Bitcoins?

• ohiobucks1

  

  Anybody have any? I don't quite understand why they are worth so much and now this:
  
  
  http://www.cnbc.com/id/101205416
• justincredible

  

  I don't. Wish I would have bought when they were around $100.
• ohiobucks1

  

  justincredible;1538339 wrote:I don't. Wish I would have bought when they were around $100.

  
  Same. But what is their value based on?
• Commander of Awesome

  

  I'm skeptical of them holding their value long term. Not sure how a currency with such a limited market is sustainable based the fad era.
• dlazz

  Commander of Awesome;1538351 wrote:I'm skeptical of them holding their value long term. Not sure how a currency with such a limited market is sustainable based the fad era.

  This. I know some (dumbass) people who are into it and they're only into it for the potential profit. If everyone is in it for the potential profit, the bubble will eventually pop and it'll become worthless.
  
  You can't create a currency that nobody uses to buy goods and expect it to maintain its value.
  
  I could see a big crash in value before too long.
• justincredible

  

  Depending on how involved with them the govt gets I can see them lasting long term. Not at these levels, but if the govt isn't able to regulate them they will probably stick around for a while as a way to transfer goods anonymously.
• Pick6

  

  Hasnt there already been a large recent (somewhat) crash in their value?
• justincredible

  

  Pick6;1538441 wrote:Hasnt there already been a large recent (somewhat) crash in their value?

  I think there was a slight drop a while ago but it didn't last long.
• dlazz

  Pick6;1538441 wrote:Hasnt there already been a large recent (somewhat) crash in their value?

  It crashed and rebounded.
  
  I think it's at a record high now because nobody is exchanging them, they're just sitting on them waiting for the right time to sell.
  
  I wouldn't be the least bit shocked to see it fall from $600/coin to < 5 one of these days
• Glory Days

  

  justincredible;1538443 wrote:I think there was a slight drop a while ago but it didn't last long.

  When the silk road was shut down bit coins took a hit.
• gut

  I noticed a while back they fell from like $230 to $140 or less. Then you had that "hedge fund" get busted for fraud, then the silk road thing. I figured bitcoin was done. But never underestimate momentum and bubbles.
  
  The demand and utility is just not there. And in any appreciable quantity I doubt they are that liquid. I'm not sure about counterparty risk and you always have the threat of govt action. For multiple reasons, I just can't see bitcoin ever being more than a glorified novelty.
  
  Scary thing is there have been some alternatives proposed or developed. If the market flocks to "bytecoin" then your bitcoin become completely worthless. Most of the demand comes from investors - the reason gold works is thousands of years of valuing gold as a form of currency. It's a circular credibility issue - gold holds value because it always has. You don't have to worry about people abandoning gold for something else.
• justincredible

  

  http://reason.com/archives/2013/11/19/bitcoin-more-than-money
• sportchampps

  How are bitcoins taxed in the us. Who is to stop whoever makes them from creating more causing inflation
• Fab4Runner

  

  I really don't know much about them, but they are featured quote frequently in the Good Wife, which is one of my fave shows.
• sleeper

  

  sportchampps;1538661 wrote:How are bitcoins taxed in the us. Who is to stop whoever makes them from creating more causing inflation

  There are only a possible 21 million bitcoins that can be "created". They are mined using some kind of algorithm so the supply is controlled by people spending x amount of hours to earn one bitcoin with a super fast computer.
• gut

  There's a lot of problems/roadblocks for bitcoin ever emerging as a viable currency or much more than a novelty. You need liquidity and millions of transactions to stabilize value, but it's not going mainstream until you have liquidity and stable value.
  
  This is nothing more than speculators trying to fleece the last man holding the bag. When the bubble pops you're left mostly with the underground transactions, but then without speculators to provide liquidity even the crooks stop accepting it.
• Gblock

  http://news.yahoo.com/norwegian-man-buys-flat-forgotten-24-bitcoin-investment-174651722.html
  
  
  dont know if anyone saw this but 24$ in bitcoins in 2009...690,000 bucks in 2013
• derek bomar

  

  justincredible;1538339 wrote:I don't. Wish I would have bought when they were around $100.

  they used to be $1 in 2011
• derek bomar

  

  theyre at a record high because of the Silk Road thing - took a lot of the coins out of the market.
• gut

  LOL @ that guy only selling 1/5 his stash.
  
  That's a big chunk of change to put at risk. And he's lucky he just happened to look when the price was $700-$800 because it's hard to imagine not unloading a bunch when it was $130 or $240.
  
  He's still got $500k in bitcoins, which seems stupid at these prices, much less for a market/asset he clearly hasn't been following or know much about. Then again it might take some time to unload that much without moving the price against you.
• justincredible

  

  derek bomar;1538796 wrote:they used to be $1 in 2011

  Yeah, but I didn't know about them back then.
• derek bomar

  

  gut;1538803 wrote:LOL @ that guy only selling 1/5 his stash.
  
  That's a big chunk of change to put at risk. And he's lucky he just happened to look when the price was $700-$800 because it's hard to imagine not unloading a bunch when it was $130 or $240.
  
  He's still got $500k in bitcoins, which seems stupid at these prices, much less for a market/asset he clearly hasn't been following or know much about. Then again it might take some time to unload that much without moving the price against you.

  the market cap for BC's is about $7.2B - $500k wouldn't move it that much I wouldn't think.
• gut

  derek bomar;1538842 wrote:the market cap for BC's is about $7.2B - $500k wouldn't move it that much I wouldn't think.

  probably not...Guess I didn't do the math - remember hearing about 10M have been mined (out of a max of 20M), x700 = $7B
  
  Be interesting to analyze the trading data. Not convinced, in addition to being a huge bubble, that there isn't market manipulation going on. At least you have this guy as proof of someone who was able to get $700+ for his coins (although, ponzi schemes pay out small piles for the same reasons).
• gut

  If these ever drop back down to like $50 maybe I'll buy one as a souvenir
• Commander of Awesome

  

  this seems relevant here:
  
  http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-falls-below-900-2013-12