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No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

bloomberg.com

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Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#51

Post by dragontamer »

metalliqaz wrote: post #18
aphextron wrote: post #5

Everything sells off this time of year. Nasdaq is down 7% on the month. It’s end of year profit-taking for tax purposes. As BTC has become completely mainstream now, this makes sense.

No, it is almost certainly related to the network split, as mentioned in the article. There are issues with bitcoin that limit its long term potential. For example, the effective limitations on the number of transactions per second, and the huge energy cost for providing proof of work.

> No, it is almost certainly related to the network split,

Please explain how turbulence in BCH affects Bitcoin and Ethereum.

BCH is a totally different coin, on a different blockchain, with a far smaller market cap than the "big boys" BTC or ETH. Its a poor explanation at best. Its the only thing that correlates to the drop, but it doesn't make sense as an explanation.

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#52

Post by emerongi »

booleandilemma wrote: post #19
tom_ wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about $35 and $250?

At $250 I was explaining to my parents what bitcoin is. At $19,000 I was overhearing Starbucks baristas talk about it.

At $10k, car service mechanics were buying into random cryptocoins. Nobody understood them, everyone just wanted to get rich. A speculative asset, not a currency.

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#53

Post by stjohnswarts »

metalliqaz wrote: post #18
aphextron wrote: post #5

Everything sells off this time of year. Nasdaq is down 7% on the month. It’s end of year profit-taking for tax purposes. As BTC has become completely mainstream now, this makes sense.

No, it is almost certainly related to the network split, as mentioned in the article. There are issues with bitcoin that limit its long term potential. For example, the effective limitations on the number of transactions per second, and the huge energy cost for providing proof of work.

You mean the fact that it can be split ad infinitum and new bit coin like currencies with much better properties can be had at the drop of a hat by any dude or dudette in his-her den?

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#54

Post by nerdponx »

What I wonder is why BTC is still the main "entry point" for acquiring crypto with fiat. Having so few ways to trade crypto for fiat, and so few ways to spend crypto, means that the various cryptocurrency markets are highly correlated. It's a bad situation for cryptocurrency as a whole.

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#55

Post by DJBunnies »

overcast wrote: post #4

That's what happens when you screw over the general public in a giant pump and dump. There is just no more money left to steal. First time was for the early adopters at $1000, second time was for the late majority at $19,000. You're not going to see that happen again.

Wanna bet?

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#56

Post by ceejayoz »

simias wrote: post #20

Since the article states "the trigger for the latest sell-off is unclear" I'm really curious if somebody here could venture a guess about the reasons for the sudden drop. The Bitcoin Cash fork seems suspiciously correlated but is it big enough news to cause such a turmoil? Being a cryptocurrency-skeptic I won't pretend that I don't experience a little bit of schadenfreude when I see CC crash, however if I'm trying to…

Ongoing concerns about Tether can't have helped.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-20/bitcoin-r...

> As Bitcoin plunges, the U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether last year’s epic rally was fueled in part by manipulation, with traders driving it up with Tether -- a popular but controversial digital token.

> While federal prosecutors opened a broad criminal probe into cryptocurrencies months ago, they’ve recently homed in on suspicions that a tangled web involving Bitcoin, Tether and crypto exchange Bitfinex might have been used to illegally move prices, said three people familiar with the matter.

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#57

Post by nabla9 »

arijun wrote: post #10

Good. Bitcoin is too wasteful when it’s at a high valuation. The amount of resources in both electricity and gpu hardware that gets locked into mining is too high. It can still do it’s job as a currency with a lower valuation.

> It can still do it’s job as a currency with a lower valuation.

This is true, but it can't do it's job with high transaction volume.

Counterargument: There are ways to correct it and intermediate services between BC and users will fill the gap between verification and use....

Counter-counterargument: If you need intermediaries, Visa and MasterCard already exist and their payment system is cheaper.

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#58

Post by gregorymichael »

dragontamer wrote: post #37
arijun wrote: post #10

Good. Bitcoin is too wasteful when it’s at a high valuation. The amount of resources in both electricity and gpu hardware that gets locked into mining is too high. It can still do it’s job as a currency with a lower valuation.

The problem is that all that computing power still exists. If the hashrate drops, then a 51% attack becomes possible. Remember that those mining farms still exist, even if they've temporarily turned off their mining equipment. Someone can turn all that equipment on suddenly to attack the network and start double-spending their coins. In effect: the hashrate MUST remain high if the BTC network is to remain secure. Tha…

That doesn't sound like a good system.

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#59

Post by arethuza »

overcast wrote: post #13
tom_ wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about $35 and $250?

Innovators. No one really heard of Bitcoin prior to the $1000 pump.

When was that - early 2017?

In mid 2016 mass market newspapers in the UK were running stories about using Bitcoin for holiday spending money - I vividly remember having a discussion with my wife about it.

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#60

Post by _jal »

dragontamer wrote: post #37
arijun wrote: post #10

Good. Bitcoin is too wasteful when it’s at a high valuation. The amount of resources in both electricity and gpu hardware that gets locked into mining is too high. It can still do it’s job as a currency with a lower valuation.

The problem is that all that computing power still exists. If the hashrate drops, then a 51% attack becomes possible. Remember that those mining farms still exist, even if they've temporarily turned off their mining equipment. Someone can turn all that equipment on suddenly to attack the network and start double-spending their coins. In effect: the hashrate MUST remain high if the BTC network is to remain secure. Tha…

> the hashrate MUST remain high if the BTC network is to remain secure

Reminds me of something else that places a continually increasing demand on resources to remain stable...

Building the Red Queen problem into currency is insane.

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