What's the deal?

[knybe]

If miners and early adopters are so convinced as to the validity of bitcoin as a viable and main form of currency then how come so many of them cleared out yesterday into fiat? 

I've been touting the virtues of BTC to everyone around me for quite sometime, and had most convinced. With the BS that went on yesterday, those same people are now questioning the safety of bitcoin as a real world working currency.

The psychology is the thing that will make or break this and personally, my morale is quite low this morning.

It's disheartening.

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[MrVivaldi]

People are really easily scared. If MtGox said the price per Bitcoin was 10 usd they would sell it for that.

For me this is a buying opertunity. As I see it will recover in the coming weeks.

[WinVery.com]

The deal is from a deck with Magic the Gathering printed on it.

[Bytas]

Probably not "so many" cashing out. Just one would do. There are some early adopters out there that have maybe over 10 000 or maybe 100 000 coins available. Enough to bring a serious blow to the economy if they sell everything at once.
I'm actually glad that someone cashed out yesterday. In doing so he devided his bitcoins amongst a couple of thousand people and will not be a threat to the economy in the future. His sale wasn't big enough to totally crash the market, it just corrected it. Now we have a short period where everyone who is scared tries to get out and everyone who was eager to get in gets in while prices are low.  
Don't worry, bitcoin will be on the rise again soon.

[nwbitcoin]

Prices go up, prices go down

The people who panic are mostly armchair speculators who borrowed money thinking that 5% a day growth was perfectly normal!

Give it a week or two, and everyone will have forgotten about this blip, as we are still at prices that would have seen insane only a month ago!

I remember the prices of bitcoin hitting $31 in February, and everyone was happy - hitting x10 that value a few weeks later is just insane - even if it is very likely to hit $1k by the end of the year!

[solomon]

I would say most of the sales were from the newest influx of buyers, who havent experienced the lag or volatility of the market before. They are likely to have the least understanding of bitcoin and thus be the weakest hands.

[knybe]

Probably not "so many" cashing out. Just one would do. There are some early adopters out there that have maybe over 10 000 or maybe 100 000 coins available. Enough to bring a serious blow to the economy if they sell everything at once.
I'm actually glad that someone cashed out yesterday. In doing so he devided his bitcoins amongst a couple of thousand people and will not be a threat to the economy in the future. His sale wasn't big enough to totally crash the market, it just corrected it. Now we have a short period where everyone who is scared tries to get out and everyone who was eager to get in gets in while prices are low.  
Don't worry, bitcoin will be on the rise again soon.

The bottom is dropping out again as I write this. The main issue I have with it is that it shows the world this is a money making scheme. Not a valid currency.

[Cryptoman]

Where is the evidence that most of the "early adopters" cleared out?  This conjecture was also posited after the June 2011 bubble but later shown to be false.

Also, if you want your threads to be read, try to come up with more descriptive titles.

[knybe]

Where is the evidence that most of the "early adopters" cleared out?  This conjecture was also posited after the June 2011 bubble but later shown to be false.

So please explain why the huge exit?

[Ekaros]

Some are just trading to make profits. Cash out now, buy back in when price corrects. Gain more coins.

And I for one believe the bitcoin economy isn't yet where price is.

[Cryptoman]

I haven't undertaken a detailed analysis of what happened yesterday, but bitcoin is still what I would call "thinly traded," and it only takes a few people taking profits (who might have bought in only a few days ago) to exhaust the bids and spook the market.  Plus, Mt. Gox trading platform issues don't breed a lot of confidence.

[knybe]

Guess the point I'm makin is average joe is looking at this as a big joke. Not a way to pay the rent every month.

[muyuu]

Where is the evidence that most of the "early adopters" cleared out?  This conjecture was also posited after the June 2011 bubble but later shown to be false.

So please explain why the huge exit?

Dump and pump.

You don't know who did it, whether it was a hedge, a maffia, or even just panic caused by MtGox massive delays. Likely a combination of factors.

People who are in BTC just because it goes up and up in value are probably best left out for the time being. We need a real economy with real services. Not infinitely more speculative capital.

