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Bitcoin Tops $1000
Well that escalated quickly. Having broken above $900 yesterday to new record highs (and a 100% gain in a week), the crypto currency is not looking back now. On what is higher than average volume this morning, Bitcoin just broke above the magic $1000 level for the first time (at $1025). Meanwhile, the BTC China "arb'd" rate is around $950 for those playing at home; and Litecoin has just topped $26 (from $4 a week ago!).
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I hearby nominate Bitcoin as the greatest malinvestment vehicle in the BennyBux era.
Investment is dead!
Long live Bitcoin!
New Study Links Mysterious Bitcoin Inventor With Dread Pirate Roberts.
"the FBI seized only about 22 percent of Ulbricht’s total bitcoins, and that he was given many of them just after the invention of Bitcoin by an account associated with the earliest “mining” of Bitcoin."
http://www.ibtimes.com/bitcoin-meets-silk-road-new-study-links-mysteriou...
So, if The Founder has so many BTC that he just gives them away, is it reasonable to think that he is just gaming the price of BTC by buying and selling at no real cost to himself because he has so many free coins? Kinda like a HFT algo-bot that errbody round here likes so much...
Over.
Whoa whoa whoa. So now you are telling me the people behind BTC were also behind Silk Road? Next someone will allege there is an intelligence agency or two or three, and possibly some Wall St banks involved?
No... It could never be...
I also wonder if they are behind The Hedge because it was created about the time that bitCon was created.
Over.
The researchers have retracted their claims. | CNN Keep searching for FUD, but at least try to stay current, bing.
Okay Mr 16 weeks at ZH. Why the fuck are you here aside from trolling every BTC thread?
Now there's a question for someone like a Mr. 6 weeks Carter401 or whatever it is, with an obvious agenda, not someone informing others of FUD and unfounded media propaganda in this case?
These threads are stuffed with ignorance and trolling yet you call this guy out for providing a defense to BS being diseminated by one of ZH's finest trolls in this case. Just a little selectively critical, wow.
No need to be cranky about the truth despite it not being that popular around here with regards to BTC.
Been reading ZH for years, finally decided to sign up for an account. I don't remember why exactly, probably because BTC news started to hot up and I found it interesting. First 2 attempts at sign-up were rejected (user name not cool enough?) but I stuck with it. You're welcome.
He gave those away when they are worth very little, not when they were worth what they are now.
The BTC can be exchanged for dollars, gold and oil ... if he has a billion dollar worth of coins he is as free to try game the system with them as someone with a billion dollars who buys coins first. Either way getting whiped out by the market will hurt.
Ponder this for a minute...
If you were looking to get a digital currency adopted by the masses what course of action would you take? Create a digital currency like bitcoin, make it seem like the anti-central bank thing to do because it pandered to the demographic least likely to accept a government sponsored digital currency.
After the digital currency started to gain acceptance, you could pump money into it, create copy-cats or a number of others things to create the appearance of being free from manipulation. If this digital currency was accepted the world over, it could be viewed as the umbrella of ultimate resistance to central banking.
Now comes the pump and dump, central banks all over the world step in and buy, buy ,buy creating a huge bubble. Then they sell, sell sell creating panic and huge devaluation. Would it not then be possible to step in and create a centrally controlled digital currency to protect all the investors and holders of the digital currency?
I'm always looking at the NWO aspect of things and a centrally controlled digital currency is paramount to implement a one world currency and with it a one world government.
Is this the harbinger of things to come?
Just wondering...
DaddyO
Oh my God, it always comes back to the "one world government" conspiracy for some. Do you know why there will never be a one-world government? Because as soon as there was, the leaders of the one-world government would turn on each other and the situation would devolve into civil war. It's basic human nature which never, ever changes. It's what happened with Rome once they became essentially a one-world government. Read some fucking history.
I do read history and it is filled with one world governments or those attempting to institute them.
You use Rome as an example which did indeed fail in the end, but your comment doesn't take note of the decades that Rome was THE one world government.
We're ripe for this type of system again due to the fragility of the Central Banks and their desire to hold onto the power they currently hold.
DaddyO
The USD is the one-world government's currency. Newsflash.
But, because they are going to destroy it, they need to replace it with something they ALSO control. So there's that sorted.
