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Bitcoin hits $10,000

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111–120 of 389 posts

Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000

#111
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Errrrr.... Bitcoin is a fiat currency, so be careful with your generalization. And whose job is it to investigate bitcoin fraud and theft? No one.

Bitcoin might turn out to be one of the markets where free market dynamics work well. Whose job is it? Anyone who has a stake in trusting and maintaining bitcoin's value. So the rich are incentivized to safeguard the poor in some sense here.

Rubbish

Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000

#112
Can someone explain to me why bitcoin should be priced so high relative to other cryptocurrencies?

The conspiracy theorist in me wants to say that the best way to undermine trust in cryptocurrencies is to create market turmoil. This would not just undermine trust in cryptocurrency, but serve to embolden the Fed's 'Price Stability' justification.

Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000

#113
post #41

Be careful. There is evidence that certain parties are issuing fake dollars called USDT / Tether from which they buy cryptocoins (incl. BTC) to artificially increase the price: https://mobile.twitter.com/bitfinexed (One of the people monitoring the situation) https://np.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/7g5yml/my_investigation... (Some more info) Make sure you are able to get out on time if needed. Investigate and decide for…

The Friedman memo showed they were 1-1 cash/usdt back in September, and they've stated clearly it's institutional money coming in. In fact, that's exactly what I would expect for large buyers trying to spread their purchases across exchanges who don't use USD directly.

"I agree that if no one was able to get fiat in or out of Tether and USDT were still being issued that would be a huge problem. As it stands, however, institutional customers are able to deposit USD to Tether, and this is how USDT is being issued."

https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinMarkets/comments/7fsfwl/dail...

Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000

#114
post #17

“Rosenstreich at online trading firm Swissquote said bitcoin’s surge harks to the surprises of the U.K. referendum on European Union membership and President Trump’s election. “We have underestimated the populist movements,” he said. “There is growing unease on how central banks and governments are managing fiat currencies. Ordinary people globally understand why a decentralized asset is the ultimate safe haven.”” Th…

This is nonsense. This is being driven by speculation / minuscule interest rates / greed. Very little of the demand for btc in the past year is due to lack of faith in institutions.

I think you're dead on right in what is driving it, but I get the feeling you are suggesting those are poor reasons for the drive. I tend to think they are good reasons. I also don't think greed is always negative, though it certainly can be. However much of the activity in the free market that benefits everyone is, at some level, based on greed.

Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000

#115
post #79

How do you transfer Bitcoin into fiat currency? There was a Bitcoin ATM in Portland, OR a while back but I'm not sure how it worked and haven't really heard of other ways to liquidate BTC.

Never heard of Coinbase.com a S12 YCombinator start-up?

Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000

#116
post #84
post #17

“Rosenstreich at online trading firm Swissquote said bitcoin’s surge harks to the surprises of the U.K. referendum on European Union membership and President Trump’s election. “We have underestimated the populist movements,” he said. “There is growing unease on how central banks and governments are managing fiat currencies. Ordinary people globally understand why a decentralized asset is the ultimate safe haven.”” Th…

Errrrr.... Bitcoin is a fiat currency, so be careful with your generalization. And whose job is it to investigate bitcoin fraud and theft? No one.

> Bitcoin is a fiat currency

Please expand. Which state is forcing people to pay their taxes in Bitcoin, and/or authorizing it as legal tender?

Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000

#117
post #2

Makes you wonder what triggers people have for themselves to sell their 'stash'. 10 fold increases in a year won't last for very long.

The true believers really imagine it will replace paper currency.

So there is no need to sell.

Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000

#118
post #2

Makes you wonder what triggers people have for themselves to sell their 'stash'. 10 fold increases in a year won't last for very long.

Personally, my sell threshold is when my BTC is worth enough (after CG taxes) to pay off my student loans. Given the latest price increases, it's getting very close :)

Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000

#120
post #88
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen comments saying "unlike bitcoin, gold has intrinsic value!" on HN for years. It never made sense to me. Like Bitcoin, gold is only valuable because we think it is and we want it to be (and because it's relatively scarce, too, just like Bitcoin is). Same with diamonds. Their functional value is relatively small in comparison to their "beauty" and scarcity values.

That is not correct. Gold actually has uses in manufacturing all kind of goods. In many manufacturing processes its irreplaceable. It has historical significance that is ingrained in virtually every culture (i.e. everyone grows up thinking gold as valuable thing due to stories you hear as kid). Jewelry made out of gold looks great, doesn't get rusty and you can keep it for centuries without needing any technology. Ev…

A long time ago, when Aluminium was more precious than gold, people made what was considered good looking jewelry out of it: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/05/aluminium-co... "Its shininess combined with its almost ghostly lightness compared to other metals made it an ideal metal for jewellery and it wasn’t long until the French elite were wearing broaches and buttons made of the aluminium." Aluminium also doesn't get rusty and can be kept for centuries, but nobody makes jewelry out of it any more. Reason: It's not scarce (any more).

The only real thing that makes gold valuable is it's scarcity. If it stopped being scarce because an asteroid containing a lot of gold was brought back to Earth, people would stop valuing gold and stop making jewelry out of it.

Bitcoin has the same important property of scarcity as gold.

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