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No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

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Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#31
And still, even on HN, the discussion of cryptocurrency is oscillating between totally different axioms?

Some of us speak as prophetic market analysts and bring up "nails in coffins" and other crystal ball bull shit, and some of us wonder about the technology itself and understand that the price against the dollar only matters to gamblers.

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#32
post #8

Ouch for my crypto investment, makes no difference to my crypto product. And that's the point, price of bitcoin is irrelevant to most crypto products. We're in the business of Fiat > Crypto > Fiat instant money transfers which is immune to what the current market is. Crypto as a technology will keep moving forward.

> We're in the business of Fiat > Crypto > Fiat instant money transfers

Moving in and out of crypto is not instantaneous. You might move cash before confirmations are in, in which case you’re taking on credit risk, but you’ll still be losing money on your collateral’s value falling.

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#33

Everything sells off this time of year. Nasdaq is down 7% on the month. It’s end of year profit-taking for tax purposes. As BTC has become completely mainstream now, this makes sense.

Except the amount it's falling is not normal.

What would be normal behavior?

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#34
post #20

Since the article states "the trigger for the latest sell-off is unclear" I'm really curious if somebody here could venture a guess about the reasons for the sudden drop. The Bitcoin Cash fork seems suspiciously correlated but is it big enough news to cause such a turmoil? Being a cryptocurrency-skeptic I won't pretend that I don't experience a little bit of schadenfreude when I see CC crash, however if I'm trying to…

Trading volume has dropped significantly over the last 6 months. Large holders have been patient waiting for new money to enter the market. Eventually, when the only activity is a few automated traders and the exchange liquidity provider, large holders are faced with opportunity costs of investing in something else and the limited liquidity the market can absorb as they exit. It's a domino effect as they see each other wiping the liquidity off the books as they market sell. No one wants to be the last one holding the bag.

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#35
post #20

Since the article states "the trigger for the latest sell-off is unclear" I'm really curious if somebody here could venture a guess about the reasons for the sudden drop. The Bitcoin Cash fork seems suspiciously correlated but is it big enough news to cause such a turmoil? Being a cryptocurrency-skeptic I won't pretend that I don't experience a little bit of schadenfreude when I see CC crash, however if I'm trying to…

the recent fork/shit show within the bitcoincash camp (im not getting into this debate just an observation) resulting in 2 forks and split in hash power. the camps being btcsv and btcacb. yes those are their real names, and I think they're all stupid

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#36
post #10

Good. Bitcoin is too wasteful when it’s at a high valuation. The amount of resources in both electricity and gpu hardware that gets locked into mining is too high. It can still do it’s job as a currency with a lower valuation.

It's interesting that transactions have been steadily increasing since the crash at the end of 2017, even as the price keeps falling: https://bitinfocharts.com/comparison/bitcoin-transactions.ht...

That to me is definitely a good sign. Less hoarding, more spending. I do wonder what happens if the network starts to get transaction-bottlenecked again. It's not like all the problems with block size suddenly went away.

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#37
post #10

Good. Bitcoin is too wasteful when it’s at a high valuation. The amount of resources in both electricity and gpu hardware that gets locked into mining is too high. It can still do it’s job as a currency with a lower valuation.

The problem is that all that computing power still exists. If the hashrate drops, then a 51% attack becomes possible.

Remember that those mining farms still exist, even if they've temporarily turned off their mining equipment. Someone can turn all that equipment on suddenly to attack the network and start double-spending their coins.

In effect: the hashrate MUST remain high if the BTC network is to remain secure. That's just how Bitcoin was designed. A big drop like this where "good" miners start to turn off and sell off their equipment puts BTC in a highly vulnerable spot.

The electricity usage will remain high, OR a 51% attack will happen. The electricity usage can never drop without severe risk to the entire system.

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#38
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still down 78% since December 2017. What's your point?

Just because a bubble pops doesn't mean it's useless or dead. Many bubbles pop in the real world, they always recover.

Ever heard of BitConnect?

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#39
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about $35 and $250?

At $250 I was explaining to my parents what bitcoin is. At $19,000 I was overhearing Starbucks baristas talk about it.

At $4 I was trying to explain to my professor that my capstone project wasn't based on drug money.

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#40
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about $35 and $250?

Innovators. No one really heard of Bitcoin prior to the $1000 pump.

Silk Road had been talked about plenty in the mainstream media before it even hit $50.
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