Bitcoin Forum

I think this is great news. I have nothing against Gox, they have done a lot of BTC (as well as bad) but being a decentralized system, BTC depends too much on Gox. There last slip up with suspending USD withdrawls for 2 weeks has already taken its toll, both in price and repercussions: https://mtgox.com/press_release_20130620.html (https://mtgox.com/press_release_20130620.html)

http://blog.bitpay.com/2013/06/important-update-on-bitpay-exchange.html?oid=1039_1 (http://blog.bitpay.com/2013/06/important-update-on-bitpay-exchange.html?oid=1039_1)


Don't forget, It's about Sharing...

There's not enough information on how the calculation is actually done -- is it a weighted volume weighted price or just an price average?, what about stale quotes?, etc... -- to tell if this is a "better" standard or not.

Great point but at least we are moving in the right direction. I wonder where that information is at though as one would think they have to make that public. (I checked their site but didn't find anything).
Anyone?

I'm not using MtGox for my goto exchange rate now that USD withdrawals have stopped. Whatever that's worth.

Not sure if I will return to that even after USD withdrawals resume.

There is nothing wrong with using MtGox as a standard for the exchange rate. What is wrong is everybody using them as an exchange.

It depends on how you look at it. The best solution should be a weighted average of few exchanges.

Gox will only loose its position as standard bearer if its volume drop below other exchanges.

There is no "standard" price for anything. The price is what consumers are prepared to pay for the item. As long as an entity is trading more volume that its competitors, then people will use its price as a main reference point. Case in point, if most people use the supermarket, then the price of the supermarket will be used as a reference, regardless of what the so called "recommended retail price" is, or what the corner shop is charging (normally a bit more for convenience to local residents).

Phoenix1 posted this on the wall thread as a quote:


Now, this is really interesting. Basically if Bitstamp and BTCE are near each other in price, then the Gox price is thrown out.  :-*

Further, consider what this will due to the volume at Gox. If Gox is always higher, then, I believe this means, Gox will not be getting Bitpay's business. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

IAS

Not necessarily ...
Depends upon Bitpay's risk appetite and free cash-flow
They could quite easily play the arbitrage game if they wish, taking in BTC at the Bitstamp bid, selling at Gox and waiting it out.

In reality I think that their own business will suffer most as some people will not want to take an 8% haircut and will simply not use the service while this discrepancy exists
Depends so much on how the situation evolves and if MtGox can maintain client confidence in the interim

No idea how much volume they do, but given the size of the Bitcoin economy relative to the speculative turnover, I cannot imagine it is very much.

This quote is not new.  It has been this way for a long time officially although either their algorithm was more complex than that or at times they over-rode it manually because there have been times before when gox was the outlier but it was still used.  My guess on seeing the announcement is that this means of determining price has been discontinued and superseded by the new one where they are specifically excluding gox and using another means (maybe using btce, bitstamp and cbx (although cbx is really small volume in comparison with the other two).

It is a variation on the old way that I have been using as my means of determining price for some time.  Hence the spreadsheet that gives me this that I occasionally share:

https://i.imgur.com/N9Qod4Z.jpg

This is the first time I've seen the mtgox volume at less than 50%.  That's quite something.  We live in interesting times :)

where are you getting your volume numbers?

7:33 PM 6/22/2013 Just logged out from Coinbase. Pleased to say that while mtgox price is 108.87, Coinbase can buy Bitcoins for my account at just 103.xx. Forget the pennies, that's 5$ less per coin right now and I'm just glad they are smart buyers and pass on some savings. It's good business.

You can't use US$ for Gox or Bitinstant. Do any of the other exchanges seem to be having problems with the dollar?

So it's effective emediatly but there is no price listed? At least no obvious link or price on there page. I'm confused, am I missing it somewhere?

Mount What?

You can always see BitPay prices here (https://bitpay.com/bitcoin-exchange-rates).

And this is how 24 hr volumes and bid prices stand this morning...

https://i.imgur.com/MqlbpeP.jpg

I think you are right. A bit Gox like as far as sparse explanations go.
Wouldn't it be nice if Bitpay had a ticker showing it?

Regarding the effect to the customer (e.g. - us), I don't really see it. For example, if you buy something for $100 USD and pay via Bitpay, regardless of the price of Bitcoin, it is bought and sold at the time of the transaction (unless Bitpay wants to take a chance and stay in BTC). The important difference to the customer will be the spread of the BTC price and not the BTC price.

So, shouldn't Bitpay be looking at the closest spread and not most consistent price (2 of 3 exchanges)???

IAS

MtWhat?

umount -l /dev/gox

BitPay has in the first instance (for their merchants requiring fiat conversion) to be doing transactions at a rate that enables it to immediately pass the transaction on to an exchange.  Unless they are going to be determining rate to the customer on the size of the order (by calculating it from the order book) the most important thing is liquidity so they don't lose out on slippage.  With only 1% charged on to the merchant I can't see how they could select the exchange that would best suit the customer without risking losing their margin on slippage.

I think the point of showing their rate based on a single bid price is that it is simply passing on the rate it will be getting itself for the conversion.

Good point and one also has to consider if the customer is sending the bitcoins (and then Bitpay sells the BTC for cash to the recipient) or if Bitpay is handling the from beginning to end (cash to BTC and then back to cash)...

Good news but is there anyone else than Mt Gox that offer an API?

There´s a site where the Mt Gox market depth is presented live - but I lost the bookmark. Any one have it?

I have to be honest I have never used Mt Gox and for trade I mainly used BTC-E. I have also never bought a Bitcoin with GPB ever, just slowly mined my way in with other currencies and projects.

I guess if the governments cannot regulate/control the exchanges then they will target the payment processors.

mtgoxlive.com or bitcoinity.org show the dynamic orderbook, bitcoincharts.com has smaller snapshots too.

On a related note. It would be in everyone's interest to push for a Global Best Bid or Offer system ala (NBBO in the US). This is where your chosen bitcoin exchange would silently route your order to another exchange if it would get you a better price.  It would require lines of credit between exchanges but thanks to bitcoin, settlement would be near-instant. Exchanges would compete more on service and the community would benefit immensely.

The 'best' solution depends on why you are seeking a rate in the first place.



This is exactly the point.

For example, if you intend to buy/sell bitcoins on BTC-E after your trade with someone from localbitcoins.com or after purchasing something with bitcoins, then the rate on BTC-E is the only one that matters.

Nothing wrong with using the Mt Gox rate if that's where you dump coins or replenish your stash.

Gox is unreliable, that is why there is a new open source project called Buttercoin.

Is that an offshoot of glucosefructosesyrupcoin?

Or is it the speech impediment version of buttcoin?

It's called google.

http://trading.i286.org/