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Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

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Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#121

Post by calinet6 »

grovulent wrote: post #42
spartango wrote: post #28

I worry that as Bitcoin's value rises, people are buying in not to use it as payment for services or goods, but simply as an investment vehicle. In principle, there's nothing wrong with this; currency trading is common and well-explored. The problem is that the value of a currency is supposed to also be somehow related to its utility in acquiring goods and services. When it is rarely used to that effect, people may r…

I'm not a bitcoin fanboy - but I see this sentiment around a lot and I'm not sure I agree with it. The claim is that the value of a currency is supposed to also be somehow related to its utility in acquiring goods and services. And if this isn't the case - then people will go off it. When was the last time someone acquired a good or service with an ounce of gold? Perhaps we shouldn't consider gold a currency? Well I'…

If I see a currency rising in value faster than Gold itself, I'm going to want to get in on the value.

Fact is, if I had "invested" in 100 BTC only 5 months ago when it was hovering around USD$10, that would have cost me about $1000. And now it would be worth $10000. There are not that many investments that have that kind of return in such a short time. You'd have to be dumb to believe that people aren't doing exactly this. You don't see 1000% returns and just ignore it and wonder about its utility. Right now, it's a volatile and risky currency exchange being intentionally used to ride the rising popularity into a cash la-la land.

At some point people are going to convert this toy back to a real-world currency and take their winnings home with them. I don't know what's going to happen then, but I don't believe it will be good. Perhaps 'stabilizing' would be a good optimistic name for it.

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#122

Post by betterunix »

xhrpost wrote: post #79

Everyone keeps saying that a crash is around the corner and the current price is unsustainable, been hearing it since $40/BTC, maybe earlier. I don't completely disagree, the question I keep pondering though is, if there is a big sustained crash coming, is it from $100 to $30, or $900 to $300?

Your lower bound is not low enough; it will be more like $150 to $5, or perhaps even lower.

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#123

Post by iblaine »

niggler wrote: post #3

I hope that people who got in last year or earlier this year are starting to sell some of their bitcoins, at least enough to cover the cost basis. I wouldn't be surprised to see a very sharp fall soon.

If by sell you mean buy more things on silk road from bitcoins purchased in 2011, then you are correct.

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#124

Post by dragontamer »

nawitus wrote: post #99
acabal wrote: post #72

I added a Bitcoin purchase option to Scribophile to test the waters. But I'm interested in a Bitcoin economy, not a USD cash alternative--the situation where a Bitcoin has its own value, not a value dependent on a different currency. For that reason, I decided to fix the price of an upgrade to 2 BTC, not peg it to the dollar like most other sites do. Unfortunately it seems like that's just not going to work at this p…

You need to adjust the price just like you need to ajust prices for any currency. It's just that the value of 1 bitcoin changes faster than other currencies, as it's now being adopted at a quick rate.

A new domain name has been 10 USD from Namecheap for the last decade. A new domain name in BTC however, has varied between 1 BTC and 0.1 BTC in just the past two months.

BTC as a proxy for USD is still useful IMO, it gives us a way to avoid Paypal and other online processors. But for it to be a USD replacement, it needs to first settle down and stabilize.

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#125

Post by betterunix »

baddox wrote: post #90
acabal wrote: post #72

I added a Bitcoin purchase option to Scribophile to test the waters. But I'm interested in a Bitcoin economy, not a USD cash alternative--the situation where a Bitcoin has its own value, not a value dependent on a different currency. For that reason, I decided to fix the price of an upgrade to 2 BTC, not peg it to the dollar like most other sites do. Unfortunately it seems like that's just not going to work at this p…

Give it time. I happen to think that bitcoin is still stabilizing. Whether it will stabilize at an even higher price than it is now, or "crash" and stabilize at a much lower price, I think it will eventually stabilize.

"I happen to think that bitcoin is still stabilizing."

Considering that this is the largest spike in the history of Bitcoin, I would like to know what makes you think that.

"I think it will eventually stabilize."

So do I, but that is because I think it will eventually fail (and stabilize at $0/BTC).

