Bitcoin Forum

With bank doors slammed shut, frantic Greeks are turning to online trading platforms to see if the digital money Bitcoin is a better bet than the euro.

The world's largest Bitcoin exchanges tell CNNMoney they've seen a surge of business from Greece.

Ten times as many Greeks are registering to trade bitcoins on the German marketplace Bitcoin.de than usual, according to CEO Oliver Flaskaemper. Bitcoin trades from Greece have shot up 79% from their ten-week average on Bitstamp, the world's third-largest exchange. Even trading platforms in China are getting interest. LakeBTC, headquartered in Shanghai, is seeing a 40% increase in visitors using computers in Greece.

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http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/29/technology/greece-bitcoin/index.html

Great article, eyes on greece could the euro bitcoin trade field blow in the day now ? with a those types on increases in usage tons of people will turn into bitcoin, hopefully bitcoin get some tv coverage in greece with the right people.

I wonder what that one guy with the only Bitcoin ATM is gunna do with all that cash? My first thought was to buy more ATM's...but how will he move the cash with banks closed?

Well is a book store, most likely buy more book no? , but hes gonna need more bitcoins yea how is he gonna move the cash buy a plane ticket and travel with it there is cash restrictions so?

...

It might be hard in the very short-term for Greeks to pile into BTC now, at least with the idea of taking wealth out of Greece (to Switzerland, etc.).  But, Greeks will remember these days, and I would think it very likely that once the banks are open again, there will be a nice of Greek euros into BTC.  If I were Greek, I sure would be buying BTC as able, now and in the future...

Greece is pretty small to affect the BTC prices worldwide.  But, it may not be too much longer until the next financial crisis, and people will start putting together an ugly picture: Cyprus, Greece and Xxxxxx (Portugal, Spain, etc.).  THAT is when, IMO, BTC starts revving, at least in Europe.

this is going to be one hell of a push to bitcoin price in the last couple of months. and it obviously had the first impact on bitcoin price so far.
if the rest of the obstacles are removed from the way of Greeks to buy bitcoin, like only one bitcoin ATM and banks being shut for money transfer; then i suppose we are going to see a surge in price.

the fact of the possibility can make the price go up significantly. and that while greek people might not even buy into bitcoin. as long as we believe they will, we will buy and make the price go up.

This is another related topic: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1103870.msg11750150#msg11750150
You can have a look! I think guys here just randomly post new threads without checking the existing ones!

And the price is now booming, could it be the greek effect taking place ? could we see a 300 usd in the next few days !  are greeks really aware of bitcoin and what they could do with it ?

I don't think its Greece driving us up. Google trends show the search for bitcoin from Greece is only up by 2x , which is not enough to believe the whole country is driving the price up. I feel its only the speculation that is driving the price up. Most of the citizens there still don't have their money in hand, and people who do, don't have large enough amounts to actually go buy bitcoin.

Greeks are not rushing to Bitcoin.

Even a 10x increase in Google searches in Greece amounts to just about nothing.

The people that were smart and withdrew their Euros before recently will only be able to buy Bitcoin from LocalBitcoins. (The capital controls/bank closings ensure this.) Yeah, Coinbase exists in Greece...but good luck using it with the capital controls.

Unless they need to get money out of the country, there is little value in buying Bitcoin for the average Greek. They are still holding Euros, which unlike the situation in Argentina, still have value outside of the country.

The psychology of all of this is what's driving the recent slight price increase. At the end of the day, psychology is what moves markets.

This is BS. People should buy BTC cause they like it and believe in this tech, not cause their country s being hit by the crisis caused by the same government they ve elected.

Business in Greece is working like everyday, many tourists and they pay by credit card or by cash  ;) In fact - by cash - as banks are closed now  ;D BTC is not so easy to implement in crowded tourist places  ;)

Would they wander off to LTC as well?  ;D

Even though the rise in the price might not be due to Greece buying but it certainly has speculations and is causing an upward trend on the price.

Rather in Crowded places btc seems to work well , as its much faster than by paying by cash or cards. If everyone in Greece right now was using Bitcoins, Tourists wouldn't have to run around looking for banks to convert to EURO from their own country currency, they could just pay with bitcoins.

It will have a impact... News will spread via the grapevine and emails and direct links to Bitcoin information. You cannot just go on Google statistics alone.

It is our responsibility to welcome them, and to assist with information to secure their coins. The more people doing this, would help to strengthen the whole community.

