Is the Bitcoin bubble about to burst?

[PeteXXX]

Bitcoin's Price Just Jumped $1,000 in 24 Hours. The price of bitcoin passed the $12,000 mark for the first time ever last night, and has now gained over $1,000 in less than 24 hours.

Kaboom!!

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

The ransomware industry will be so happy.

 

[Shaun]

I've always wondered how you cash them in - for real money?

 

[PeteXXX]

No idea, but I wish I’d have bought some a year or so ago!
One day, Rodney.....

 

[NickNick]

I sold all the ones I had saved a few years back, I could have bought a house by now if I hadn;t I also had the opportunity to mine them back when they were mineable with a CPU in the very early days (around when silk road was launched) as my house mate at the time was a tech/crypto guy, one of my biggest regrets is that I couldn't be bothered at the time.

Each time they have reach a new mile stone I've thought about but then decided, surely they can't go up anymore! I am currently considering buying some...

 

[Tin Pot]

I've always wondered how you cash them in - for real money?

ATM in NY, or sell them online like any other asset, eg shares, at an exchange.

You can do it with an app...which may not be plain sailing:
http://uk.businessinsider.com/how-t...at-the-coinbase-app-looks-like-on-an-iphone-1

Speak an IFA would be my advice.

 

[biggs682]

i must get 10+ e mails a day about them

 

[nickyboy]

I've always wondered how you cash them in - for real money?

You've got to remember that "real money" isn't real anything. It's a convention that allows you to swap it for goods and services

Crypto currencies are exactly the same. It's just that they aren't issued by a government.

My only comment re buying bitcoins is that the current market and the way bitcoins are being promoted displays many of the characteristics of a bubble

 

[TVC]

A couple of guys at work have just decided to get into bitcoins, and given their track record I would say a crash is odds on.

I flirted with the idea of sticking in £500 a couple of years ago, but I convinced myself it was going to collapse then, so what do I know.

I do see a future for global currencies not controlled by Governments but I'm not sure bitcoin is it, just as Friends Reunited, Myspace et al paved the way for the social media monoliths we have now, the mistakes and dodgyness around bitcoin will lead to a robust currency in the future.

 

[Beebo]

As I understand it there are a finite amount of bitcoin, which will ensure the value remains high. You can’t just print more and more.

Apparently they are big news in Africa now where people don’t have easy access to banks, you can keep your electronic wallet on your smart phone and undertake transactions in seconds.

 

[Tin Pot]

I flirted with the idea of sticking in £500 a couple of years ago, but I convinced myself it was going to collapse then, so what do I know.

It did crash. Then it ballooned again.

 

[GM]

Hope it doesn't crash....I bought 200 hundred quids worth yesterday!

 

[Inertia]

I don't know much about it except that recently Valve stopped taking payments via bitcoins on Wednesday. This is their reasoning

As of today, Steam will no longer support Bitcoin as a payment method on our platform due to high fees and volatility in the value of Bitcoin.

In the past few months we've seen an increase in the volatility in the value of Bitcoin and a significant increase in the fees to process transactions on the Bitcoin network. For example, transaction fees that are charged to the customer by the Bitcoin network have skyrocketed this year, topping out at close to $20 a transaction last week (compared to roughly $0.20 when we initially enabled Bitcoin). Unfortunately, Valve has no control over the amount of the fee. These fees result in unreasonably high costs for purchasing games when paying with Bitcoin. The high transaction fees cause even greater problems when the value of Bitcoin itself drops dramatically.

Historically, the value of Bitcoin has been volatile, but the degree of volatility has become extreme in the last few months, losing as much as 25% in value over a period of days. This creates a problem for customers trying to purchase games with Bitcoin. When checking out on Steam, a customer will transfer x amount of Bitcoin for the cost of the game, plus y amount of Bitcoin to cover the transaction fee charged by the Bitcoin network. The value of Bitcoin is only guaranteed for a certain period of time so if the transaction doesn’t complete within that window of time, then the amount of Bitcoin needed to cover the transaction can change. The amount it can change has been increasing recently to a point where it can be significantly different.

The normal resolution for this is to either refund the original payment to the user, or ask the user to transfer additional funds to cover the remaining balance. In both these cases, the user is hit with the Bitcoin network transaction fee again. This year, we’ve seen increasing number of customers get into this state. With the transaction fee being so high right now, it is not feasible to refund or ask the customer to transfer the missing balance (which itself runs the risk of underpayment again, depending on how much the value of Bitcoin changes while the Bitcoin network processes the additional transfer).

At this point, it has become untenable to support Bitcoin as a payment option. We may re-evaluate whether Bitcoin makes sense for us and for the Steam community at a later date.

We will continue working to resolve any pending issues for customers who are impacted by existing underpayments or transaction fees

 

[nickyboy]

Hope it doesn't crash....I bought 200 hundred quids worth yesterday!

It's small-scale retail investors speculating on it's continuing appreciation that is driving the price up. I'm not convinced the fundamentals support the current price

I hope your investment is successful, but in a speculative market (ie. hoping someone will buy it off you for more than you paid, who in turn hopes to do the same) it is prone to change in sentiment and a crash

Anyone fancy buying a few tulip bulbs off me?

 

[Tin Pot]

It's small-scale retail investors speculating on it's continuing appreciation that is driving the price up. I'm not convinced the fundamentals support the current price

I hope your investment is successful, but in a speculative market (ie. hoping someone will buy it off you for more than you paid, who in turn hopes to do the same) it is prone to change in sentiment and a crash

Anyone fancy buying a few tulip bulbs off me?

Ha ha - what fundamentals?!