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Bitcoin hits $10,000

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311–320 of 389 posts

Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000

#311
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.

There are a lot of ways. You could use Coinbase or an exchange. Or Bitpay. You could also try localbitcoins.com. Or just find a person who is hyped about it and help them set up a wallet then make a deal.

Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000

#312

Are we going get every other bitcoin price milestone on the frontpage now? Earlier today: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15796503 Then two days ago for 9k: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15782222 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15786821 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15779933 at 7k: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15609264

Right and in a few months or years it will be on the front page when it hits 20k and then 40k.

Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000

#313
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…

> they like to demonize bitcoin which actually does something gold could never do

The practical utility of Bitcoin represents only a very small fraction of its price.

The price of bitcoin has climbed more than tenfold in a year - so what is causing this huge increase in demand? Compared to a year ago, are there 10 times as many drugs being purchased on the darknet with bitcoin? No. Are there 10 times as many Chinese people trying to get their money out of China? No. If anything, the utility of bitcoin has diminished as the transaction cost has risen.

The only reasonable explanation is that most people are buying bitcoin simply to sell at a higher price later. In that regard it's the same as gold, but also the same as every bubble asset in history.

Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000

#314

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.

I'd have to argue it's because Bitcoin went net-positive after the BCH fork -- that shows a bit of resilience and probably would inspire false confidence in speculators.

Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000

#315
post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What exactly is a BTC? BTC is man made, and depends upon computers and software. And the people who control the software can change their minds, if they so choose. So what a BTC is now, may not be what it is later, including its scarcity. See also the ETH and BTC forks. Gold on the other hand exists naturally in nature, and doesn't change based upon someone else's whim. So no, BTC is not like gold.

BTC is what the distributed consensus says BTC is. You can’t fake that without pouring billions into building up mining infrastructure to organize a 51% attack and even then the distributed consensus will simply fork around your amazing achievement of successfully doing a single double spend? So yeah, BTC is definitely not like gold, it’s way better.

how exactly does this happen. This has to involve protocol change or is there something in bitcoin protocol that forks around a chain when a double spend is detected. And how exactly is a double spend detected ?

Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000

#316

It broke 9000 yesterday, didn't it? That's more than 10% in a day. Is there any reason it is up, other than speculation?

Tether hyperinflation. Edit: I should clarify. Bitfinex printed 95 million worth of tether in the last two days , and used it to buy btc. When your prices are denominated in Monopoly money, the sky is the limit.

This wouldn't be the first case that Bitcoin's market volume has been artificially inflated (i.e. Mt. Gox), but doesn't Tether only have a $700MM market cap and $900MM 24H volume? How is that able to affect Bitcoin with its $175BN market cap and $8BN 24H volume?

Sidenote: With all this talk about cryptocurrencies, I find it strange that Tether is the only coin whose volume exceeds its market cap; strange in the way that cryptocurrencies should be having way higher velocity rates IMO.

Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000

#317
post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the story that's missing here. When one of the major exchanges is starting to look insolvent and USDT is getting scarier and scarier by the day, a flight from USDT into Bitcoin is not surprising...

Tether is being issued because institutional money is coming in through USDT. https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinMarkets/comments/7fsfwl/dail...

That makes no sense; if institutional money were to come into cryptocurrency (that is, fiat to crypto) -- which is a taxable event -- why would they be going into USDT when the main goal of USDT is to be stable?

Essentially, that means people will be losing money.

Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000

#319
post #194
post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are plenty of billionaires in the world. Are they kidnapped with great frequency?

Much easier to steal a private key than liquidate a billion dollars from many banks and other illiquid sources. Especially when most of those transactions can be reversed, or otherwise raise immediate red flags.

Yes. But, it'd difficult to liquidate and spend bitcoins too without scrutiny.

Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000

#320
post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of artists have tried to stay anonymous. Happy to stay anonymous and leave a huge amount of money alone is an unusual mix, but the diversity of how people think should surprise no one.

Name an artist who has stayed anonymous under focused public scrutiny as effectively as Satoshi. The only one I can think of that comes close to this level of exposure is Banksy, and his identity is right there on his Wikipedia page for anyone who really cares to know. Besides, Banksy does plenty of communication despite his supposed anonymity. It's not the anonymity; the total lack of communication from Satoshi is w…

The claim that it was impossible because of human nature is what I’m challenging.

You asked for an example: Jane Austen was anonymous until her death.

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