Nope, USD (and fiat in general) is just a part of the process towards one-world-currency. SDR, as a basket of different fiat toilet papers, is the envisioned NWO currency. That's why no CB is issuing an asset-backed currency today. That's why Libya happened...
IMHO, cryptocurrencies have a double purpose: partly training the sheeple around the world to get used to virtual currency (cashless society's on it's way) and partly draining what's left of middle class greatest fools' savings.
Grab your popcorn and watch as they pump this sucker (BTC) to 3000 and then introduce bubble to needle...
Its going "over 9000!"
I would argue that the exact opposite is going to occur when the Central Banks lose control of the situation - that the world is going to splinter into smaller "countries" or self-governing entities. Centralized control results in a lot of "friction losses". A lot of energy and resources are required to maintain that centralized control over hundreds or thousands of miles. Add in cultural differences, language differences, inherent racism that exists around the world into a future of increasing resource scarcity and competition? Forget about the one-world government. Think more about situating yourself somewhere that can sustain itself as a small, regional economy.
Thus, the only logical thing for every red blooded American to do is to fight this Bitcoin scourge tooth and nail. To the barricades, yanks!
If some loser comes up to you at school and offers you bitcoin, remember, Just. Say. No.
Wallstreet is heavily invested in bitcoin... so, I think the answer to your question depends on which avenue is the most profitable...
BS, prove it.
Who do you think provided the capital for asics (significantly increasing mining rates/difficulty) or the exchanges? What, the winkelvii are the only folks who know about the parade?
Or are you getting tripped up over the wording? Let me see if I can clarify and maybe mitigate your dispute... A high percentage of wallstreet firms and large financial institutions do not have any relevant bitcoin exposure (much like gold), this is not what I'm meaning to imply... however, as a percentage of bitcoin generation and ownership, wallstreet (venture capital, high net worth, financial institutions/others with world wide investment perspectives and holdings) is materially involved. In short, J6P is priced out of the bitcoin mining market... it takes too much money at this point (too large of barriers to entry) to actually play ball. If you wanted to start mining now, by the time your ordered mining equipment arrived, it would be obsolete... and since it's specialized for bitcoin mining... good luck selling it.
At one time it was an unknown playground... at this point, we've had congressional hearings... needless to say, the word is out... those seeking speculative positions made their plays a long time ago. And when big money piled in, the whole venture became cost prohibitive for everyone else. [before each leg up of new technology becomes publicly distributed, there is a time period for guaranteed profits].
For those looking to invest, I'd strongly look at the spread between what it costs to mine and the market price. With precious metals, you've got some of them bumping the marginal cost to mine and becoming cost prohibitive to mine... quite the opposite for many of the crypto currencies... just an observation. [if you are close enough to the technology side, then you have guaranteed profit (what the big boys love) if you can get the technology to market before mining difficulty adjusts... in short, those guys who've been mining with the asics ordered by the general community long ago (much were kept out of the public realm) have made a fucking killing... presuming they kept some bitcoin exposure].
"create copy-cats"
They released the source code. That's the biggest clue of all. They are throwing spaghetti on the wall and whichever one sticks, then good for it. (see here http://btc-e.com )
Do you really think one lone programmer sat in his basement laboratory and thought this up, then implemented it, release it, and went to shelter in place in his closet??
This is the work of a very large orginization.
Over.
I don't look at it as a conspiracy, however...
Those Bitcoin ATM's are where the banks take over the currency. They give out fiat for bitcoins, to make the bitcoins usable, and then profit on the HUGE fluctuations in the bitcoin market.
Once they own the lion's share of the market, they dictate how it functions...and the future refused to change.
http://youtu.be/iC_BUaKN3is?t=28s
(High quality screech at the end)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfb_n7wjb5k
Couldn't help but make a Lavos reference...
Bitcoins are the beanie babies of the digital age. You young-uns won't remember but beanie babies were beanbag toys that became a defacto currency. "Rare" beanie babies sold for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Then, the collective consciousness realized that beanie babies were stupid and the market for them evaporated.
Tell me more about the time it took for the market to evaporate! A certain "Greater Fools Theorem" comes to mind!
I think Beanie Babies went from parabolic rise to buy-3-for-50-cents at garage sales pretty quickly.
The reason for the rise in price of tulips and beanie babies was due to short supply, followed by massive increase in supply. Bitcoins supply of new coins constantly diminishes.
