Bitcoin market cap is now almost... [Apollo moon landing project+Ft. Knox !]

[Spaceman_Spiff]

Ben currently prints $118,000,000/hr. So that's, what, all of bitcoin every 6.5 hours?

Puts things into perspective, right?

[phlogistonq]

Assessed value of the Mona Lisa reached.

Paintings are a bubble! Not bitcoin!

It's a race with the FED. And BTC is losing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno%27s_paradoxes#Achilles_and_the_tortoise

3600 BTC printed daily? need to have a $500,000 per BTC to reach the printing frenzy of the FED.

But by the time we have $500,000 per BTC. The FED will have accelerated to ten-fold.

Doesn't that actually mean BTC is winning, at least in terms of buying power?

[mokahless]

1 billion has been hit. If it will stay there is still questionable. As of writing, it has gone back down to just barely below 1 billion USD.

[intel-core-i7]

nope  - back up  -

Market Cap
based on latest prices
1,001,691,445 USD

[mokahless]

(rounded to nearest dollar) $108 US needed to meet next target.

[BitcoinTate]

Ben currently prints $118,000,000/hr. So that's, what, all of bitcoin every 6.5 hours?

Makes you realize how much more room there is for Bitcoin to grow.

[Adrian-x]

It's a race with the FED. And BTC is losing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno%27s_paradoxes#Achilles_and_the_tortoise

3600 BTC printed daily? need to have a $500,000 per BTC to reach the printing frenzy of the FED.

But by the time we have $500,000 per BTC. The FED will have accelerated to ten-fold.

Quote this every time someone thinks Bitcoin is growing too fast, it's not growing fast enough.

[mokahless]

^yeah eh?

We just hit enough for $10 for every US household.

[mokahless]

Box office revenue of Star Wars, adjusted for inflation.

[jrlichtman]

Its still early days.

I started following BTC in late 2010, and there were probably only a few hundred users.

If I'm reading blockchain.info right, there's only a few tens of thousands of users right now.

Give it another ten years...

[mokahless]

Cost to fund wikipedia for 100 years reached. Maybe I should start thinking about making the targets further apart? 

[mokahless]

Now at the same level as the total annual tax breaks to the 5 largest oil companies (2011)

[Fiery Winds]

It's a race with the FED. And BTC is losing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno%27s_paradoxes#Achilles_and_the_tortoise

3600 BTC printed daily? need to have a $500,000 per BTC to reach the printing frenzy of the FED.

But by the time we have $500,000 per BTC. The FED will have accelerated to ten-fold.

You do know that the paradox you linked to is a paradox because it's false?  It wasn't until the advent of Algebra that it was able to be mathematically proven false (it's obviously false in real life).  Distance = Rate x Time.  Setting a system of two equations for both racers, it's easy to calculate who wins, and at what point Achilles overtakes the tortoise.

[Jutarul]

It's a race with the FED. And BTC is losing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno%27s_paradoxes#Achilles_and_the_tortoise

3600 BTC printed daily? need to have a $500,000 per BTC to reach the printing frenzy of the FED.

But by the time we have $500,000 per BTC. The FED will have accelerated to ten-fold.

You do know that the paradox you linked to is a paradox because it's false?  It wasn't until the advent of Algebra that it was able to be mathematically proven false (it's obviously false in real life).  Distance = Rate x Time.  Setting a system of two equations for both racers, it's easy to calculate who wins, and at what point Achilles overtakes the tortoise.

Humor works best on false premises and exaggerations.

[MikeH]

Code:

Ft. Knox Gold Reserves ($245,900,000,000)

where'd you get that figure? there's no gold in Ft. Knox.

[jerkoff]

Virtual market cap is a virtual number, one that cannot be translated into real cash.

Say I start a great company, with 100 million shares. I get investers, make profit and after a while the company is worth $100 million.

I hold 99% of the shares and IPO the 1%. After a while they trade for $100 each. That would make my 99% be worth 9.9 billions. However, it's a purely virtual market cap. As soon as I try to cash out a few percent of those shares, it would crash the market since it only has a real market cap of $100 million. You just can't make 10 billion out of 100 million just by saying it is worth that or force it by scarcity. It will never work, any significant selling will drop the price back to its real value of $1 per share.

Bitcoin has exactly the same problem. There are 11 million coins, hoarded by many early adopters. But only 1% of coins are actively traded, maybe 20 million has flowed into the bitcoin market lately by naive gamblers buying coins for $100+ the last few weeks.

If it appears a peak is reached and the price drops a bit, everyone that hoards will try to cash in. But before even 5% of people manage to sell, the price will have dropped like a rock. It's impossible all 11 million coins are cashable, its real market cap just isn't big enough.

[Willowbitcoin]

great post.

[jubalix]

Virtual market cap is a virtual number, one that cannot be translated into real cash.

Say I start a great company, with 100 million shares. I get investers, make profit and after a while the company is worth $100 million.

I hold 99% of the shares and IPO the 1%. After a while they trade for $100 each. That would make my 99% be worth 9.9 billions. However, it's a purely virtual market cap. As soon as I try to cash out a few percent of those shares, it would crash the market since it only has a real market cap of $100 million. You just can't make 10 billion out of 100 million just by saying it is worth that or force it by scarcity. It will never work, any significant selling will drop the price back to its real value of $1 per share.

Bitcoin has exactly the same problem. There are 11 million coins, hoarded by many early adopters. But only 1% of coins are actively traded, maybe 20 million has flowed into the bitcoin market lately by naive gamblers buying coins for $100+ the last few weeks.

If it appears a peak is reached and the price drops a bit, everyone that hoards will try to cash in. But before even 5% of people manage to sell, the price will have dropped like a rock. It's impossible all 11 million coins are cashable, its real market cap just isn't big enough.

yes but no one who understands bitcoin cashes out of bitcoin, if they do, the coins go to stonger hands, then don't get chased out until full market penetration is reached THEN it becomes a currency for trade...

genius really

[MikeH]

I dunno, I think most large holders would have cashed in 30-50% of their coins by now.

[mokahless]

Code:

Ft. Knox Gold Reserves ($245,900,000,000)

where'd you get that figure? there's no gold in Ft. Knox.

Try actually reading the original post. I am not responsible for any faulty information from Randall Munroe.

I will not be taking any prices from anywhere except the referenced chart.