Bitcoin Forum

So, coming back to bitcoin after at least half a year of forgetting about it. I look on intersango and see that it says that 1 BTC is around £50. I check on MT.Gox and it says the same thing...

When did bitcoin start being worth so much?!?

while you were out, obviously  ;)

Oh, hardy ha ;)

Seriously, last time I checked before today 1 BTC = £4. Now it's like 1BTC = £42...

Welcome to the phenomena that is Bitcoin.

The last two months.

http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/mtgoxUSD#rg360ztgSzm1g10zm2g25zv (http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/mtgoxUSD#rg360ztgSzm1g10zm2g25zv)

I bought some in November at £7 a coin. I came back a couple of months not really expecting much, maybe a rise of a couple of pounds, but certainly nothing like the level it's become.

The answer to your question (if you are actually looking for an answer) depends on what you mean by "so expensive".

If you are asking when in the past 12 months did the MtGox rate first increase above £4 the answer is June 15, 2012.

If you are asking when in the past 12 months did the MtGox rate first increase above £42 the answer is March 20, 2013.

Nice reply ;)

So, the last few months? Damn, I should've bough some cheap earlier :(

I came back after mining a few coins over the summer of 2011, and stopped in the winter when I couldn't get free power from a solar array anymore. I think they were about ~$5 when I stopped looking.. I just kept what I had and forgot about it. Very happy to see the price increase when I checked a few weeks ago.. started mining a lil bit again too :)

Ok,A lot of things have changed since then and most people avoid intersango!!!!!!

The real price spikes started I think around late ~Jan. and has had very large price swings forward followed by a period of cooling but the important thing is that the value remained after the spikes.Someone or a group of individuals has been buying very large amounts of BTC and so far it hasn't stopped!

Speculators and traders are riding the Cypriot wave at the moment. 

There's a widely held belief that if Cyprus does default then people will see any way possible to smuggle money out of Cyprus.  Bitcoin would be one such way.  They're also betting on the Italians, Greeks and Spanish behaving the same way once they too fear their bank accounts being cut or frozen.

If things calm down in Cyprus I wouldn't be surprised at all to see bitcoin return to high 50s/ low 60s and stay there for a while.  It's still incredibly high compared to January 2013 of course.

This. +21000000

I agree, except maybe we stay in a higher range. This would great IMO - we need to base for a while. Get seriously coiled for the next move.

I bought my first bitcoins at £4.50, about 2 weeks after discovering it. Over the next few months I spent a lot of time reading up about it, how the protocol works and the safest way to store coins. A few months later I felt confident to make a reasonable investment, by which time the price was £7.50. It's been a lot of fun since then   ;D

Recently, however, I think the price has been rising too quickly. Too high too fast is bad news, as it increases the chances of another major crash. I'm hoping we can settle down for a while so people can get used to this price, before we carry on upwards. Unfortunately I won't be at all surprised if we continue to see a stupid amount of growth next week.

Long term however, I remain optimistic - I see no reason why we shouldn't see coins go for over £1000, so long as there are no major flaws discovered in the protocol. Based on this, I would say that the simplest strategy is to invest an amount that you're willing to lose, and then forget about it for the next few years. You may well be pleasantly surprised when you return to it. I think trying to follow the market and sell the tops is a bad idea for most people, you may win once or twice but eventually you'll get caught out and could lose quite a lot. I'm sure many others here would second this opinion.

I still believe the "Cyprus effect" is overrated regarding bitcoin. I would be inclined to think otherwise if gold had been rallying at the same time, as it tends to during times of financial panic/unrest.

Bitcoin price has risen because of a sudden rush of demand, but the "Cyprus effect" has not played a great rôle in that demand, even if a few more Spaniards have downloaded bitcoin apps on their phones or whatever.

I agree, but all growth comes in fits and spurts; it's unreasonable to expect a straight line on a small scale. I think next week will test where bitcoin prices can go ($100+), but there will then be a pull-back. These pull-backs help people regain confidence. The spurts are just as important though, as they test the ceiling.

Definitely agree it is pointless to day-trade; the risks are too high. As a long-term investment though things still look solid.

People say news isn't part of the fundamentals, but it is when most people have never even heard of Bitcoin and getting the word out is the biggest challenge. One very important fundamental number for Bitcoin is simply the number of people who've heard about it.

Yes I agree.

Yes, with all the newcomers there is a lot of money entering the market.

Check the exponetial curve upwards.  "Clearly related" to the growth in BTC transactional value, or maybe to do with it's "gold backing" oh....

I think it grew because, people like you see it growing, hey it might grow to $200.... and sadly most people are optimistic and greedy.

Optimism is fine, it's greed that is a problem.

I guess it depends what one's optimistic about, if they're optimistic about bitcoins underlying value, I think it's dangerous. I think most people buying bitcoin at least inside accept it's speculation on it's value rising, more so than it having any real "value" to the hashes.

Hu, that's rare. A thread by me on any forum that has more than 2 pages of replies ;)

Anyhow, thanks for all your replies :) Shame I didn't save the 2BTC I had at one point, really wouldn't have minded the money now ;)

Liam

The value of a Bitcoin lies not in the bitcoin itself, but in the transaction network the bitcoin allows you yo utilize.  No other solution can send money to the opposite side of the globe so quickly or so cheaply.

I completely agree.  The fact that the queue of people waiting to be verified at MtGox keeps growing (now 5,500+?), that coinbase keeps selling out of Bitcoins, and that nearly every Bitcoin-related website is continuing to show a large increase in traffic all are very bullish signs to me.  Even if the price drops, there's at least 5,500 more people waiting to buy and bring the price back up.