You could argue that the number of alternate coins can grow indefinitely, but each coin requires its own wallet and cannot be easily used to purchase actual goods and services.
And people hoarded them because "they could only go higher". Then when nobody wanted them anymore, the rush to exit created a giant whooshing sound and people were wiped out. The excitement right now is the wealthy elite thinks that crypto-currency is going to be a store of value because PMs have failed them. Time will tell but history rhymes.
I love all the "it's backed by math so it's irreproachable schtick" and then we hear "You gotta do LTC because it has better math than BTC, ... No way way dude Feathercoin has superior math to LTC, Pfft, Namecoin rules, TRC, NVC". NVC is my favorite check it out at novacoin.org
Great trade right now but be nimble. End of the day, it's a transactional Smart Card with a brittle transactional protocol. Cool idea but enough of the hype.
So....If I read this correctly, litecoin just doubled the money supply.
What will the next one be called?
Feathercoin / namecoin. Power goes to the best coin. Namecoins serve as a distributed DNS system resistant to government attacks. Featercoins are based on litecoins but repotedly have a bit better logic. They are currently a lot cheaper than litecoin, the ones to watch.
Bitcoin/us$=.001
insanity ...
Coalmine, this is Canary. I am dying.
Gone are the days when you just threw the money in a bank or CD and were frugal...
Now you have to be a friggin genius to keep the Banksteristas from stealing from you. This is not a good way to live....
Another month and its time to pay the bills again, and poof thats 2 more kg of silver Ive had to sell. Bitcoins and their ilk are my only hope. Other than that the central bank's silver will run out before mine does.
When it comes time to get out this market will be truly bidless. But I'm sure all of the trading pros here will triumph.
Over.
We already did.
Over.
This is all just a set-up for the totally cashless society. Once your money is digital and virtual, you can be gone in a second.
It is cashless, but in the sense than the government wants.
You could trade one tulip bulb for a house. Would you trade one bitcoin for an ounce of gold? You can buy beanie babies on ebay for 4000 dollars or 1999 dollars or 19.99 or even 99 cents.
You can buy .005 bitcoins on ebay for 10.50 USD. 5 bitcoins then are equal to 1050 dollars. Crash time. Tulipmania digitally processed.
How is bitcoin different from beanie babies or tulips?
It's insanity.
You can make beanie babies with a 3D printer. You can grow as many tulips as you want.
My math is incorrect by a factor of 10, which prices bitcoin at above 2000 dollars per bitcoin. Looks like it has legs.
I'll be miserable for a lifetime for making an error in mathematics.
And if it surpasses GLD we will know for certain who is aiding and abetting it if not now -then soon.
The sad truth is that if this were not 2013 and was more like 1996 when BTC made it's debut we would have a completely different situation on our hands.
Sometimes timing is everything.
Fooey on E.S. and what he told the World about the United States NSA program and it's accomplice the EU.
http://rinf.com/alt-news/breaking-news/diluted-by-us-and-allies-anti-spying-bill-advances-in-un/
http://www.globalresearch.ca/nsa-infects-50000-computer-systems-worldwide/5359470WOW! Just sold 10% for almost $25K (in euros)... That´s just over $10k of profit from the $15k (250 btc) I bought at $59.75. From here on in I sleep easy and let it ride to at least $3000 per btc before I sell my next 10%. I was not already ¨IN¨, I´m not real sure I´d buy more than 2 or 3 btc´s at this price, but you know what? If losing $2k-$3k would make you lose less sleep than missing a meteoric ride to 5 or 6 figures then you should seriously consider a small purchase. Obviously, like everyone - I wish I would have bought more...
Sell some btc, buy feather coins. Pump up the volume, as it says in the song.
I had a lovely pop on NMC this last week..... $1.66 on the 21st Nov up to $7.18 today........but thats way too volatile so I am getting out right NOW ;)
I also got some XPM, FTC, PPC, LTC and NVC just incase a billion people think likewise over the coming months.
Cheers!
Now that bitcoin is expensive to get into, crypto-investors will need to spread risk, and put the money into potentially better alternatives. I think will will see big gains in them all, in the next few weeks.
https://soundcloud.com/ytcracker/ytcracker-bitcoin-baron-v1-ssl
"Obviously, like everyone - I wish I would have bought more..."
Until like every other bubble, it bursts.
