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Bitcoin slides 18% on crackdown fears; crypto rivals also plunge

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What's wrong with gold?

Nothing, as a store of value. But awful if you want to move it anywhere. What if you want to leave your country with $1 million USD or so? That's something like 25kg of gold. Good luck bringing that through the airport unnoticed. As governments fall more into debt, they will tighten the flow of cash and squeeze every citizen.

I am pretty sure that those Saudi princes who are being shaken down right now wish they bought some bitcoin.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I'm buying on this dip!

The future is electronic money with privacy and freedom!

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Looking at bitFlyer this morning I see moves of between 25 to 40% over the past day. Yes all down.

Anyone who thought they were ‘investing’ by buying these arbitrary, no-yield, unproductive software tokens should think again. This is or was a speculative bubble.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

They should have called it bytecoin

2 ( +2 / -0 )

This might sound a bit gruesome but I'm curious to see if there will be a noticeable uptick in suicides accompanying the Bitcoin crash. Especially in Japan. Bitcoin evangelists always say that the government should stay out of their business and has no reason to regulate cryptocurrencies, but I think this sort of massive financial speculation will have negative externalities which impact the rest of us in society. Especially when we now see people mortgaging their homes to invest in Bitcoin.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I think this sort of massive financial speculation will have negative externalities which impact the rest of us in society. Especially when we now see people mortgaging their homes to invest in Bitcoin.

People gamble, buy lottery tickets they can't afford (sold by the state), but houses they can't afford (using loan guarantees provided by the state) and invest in all manner of scams (many supported by the state). Why single out bitcoin? It has nothing to do with protecting ordinary people - that is the least of government's concerns.

Widespread prohibition of cryptocurrencies will of course affect the price - short term. Long term, it will create a massive underground economy as people move into crypto to protect their savings. Unless they want to shut down the internet, they will be unable to stop decentralized currencies and exchanges. Look at the music business for proof of this.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Nothing, as a store of value. But awful if you want to move it anywhere. What if you want to leave your country with $1 million USD or so? That's something like 25kg of gold. Good luck bringing that through the airport unnoticed. As governments fall more into debt, they will tighten the flow of cash and squeeze every citizen.

I am pretty sure that those Saudi princes who are being shaken down right now wish they bought some bitcoin.

Good point and a lot of logic in your comment. I guess for someone in a relatively stable country I don't intend to move full time anywhere, but for those on the move, or under threat, I can understand it. Still, to be a genuine alternative to the bank and standard currency, there needs to be a lot more stability than at present.

The lack of a physical product in bitcoin gives rise to its own concerns if somehow the whole thing is hacked.

Smart money that isn't willing to speculate too much would probably expand it even further yes? - real estate, shares, cash, bonds, gold, crypto

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Anyone who thought they were ‘investing’ by buying these arbitrary, no-yield, unproductive software tokens should think again. This is or was a speculative bubble.

Very speculative. That said, these tokens essentially are no different than the bits and bytes in a banks infrastructure, or those little pieces of paper we call money. None of it has any actual value, people just think it does.

We should stop believing in fake value objects, and return to bartering. That's the only thing that truly equates two values together. I'm not going to give you a horse for a days worth of rice, I'm going to want as much rice as I could use a horse to produce in tilling the fields etc.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Bitcoin is a legal tender in Japan.

Bitcoin is not a legal tender in China and Korea, and both governments are cracking down on Bitcoin.

History will tell who was right.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Ripple and some other coins went back to where it was a few weeks ago, so if you had bought before that then you'd still be in the profit zone. This type of January dip has been happening the past few years and it will recover, now might be the best time to buy and we will never see these low prices again!

0 ( +2 / -2 )

24 hours later and bitcoin is nearly at the same level it was when this story was printed, despite experiencing a HUGE drop during that time.

it is an unstable thing. we have to get used to it for now, and learn that we can't predict the future.

we can predict though, that the technology of bitcoin is useful and if we figure out a way to stop the high fees, it is going to replace normal currencies and governments are going to have to deal with it.

bitcoin could be paving the way for something like paper currency did to the chinese in the tang dynasty. whole new ball game.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It's the way of the world now and I can't change it, but I hate the way that the focus on investing has become flipping things for capital gain. Whether it be houses, fx, bitcoin, it doesn't matter. It's all zero sum and about having good timing. Housewives in Japan should not be trying to outwit huge companies in the fx and bitcoin markets based on a fraction of the information and analysis available to those companies. It is a recipe for them losing all their money.

I don't know how we do it, but we need get back to a place where you invested in production, got dividends, and only made capital gains on expectations of future profits (i.e., improvements in production). That is not zero sum and is more likely to benefit a larger group of people over the long term than a system based on short term speculation.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Bitcoin evangelists always say that the government should stay out of their business and has no reason to regulate cryptocurrencies

There is no way to regulate cryptocurrencies. There is no controlling institution to be able to apply any regulation. Only the exchanges can be regulated, not the currency itself.

Especially when we now see people mortgaging their homes to invest in Bitcoin.

Is anyone actually doing that? I haven't seen it anywhere.

Way too risky of an 'investment' to risk your first home on. Maybe if they were mortgaging a secondary home or something.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Long term, it will create a massive underground economy as people move into crypto to protect their savings. 

What's wrong with gold?

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

these tokens essentially are no different than the bits and bytes in a banks infrastructure, or those little pieces of paper we call money

In practice, I can use paper as a medium of exchange. I can buy BMWs with it.

I wonder if the local dealer would accept bitcoin for BMWs! I know I wouldn’t accept bitcoin for payment for anything of significant value. Otherwise I might as well ask for payment in sea shells. No idea what they are really worth.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

is a recipe for them losing all their money

Some of the day trading housewives and husbands make a very good fist of it, and if they do lose their money it was only their responsibility, and at their own choice.

Short term speculators do play a key role in the markets, by ensuring long term players have someone to sell to when they want to get out. Only those who want to be short term speculators, need be. Their business.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

a look a loooooooong chart of bitcoin will show you how foolish it is to believe news reports of doom and gloom.

look at a 100 year chart of the Dow Jones.

Bitcoin is pretty much unstoppable at this point. It may be overshadowed by one of its spawn, such as etherium or litecoin at one point, for certain applications, but bitcoin is quickly becoming a substitute for gold in the global marketplace.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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