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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

#61

Post by mruts »

na85 wrote: post #45
LMYahooTFY wrote: post #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.

Has anyone come up with a use case for blockchains yet, that isn't buying illegal drugs or money laundering? I keep seeing pie in the sky hypotheticals like "supply chain trust" from people who think farmers are etching their cucumbers with serial numbers, but I've yet to see any use case presented for a blockchain that has real utility and isn't better solved by existing processes or systems.

stablecoins seem like a good idea. But, besides, isn’t buying drugs a pretty good application of crypto? I know I have derived value from that.

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

#62

Post by jrp55 »

dragontamer wrote: post #37
arijun wrote: 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. Tha…

At the risk of sounding overly flippant... should we (the general non-bitcoin holding public) really care whether a 51% attack happens or not?

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

#63

Post by throwaway487548 »

The legacy of Bitcoin should be studied to understand better how memes or semantic viruses are spreading through social groups and affects our inner representations or models of the world, trained by endless screaming streams of bullshit^W information we are forced to process.

There is nothing more fascinating than this - how a global Ponzi Scheme based on a few memes about poorly understood abstract concepts unfolds.

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

#64

Post by gsich »

Uberphallus wrote: post #38
apexalpha wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Was scam from the beginning.

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

#65

Post by dmos62 »

simias wrote: 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…

I don't having much to say about fundamentals. From a technical analysis point of view, according to EWT, a correction mostly happens in three strokes. First stroke was 20k->6k, second was a year long sideways move, this is the third one that will reach the extreme of the correction. In these terms, what we're seeing this last week is an extension of what was happening beginning of 2018; i.e. to ask why this happened is the same as to ask why the price fell from 20k.

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

#66

Post by superkuh »

jeletonskelly wrote: post #34
simias wrote: 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 oth…

This is also the result of the federal governments of the world, the US in particular, choking off all the fiatcrypto exchanges with their expanded and draconian know your customer laws.

As an anecdote, I didn't buy my monthly bitcoin purchase early this month because I've been (and still am) locked out of my ~5 year old coinbase account I use constantly because they are being required to require new forms of ID and I cannot supply it.

Even if the stupid speculation markets and their off chain antics didn't exist this would be a problem.

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

#67

Post by koonsolo »

simias wrote: 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…

I am a firm believer that cryptocurrencies can offer major value to the world. But if you look at what's out there, Bitcoin etc are outdated technologies.

Since Bitcoin was always leading the charts, in my opinion the whole market had to crash, and out of that it will show which ones offer true value.

You shoudn't focus too much on price, but mainly focus on applicability and adoption/use.

Most doctors here only offered cash payments, but nowadays a lot of them offer smartphone payments. They lose 6 cent on every transaction.

Imagine a world where I can pay instantly, worldwide with a single currency, 0 fees. The technology is already here, the adoption not (yet ;).

We have email, which is basically instant, free and worldwide. Why can't we have the same for payments? Only time will tell if such a major shift can happen.

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

#68

Post by ratsimihah »

booleandilemma wrote: post #19
tom_ wrote: 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 $80 I was mining using custom ASIC. At $20k I was trying to convince myself not to sell and that I was in it for the long run. I'm still in.

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

#69

Post by tboyd47 »

simias wrote: 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…

Occam's Razor - could just be a symptom of the current stock market crash.

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

#70

Post by tyingq »

simias wrote: 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…

ETH isn't doing well either, so there must be more than the BTC cash fork in play.
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