Wow you're an incredible winner! Your instruction book is easy to read and gets me excited(down in my pants)(#1 NOT #2).
Please tell us more!
Over.
I just got in on the hottest new upcoming crytpocurrency: Bigcoins™!
If you want to make some serious dough, you guys really need to look into them...
Guys, I'm not kidding around, here..
Think about it: Bigcoins™ are BIG, they are coins.. and they sound very similar to bitcoins!
What more could you ask for?
Besides, anybody notice the the very stylish "™" at the end?
You can't go wrong with this one, folks.. Buy now or be priced out forever....
WHOA!
As I was typing that last message, Bigcoins™ just skyrocketed by 35%!!
http://media.merchantcircle.com/6211367/coins_full.jpeg
Look how awesome, for sure worth more than a bitcoin lol
Are they holographic and shiny? if so *throws money at screen
If you buy now, we will include a shamwow !
Hey mister....do I get to punch a whore in the face too?
Bitcoin is clearly being played by Wall $treet now.
BS, prove it.
The exchanges for bitcoin are ad-hoc garbage.
The coin itself may be encyrpted but its value is not.
The bitcoin ticker/charts are being manipulated by the site owners to sway market moves.
When the exchange site owners wants to sell bitcoins he/she drives the price up on the ticker a few % points, when he/she wants to buy they drive the price on the site down to force panic sell offs.
Wouldn't surprise me in the least if the two three major exchanges are colluding so they can price fix.
The exchange sites are probably bullshit to be honest, because if I was running the sites, thats exactly what I would be doing.
No one audits these sites, no one reviews them ;)
A bitcoin costs like 3$ to produce (once you hit break even 1~3 weeks) and its selling for 900$
Tulip Mania by anyones definition.
Once again...
BS, prove it.
(I just woke up little grouchy so Ill redact my comment now that I have coffee)
Look at the exchanges.......you have to fucking wire money to Russia, back to fucking Nigeria then you buy these bootleg coins that anyone can make in their basement.
Its tulip mania....your buying shit coins off a shit site , its clear as day what more proof do you need?
Step 1 make a shit coin worth nothing
Step 2 use the new magic marketing word "encrypted"
Step 3 make shit website for people to hand you there money
Step 4 watch as the mania takes off
Step 5 profit and laugh your ass off as all these gambling idiots hand you there money
Step 6 when it crashes down, shut the site down and take the funds, since none of them are being accounted for anyway
You can't even pull large amounts of money out of most exchanges, its a fucking scheme, wouldn't surprise me if one day the sites go poof with everyones bitcoins dollars yen, whatever the fuck they have in there....no audits, no reviews, no standards on chart data no nothing bs all around.
People have too much trust on these ad-hoc jimmy rigged exchanges.
Yikes, that's terrible. You should probably just drop all thoughts of getting involved with bitcoin right here and now, for good.
No , the money is probably in minning deals/contracts.
Sell these stupid coins to retards by mining them, they cost shit nothing to produce.
The infrastructure for bitcoin, and the wallets, definitely need improvement.
That said, people definitely need to be careful finding a reputable, law-abiding exchange and watch out for the scams, the homebrews, and the illiquid.
"law abiding exchange" there are no laws that apply to these anonymous ad-hoc exchanges.
You are buying things based off a value set by some website.
The owners of the website could make a 100$ sale report as a 500$ sale on the chart if he wanted to....and since most people on each exchange probably buy and sell based on the displayed price on the site, its not hard to mind fuck thousands of people into a mania, especially when the monkey greed gene turns on in the brain.
Would also explain why you have such price variance between exchanges, one exchange will sell coins for 700$ another 900$ another 1000$, China would sell coins in yuan for 1100$ , the sites have trouble price fixing because of different user counts/volume, whichever exchange has the most users is the one that can be manipulated up or down the most, hence the volitility because the value is not only speculative, I would say that its rigged.
Mine, Sell, Profit, Laugh as you just sold 3$ virtual pixels to some moron for 800$.
lol
I see the marketing of "encrypted" the same as "holographic pokemon cards", they are "more valuable than regular pokemon cards" because they are "shiny", in the end all pokemon cards were equally worthless, not because of scarcity, but because people lost interest in pokemon in general.
;p
"there are no laws that apply to these anonymous ad-hoc exchanges."
Incorrect, while laws may not apply on the bitcoin side of the equation, they certainly apply on the dollars/euros/yuan side.