I will start with a list of bad Bitcoin sites ---> http://www.badbitcoin.org/index.htm  {Press Ctrl + F and search for a site on the Badlist}

uhhh LTC? what is LTC? ahh, I know, dead project from some chinese guy without community..:))

Yep, I agree that this is a psychological move.  If people in Greece were really buying bitcoins en mass then I believe we would see a much sharper increase in price.

This isn't the Greek people running to bitcoins.  The data shows that the increase of purchases in euros is about the same as it was last month.  BTC was bouncing off of the 220's and 30's for a little while, and the upward momentum seemed stronger than the downward momentum.  I think that the Greece thing might have been a catalyst to bring in some investors, but I don't think the Greek people are doing it.  We (people in general) don't tend to fix things until they are already broken.  Almost no one would have had the foresight to buy bitcoins, and even if they did they would have done it weeks ago, not now when all of the banks are closed.

Greeks invented democracy
A centralized idea of governmental ethics
They also invented homos

I think it is hard to tell if the Greek people are buying coins or not.  But the media is making stories about bitcoins, so either way it is getting some good exposure as a legitimate storage of assets, instead of a way to buy illegal things.

Some ppl are buying up this crappcoin!

I don't think they have the money to buy now! And it seems ppl from other regions are not buying up as well.

LTC is quite popular in Russia and China. And as long as BTC-e includes them in their UI, there will be some value for the Litecoin. That said, right now you can't do anything with the LTC. All the sites, which were accepting LTC earlier have either closed down (Atlantis) or shifted to other currencies such as the Bitcoin.

it has a good name, you can't deny that, the name is very important in everything, it's a strong name, that it is immediately recognizable

also they still see it a the bitcoin little brother, don't except litecoin to die so easily, and because many like alternative, litecoin will remain alive for a long time


i think this bitcoin pump, is because of the ltc pump too, and not only for the grexit

and the lct pump is because of the pumping, i don't believe there is any connection with the grexit, they only started to rise it with the grexit to increase the hype...

good strategy i would say...

It seems the new spring of Bitcoin.

Today i see bitcoin price experienced significant increase from $255 to $265. Maybe it's caused by people who rushing to bitcoin because Greece bankrupt. This problem also make gold price increase. Let's see Greece Referendum result.

That would be my guess too.
With Greece bankrupt Euro will take a big hit.
It's price already started dropping.

And it's also hard to believe that Greeks who are limited to €60 per day will rush to buy Bitcoins.
Maybe some of them, which are the ones that had inside info and withdrew before the announcement.

Where did you see that they are limited? Source? That would really suck, and it explains a whole lot.

If they do not already have Bitcoins, this limit would not help them at all. If they bought Bitcoins before the limit, they would not be that restricted.

I wonder how many vendors/merchants accept Bitcoin in Greece? It will not help them, if they have Bitcoin and they cannot buy anything with it. Eg.. local Food

It's a damn shame, what is happening to those people. I have many friends there, and they are suffering because their government made the wrong decisions.

Some of the users are hoarding Bitcoin, expecting a NO vote in the Greek referendum. Imagine what will happen, if some last minute deal is reached between the troika and the Greeks, and the referendum is cancelled. If that doesn’t happen, then a surprise YES vote in the referendum is also a huge possibility.

Greek people are poor as fuck, right? So their 60 dollar isn't helping.
I have reason to believe that Philipvdlinde is pumping Bitcoin, just like he did in 2013.

I am glad the greeks have realised the true power of decentralised currency snd are benefiting themselves by buying bitcoin. This boost of sudden purchases of bitcoin clearly portraits how a crypto currency is much more better and useful than fiat currency.

If Satoshi Nakamoto is still around and found, Greece will make him the head of their financial sectors, they would be thankful for him for his excellent invention of this digital currency technology which ultimately became quick resolution for their current financial crisis.

even if Greece is not affecting bitcoin the markets that are being affected might have an effect on Bitcoin.

well despite if the guy is starting new threads or not, greeces problem is a on-going problem with eu.

so we can be sure that a whole country needs to move their money which should influx more price increase if western union keeps closing doors for a week.

