Bitcoin and Digital Currencies

Now I'm just starting to feel bad for everyone.

When I was actually interested in using BTC, I saw Flexcoin and it seemed like bad news to me. Really a lot of these bitcoin operations seem pretty damn dodgy.

Your kidding me? Another Bitcoin bastion gets smacked by hackers. You would think these groups would think that after the handful of such sites and other holders being hit by hackers that they would be in a huge crunch to protect assets.

Which Bitcoin sites haven't been hacked?

THREE bitcoin sites dead in a row? That's fast.

I'm starting to think trying to stop Bitcoin from being hacked is like trying to stop Nintendo games from being pirated — it doesn't even do anything, and potentially thousands of dollars in individual consumer investment is lost in the crossfire.^note I'm still bitter about the "Nintendo can and will brick your system on purpose if they don't like how you're playing" clause in the 3DS EULA. Can you tell?

Why isn't everybody trying to cash out now? It's only a matter of time before their stuff gets stolen too.

Probably because the only money left belongs to those really stupid delusional people who think Bitcoin will replace normal currency

I'm curious how it's going to do that if all the major exchanges keep getting shut down.

They think there banks will be safe. Flexcoin boasted about how safe it was after Mt. Gox's collapse.

edited 4th Mar '14 7:02:06 PM by DeviantBraeburn

How can people cash out if nobody's willing to buy their bitcoins? Cashing out now is the surest way to crash the currency for good.

The whole BTC bubble has reminded me of the stock market of the Roaring 20s for a while now... including the inevitable crash and equivalent to a bank run.

I didn't think about nobody else being willing to buy them.

Why would they care if the currency crashes? It's failing on its own. Might as well speed things along and look out for number one. The kind of people that invest in bitcoin normally do that anyway.

edited 4th Mar '14 7:08:54 PM by Kostya

Selling out en masse results in a devaluation as people are unable to find buyers at their desired price. Nobody wants to be caught on the losing end of a crash, so they'll wait to buy in until it hits what they consider to be "rock bottom". Of course, their refusal to buy in is what causes it to collapse, and so forth.

It's exactly what happens when any speculative bubble bursts, including the 2006 mortgage market collapse.

They may have found the man who started bit coin The founder has hundreds of millions in dollars in bit coins but has never spent any. If the man they found is indeed him, he wasn't really trying to hide all that hard.

edited 6th Mar '14 10:33:41 PM by TuefelHundenIV

It's not conclusive, so I don't know what to say. As pointed out, it's all circumstantial evidence, and there's some circumstantial evidence against him too. It could be him, but it could easily be someone else as well.

Kinda why I said if it is indeed him. I did take that into account. I forgot add in the may to link pothole though. I derped.

Japan says Bitcoin not a currency.

Even though I lost some thousands on bitcoin, I still am glad to see it crash in my own way.

I was starting to believe in libertarianism, but nowadays I'm becoming increasingly skeptical about libertarianism and Austrian economics (which, while related, are not the same thing, and many Austrians believed bitcoin was going to crash anyway), and the claims they make about human nature. While I hate corruption and the crap the government allows to happen (see the Comcast-Time Warner merger and all the anti-municipal broadband laws) and can definitely understand why in these trying times, people would be (rightfully) suspicious of the government and start to look for alternatives, I really think libertarianism, if totally practiced, would be a colossal disaster.

edited 8th Mar '14 2:50:59 PM by BonsaiForest

I don't understand why Bitcoins are perceived to have value. I understand how they are generated, but do these equation have any value in them selves, or is it just a way to regulate the 'minting' speed.

Obviously any currency has no real inherent value, but they are backed by both law and tradition; Governments can insist that it is honoured, and a £10 note is easier to carry than a chicken.

Bitcoins - what gives them worth?

Bitcoins - what gives them worth?

The greater fool theory, for now.

Though there are some stores that accept Bitcoin, so it's not totally worthless.

Poloniex loses around $50,000 in bitcoin to hackers.

Google's Director of Ideas: Cryptocurrencies Like Bitcoin Are Inevitable.

More bad news for Mount Gox They have filed for U.S. Bankruptcy.

edited 10th Mar '14 7:36:50 PM by TuefelHundenIV

Good riddance. They took my money and then died.

Texas regulator orders oil company to stop accepting bitcoins.

NYU economist Nouriel Roubini, nicknamed Dr. Doom for accurately forecasting the 2008 financial crisis, called bitcoin a “Ponzi game.”

edited 11th Mar '14 6:26:50 PM by DeviantBraeburn