It is evident in the charts and the media exposure.
Bitcoin ain't as cool as this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ99OMlI5cg
All purposely constructed/pumped to take people's eyes off the ball.
What is the point of bitcoin and litecoin? Chasing more bubbles?
Hahahaha. Zerohedge is forced to mention Litecoin after the market cap triples from 250 million. HILARIOUS!
Zerohedge = Zerocred
To put things more accurately, the dollar is now down 99.999 percent against Bitcoin in the last 4 years.
The Bitcoin Channel
You want a report on all the alternate coins, constantly? Expecting anyone to notice Litecoin until it makes big moves is a bit much, considering how crowded the alt-coin field is.
I started reporting on Litecoins when there were less than 10 other cryptos:
Bitcoin Report Volume 28 (Trading Crypto-currencies)Yes John, BTC threads on Zero Hedge shines light on just that.
I'm surprised some of these specimens even have enough synapses firing to simply turn on a computer, let alone drool all over themselves and shit their diapers in public...
Taking offers for my new cryptocurrency "sexcoin"
SexCoin already exists, you have to choose a different name.
http://com-http.us/ccdir/sxc/
compare bitcoin to gold to fiat currency:
http://1839assetmanagement.blogspot.com/
The Bitcon price is a reflection of the pricing mechanism prevelant today across all markets on electronic exchanges. The stock, bond, commodity and currency exchanges have been reduced to gambling dens whereby the more powerful traders with deep pockets move the markets to maximize their own profits at the expense of the remaining not so powerful players. The big boys have enormous money power to move the markets in the direction which results in maximum profits for themselves. They effectively use the media to lure the other players in the market to a position where they would incur maximum loss.
The markets continue to rise till all short positions in the market are covered and the majority of traders move to the long side. Once this is done the market falls till all long positions are closed and short positions undertaken. Then rinse and repeat. The price mechanism has little to do with the actual demand, supply, fundamentals or state of the economy.
www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article40231.html
Bitcoin will go through the usual stages any new finanical vehicle goes through. It's best if this vehicle has no intrinsic value or the valuation measures are obscure. First it will be introduced on CNBC. As it gains popularity and prices increase, medial will attack it; this is the phase during which Wall$treet accumulates from weaker hands. Next Wall$treet ramps up the price while CNBC posts the charts numerous times per day. We are in that phase with Bitcoin now. The last phase is distribution. There's no way of knowing when that starts, but the end stage is exactly like any other bubble.
Does your theory apply to bitcoin? This currency is available to anyone in the world with a smartphone. Will other countries slowly adopt bitcoin and prop up the price once the next US media driven bubble pops?
Stocks are available to anyone in the word with a smartphone.
Don't you need a bank account to do stock trades? I was mostly thinking of the effect the millions of "unbanked" around the world would have on a bitcoin final price after all the speculators are done with bitcoin. I hear international remittances alone are 500 billion a year business. Seems like bitcoin prices will be supported by that increasingly in the future.
TO DA MOON!!!
EVERYONE IN OUR SQUATTER'S HUT HAS BEEN SELLING EVERYTHING TO BUY MORE BITCOINS! IT IS THE NEW GOLD!!! WE WILL BE SEEING A DOUBLING OR TRIPLING IN NO TIME NOW! BUY IT WHILE IT IS STILL CHEAP!!!
i like tulips on my organ and high returns from my bitcoins
I just hope my BTC $1100 hat is shipped in time!
$1072.9 last time I checked, when's the mailman usually come?
How do we know that Bitcoin was not setup by some huge fend in conjunction with the CIA to suck us all in. Don't be surprised when the government calls it a ponzi scheme, shuts it down and confiscates all the money. Madoff had over 50 billion before he was caught. I would say bitcoin has a ways to go.
Play it safe, stay away.
Hyperinflation is here!
Don't forget the most important thing. At the end of the day, you can't eat coins or paper.
Cost of food will go up huge next year and government or central banks can't do anything to stop the massive cost of living increases. Producers already shutting down or reducing their herds or flocks. Fields are being left bare as the bullshit "market" price for products doesn't cover the cost.
Fuck Bernanke. He did this.
OK, genius, tell me how food prices are going to skyrocket if, as you said, "price for products doesn't cover the cost."
