Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up • Hacker News Board

Re: Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up

#31

Post by scardine » Thu, Feb 01, 2018, 4:00 PM UTC

duiker101 wrote: post #18

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #5

If you haven't already, I recommend getting out of Bitcoin and into Ethereum immediately. There is a transfer of dominance rapidly happening. Market Cap Bitcoin $158,149,902,894 Ethereum $106,632,442,880

what is in your opinion the reason why bitcoin is failing? For the way I see it, it's because it lacks real world applications and value. I know Ethereum has it's own contracts etc... but I don't see how it really solves the base problem. Who's going to use this currency and why? Are the contracts enough to keep it afloat forever? From what i've heard they are not without issues.

I don't think Ethereum contracts are much better compared to what we already have - make a mistake in a contract you will end up arguing with humans in a conference room anyway.

Re: Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up

#32

Post by Nursie » Thu, Feb 01, 2018, 4:00 PM UTC

granaldo wrote: post #27

Is Tether highly exposed only to bitcoin and not ethereum? Bitcoin price seems to be taking a heavier hit than Ether https://www.coingecko.com/en

If people start to flee the system I wouldn't imagine any of them is safe from panic, runs etc.

Re: Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up

#33

Post by mattnewton » Thu, Feb 01, 2018, 4:00 PM UTC

1123581321 wrote: post #6

What’s the difference between legitimate technical trading and propping up a market? Is it just volume?

Imagine you and I have a collection of paintings by an artist. We want to sell them for more than the last painting by that artist went for- but the market price is pegged around that price. We agree to buy each other’s paintings at a much larger price- which is fine for us, because we are paying roughly the same as we are getting and we will still have a painting. But now it appears to third parties that the paintings are worth the new price.

In the case of tether, I understand the second painting might have been just a a new canvas with “I-owe-you-x-dollars, signed-bitfinex”. And also both parties are essentially the same people here.

Disclaimer: I am not a finance guy and I don’t know what I am talking about.

Re: Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up

#34

Post by paulgb » Thu, Feb 01, 2018, 4:01 PM UTC

I find it weird that people assume this is intentional market manipulation. If they are in fact fraudulent (I think they are), being able to print money is a business model in itself; you don't need to intentionally manipulate the market (but could end up doing so accidentally)

Re: Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up

#35

Post by cptskippy » Thu, Feb 01, 2018, 4:01 PM UTC

granaldo wrote: post #27

Is Tether highly exposed only to bitcoin and not ethereum? Bitcoin price seems to be taking a heavier hit than Ether https://www.coingecko.com/en

I was noticing that the other day. I wonder if that's because Ethereum has contract functionality and thus as some intrinsic value to it.

Re: Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up

#36

Post by conanbatt » Thu, Feb 01, 2018, 4:01 PM UTC

granaldo wrote: post #27

Is Tether highly exposed only to bitcoin and not ethereum? Bitcoin price seems to be taking a heavier hit than Ether https://www.coingecko.com/en

This is noticeable and a trend for quite some time. ETH might actually have some inelastic demand by the developers of tokens, so its more resistance to volatility.

All crypto is taking a hit right now, but eth is gaining share.

Re: Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up

#37

Post by Cthulhu_ » Thu, Feb 01, 2018, 4:04 PM UTC

epmaybe wrote: post #30

jandrese wrote: post #7

“It’s a signal to the market of what those who have scrutinized the situation already believe: There is a problem here,” said Jill Carlson, a former trader at Goldman Sachs who now consults with a variety of virtual currency companies. “The dissolution of a relationship between an auditor and a company is very rarely a good sign that the company is behaving in accordance with market best practices.” When you're getti…

I know what you said is in jest, but did you read what you quoted? The individual in question worked at goldman sachs as an analyst/trader for maybe 3 years (AngelList), and hasn't worked there in at least two years.

Yeah, it's a bit of a trope like "worked at NASA" (atm over 17.000 people work at NASA). "Worked at" means nothing; show us some achievements.

Re: Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up

#38

Post by Cthulhu_ » Thu, Feb 01, 2018, 4:04 PM UTC

dlandis wrote: post #25

I'm curious how big the ramifications for Bitcoin will be if the majority of Tether tokens are proven to be fraudulent and Binfinex collapses (which doesn't seem that unlikely at this point).

Another MtGox in the making? They artifically bumped up the price of BTC too for a while.

Re: Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up

#39

Post by Cthulhu_ » Thu, Feb 01, 2018, 4:06 PM UTC

ulrikrasmussen wrote: post #26

1123581321 wrote: post #6

What’s the difference between legitimate technical trading and propping up a market? Is it just volume?

This article talks about suspicions that Bitfinex has "printed" large amounts of Tether (a so-called stable token which is supposed to be backed 1-1 to a supply of real USD) to buy up Bitcoin and artificially inflate the price.

You'd think that if they really did link 1:1 to the dollar, they'd encode some kind of proof in the tokens themselves - like idk, the registration number of banknotes, or a transaction number in a publicly viewable bank account (supported by a real, trusted bank). You need some way to verify the claim that "1 tether == 1 real USD" instead of just trust.

Re: Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up

#40

Post by gt_ » Thu, Feb 01, 2018, 4:06 PM UTC

paulgb wrote: post #34

I find it weird that people assume this is intentional market manipulation. If they are in fact fraudulent (I think they are), being able to print money is a business model in itself; you don't need to intentionally manipulate the market (but could end up doing so accidentally)

I don't think the accusation is particularly that the market manipulation was intentional but that it was nonetheless an effect of the money printing.