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Title: European economies in distress ARE NOT the ones driving the bitcoin up Post by: rhinospray on April 13, 2013, 05:37:07 AM Since Bloomberg TV suggested that the bitcoin rally was caused by Spain, Cyprus and other European countries in distress I have seen that opinion presented as a fact by many journalist. Bloomberg explained the "scientific" base of their analysis: "In Spain, Google searches for “Bitcoin” and downloads of Bitcoin apps soared" and "One of the oddest bits of news to emerge from the economic collapse of Cyprus is a corresponding rise in the value of Bitcoin".
I know little about Cyprus, but I wonder how they could be buying bitcoins just when their money was blocked at the banks. And before that, anyone smart enough to see the unexpected bailout coming would have simply emptied his bank account, not risk all their money in an experimental currency that had already demonstrated extreme volatility. I know a little more about Spain, being a Spaniard myself. In Spain bitcoin is mostly unknown. If you search "bitcoin" in the main newspaper "EL PAIS" you will find just ONE article previous to the Bloomberg analysis, published a few days before, that was the real cause of the sudden Google spike. The recent volume by currency charts show 72% USD versus 16% EUR. I don't have data on how that 16% is split between EU countries. However these forums could be a good indicator. If you bother to count the number of posts in the EU forums, reducing Spanish and Portuguese figures to account for Latin America users, you will find that 70% of the posts come from strong EU countries. So a good approximation could be 72% USD, 11% Strong EU, 5% Weak EU. Take your own conclusions. PD: Anybody take me out of the newbie jail |