From my econ 101 class, I'd suggest prices are now so low - because of oversupply - they're probably going to stay that way until producers stop producing completely and/or people buy more food than they can eat before it spoils (ain't gonna happen).
Besides, just because you say producers are shutting down or reducing their flocks doesn't make it true. There's always some ebb and flow. Better producers, with lower overhead (like me and my back yard garden) aren't shutting down. In fact, I'm expanding this Spring from a 20x30 garden to over an acre.
Should I care that I can sell my tomatoes and cucumbers for less than the supermarket? Probably not.
If food prices do skyrocket, I, along with hundreds of thousands of small farmers, will reap the rewards.
It's a win-win. Advice: grow your own. That which you can't eat, trade for meat, fish or fowl.
You're welcome.
I think all are not looking at the endgame scenario of Bitcoin.
I like to call it "fire in the hotel"
Right now, if one wants to perform a transaction from one wallet to another, that is an update to the blockchain, and that's an action performed as a normal operation of the miners. This process is of variable speed, and can take several hours to do, if you don't provide the transaction "fee", or "BRIBE" as I like to think of it. Well, think forward on this as more parties performing transactions enter into the bitcoin marketplace. As this happens, transaction fees will become more and more onerous and burdensome to get a transaction to complete in a reasonable non-geologic timeframe. At some point, it will take more bribe to perform the transaction than the transfer amount itself. When this starts happening, it will touch off a rush to the exits. Fire in the hotel.
Please tell me I'm wrong and why.
If you do not think you pay fees to process your transaction with a debit card or credit card, you are naive.
Part of the beauty of this form of currency is that it is peer to peer. They cut out the middle man.
Imagine an Amazon that can cut its credit card transaction fees. Yes, it is a long way into the future, but adding a couple of % to their bottom line would be huge.
I am sure this "craze" may be short lived. But I also recall seeing the internet before MOSAIC, Broadband before I had a 56K modem, and High def TV when it was 8000 for a 32 in screen.
This stuff takes time. It doesnt always end up the way its first intended. But the future is in this system. I would hesitate to pooh-pooh it too quickly.
for the first time, something i bought this year went up in bennybux!
and there's no 30% tax on sale!
It is strange watching people choose fantasy {bitcoin} over reality {precious metals}, but then again, so many do that every day with their lives. I doubt the action we are seeing in the "virtual currencies" is anything other than speculation. Only time will tell. They teach all young boxers this: "The one that puts you on the canvas, is the one you never see coming." Only time will tell if this thing gets real legs. I'll never fall for it. I'll keep tight my metals.
I chose the reality month after month after month for about 4 years. Now I am too ill for working anywhere other than home, and the price is 75% of what I paid. Every month the commentators would say, 'this time next year it will be $1000 an ounce.' They got it wrong, and kept getting it wrong, month after month. Now we see every time the price is hit ZHers high five, as if there is something to celebrate seeing one's savings being hit.
My biggest regret is not selling half my silver at the start of the year and putting it all into bitcoin.
Your problem {along with most people} is that you have been programed to think short term. They programed you that way for a reason. They don't think that way, thats for sure. You have to keep your eye on the end game. Do you really believe some virtual currency {good name for it} is going to be the answer to protecting your wealth? If so, I have some Ocean front property in Arizona to sell you.
You have been programed to think short term...
What a load of bullshit, you know absolutely nothing about how I think.
I've used Amagi Metals twice with excellent results. Just make sure your bitcoin client (Bitcoin-QT) is running and current before attempting your transaction. The transaction will use the bitcoin client running on your computer to make the payment. The bitcoin client will display the transaction and ask for your confirmation before making payment.
I think that TPTB are watching closely as this is a test run for future electronic currency. Who really created BTC, who knows??
Its popularity I'm guessing has three groups of popular supporters.
Young people of the adbusters vein who think BTC is a solution to the worlds problems. Its a brave new world.
Another group is chinese hot money getting the heck out of dodge.
I bet that participants in international illegal activities love BTC for bypassing currency controls and keeping the activities in the dark. Money launderers must love this.
None of these activities are a threat to the banking system because the first group is internationalist and doesn't care. The other two groups are just getting their cash offshore and deposited in a safer jurisdiction. So what if they don't pay their local taxes. The banks don't care.
The banks provide these same services for their better customers.
