The end of Bitcoin?

[Costello]

Most of you probably know what Bitcoin is by now. This virtual currency reached unbelievable heights a few months ago when 1 bitcoin was worth over $1120 on the exchange markets. The biggest bitcoin wallet in the world was reported to hold over 144,000 bitcoins which at the time was worth over 161 million dollars! So why are we talking about the end of Bitcoin you ask? Because MtGox, the biggest Bitcoin trading platform (on which people exchange Bitcoins for USD and vice-versa), is reportedly dead.

The exchange's website then went down late on Monday, and visitors to the site saw only a blank white page. Users reported via Twitter that Mt. Gox was not executing new orders, raising the possibility that the exchange was also offline.
[...]
Many investors doubt they'll ever get their money back from the exchange, so the price of a Bitcoin on Mt.Gox has spiraled down to around $200. Meanwhile, the price is closer to $570 on other major exchanges that ran into similar issues, but quickly recovered.
[...]
Mt.Gox did not respond to requests for comment. But members of the Bitcoin Foundation's board say Karpeles left on good terms -- and wasn't pushed out by his colleagues.

Let's not beat around the bush: at this point most people now assume that the MtGox owners have gone dark and basically ran away with the money. The value of the BTC has literally collapsed. It looks like nobody's getting their money back- anything they may have invested or exchanged through MtGox. What does this inspire you? Have you lost confidence in virtual currencies or are you a Dogecoin enthusiast? Tell us what you think in this thread.

Information source (CNN)

 

[Bladexdsl]

glad i never used it i bet there's millions of peeps screaming now give me back my moniez!

 

[Foxi4]

I was never a virtual currency enthusiast to be honest, at least not in the sense of Bitcoins, Dogecoins or other similar things.

I realize they represents "the work your computer has done" and it's the result of "spending resources, aka electricity and hardware, in order to earn unique values", but still, it doesn't represent a whole lot of actual, real life value - perhaps because it "earns itself" in the process of automated mining rather than is earned by a given person through work or exchange of goods, or maybe perhaps the work that's being done doesn't really benefit anyone and is limited to wasting resources. The process of mining is more akin to the process of minting currency rather than earning it.

It was never a "true" currency to me, rather a currency-like construct, an experiment and a gimmick. That's not to say that actual, recognized virtual currency will never succeed - we're at the stage where we could completely get rid of paper and coin money if all the stores were equipped with card terminals.

 

[Joe88]

maybe now vendors will stop overcharging so much for radeon cards

 

[slingblade1170]

I don't have real currency, so theres no chance of virtual currency.

 

[Nathan Drake]

Bitcoin and virtual currencies as a whole have been shaky since they began, and will remain shaky as long as they do exist. When pushing your money through third parties, indirect currency or not, there is a chance of getting scammed and losing out, no matter how much trust the source has built up. Because of that, I'm sure this won't be the end of Bitcoin. As a currency, it is still far too prominent in illegal marketplaces to up and disappear, especially considering the next best currency still isn't nearly prominent enough to consider. They just won't be worth as much for awhile. I'm sure that will change in due time, and those who still feel the currency is worth investing in may take advantage of this downturn to stock up and sell for what may be a substantial increase down the line once the currency re-stabilizes.

Really though, considering what Bitcoins are used for largely, you have to consider that not everybody offering to do things with your Bitcoins are going to have your best interests in mind.

 

[Gahars]

Damn, Slugworth lied to me!

Spoiler: Black Tuesday

On a somewhat related note, read up on Tulip Mania.

 

[Jayro]

I never understood the point of these "currencies" since you can't spend them anywhere...

 

[Costello]

I never understood the point of these "currencies" since you can't spend them anywhere...

There are actually tons of uses for these currencies.

the simplest form:
- February 1st: buy 1 bitcoin (let's assume 1 bitcoin is worth $100, so you spent $100)
- February 28th: the value of the bitcoin has increased to $200. You sell your bitcoin, obtain $200.
You have made a $100 benefit in the process. It's called speculation on currency.
It's risky because it could go the other way...

Also it's used for tax evasion: exchange your USD against Bitcoins in the USA, travel to europe, exchange your Bitcoins for Euros. Tax free. That sort of thing...
And lastly, some stores and online services do accept bitcoins, so your original statement is somewhat inaccurate.

 

[Ryukouki]

Never really got into digital currencies. It's an interesting concept, like a very volatile stock market, but I'm just more frustrated because I didn't buy early and missed out on a chance to make some serious dollars, not to mention my computer could never mine efficiently.

 

[Chary]

It's a very interesting concept, but it's not worth it when the system is so unstable, and something like this happens. At least when investing in the stock market, your money won't pop out of existence.

 

[Devin]

Dogecoin for life. Well, I'm actually invested in a few different coins. First I invested $3 in Quark when it first came out and that turned into $170~ USD. Now I'm just sitting on 15K Dogecoin and around 760~ Alphacoin. Waiting for a huge spike in them now that Bitcoin may be out of the picture.

 

[trumpet-205]

Cryptocurrency is inherently unstable, due to the fact that it is decentralized.

I like to think of it stock market, except you don't have information about it to predict which way it goes.

 

[DinohScene]

we're at the stage where we could completely get rid of paper and coin money if all the stores were equipped with card terminals.

I keep 60 quid in me car at all times.
Me bankcard might fail or the fuelstations card terminal might fail.
Atleast I can pay for me tank of fuel that way.

Bitcoin was interesting.
I never participating tho.
Thought about doing it but ended up just being lazy and forgetting about it.

 

[vayanui8]

Always seemed to me to be too risky of a system. Since the bitcoins were not a true official currency, and were only worth money because people wanted them to be, there is no safe way to know how much you have. What if someone somehow managed to hack the bitcoin system, it would be a disaster for anybody invested in it. What if people just decided that they no longer wanted to use bitcoins? Then they would lose all their value, and your money with it. Just seems too risky to me with the only benefits being small compared to the amount you could lose if things went wrong

 

[techboy]

Now I'm just sitting on 15K Dogecoin.

Doing the same...although 8.5K at the moment, and growing by ~1K/day. I lost my first wallet with 6K to software problems. Started about 2 weeks ago.

I'm curious as to whether these recent BTC events will make Doge worth more than ~1/10 cent each.

Not to get off topic, but is there a way to even mine Doge economically? The electricity cost for the miner exceeds the revenue generated by it except maybe for extremely high-end GPUs. I know my GTX470 isn't paying to run itself...

 

[tatripp]

A bitcoin is not backed up by anything. The US currency is at least backed up by services and goods.

 

[xcrimsonstormx]

After the Silk Road collapsed, that is when Bitcoin started to go down. Really the only thing I see Bitcoin good for is illegal activity's.

 

[Bladexdsl]

we're at the stage where we could completely get rid of paper and coin money if all the stores were equipped with card terminals.

nearly all the stores here are like that we have paypass/wave you simply tap your card against the reader and it does the transaction at lightning speeds

 

[tHciNc]

Should have sold my 14 when i had the chance, was an early miner, but thought it was pointless as BC's where worthless then, back then you could mine with anything for decent results... Here we have paywave, just waiting for the banks here to add it as an app for NFC capable phones, capped at $80 transactions though by most retailers for security