Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin surges as Grexit worries mount, posts best run in 18 months


Bitcoin surged by as much as 7 percent on Tuesday and was on track for its longest winning streak in 18 months, as concerns that Greece could tumble out of the euro drove speculators and Greek depositors into the decentralized digital currency.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras lashed out at Greece's creditors on Tuesday as he defied a string of warnings that Europe is preparing for a "Grexit". The debt-stricken country faces 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in repayments to the International Monetary Fund by the end of June.

Bitcoin, a web-based "cryptocurrency" invented six years ago, is not backed by or controlled by any government or central bank and floats freely, fluctuating according to user demand.

Though bitcoin's value has previously been highly volatile, it has stabilized over the past six months and is increasingly treated as a legitimate and potentially valuable asset by major financial institutions, and even by governments such as Britain's.

Joshua Scigala, co-founder of Vaultoro.com, a firm that holds bitcoin for its customers and allows them to exchange it for gold and vice versa, said that Greeks were buying the currency as their trust in the authorities waned. It is also unclear what currency would be used if a Grexit does occur -- another potential factor driving Greek demand for bitcoin....

In March-April 2013 bitcoin's value shot up by almost 700 percent in just over a month, as Cyprus clamped down on withdrawals and seized deposits, rattling faith in fiat currencies.....

Greek Central Bank Warns of ‘Uncontrollable Crisis’ if Bailout Talks Fail

Report warns of deep recession if deal cannot be reached with creditors

ATHENS—Greece’s central bank warned Wednesday that failure to clinch a deal with international creditors on its future funding needs could lead the country into an “uncontrollable crisis,” describing the issue as being of historical significance for the nation.

The  Bank of Greece ’s report amounts to an appeal to Greece’s government and its international creditors to overcome the differences between them, which the bank suggests are not unbridgeable in terms of the fiscal numbers.

But the conflict between Greece’s government and its lenders has become politically charged, with both sides deeply mistrustful of the other and neither willing to give ground.

“Failure to reach an agreement would... mark the beginning of a painful course that would lead initially to a Greek default and ultimately to the country’s exit from the euro area and—most likely—from the European Union,” the report said.

“A manageable debt crisis, as the one that we are currently addressing with the help of our partners, would snowball into an uncontrollable crisis, with great risks for the banking system and financial stability.”

All this would imply deep recession, a dramatic decline in income levels, an exponential rise in unemployment and a collapse of all that the Greek economy has achieved over the years of its EU, and especially its euro area, membership, the report added....

The thing about Cyprus then and Greece now is no one in that region is actually buying BTC - they're not exactly the most technological people and there isn't that many of them and they definitely didn't pile on BTC in the last days.  It's all speculators speculating on news that's happening in an area of the world they've never been to or only briefly whilst on vacation.

This. It's speculators reveling in a potential bank-fail scenario. Not Greece stocking up.

Makes sense.
Go Greece Go.
Literally. Get out of the EU. Best thing Greece could do. F 'em.

Well, I read in my homeland mainstream media article in economy section about Greece buying lot of BTC. So I guess its not just speculators. Based on that article amount of IP adresses buying BTC from Greece grew 120% in last days.

Well, I read in my homeland mainstream media article in economy section about Greece buying lot of BTC. So I guess its not just speculators. Based on that article amount of IP adresses buying BTC from Greece grew 120% in last days.