The difference is, Bitcoin is a full-reserve currency, you have to have 100% of the coins to spend them. The banks will want an infinite-leverage digital currency, because 100-1 is just not enough.
The global black market is estimated to be worth us$1.8 trillion. (Just saying).
well, if anything, Bitcoin does spark up some of the longest and somewhat interesting threads on ZH anymore these days. But just wait until the Comex finally defaults and phyzz prices explode away from the collapsing paper prices...then it's really gonna get interesting!!!
phyzz bitchez...BTFD while it's still on sale. You may as well get it now, because even if/when/as the paper prices get monkey-hammered again and we possibly see paper silver around 16 or 17 and paper gold around 1000 or 1050, you're never going to be able to time that dip or get any phyzz unless you wait a very long time and pay a huge premium on top of that paper price.
Premiums on phyzz silver at 16/oz might reach 50%, so you'll still be paying (and waiting and waiting and waiting) around 24 or 25/oz if you can even find anything for sale.
You may as well buy your phyzz now, pay around 22 to 24 depending on what you're getting...and walk out the LCS with it in your hot little hands!
My LCS guy won't even sell his cheaper Buffaloes right now...he has vaulted them. He doesn't want to gouge us with higher premiums. So he's only selling his ASE's and for 4.50 over spot. That's just the way it is and the way it's gonna be.
I say get as much phyzz as you can now and be ahead of the sheeple herd, cuz once they finally wake up and want some phyzz it's either going to be "NOT FOR SALE" or priced outta their league at that point no matter what.
Just sayin'...
Happy Thanksgiving!
i wouldn't hold your breath on a COMEX default.
but always stack metal, regardless.
Comex default, right. That has been just around the corner for what, 6 years or longer now? Good luck stacking and waiting for that one to happen.
So you could either spend over $1,000 and get just 1 bitcoin..
OR...
For the same amount of money, you could get like 1,000 Bigcoins™!
And when Bigcoins™ are trading where bitcoins are now, you would be A MILLIONAIRE!!
Bigcoins™: They're a no-brainer, folks...
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
I'm in!!!! I'm going to start PowerCoins™ and have Kenny Powers' face on the front and the slogan on the back says "You're Fucking Out I'm Fucking In". Slam dunk buy!!!!
Just pay off your mortgage in Bitcoins, right? LOL
“Wave Of Disaster” Threatens U.S. Mortgage Markethttp://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-11-27/%E2%80%9Cwave-disaster%E2%80%9D-threatens-us-mortgage-market
The German regulator has joined the British Financial Regulator and is opening up an examination of the gold and silver price ‘setting’ at banks.
The German financial markets regulator is scrutinizing gold and silver price setting operations at individual banks alongside other benchmark processes including Libor and Euribor, Bafin spokesman Ben Fischer told media. Bafin declined to elaborate on the status of the investigation or the banks involved.
Despite the very poor sentiment after recent price falls, gold's fundamentals are actually quite sound.
Global physical demand is set to be very high again this year and may even reach a new record, despite the 25% price fall.
This is especially the case, as Chinese demand is set to be a new record this year despite the recent slight decline in demand. China’s net imports of gold from Hong Kong alone in October reached the second-highest level on record last month. This does not include direct imports from Australia, Africa, Vietnam and other countries.
Indeed, Chinese demand this year looks set to be a new record for the highest gold demand from one country in one year ever. It is important to look at the aggregate annual demand figures rather than the ebb and flows of weekly and monthly data which can mislead.
Momentum and technical traders are dominant at the moment and with the short term trend down, gold may incur further losses in the short term.
However, the smart money is gradually accumulating on the dips. Dollar cost averaging remains prudent for investors who wish to get exposure to bullion but are concerned about further price falls.
U.S. borrowers are increasingly missing payments on home equity lines of credit they took out during the housing bubble, a trend that could deal another blow to the country's biggest banks according to Reuters Insight.
It would likely also deal another blow to the U.S. property market and the fragile U.S. economy.
Bank of America, JP Morgan and Wells Fargo appear to be the most exposed - meaning that either taxpayers will again be asked to bail out banks or more likely the new bail-in regime will confiscate cash from depositors.
From Reuters:
The loans are a problem now because an increasing number are hitting their 10-year anniversary, at which point borrowers usually must start paying down the principal on the loans as well as the interest they had been paying all along.
