Wednesday, November 11, 2015

BLOOMBERG Bitcoin Has Come Crashing Back to Earth



Bloomberg reports:
Bitcoin's recent rally has reversed in a major way.
While the virtual currency is still about 20 percent higher than it was a month ago, it has fallen sharply in recent days.
Searching for reasons behind bitcoin's price movements often feels like an exercise in futility, but two things did dominate recent conversations concerning the cryptocurrency's rise; those were a questionable Russian scheme as well as a surge in Chinese demand. Now it seems the two may be inextricably linked.
User registrations and transactions on bitcoin exchanges like BTCC – one of China's largest – have surged since mid September, around the same time the Russian scheme took off. According to BTCC, transaction volume in bitcoins went from 540,324 in September to 1,152,889 in October. "We saw a hockey stick change in daily registrations," Bobby Lee, CEO of the exchange, said in an interview last week. "The last few days have been crazy and customer service is around the clock, working overtime." 

Bitcoin price activity is the type you typically see in a pump and dump scheme. Some have called Bitcoin a Ponzi scheme, It is not. It is more a pump and dump. The pump took place long ago and what is left are stragglers giving it an occasional bump, hoping for the good old days.

This does not, of course, mean a new pump and dump round can't be ruled out in the future, especially if price inflation starts to climb the way I expect.

 -RW

1 comment:

  1. So the choices are:

    - Gold that oscillates from $300/oz to $1,800/oz to $1,100/oz due to demand fluctuations for a fixed supply
    - Bitcoin that oscillates from $200 to $900 to $300 due to demand fluctuations for a fixed supply
    - USD that does not oscillate, but inexorably moves in but one direction only: toward 0 due to exponentially increasing supply

    Those who prefer stable, mounting decreases in purchasing power may hold their wealth in U.S. dollars. Those who prefer volatile, mounting increases in purchasing power may hold their wealth in gold or bitcoin. The choice is yours.

    ReplyDelete