I believe capital controls forbids sending money outside of the country. If it's still possible today, it won't be possible tomorrow. Greek banks just have no other choice if they want to open again next week.

news reporter said they're not tech savvy nation. how many bitcoin atms there?
even their national bitcoin exchange sites looks sleepy.

they are affecting it along with the litecoin halving, but not directly, basically it is once again a hype thing, many know that with greece exit the price will rise(pure speculation) therefore they start to buy

then other will follow, it's all about following the hype, there aren't really any tangible effects from the Grexit

Taking advantage of a change in economic situations is a great way to increase Bitcoin adoption.
In the future when the currency stabalizes if the infrastructure for Bitcoin investments appears and remains constant in Greece it could keep and retain its adoption, what I would like to see now is for more services to set shop in Greece to trade Euros for Bitcoins and shops and merchants being targeted to increase adoption in the long term.

percentage data is easy to reverie, 79% or 40% can be from 1 to 79 or 40, I would like to know how much is the number exactly

Romanians and Bulgarians are bums and gipsy's, lol.

Can't imagine Greeks abandoning the Euro just yet. A year or so ago it was conventional wisdom that the Euro was dead and that most of the EU would revert to its own currencies. And that hasn't happened yet.

Anyone predicting that any one country will go to a different currency needs to think through the logistics that are involved: re-printing the paper currency, re-minting the coins. Then deciding what the exchange rate will be. Then making sure that the replacement currency is in place. Not as easy as it sounds.

I don't believe that the Greeks would rush to bitcoin, it is not a profitable venture for them according to their euro affair. They have been trying to fix their situation with debts, something in which the price of euro played a significant part. The price of euro is higher than how Greece needs it to be, pushing them in debt. Investing in a currency which will multiply by 50 times right after they adopt it itself, would doom the nation before it could save it.

Just know that those countries maybe be bums, but when theres a similar financial situation like greece, they too will need bitcoin.

So more reason to hold for future financial mess in the future for all world banks who decide to profit.

The media portraying that Greeks are rushing to Bitcoin is an utter lie. They are just trying to create fake news which however, is giving a slight boost to bitcoin. However, people actually believing that Greece will adopt bitcoin is so stupid. They would never do that, why will they adopt a currency which will increase much more than its current price?

Everything usually seems to be more hype then it really is, imo.

All news outlets are like this, its why I can usually stay on cnn or other new places too long so I go on reddit more for valid responses to validate their stories.

Yeah, why would you do that? why not just adopt a currency that keeps hyperinflating until it's worth shit nothing? Oh wait, that's what people has been doing, and look what they got in return.

Anyway, it's good to see CNN covering stuff like that in a positive note.

If CNN covered bitcoin more often, i`d say we would have more users.

I know a friend of mine came to me the other day mentioning about it after he read some old cnn article in 2014 when was doing outsource work for some writing gig he had.

Here is a little more coverage from cnbc, there is a 350% raise on signups coming from greece so investors in greece are looking at bitcoin, http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000393297

I would say some greeks are rushing to bitcoin not as a country.

Look that all Eurozone are buying BTC....                 http://cointelegraph.com/news/114712/300-increase-in-bitcoin-buys-across-eu-as-greece-falls-into-arrears

CNBC seems to be bullish on Bitcoin. There are multiple articles connecting the crisis in Greek and its impact on Bitcoin.
Such coverage seems refreshing and is a change from the ponzi / drug-related articles.

I figured. Bitcoin couldn't single handedly save a doomed economy as I said in a different thread about Greece, but with their fiat pretty much at a collapse, those with a head start to Bitcoin I think will partially save their economic portfolio. I see this as an opportunity for Greeks to invest in precious metals as well.

Placing all your bets on Greece for short-term gains in the Bitcoin market would have been a mistake, making it obvious by this point of time. However, on the same book but a different page, there are some highly intelligent and financially competent characters who see things exactly opposite to that and believe that there is still time to cram in Bitcoin orders before the big ascension begins.

Yes is pretty refreshing to see a new face of news specially on the economy side, is a more serous approach and investors will welcome that to at lease drive forward new capital and start ups, I'm sure soon we will get to see a few new start ups in Greece.

this is not the time for them to invest in anything, they should have invested before in metal or bitcoin, now all their bank account are locked, all their money are gone, who was smart enough to withdrawn before this shit happened, could still save his life, the other are only doomed

So what are you suggest? IMO they need to draw all of their investment and start to change their investment since they can't use their bank account anymore to withdraw their money. That is the only way to start earning again or may be they can start to move away from greece and find the better place to live and get some work to do

They only must protect theirs savings from banks, maybe changing to USD and keeping its on a safe place......

