a Mainipulators revealed! with nearly 110,000 btc

[old_engineer]

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have been many things in a short time: Olympic rowers. Nemeses of Mark Zuckerberg. Characters on “The Simpsons.” Now they can add a new label: bitcoin moguls.

The Winklevii — as they are popularly known — say they own nearly 1 percent of that, or some $11 million.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/04/11/as-big-investors-emerge-bitcoin-gets-ready-for-its-close-up/?hp

While it isn't confirmed that they're the ones yanking the MtGox exchange, they're prime suspects.  Not many players can put up 40k btc bidwalls and still sell into the resulting rally they sparked, and still be sane enough to have a diverse portfolio.  $11 million is  less than 5% of their net worth.

The timing is awfully convenient, too.  Did they sell out, pop the bubble, refill on the way down, and are now trying to inflate it again?

[1715556789]

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[smoothie]

They seem smarter to me than to sell now.

1% market corner on coins...is golden.

[old_engineer]

Another suspect from the article: "A Maltese company, Exante, started a hedge fund that the company says has bought up about 82,000 bitcoins — or about $10 million as of Thursday — with money from wealthy investors."

[FreddyFender]

Well at least it wasn't one of the old-timers here. Phewf!

[sunnankar]

The timing is awfully convenient, too.  Did they sell out, pop the bubble, refill on the way down, and are now trying to inflate it again?

There is not enough liquidity to 'refill'. You assume that the price on the tape is the price you an actually execute at. It is not.

There are other players 'shaking the trees' right now.

[old_engineer]

The timing is awfully convenient, too.  Did they sell out, pop the bubble, refill on the way down, and are now trying to inflate it again?

There is not enough liquidity to 'refill'. You assume that the price on the tape is the price you an actually execute at. It is not.

There are other players 'shaking the trees' right now.

I'm not sure you were paying close enough attention.  There was a war at $160-$180 last night between two big players, one selling, and one buying, and over 100k btc was traded. No bid or sell walls were put up, but they both had distinctive trading patterns. The Winkelvii could have easily bought 30k btc in that time period for $5M, after having sold out at >$220.

[Wuji]

They seem smarter to me than to sell now.

1% market corner on coins...is golden.

Yes because selling 1% at $200+ to start a panic driven selloff and then buying back 2% at $100 slowly while things recover, would not be smart at all.    Also whose to say they don't own far more than 1% like they claim.

[Blindfolded]

They seem smarter to me than to sell now.

1% market corner on coins...is golden.

Yes because selling 1% at $200+ to start a panic driven selloff and then buying back 2% at $100 slowly while things recover, would not be smart at all.    Also whose to say they don't own far more than 1% like they claim.

It's a great theory. And *if* they pulled it off kudos. If somebody freaked out and sold their coins too cheap, they have nobody to blame but themselves. I do not feel the least bit guilty for scooping up cheap coins.

[benjamindees]

The timing of that announcement is rather suspect.

[nebulus]

You guys are forgetting that they only have about 100K BTC (according to the PR). There are 99% more of BTC out there. Somebody could have sold just because...

[Luckybit]

The timing is awfully convenient, too.  Did they sell out, pop the bubble, refill on the way down, and are now trying to inflate it again?

There is not enough liquidity to 'refill'. You assume that the price on the tape is the price you an actually execute at. It is not.

There are other players 'shaking the trees' right now.

I'm not sure you were paying close enough attention.  There was a war at $160-$180 last night between two big players, one selling, and one buying, and over 100k btc was traded. No bid or sell walls were put up, but they both had distinctive trading patterns. The Winkelvii could have easily bought 30k btc in that time period for $5M, after having sold out at >$220.

We should create a trading pattern analysis protocol so we can actually use our computing power to figure out stuff like this. It might help with reducing manipulation if we can actually identify the problem patterns.

[romerun]

it can be done, but problem is the gox slowness, even it can detect these patterns, it couldn't react in time, also the big fee getting in and out

[crazy_rabbit]

You guys are forgetting that they only have about 100K BTC (according to the PR). There are 99% more of BTC out there. Somebody could have sold just because...

'only'

[Zaih]

Those guys pissed me off in The Social Network Didn't want em to get anything.

They seem confident though, and said they're going to buy more with the low price. So I can't see how they're going to hurt us

[BTC Books]

My first thought on the Winklevoss twins getting into bitcoin was: "oh crap."

But after some reflection, I think it could be the best thing to come along in awhile.

They have money and connections.

They're certainly motivated.

They fucking hate Facebook.  This could be the beginning of a tech war as epic as Microsoft vs Lotus.  I mean they could be thinking that bitcoin is a vehicle for the destruction of Zuckerberg - and I'm down with that.

And they are, above all, tenacious.

On the whole, this could be a very, very good thing.