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Bitcoin $500

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Re: Bitcoin $500

#101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find that many companies related to Bitcoin are extremely unprofessional and they still run their businesses like 3 years ago when Bitcoin was just an internet novelty and not a real currency the way it is today. Just look at the latest Blockchain fiasco where the guy who runs the company got butthurt over some Reddit comments and got involved in a flame war. MtGox's lack of professionalism is just the tip of the i…

This is part of the scary naivete of Bitcoin boosters. It's as if how to set up and run computers for serious financial systems was never worked out by anyone before. There has to be a Bitcoin exchange that isn't run by clowns ... hasn't there?

The problem is all the companies trying to be legit are being choked into irrelevance by stifling regulation (with a few exceptions like Coinbase). I expect that next year after a few make it all the way through their compliance efforts (e.g. kraken.com, coinsetter), the situation will be much improved.

Re: Bitcoin $500

#102
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't want to short the one asset that's been on an exponential growth curve. It can only go down 100% but who knows how high it could climb. At least put a ceiling on it.

>It can only go down 100% Isn't this true of all stocks/commodities? You can only lose 100% of your money.

If you're investing by purchasing the item, then yes, you can only lose 100%. However, if you pay the current rate ( + lending fee ) to borrow a BTC to sell expecting that when you go to repay the BTC you'll be able to purchase one at a much lower rate due to a bubble popping, thus banking the difference, and instead the cost raises exponentially, it could cost you considerably more than 100% of the amount you initially invested when borrowing the initial-sale BTC to buy the BTC you need to replace it.

That is, yes for long positions, no for short sales.

Re: Bitcoin $500

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find that many companies related to Bitcoin are extremely unprofessional and they still run their businesses like 3 years ago when Bitcoin was just an internet novelty and not a real currency the way it is today. Just look at the latest Blockchain fiasco where the guy who runs the company got butthurt over some Reddit comments and got involved in a flame war. MtGox's lack of professionalism is just the tip of the i…

This is part of the scary naivete of Bitcoin boosters. It's as if how to set up and run computers for serious financial systems was never worked out by anyone before. There has to be a Bitcoin exchange that isn't run by clowns ... hasn't there?

> It's as if how to set up and run computers for serious financial systems was never worked out by anyone before.

I've started trying to help the Bitcoin ecosystem in that area.

Re: Bitcoin $500

#104

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it impossible to withdraw USD from MtGox at this point? How can this be a viable source of BTC->USD comparison when the only thing you can do with a USD balance on MtG is buy?

I cashed out all my coins at $144 over a month ago now and I've still been waiting for money to show up. One the one hand I feel annoyed at losing out on the huge rise in value, on the other hand this huge delay makes me feel justified in escaping this terrible system.

I sure would like to know what bitcoin service you were using...

Re: Bitcoin $500

#105
post #57
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the thing, the new 500Ghash machines can smoke your 500Mhash machines and they use only a little more power. They are using 28nm ASIC. A farm from a year ago can be completely outpowered by a couple of these machines. And they are coming online in force over the next 30 to 60 days.

Anyone with MH/s-level farms from GPUs have turned them off months ago (or moved to Litecoin). There's some new 28nm ASICs that use less power per hash than the larger nm ASICs, so eventually those will face the same fate as GPUs from power costs (not so much from hash rate -- there are only a few TH machines on the near horizon), but the next 30-60 days isn't enough time to make that happen.

Isn't Litecoin's value more or less pegged to BTC? I did a quick calculation with one of the online calculators [1] and it seems that it's a challenge to turn a profit from Litecoin GPU mining too.

[1] http://ltc.kattare.com/calc.php

Re: Bitcoin $500

#106
post #81
post #60

Now is the time to convert your bitcoins to cash, because this wont last for much longer :-)

that doesn't make any sense. it will be $1000/btc in less than a year.

You think it will be, unless you're The Doctor.

Re: Bitcoin $500

#107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find that many companies related to Bitcoin are extremely unprofessional and they still run their businesses like 3 years ago when Bitcoin was just an internet novelty and not a real currency the way it is today. Just look at the latest Blockchain fiasco where the guy who runs the company got butthurt over some Reddit comments and got involved in a flame war. MtGox's lack of professionalism is just the tip of the i…

This is part of the scary naivete of Bitcoin boosters. It's as if how to set up and run computers for serious financial systems was never worked out by anyone before. There has to be a Bitcoin exchange that isn't run by clowns ... hasn't there?

Until recently there wasn't enough money in Bitcoin to cover the cost of security. Obviously that is changing quickly, but it will take time for serious people to enter the market.

Re: Bitcoin $500

#108
post #13

What happens to the price when only people with 500Ghash/sec+ can make coins next month? Early adopters are rightfully getting a nice reward now, but how do you get "fresh blood" when the difficulty is off the chart unless you have several thousand dollars in hardware?

If Bitcoin is only about mining then it deserves to die. If Bitcoin wants to be an actual currency then it should be able to work like any other currency where you can't print money.

Re: Bitcoin $500

#109
post #3

Its 470$ on bitstamp, please ignore mtgox rate, that site is unusable

Technically this is true, but given the trajectory we can expect that BitStamp will get there in a few days.

Re: Bitcoin $500

#110
post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is part of the scary naivete of Bitcoin boosters. It's as if how to set up and run computers for serious financial systems was never worked out by anyone before. There has to be a Bitcoin exchange that isn't run by clowns ... hasn't there?

Until recently there wasn't enough money in Bitcoin to cover the cost of security. Obviously that is changing quickly, but it will take time for serious people to enter the market.

Was there enough to cover basic competence?

"No database backups ... Everyone had root" https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=81045.msg921159#msg9...

Unsalted MD5 password hashes: http://www.dailytech.com/Inside+the+MegaHack+of+Bitcoin+the+...

Wallet on AWS instance, no local backup: http://siliconangle.com/blog/2011/08/01/third-largest-bitcoi...

This shit's just inept.

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