EDIT:  With  capital controls implemented in Greece right now: You can only withdraw €60 from your bank account in one day, and no overseas transfers, well in that case they must withdraw 60*30 = €1800 each month, they only can change a part ot its.Worst scenary could be that they can`t withdraw nothing.

Precisely. This false media bullshit is pissing me off, maybe Greeks are curious about bitcoins but they won't be fucking dealing with bitcoins as most of their money is stuck in the banks. And why the fuck would they buy bitcoins? There are a lot of vendors out there who will give them groceries in exchange of bitcoins? Nope. There aren't any. Greeks are in a crisis, but they aren't that stupid.

There are currently plenty of mainstream webpages mentioning Bitcoin relatively often. Those definitely help adoption. But it takes something extra special for a person to read about it and actually start using it, those that have that extra special curiosity are the ones that will make it. The rest will be the sheep that adopt it once we reach critical mass, unfortunately those can say goodbye to an early retirement.

Yes, it does piss me off at the same level to see such bullshit news about how bitcoin should be Greece's escape from his situation. It might affect bitcoin tremendously but destroy Greece permanently. They can;t handle bitcoin right now, maybe 10 years later they can. The best use of bitcoin regarding Greece would only be as a hand against collateral damage!

If the Greeks and its lenders are still communicating by the next week, the IMF’s analysis might change the way discussion i pursued. Throughout Greece’s bailout stunt, euro zone creditors have relied on the IMF for its help regarding advise and experience as much as its financial capacity. There might be a way out of the doom, so don't lose your hopes yet

Thats Right,  Anyway somebody to know:   How can buy BTC greeks?  I guess that it isn´t tru banks.......

Why not? Greek's fiat money and banks have failed it's people. a population which sees it's current economy decline so badly would try to find some refuge. And bitcoin is one virtual global currency. Had I been one of them I would have chosen the bitcoin as my saviour as well. Though this shoot of usage of the bitcoin in Greece will help raise the price of the bitcoins as well so Oohho!

Well, Greece is in some real big trouble. THeir Economy is facing a colossal crisis, their fiat money is dead, so are their banks and the government is hardly helping. Paypal is gone etc. People are left with nothing but hope. And nothing gives them more hope than a virtual global currency which is performing great at the moment - Bitcoin. No surprise they're rushing to bitcoins

Yes they failed the people there and you can't withdraw any money too so how come are you going to ask them to move to bitcoin when there is no money left on them? I guess they need a lot of money to make a new start on bitcoin

And what makes you think that they will rush to Bitcoin? Why not gold or real estate? If someone is looking to store his wealth, and hide them away from the central government, then Bullion will be his primary choice. Bullion is stable, time-trusted, and easy to trade. Bitcoin on the other hand is volatile, relatively new, and difficult to exchange (at least in Greece).

I agree . I think the news about Greece is utter bullshit. It is a felony. It is actually ruining it for bitcoin as well as Greece. Greece is  not capable of handling bitcoin right now . It is pushing them deeper into the pits of catastrophe . Maybe after 6-7 years they will have the potential. Not right now though.

No matter what Greeks do, it is too late for them to rush to bitcoin. It would have been efficient lot earlier or will be after a couple of years but right now it is not going to help them at all in fact it is gonna push them deeper into the pit hole of disaster.

It will be a good choice I think, but only as a long term investment or long term savings. I don't think that very soon or soon it will be an increase in price which can guarantee them consistent profits. I am not able to predictions and normally don't believe in those. Make from me (when I like to play with those things some time) or make from others. I think that there are not enough data for bitcoin to be able someone to make predictions. Anyhow that above my predictions its only a feeling and as such not credible.

But in the case of Greeks it is another thing. It is an way to hide their money. They fear for those because there are to many speculations about the policies which will be followed by the governments (exact the governments and not only government) with the taxes toward the money of the Greeks. So they convert the money in bitcoin to hide those and no one can known the amount of money they have. It is known the habitue of Greeks to not declare the right amount of their profits and their money in general. In this way, the authorities don't know the right amount of money of each Greek, and in the case of the converting of those in bitcoin, cannot find even now, how money can have everyone of them.

If this trend continues, we should expect some bull runs closer towards the repayment deadline. The idea here is to have their money safe and can be converted to cash anytime and when they need it. Learning from the lesson in Greece I think more people around the world should think about how to secure their wealth.

That's the great news to hear. Let Greece rush into bitcoin, then whole European union then the all the countries into bitcoin. That will make bitcoin as the global single currency. This will happen for sure, but making within our generation would be the real success of bitcoin.