China Bans Financial Companies From Bitcoin Transactions

Post by scott_s » Thu, Dec 05, 2013, 4:12 PM UTC

asg wrote: post #55

molf wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Intrinsic value (in the context of finance) usually refers to the value of something when not used as investment or money. Gold has intrinsic value because you can use it for jewellery and electronics. A bitcoin has no intrinsic value because you only have it to get something else in return later. Physical money has intrinsic value equal to the metal or paper it's made of. Of course that is not what makes physical mo…

The intrinsic value of paper currency, I suppose comes from the promise of the central bank to pay its value on demand. In the 'good old days' this was a promise to pay its value in gold, but now its in the settlement of your debt. In Bitcoin that promise is peer-to-peer. Whether that makes it a successful currency is a fascinating, but open, question.

Post by Zoomla » Thu, Dec 05, 2013, 4:31 PM UTC

SwellJoe wrote: post #5

"Bitcoin prices plunged after the PBOC announcement." Where? It's still trading over $1000 on every exchange I follow. This announcement seems to have almost no perceptible effect on the price of Bitcoin. This is an interestingly biased article, actually. It quotes Alan Greenspan, whose history as a stubborn gold bug (in his Ayn Rand worshiping days) and whose pretty awful performance at the Federal Reserve make his…

Post by user24 » Thu, Dec 05, 2013, 5:04 PM UTC

grey-area wrote: post #97

this_user wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is actually not only true for goldbugs, but for all financial bubbles. If you had asked someone about AAPL in summer of 2012, they would have told you that any specific news item was bullish. If you had asked someone about crude oil in 2008, they would have told you that any specific news would drive the price higher. It is the same pattern over and over gain. Once the goldbugs throw in the towel and admit that…

Yes, you're right, this applies equally well to the dotcom bubble, housing markets or any other bubble. Disconnects between value and price can happen in any market, and they're very hard to recognise, though if you find yourself rationalising incredibly bad news like this as having an upside or being a buying opportunity, and dismissing falls/rises of 20% in hours as normal, or claiming that an asset is inevitably g…

Post by JamesArgo » Thu, Dec 05, 2013, 5:45 PM UTC

yapcguy wrote: post #118

steven2012 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds like when the dotcom bubble burst, and the so-called experts were saying "No, this is a GOOD thing! All your favorite stocks are on sale!" The thing that propelled BTC from 200 to 1200 was the news that BTC was gaining popularity in China. If this news turns negative, then what is keeping the price high? Then again, given BTC has been so strongly bought up, if it gets bought up here, then it just means it…

Time to sell Bitcoin. Merill Lynch just said buy Bitcoin, setting a target of 1300 (I hate the way Wall Street pulls these numbers out of thin air, but they are on the sell-side). This is the same Merill Lynch who collapsed their own company with dodgy investments and had to be passed off to Bank of America, another company laden full of dodgy assets and dodgy accounting. If these guys say "buy", isn't it time to run…

Post by pitnips » Thu, Dec 05, 2013, 6:20 PM UTC

alttab wrote: post #128

pacofvf wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree with you, I think that it means that a chinese Coinbase can't also be a bank, and since they just ruled that bitcoin is not a currency, it will be sold and bought freely as a commodity in this case a virtual commodity

Trading physical goods for virtual commodities? No thank you. The pudding of bitcoin was the promise of a new currency.