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#126

Post by knowaveragejoe »

phormula wrote: post #48
spartango wrote: post #28

I worry that as Bitcoin's value rises, people are buying in not to use it as payment for services or goods, but simply as an investment vehicle. In principle, there's nothing wrong with this; currency trading is common and well-explored. The problem is that the value of a currency is supposed to also be somehow related to its utility in acquiring goods and services. When it is rarely used to that effect, people may r…

$450k of electronics were purchased at bitcoinstore.com in march alone

Got a source for that?

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#127

Post by tomsthumb »

cadetzero wrote: post #89
mikemoka wrote: post #70

How could the bitcoin exchange rate reverse its trend and start falling? Do you have any scenarios in mind?

US government declares it an illegal currency, and if you accept bitcoins at your business you will be investigated. Game over.

Some numbers are illegal, but that's because they have particular uses (Crypto etc). How in the world would the US be able to declare possession and exchange of data illegal?

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#128

Post by grovulent »

jcampbell1 wrote: post #112
grovulent wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a bitcoin fanboy - but I see this sentiment around a lot and I'm not sure I agree with it. The claim is that the value of a currency is supposed to also be somehow related to its utility in acquiring goods and services. And if this isn't the case - then people will go off it. When was the last time someone acquired a good or service with an ounce of gold? Perhaps we shouldn't consider gold a currency? Well I'…

The notion of "money" is quite well defined. You need 3 properties: 1) Store of value. Much easier to store gold/USD/Bitcoins than the food you will need in the future. 2) Medium of Exchange. Can be used to exchange for real goods, thus avoiding the headache of barter. 3) Unit of Account. e.g. is easily divisible. Bitcoins aren't great at #2, but gold is terrible at #3. If bitcoins prove to be a lasting store of valu…

Bitcoin hasn't yet proved it can do either 1 or 2 yet. If it succeeds in either it will do better than gold is currently doing as currency.

But I wasn't trying to measure currency dick size. I was just making the point that not being good at 2 doesn't necessarily hurt its ability at 1.

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#129

Post by dragontamer »

nawitus wrote: post #115
dragontamer wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that is only one side of the coin. If people are hoarding BTC, then they aren't spending them on goods / services. IE: Deflationary Spiral. It becomes hard to be a merchant who accepts bitcoins, because everyone expects BTC to keep rising in prices. People who bought a domain name for 1 BTC a few weeks ago from Namecheap lost a lot of money. They should have instead "saved" that BTC. Therefore, people are discour…

"Currently, hoarders are the ones benefiting from BTC, but no one else is." That's not true, BTC has many benefits to bitcoin users. There's plenty of bitcoin-only services, but more importantly, it provides freedom for many people who are facing government regulation. In the long run, bitcoin enables all kinds of innovation (good example is reddit's bitcointip service, which wouldn't really exist without bitcoins).

And tell me, what is a good BTC tip today?

1BTC used to be a decent tip at $5. Today that is a $100 tip I'm giving someone. Anyone who gave money to Bitcointip is suffering from the volatility in the marketplace.

A true BTC enthusiast will be happy when BTC stops moving. It doesn't matter what value BTC has, as long as it is constant. Only hoarders want BTC to keep going up and up in value.

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#130

Post by MacsHeadroom »

mikro2nd wrote: post #86
dragontamer wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I'd like to believe you, a link to the "Cyprus lie" would be nice. :-) I don't think "core bitcoin" users are scamming anyone. But at this point, the speed at which BTC has grown has triggered my "manipulation trigger". A decentralized currency is prone to manipulation... its not like there is an FCC out there to stop people from manipulating BTC.

All currencies are prone to manipulation. Spend a couple of months trading forex (even on paper) if you don't believe me. The columes involved in forex trading (last I looked something like 3 or 4 trillion USD/day equivalent) are way beyond the capacities of /any/ central bank to "manage" or manipulate in their own favour, and it's an over-the-counter trading system, so mostly-impossible to regulate.

You said the forex market is prone to manipulation and then said that it's way beyond the capacities of any central bank to manipulate. So which is it?
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