryptocurrencies, which are now in competition with each other. The BBC reports: Bitcoin exchange Kraken said in a blog post that it regarded one of the two new Bitcoin Cash crypto-currencies -- Bitcoin SV -- as "an extremely risky investment." At its peak, in November 2017, it briefly hit $19,783 - which means the price has fallen by about 75%. After the excitements of last year when the price soared to nearly $20,000 and then tumbled, Bitcoin has been rather dull and stable for much of 2018, settling between $6,000 and $7,000.

6 of 180 comments (clear)

  1. $4,999 more to go by JoeyRox · · Score: 5, Funny

    And then it'll be time to move on to the next speculative craze. My money is on collectable emojis.

  2. No intrinsic value by melted · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Bitcoin had faith and mindshare. With faith evaporating, there's no intrinsic value to it, so it could go down to 0. This realization further spooks the "investors". It's kind of like a bank run against an extremely over-leveraged bank with no FDIC to prop anything up.

    1. Re:No intrinsic value by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Bitcoin has utility. It is the only way of digitally transferring value that is not centrally controlled and not a copycat.

      You know, human civilization somehow made it through its first 5,000 years without any means to "digitally transfer value without central control". That doesn't seem to be a problem that's been holding back human achievement in any significant way, and certainly not to the extent that it needs to have a big chunk of the world's electricity output thrown at it.

  3. bf by blackomegax · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is the black friday discount before going to the moon. get in while you can or be poor.

  4. Re:Bitcoin has been rather dull and stable... by Balial · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I read this as "dull" referring to, very little trading volume:

    https://data.bitcoinity.org/ma...

    ie. nobody cares unless it's going up. If there was a decent trading volume when it was stable, that would be an excellent thing for bitcoin. That's not what's been going on.

  5. Re:LOL Bitcoin can't win by Balial · · Score: 5, Insightful

    These aren't lies.

    Low trading volume in the stable period means a lack of interest in anything except the speculation:

    https://data.bitcoinity.org/ma...

    That's not healthy for any security.