Bitcoin Tops $200 For First Time

[Bosonic]

Source: Mashable

The value of Bitcoin, the much-buzzed about digital currency, hit $200 on Tuesday for the first time, more than doubling in a just over a week.

Bitcoin's value has exploded in recent weeks fueled in part by economic uncertainty in Europe and an increasing amount of media coverage of the currency, which has been around since 2009. As you can see in the chart below, Bitcoin's value went from just more than $30 at the end of February to $100 in the very beginning of April and it is currently hovering around $210.

Bitcoin passed another big milestone this week as well. The total value of all Bitcoins in circulation — nearly 11 million of them — topped $2 billion for the first time and is now more than $2.3 billion.

While Bitcoin has enjoyed incredible growth recently, the currency has also suffered sudden and severe drops in value. The currency lost more than a quarter of its value last week after the largest market for trading Bitcoins suffered an outage, and it dropped by 10% on Monday in a matter of minutes without explanation. Bitcoin's rapid rise has also fueled concerns that it is just experiencing a bubble, which could pop at any moment.

Read more: http://mashable.com/2013/04/09/bitcoin-hits-200

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Looks very bubbly:

[srican69]

1. I need to find a way to short it..

I'll be rich

[bemildred]

2. And soon. nt

[Javaman]

11. +1

the boom bust cycle of disaster capitalism.

My advice to you, take them to the cleaners if you can.

This is like watching a mini-version of the '29 stock market manipulation.

[cemaphonic]

13. Even if you could...

the main exchange market is a very slipshod repurposed Magic:The Gathering trading website. Better off keeping your money somewhere more secure, like a big sack with "$" printed on it sitting out on the sidewalk.

(This is one of the many amusing things about bitcoins - it's main supposed value is decentralized anonymity, but the community has developed central banking, only in their case, the bank is totally amateur-hour.)

But I too have wished for a way to predict the insane swings in the bitcoin market to take money off the hands of Internet Libertarians.

[bitchkitty]

17. LOL!

Better off keeping your money somewhere more secure, like a big sack with "$" printed on it sitting out on the sidewalk.

I'm going to use that!

[Bosonic]

24. Funny you should ask

If you're feeling lucky/brave/foolish/'too rich to fail' enough :

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-10/bitcoin-parabola-not-enough-here-comes-bitcoin-opportunity-fund-time-leverage

This is either an extraordinary bubble expanding, or it is a financial phase-change and bitcoin is just heading towards its new equilibrium (which would be even more extraordinary).

BTW 1 day later trading at $260

[srican69]

25. Is there a fundamental reason for the run up in price of asset?

I cant think of any... and that to me is the classic definition of a bubble ...

If there is an etf linked to Bitcoin ... the first thing I will do is to sell it short in my brokerage account... I seriously tried looking for it.

[srican69]

26. I found this on the net

Nevertheless, Hempstead does not believe Bitcoins can be structured to fit the ETF vehicle. For instance, if a Bitcoin ETF were to act like another currency offering, it would require futures contracts.

“You’d need securities that are based in Bitcoins,” Hempstead said. “Since the Bitcoin is unregulated and no futures exist, an ETF is not possible today.”

The operative word is today .. that leaves the possibility for tomorrow open.

http://www.etftrends.com/2013/04/is-a-bitcoin-etf-next/

[closeupready]

3. Bitcoin's value is in its liquidity, in my opinion, for an American.

It's not really a long-term investment.

On the other hand, most of us are familiar with timeworn expressions that go something like, "You can take that to the bank!"

In the wake of what happened in Cyprus, however, citizens in places like Spain or Italy or Slovenia are probably worried that, now that the precedent has been set, their own savings are at risk of being plundered by b-Euro-crats.

Thus, fueling this spike in bitcoins.

[AtheistCrusader]

4. They are also adding a way to buy stuff to Ebay.

Increasing liquidity.

[closeupready]

5. I'll be curious to see how the DOJ finds a way to put an end

to bitcoins, and you know they will. Just a matter of time before they keep it from competing with currencies that are controlled by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury.

[Poll_Blind]

6. Dude, you GOT THAT RIGHT! I know of nothing specific, but the DOJ has GOT to...

...have a bullseye on BitCoin about the size of Texas.

PB

[leftyohiolib]

7. they will just flat out make it illegal - theyll say national security or terrorists this or that

[AtheistCrusader]

9. They'll find a rule. Just like they kicked Intrade out of the US for.. being what it is.

[demcoat]

8. Whoa

Its at 223 now and going higher. I discovered bitcoins when it was just $40 ish dollars just a few weeks ago but I never bought in. I am so kicking myself right now

[Xyzse]

10. Same here

I found out about them when they were still at 20+ last year.

[zonkers]

12. Anybody remember "beenz.com" the online currency that is now extinct.

I do. It was during the dotcom craze.