Also, MtGox is becoming systemic enough to be a real threat to BTC as a project. Recommend other exchanges or, even better, ways to operate that avoid banking and quick speculation (localbitcoins.com, bitcoin.de, etc).

[knybe]

Pump and dump is exactly why the general public will now stay away from the commodity otherwise known as bitcoin.

[glub0x]

The ones who sell are the weak hand or the speculator.
yeah might crash very low might climb very high...
Nobody knows bitcoin like they know facebook.
YOU are an early adopter, the first 15%.
still a veryyyy long way to go!

Bitcoin is not ready for the public, still in beta for god sake!

[knybe]

For the record I still possess a handful of the original bitcoins I obtained in 2011, when there was another mass cash-out to fiat by supposed proponents of it as a form of currency. I have never "cashed out" to fiat and I have attempted to use BTC as currency as much as possible, except for the last few weeks of course.

I dunno, maybe the dollar is king.

[knybe]

Bunch of selfish tools. Now that they've cashed out they've fucking ruined any chance of it being taken seriously as a relevant form of currency.

Seriously, who in their right mind would have any faith in this bullshit and use it as money??

[muyuu]

Pump and dump is exactly why the general public will now stay away from the commodity otherwise known as bitcoin.

Butthurt much?

Bitcoin was just as unstable when it was sky-rocketing as it is when it's diving. And just as useful as currency.

We don't have any sort of stability and it's still pretty much a work in progress.

This changes absolutely nothing in this respect.

Hopefully we will lose some weaklings who will run away in tears.

[mjsbuddha]

I believe in bitcoins so much that yesterday I sold them all at $235, bought again at $120, sold AGAIN at $165, then bought again at $120. Twice as many bitcoins! WOOOOOOOOO!

Seriously, it doesnt matter if you love and believe in either bitcoins or fiat cash. Right now is a great time to get a lot more of either. Happy hunting.

[threeip]

Pump and dump is exactly why the general public will now stay away from the commodity otherwise known as bitcoin.

This is also the reason why people stay away from the stork market too?

Wait, no they don't. And no they won't.

[knybe]

Butthurt much?

master of the obvious much?

Bitcoin was just as unstable when it was sky-rocketing as it is when it's diving. And just as useful as currency.

We don't have any sort of stability and it's still pretty much a work in progress.

This changes absolutely nothing in this respect.

Hopefully we will lose some weaklings who will run away in tears.

If by losing weaklings you mean the general public (that needs to have trust and faith in a "currency") then that is a serious flaw in how a fiat replacement should work.

This crash just proves that cash is king and as far as the general public, and those who have now dumped btc for fiat, is concerned: In God We Trust.

[kwukduck]

Butthurt much?

master of the obvious much?

Bitcoin was just as unstable when it was sky-rocketing as it is when it's diving. And just as useful as currency.

We don't have any sort of stability and it's still pretty much a work in progress.

This changes absolutely nothing in this respect.

Hopefully we will lose some weaklings who will run away in tears.

If by losing weaklings you mean the general public (that needs to have trust and faith in a "currency") then that is a serious flaw in how a fiat replacement should work.

This crash just proves that cash is king and as far as the general public, and those who have now dumped btc for fiat, is concerned: In God We Trust.

By weaklings i see people jumping the bandwagon without having the slightest clue what bitcoin is all about, how it works and so on, they are only jumping in because they want to get rich quick (like the litecoiners and co). A lot of precisely those bought into bitcoin last week and probably sold at huge losses the past 48 hrs (tnx for cheap coins btw, can i get some more when gox opens pls?).
I think it will take a few more years before the general public really starts using bitcoin on any noticeable scale.

[knybe]

Butthurt much?

master of the obvious much?

Bitcoin was just as unstable when it was sky-rocketing as it is when it's diving. And just as useful as currency.

We don't have any sort of stability and it's still pretty much a work in progress.

This changes absolutely nothing in this respect.

Hopefully we will lose some weaklings who will run away in tears.

If by losing weaklings you mean the general public (that needs to have trust and faith in a "currency") then that is a serious flaw in how a fiat replacement should work.

This crash just proves that cash is king and as far as the general public, and those who have now dumped btc for fiat, is concerned: In God We Trust.

