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Crazy to think BTC have doubled in price since August. I wonder how many people are just buying up BTC and waiting

jonknee 14y ago
It's not that crazy, BTC will continue to have wild swings like any small market with a fixed supply. BTC was worth more for a short time in June 2011 and then crashed. Another crash wouldn't be surprising at all. http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/chart.png?width=940&m=mtgoxUSD&SubmitButton=Draw&r=&i=Daily&c=0&s=&e=&Prev=&Next=&t=C&b=&a1=&m1=10&a2=&m2=25&x=0&i1=&i2=&i3=&i4=&v=0&cv=0&ps=0&l=0&p=0&#38 http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/chart.png?width=940&m=mt...;
sliverstorm 14y ago
It isn't that surprising to me, considering the payout for miners was halved a month or two ago.
- Dylan16807 14y ago
  Do you really think the price would change very much if the miner payout was raised or dropped by a factor of ten? Over half the bitcoins have already been mined; expecting the price to be based on the trickle of new ones is unrealistic.
  - sliverstorm 14y ago
    It may change eventually, and the exchange rate does fluctuate dramatically sometimes, but it has been shown in the past that the market value of bitcoins tends to stabilize around the electricity cost of mining.
    - conroe64 14y ago
      Since the amount of mining is going fluctuate based on the potential profit, I'd say the electricity cost of mining is stabilizing to a factor around the price of bitcoins rather than the other way around.
    - jzwinck 14y ago
      Does this mean the total value of all bitcoins is similar to the cost of the electricity used for mining them? If so, isn't it worrying that so much electricity has been used because of bitcoin? I have often wondered if a currency could be constructed such that the mining would solve real computational problems, thereby doubling the value produced per energy consumed.
      - sliverstorm 14y ago
        isn't it worrying that so much electricity has been used because of bitcoin I don't like it either, but you can't control what people do with their resources.

It's not that crazy, BTC will continue to have wild swings like any small market with a fixed supply. BTC was worth more for a short time in June 2011 and then crashed. Another crash wouldn't be surprising at all. http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/chart.png?width=940&m=mtgoxUSD&SubmitButton=Draw&r=&i=Daily&c=0&s=&e=&Prev=&Next=&t=C&b=&a1=&m1=10&a2=&m2=25&x=0&i1=&i2=&i3=&i4=&v=0&cv=0&ps=0&l=0&p=0&#38 http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/chart.png?width=940&m=mt...;

sliverstorm 14y ago

It isn't that surprising to me, considering the payout for miners was halved a month or two ago.

Dylan16807 14y ago
Do you really think the price would change very much if the miner payout was raised or dropped by a factor of ten? Over half the bitcoins have already been mined; expecting the price to be based on the trickle of new ones is unrealistic.
- sliverstorm 14y ago
  It may change eventually, and the exchange rate does fluctuate dramatically sometimes, but it has been shown in the past that the market value of bitcoins tends to stabilize around the electricity cost of mining.
  - conroe64 14y ago
    Since the amount of mining is going fluctuate based on the potential profit, I'd say the electricity cost of mining is stabilizing to a factor around the price of bitcoins rather than the other way around.
  - jzwinck 14y ago
    Does this mean the total value of all bitcoins is similar to the cost of the electricity used for mining them? If so, isn't it worrying that so much electricity has been used because of bitcoin? I have often wondered if a currency could be constructed such that the mining would solve real computational problems, thereby doubling the value produced per energy consumed.
    - sliverstorm 14y ago
      isn't it worrying that so much electricity has been used because of bitcoin I don't like it either, but you can't control what people do with their resources.