

Bitcoin shoots past $150 today - bluetooth
https://bitfloor.com/market_data

======
Oculus
This look eerily familiar to the NASDAQ in February/March of 2000. Plus
there's no recent financial news to justify such a huge jump in value in such
a short time.

This bubble will burst. It will burst soon and it will burn the people who
just jumped in and bought the new mining-specific machines that recently came
on the market.

~~~
ISL
"In the short term the market is a popularity contest; in the long term it is
a weighing machine." - Buffett

If you'd like to hold BTC for 10-20 years, they may be quite cheap at the
moment, as most of them have already been made. If you're looking for
returns/stability/growth over the next six months, look out.

As a medium of exchange, the BTC is presently sub-par; it's just too volatile.
I can't be certain that, if I exchange USD for BTC in a wallet on my phone,
that it will be worth within 1% of what I paid by the time I walk to a store
to spend it.

~~~
betterunix
"If you'd like to hold BTC for 10-20 years, they may be quite cheap at the
moment, as most of them have already been made."

That fact that most have already been computed has little bearing on the
future price of BTC. What matters in the future is whether or not people will
actually use Bitcoin as a currency (it has no other use); I am still not
convinced that it will ever become mainstream. I hear about all sorts of
places that accept Bitcoin payments, but I have yet to see anything that
matters -- I cannot buy diesel with it, I cannot pay rent with it, I cannot
pay utility bills with it, my local supermarket does not take it, and I cannot
pay taxes with it. Even for black market transactions (drugs, guns, etc.)
Bitcoin is obscure; even with all the sales that happen on Silk Road, you are
looking at a tiny fraction of the market for illegal drugs.

Bitcoin is in a very precarious position. Most of the cost of buying in is the
result of speculation about its future use, which is fueled by the media
coverage it receives on tech news sites. A lot of the hype is based on
questionable assumptions about Bitcoin's security and about the lack of
authorities in the system. Bitcoin's ability to survive when the hype dies
down and the assumptions are challenged is doubtful, at least from where I
sit.

~~~
ISL
The day the assumptions get challenged, especially when the Man steps in, is
the critical one.

Something like BTC, however, just seems convenient. In a thread yesterday, I
needed to express the price of tools in a country-independent way. For
giggles, I expressed it in BTC instead of USD; afterward, it felt right. A
country-invariant store of value has real value on its own. It might not be
BTC, but I don't think cryptocurrency is going away.

~~~
jdotjdot
It may have felt right, but by tomorrow it will be inaccurate, since BTC/USD
will have continued to shoot up.

There really is no country-independent way yo express price, even those with
the same currency have different prices for the same basket of goods based on
a myriad of conditions. That's what Happy Meals don't cost the same
everywhere.

------
impostervt
Buyers keep entering the market. Mt. Gox is so inefficient at "approving" new
users that it may actually be slowing down the crazy growth. Last I heard,
there were over 9,000 people waiting to be approved on Mt. Gox.

~~~
dcc1
Why in gods name would anyone want to use MtGox? Their verification
requirements are ridiculous (they dont accept watermarked passport scan), why
in gods name would anyone upload good document scans to what is essentially
the money laundering arm of the Japanese Yakuza!

Aint the whole point of bitcoin is that one doesnt have to use centralised
systems like Paypal who love to freeze your accounts, MtGox do the same now,
they freeze an account until you "verify" which might take months if ever all
while your bitcoins are sitting in their account

~~~
dangrossman
It takes days, not months, to get verified, and a cell phone camera picture of
a drivers license and utility bill will go through fine.

~~~
dcc1
No it wont, I uploaded a 200dpi scan and they refused saying they wanted a
300dpi scan, without the words Mtgox watermarked in red text across it

What sort of fools upload hiqh quality passport scans to shady sites online
who can uses these to steal your identity with great ease

~~~
dangrossman
It will, because that's all I gave them when I verified my account.

~~~
dcc1
Well then you are lucky, in meantime I will use bitstamp who dont fuck around
freezing your bitcoins and dont ask for documents unless you are
adding/withdrawing thousands.

------
incision
I have some bitcoin that I've been sitting on for 2 years which I'd like to
liquidate, but the spotty track record of bitcoin exchanges makes me wary of
providing the kind of identifying/financial information that seems to be
required.

~~~
verbalist
You could probably sell some in person if you live in a major metro area; for
example if you're in SF I'll buy them off you today (in person).

~~~
btipling
Why would you buy bit coin? What value does it have for you?

~~~
verbalist
You think it's hard to hire developers right now? Well guess what, there are a
bunch of talented ones who only want payment in Bitcoin.

~~~
TrevorJ
Really? I'd like to know more about this, if true that would be an interesting
development.

~~~
recuter
He probably means blackhats.

~~~
TrevorJ
More than likely.

------
siscia
You can say whatever you want about this bubble, but a couple of days ago it
was around 100 $ who bought it 2 days ago now have earned the 50%... In 2
days... It is just crazy.

I can remember the HN post of "BitCoin just hit 10$" and I remember to say to
my brother... Whooa that stuff really worth something, we should start mining
it...

Plus if there is more than 9000 people waiting to buy more than 50.000 dollars
of bitcoin, the price is gonna raise again... I might buy some...

------
StavrosK
Welp, time to sell.

~~~
miles
_Welp, time to sell._

The price two days later: $234. Up $84.

Required reading for prognosticators:

I'm Raising My Bitcoin Price Target To $400
[http://www.businessinsider.com/im-raising-my-bitcoin-
price-t...](http://www.businessinsider.com/im-raising-my-bitcoin-price-target-
to-400-2013-4)

~~~
StavrosK
Hindsight is 40/40.

------
chm
The CAD market is even more insane. It's hit $CAD 173.9 on
<http://cavirtex.com> .

~~~
BrokenPipe
In UK it is even worst, the equivalent of US $177, check on
bitbargain.co.uk/buy or localbitcoins.com.

~~~
chm
Heh. I have tried to buy BTC for the past two days, but nobody was interested
in selling at the last lowest ask price. On the Canadian exchange, it seems as
if some people are controlling the market by buying and selling to themselves.

I understand that the ask prices are going up in part because of increased
demand, but the constant ratcheting up of asks smells fishy.

~~~
Permit
Buying and selling to yourself on Cavirtex would be a strange decision. You'd
lose 3% on each trade you make.

~~~
jdoliner
True but if you were able to nudge up the price by more than that it might be
worth it.

------
heifetz
it's $172 on mtgox, went up another $20 today. This is not a natural movement.
This thing is a bubble that can pop any point, but at the same time, I won't
be surprised if it goes to $1000 first. Like the .com bubble, you just hope
that you can cash out before it crashes.