By weaklings i see people jumping the bandwagon without having the slightest clue what bitcoin is all about, how it works and so on, they are only jumping in because they want to get rich quick (like the litecoiners and co). A lot of precisely those bought into bitcoin last week and probably sold at huge losses the past 48 hrs (tnx for cheap coins btw, can i get some more when gox opens pls?).
I think it will take a few more years before the general public really starts using bitcoin on any noticeable scale.

I dunno the only message I get from this is that a majority of maximum btc holders valued fiat much more and traded up for good hard cash.

the science is solid and up until recently I had faith in it. Ultimately people are selfish and rather than holding out and letting it succeed they would rather trade up for fungible MONEY.

[247saver]

I believe in bitcoins so much that yesterday I sold them all at $235, bought again at $120, sold AGAIN at $165, then bought again at $120. Twice as many bitcoins! WOOOOOOOOO!

Seriously, it doesnt matter if you love and believe in either bitcoins or fiat cash. Right now is a great time to get a lot more of either. Happy hunting.

Nice trades!

[muyuu]

I dunno the only message I get from this is that a majority of maximum btc holders valued fiat much more and traded up for good hard cash.

the science is solid and up until recently I had faith in it. Ultimately people are selfish and rather than holding out and letting it succeed they would rather trade up for fungible MONEY.

Simplistic and absurd conclusion.

Someone holding several hundred thousand BTC and squint in fiat would probably be wise to cash out a decent chunk if he has obligations.

But this is obviously not the fuel of the crash. Lots of people are in it merely for trading. Get over it because there is no way to censor people's motives to buy BTC.

[ex-trader]

The deal is two things happening:

1 - recent investors found out BTC doesn't always go up and sold through fear

2 - big early adopters who quite likely have most of their net worth in BTC realised that a little diversification isn't a bad thing, especially into something that can actually pay for groceries, electricity and beer

[knybe]

So, in simplistic terms, someone please explain how average joe will ever take this commodity, er um, currency seriously again?

Like I've said before; the science is sound. It's humans who are not...

[muyuu]

So, in simplistic terms, someone please explain how average joe will ever take this commodity, er um, currency seriously again?

Like I've said before; the science is sound. It's humans who are not...

It's not ready for mass adoption.

Whoever pretends otherwise is misleading people.

It's experimental at this point, and it could go up or down massively in terms of price. This attracts both day traders and techies who want to be "in it" since early on.

This is right now mostly a learning platform for the future and a speculation tool. We have to accept this.

I will be trying to make it succeed, and hopefully developing for it. You can do as you wish.

[knybe]

So, in simplistic terms, someone please explain how average joe will ever take this commodity, er um, currency seriously again?

Like I've said before; the science is sound. It's humans who are not...

It's not ready for mass adoption.

Whoever pretends otherwise is misleading people.

It's experimental at this point, and it could go up or down massively in terms of price. This attracts both day traders and techies who want to be "in it" since early on.

This is right now mostly a learning platform for the future and a speculation tool. We have to accept this.

I will be trying to make it succeed, and hopefully developing for it. You can do as you wish.

Okay I can accept that. Good explanation, thanks

[DeathAndTaxes]

So, in simplistic terms, someone please explain how average joe will ever take this commodity, er um, currency seriously again?

Time.  If the average Joe who has no better reason to exchange funds to Bitcoins other that trying to make 100,000% profitszzzzz per year stays a away for a months or even years that doesn't undermine the value of Bitcoin.  In 2015 or 2016 Bitcoin ecosystem will be even stronger.  ASICs will be online making the network more secure, the clients will be better developed, hardware wallets will exist, there will be more and deeper exchanges who learned lessons (or went out business) from the lag-crash(es) of 2013.

If you believe Bitcoin has UTILITY as value transfer system (i.e. a currency) then it isn't hurt by a little less mainstream attention in the short span.  When Bitcoin is still around a decade or so after launch "the average Joe" will take another look at it.   If Bitcoin never had UTILITY then it didn't matter if the average Joe bought into it or not, the end result was going to be failure either way.

So ask yourself, does Bitcoin have UTILITY?  If the answer is no then sell all your coins now while you can, and logout.  If the answer is yes ....