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Bitcoin falls from $266

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Re: Bitcoin falls from $266

#131
post #91
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A genuine crash in which everyone was trying to sell at once might look like a DDoS. How do you know this is not that? (No opinion, just curious.)

All bitcoin sites, whether they are forums or exchanges went down. It was a widespread DDOS on pretty much anything bitcoin related. For example: bitcointalk.org was also down.

Wouldn't it make sense that everyone is logging onto those forums and comment about the price changes? I would think anything bitcoin related has a high volume today. Including HN.

Re: Bitcoin falls from $266

#133
post #17

I'm interested in the price of Bitcoin, but we don't need these daily submissions. If you're interested in following the price, I suggest these links: - https://bitcoinity.org/markets - http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/mtgoxUSD - http://bitcoin.clarkmoody.com/ If you're interested in talking about the price, try #bitcoin-pricetalk on Freenode.

This is HUGE news on Bitcoin - nothing like this has ever happened in it's history. Market went from $250 to $110 in 5 hours. MtGox was down for 30 minutes today. Trading lag was 600 seconds for orders placed at market prices. April 10th, 2013 may be the day that will be remember for the next 20 years as the day that Bitcoin crashed and either (A) never recovered or (B) kept progressing after an incredible Blip.

Definitely HN fodder today.

Re: Bitcoin falls from $266

#134

Someone supposedly sold $10+ million worth of bitcoins. http://blockchain.info/address/1HQ3Go3ggs8pFnXuHVHRytPCq5fGG...

In case anyone else was confused like me, you click the green button in the bottom right to covert it to dollars.

Re: Bitcoin falls from $266

#135
Evidently, many hoarders/speculators decided to cash out at once -- much like the audience in a movie theater would try to go through the exit door at the same time if someone were to yell "fire!"

The naive souls who recently bought bitcoins to make a 'quick buck' are in for a rude surprise. In the short run, no one knows how Bitcoin's price will fluctuate.

In the long run, however, if Bitcoin continues to work as intended, the more people around the world who adopt it as a store of value and/or medium of exchange, the more demand there will be for it, and with supply being fixed, growing demand will be reflected in a rising price.[1]

--

[1] My full thoughts on the matter: http://cs702.wordpress.com/2011/05/29/on-the-potential-adopt...

Re: Bitcoin falls from $266

#136

This is interesting. But I think it's only test to see how they can actually crash it to zero later on. And if we're voting here in Comments too, yes, let's have the Bitcoin submissions. Hacking a currency is interesting.

A downvote? Should I have capitalized They? As in all those in power who do not want to see alternative currencies succeed and have therefore infiltrated it to see what They can do to stop it? Does that make it better? (Yes, I expect a downvote now here too. Que sera sera...)

Re: Bitcoin falls from $266

#137
post #40
post #13

Before crying wolf, understand that bitcoin exchanges are unfortunately not battle hardened internet businesses. Two of the largest exchanges MtGox and bitstamp are both under DDOS. This may be an attempt by someone to make a large buy at a cheaper price. Due to lack of trading, prices are going downward. However, BTC China is still trading at above $275! That's the beauty of bitcoin, it isn't restricted to just one…

It's not just MtGox and bitstamp. Pretty much every other exchange, as well as bitcointalk.org and trackers like bitcoinity are under attack simultaneously. It's a pretty obvious attempt at manipulating the market by causing widespread panic, so that the attackers can buy in at a conveniently low price the moment the attack is halted.

How do they manage to make the DDOS only target buyers and not sellers?

Seems to me a DDOS would just make no bitcoins available for sale, but would not change the price. It doesn't matter if the price is low if they can't actually buy anything.

Re: Bitcoin falls from $266

#138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do the numbers in the background mean? I've seen everything from $0.01 to $8000+ in about 30 seconds. EDIT: Realtime transactions? Impressive range if they are.

Yeah the biggest I've seen so far was $94,000.00 It doesn't specify whether that was a sell or a buy though. Either way someone made or lost a lot of money.

Neither. That number is just a Bitcoin transaction. The value changed hands. It was probably someone sending coins to an exchange, or an exchange shuffling coins around within its internal wallet. Though I do think that site tries to filter out those network transactions.

Re: Bitcoin falls from $266

#139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US currency isn't backed by gold- it is in a sense backed by the US government. BTC is wholly unbacked.

US currency is backed by the land the US is built on and the means to defend that land, as well as the ability of US citizens to expend their time in a productive way. And to some extent it is currently based on the ability of the United States to protect its interests overseas, the trading of oil in the US dollar and significant trade partners accepting the US dollar as a means of exchange for goods shipped to the U…

when Europe falls things will change eventually.

Re: Bitcoin falls from $266

#140

Not that I'd wish monetary loss on anyone, but if the first Bitcoin crash is any indication, these things tend to have a positive side-benefit of driving out most of the speculators flooding in after all the news reports that fuel these cycles, and the people actually interested in the currency itself stay behind, with an influx of new folk. After all the noise dies down, new businesses and services get built backed…

Anecdotally, I have been waiting for prices to fall because I was looking to actually use some btc starting a month ago, but because Im planning on using a tumbler, I was afraid of where the price might be in a week.
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