More than $221 billion of these loans at the largest banks will hit this mark over the next four years, about 40 percent of the home equity lines of credit now outstanding.
For a typical consumer, that shift can translate to their monthly payment more than tripling, a particular burden for the subprime borrowers that often took out these loans. And payments will rise further when the Federal Reserve starts to hike rates, because the loans usually carry floating interest rates.
At a conference last month in Washington, DC, Amy Crews Cutts, the chief economist at consumer credit agency Equifax, told mortgage bankers that an increase in tens of thousands of homeowners' monthly payments on these home equity lines is a pending "wave of disaster".
In terms of loan losses, "What we've seen so far is the tip of the iceberg. It's relatively low in relation to what's coming," Equifax's Crews Cuts said.
There are concerns about Britain’s property market too and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warned of a UK property bubble last week.
The Paris-based group said, in its semi-annual Economic Outlook, that it was urgent to continue to relax the barriers to housing supply to prevent overheating in the property market. It ignored the fact that the nascent new bubble is in a large part due to near zero percent interest rates leading to renewed property speculation by buy to let investors.
The UK government’s Help to Buy program that aids buyers with smaller deposits has been criticized by the International Monetary Fund and politicians for potentially stoking a property bubble as it boosts demand.
Given the very fragile recovery, despite near zero percent interest rates in the UK and the U.S. and the uncertain international backdrop, property prices in both countries look vulnerable.
I WANT TO MOVE TO MOUNT GOX!!
Now this is a ROI. Stocks, Shmocks.
10,000 next.
I smell tulip mania
I smell bitterness for not having bothered to educate oneself on BTC before everyone else did.
The market value of all available bitcoin is now over $5 billion.
God fucking dammit.
Sorry gold bugs, bitcoin is superior as sound money to gold or silver. As a former gold bug it was painful for me to accept the truth, but truth is truth. If we do not accept it and move forward we fall backwards. Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies are the evolution of money. It is a product of innovation resulting human action. Once this innovation is out there it is not going away. If you love gold just because it is gold you will find yourself experiencing the same fate as the guys who loved the horse and buggy long after the automobile was introduced. Adapt guys!
This article is the definative explanation of why bitocin is superior to gold and silver as sound money. Enjoy.
http://knowmadiclife.com/blog/2013/11/22/bitcoin-vs-gold-as-sound-money
Your link is broken. And no, sorry, BTC is not sound money. Or at the very best, not as sound as gold and silver, for which provision is made the US Constitution.
Try again, though. I'd like to read that article. It might change my thinking, but I seriously doubt it.
I don't know why the link stopped working. Here it is again. I understand completely how you believe. I believed the same way for years until I did my own research and stopped listening to gold bugs like Peter Schiff whose entire life depends on gold one day becoming money again. If I can use BTC as money but I cannot use gold as money, which of the two is money?
knowmadiclife.com/blog/2013/11/22/bitcoin-vs-gold-as-sound-money
NORMAL?
hmmm.
this poor guy had no DR or B&R plan:
Missing: hard drive containing Bitcoins worth £4m in Newport landfill site A digital 'wallet' containing 7,500 Bitcoins that James Howells generated on his laptop is buried under four feet of rubbish http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/27/hard-drive-bitcoin-lan...Fourteen thousand bars! That's beautiful! Where is it?
In a bank.
In a bank? You're getting pretty ambitious, aren't you? To think you can blow a bank and get away with it?
It's behind enemy lines.
Sooo, I have a question about Bitcoin for those who are familiar with using it.
Does the price of things in Bitcoin drop comensurately with the rise in Bitcoin vs. the USD? So, for example, if Bitcoin doubled against the USD tomorrow, would the cost of things in Bitcoin drop by half?
It should, if Bitcoin is actually functioning as a currency. The next question is, assuming it does, does the adjustment of the price of goods in Bitcoins happen at the same speed with which Bitcoin changes against the USD? Or is it somewhat sticky?
Generally the prices are fixed in USD and converted to BTC automatically. Occassionally you'll see items priced in fix BTC on bitcoin forums like bitcointalk.
In a year, we'll be busting people's balls with quips like "yeah, and I have 1,000 bitcoins to sell you" it will be the new Zimbabwe million dollar bill.
I bought some bitcoins only to discover that they were salted with 2s and 3s.
Check out the Bitcoin koers here. Bitcoin is great for trading!!