[DotGone]

15. I used to work for Flooz

I used to work for Beenz's competitor, Flooz.com. Funny how all the crazy ideas from the 1st .com craze has returned in Web 2.0.

[zonkers]

23. I remember flooz. I guess back then, sticking a z on your name

was the cool thing to do. It is funny how companies just started to say stuff like..."we are the web's currency". Hey, it could have worked. But it was really hard. I mean who even knew what exactly the web was back then? Or what it would become.

A few observations....looking back,.. its amazing that yahoo and amazon are still as big as they are. Ebay, too. I also find its amazing that everyone thinks Google is evil yet everyone has gmail accounts and uses chrome.

[vkkv]

14. Confederate Dollars will still be worth more than a Bitcoin in 2 years.

' If you keep buying them, we'll print more.. oh wait, we're not prinitng anything based on anything.. not even on GDP... Oooops... SUCKERS!'

[phantom power]

16. Interesting thing: Bitcoins aren't instantiated that way

In that particular respect, they are less like dollars, or euros, than silver. Although they aren't exactly like either one. New bitcoins are only created by solving particular computational problems. The design of the system intended to make the supply of bitcoins somewhat like 'mining'. You can't just will them into existence, but you can add more of them into the system by doing work.

[Mr. X]

18. Lazy so I'm just going to repost what I said about it on FB.

Really beating myself over not investing in BTC. As of now, it's bubbly as hell but had I put money in a few weeks ago I'd have made a hell of a return.

Realistically, BTC due for a crash soon - It's experienced very massive growth in a short time jumping from a stable 15-20 per (during January) to over 200 per today. The exact amount varies from site to site, one placing it at 215-220 per while another is placing them at 230 per.

It's a bubble that's due for a burst - The real question is how soon it will arrive. The last time BTC had a surge in value it quickly lost that - But then again, this was a surge from around 10-20 per up to... I think it was 50 or 60 per. The crash brought it down to 5-10 per where it was gaining value, abit slowly. When this crash happens it's going to be many times worse.

But still - Bubble it is, but for now it's a profitable one. I'm tempted to jump in late, make a little bit of money off of it, before it crashes. Alternatively I could go for LTC instead - Much lower per, 5 per, but with BTC rising so much, it's a good bet that people who can't afford gold (BTC) would invest in silver instead (LTC) making it's value go up.

*I have the numbers wrong on the first crash but the basis is correct*

[cprise]

19. The weak link is PC security

Bitcoin relies on individuals' computers remaining safe and secure. But the state of the field is anything but...

At least with cash or metals an average person can guard it and intuitively know how safe the cache at a moment's notice.

With computers, very few people can really be sure of what's going on inside. At least with a bank's computers, they have experts on their end who can tell (and you and the bank can both verify activity against statements).

[Mr. X]

21. Realisticly though

The vast majority of the people who are going to be investing in it will be the technologically inclined anyway. So the computer remaining safe isn't that much of a concern - Since it's the techies who would be most into Bitcoin. Odd's are that they aren't going to intentionally do something that puts them at risk for getting hacked.

[cprise]

27. Who do you think have been getting their bitcoins stolen?

Its been mainly techies thus far. They are the worst demographic because most of them (er, us) have confidence in their machines and notions about security that are naive at best.

IF bitcoin continues to take off like this, it will precipitate the development of a new type of computer system meant for the secure processing of networked currency.

Current PCs and servers (slightly reconfigured PCs) are no place to store piles of cash.

[cemaphonic]

28. You'd be surprised.

I've been following the bitcoin thing for the last couple of years (mostly for the entertainment value) and there have been plenty of incidents of people's individual bitcoin wallets being compromised, and quite a few hacks/scams involving the larger bitcoin exchange markets.

It's like a lot of things - there are some people that really get the math and technology involved with bitcoins, and they are likely to be careful. But there are also a lot of libertarian true-believers that are into bitcoins as a sort of protest against government-backed currency, and the volatile markets have attracted a lot of of get-rich-quick types and the scammers that prey on them. Plus the main non-speculative activity in the bitcoin market is selling illegal drugs online. Lots of shady people have an interest in bitcoins, and not everyone holding them thinks like a paranoid sysadmin.

[In_The_Wind]

22. Hello ~ Mr. X

[img][/img]

[jpak]

20. I have 1000 bitcoins I'm willing to sell for $100

PM me and send cash to my *secure* P.O. Box at the mini mall...

[cprise]

29. BTW, Bitcoin is not proof against manipulations

...of large banks and governments. If you read the bitcoin documentation carefully, you'll notice that any group that is able to garner the lion's share of processing power can manipulate transactions according to their will.

Bitcoin was designed around Libertarian ideals and doesn't take into account what happens when certain players become much larger than all the rest. Wall St. could buy into Bitcoin and resume with business as usual-- they are already sitting on mountains of computers.