Wall Observer BTC/USD - Bitcoin price movement tracking & discussion

[sonofliberty]

Vietnam is joining the party.

http://www.coindesk.com/international-effort-boosts-bitcoin-vietnam/

[aminorex]

There is only one riskless profitable trade at present:  Buy on bfx and sell on another exchange.  The 563 seller appears to have infinite coins.  For more than 24 hours now one person has had total control over the Btcusd rate worldwide.  And that person is evidently a self-destructive lunatic.

[JorgeStolfi]

The problem is not the money but the theft

The theft is a problem.

The unwillingness of the community (including members of the Shrem Karpeles & Friends Foundations who allegedly lost money in MtGOX) to call the cops is another -- it only encourages other bitcoin businessmen to do the same.

And 10% of all the money that exists being owned (note, "being owned", not just "having passed through the hands of") thieves and scammers is another.  Although it is only a detail of the bigger problem of 100% of all the money that exists being owned by a few thousand people.

For info quite a few criminals using bitcoins have been prosecuted, ex : http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-09/miami-bitcoin-arrests-may-be-first-state-prosecution.html alleged criminals

That case (like Silk Road and Charlie Shrem) is an example of people being prosecuted for other crimes that just happened to involve the use of bitcoins.  BTW, I found another case, of hackers in Germany caught for spreading a bitcoin-mining virus.

The GBL case in China is the only one I know of someone being prosecuted for stealing bitcoins (or collecting money through some bitcoin business, such as an exchange, and then failing to deliver the bitcoins).

Here is a link for German hackers and GBL: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-25217386

[Hypnoise]

WTF with network hash rate 

[JorgeStolfi]

Something weird is going on at Huobi (in bitconwisdom's charts).  A large chunk of the lowest "ask" list (from ~3460 to ~3478)  is being moved to the "bid" side and then immediately moved back.  But the only trades are in the ~3460 range.  A bug in bitcoinwisdom's scripts, or in Huobi's chart server?

[aminorex]

WTF with network hash rate 

Grows about 500thps/diem.  Evidently about 400 modern units come online  daily.

[jojo69]

WTF with network hash rate 

what about it? looks pretty normal to me

[Hypnoise]

WTF with network hash rate 

what about it? looks pretty normal to me

more then half network gone fishing

http://allchains.info/

next diff -64%


same on blockchain

https://blockchain.info/charts/hash-rate

[JayJuanGee]

And 10% of all the money that exists being owned (note, "being owned", not just "having passed through the hands of") thieves and scammers is another.  Although it is only a detail of the bigger problem of 100% of all the money that exists being owned by a few thousand people.

YOU are really prone to exaggeration.  Let's assume for the sake of argument, that 100,000 people own all of the bitcoins in the world.. so what???  either they have an infrastructure that is a circle of 100,000 people or they expand to the 7 billion people.. and then once they expand to the 7 billion, then those 7 billion will have some btc, too, no?  So where is the problem, exactly?  profit of the 100,000? 

[jojo69]

WTF with network hash rate 

what about it? looks pretty normal to me

more then half network gone fishing

http://allchains.info/

next diff -64%


same on blockchain

https://blockchain.info/charts/hash-rate

growing at about 1%/day...all systems go

http://bitcoin.sipa.be/

[Richy_T]

Is that so? If a thief spends a few bitcents of his booty now to buy a pizza, the payment will be visible and the police could catch him by following the delivery boy.  As long as he leaves the coins untouched, he cannot be traced through them, and they cannot be taken from him.  If he waits for a few yers he may even be beyond the reach of the law.

Launder some bitcoins through a couple of shell wallets then say you sold a bunch of DVDs for some bitcoins to a guy you met in a bar.

[Hypnoise]

WTF with network hash rate 

what about it? looks pretty normal to me

more then half network gone fishing

http://allchains.info/

next diff -64%


same on blockchain

https://blockchain.info/charts/hash-rate

Blockchains charts are a little screwed up at the mo:
https://blockchain.info/charts/market-cap

seems so. here is different picture
https://bitcoinwisdom.com/bitcoin/difficulty

[seleme]

I miss those happy days when there was no philosophical smart arse discussions but just choo choos 

[stereotype]

For those wondering what happens when devs dont agree, and the possible consequences, theres an interesting ding-dong going on between senior devs on the Counterparty thread.  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=395761.0;topicseen

Need to go back a few days, for the start!

[Richy_T]

I personally feel that all business startups are Ponzi schemes, say computer, internet, etc. Ponzi is the pattern how the universe operates. It's not a matter of good or bad but a matter of true or false. A Ponzi scheme can only be true by more and more people joining in to the extent that whole community can not live without it. I hope I'm correct here.

No, a Ponzi must *always* have more people joining to continue. Bitcoin is not yet self-sustaining but would be able to form a stable economy with a small proportion of the population it could eventually reach. Startups likewise. If a stock actually pays dividends, it doesn't even have to rely on the "greater fool" thing to benefit stock holders. Unfortunately government tax policy discourages this.

[aminorex]

it is only a detail of the bigger problem of 100% of all the money that exists being owned by a few thousand people.

Again, this is a much more severe problem in USD than in BTC.  BTC helps to solve this problem as well, because the thousands who own most of the BTC are largely non-overlapping with the thousands who own most of the USD.  The aggregate GINI is better as a result.

[aminorex]

Is that so? If a thief spends a few bitcents of his booty now to buy a pizza, the payment will be visible and the police could catch him by following the delivery boy.  As long as he leaves the coins untouched, he cannot be traced through them, and they cannot be taken from him.  If he waits for a few yers he may even be beyond the reach of the law.

Easiest way to break linkage is to convert to USD.  Selling bitcoins is not hard.

[Zapffe]

There is only one riskless profitable trade at present:  Buy on bfx and sell on another exchange.  The 563 seller appears to have infinite coins.  For more than 24 hours now one person has had total control over the Btcusd rate worldwide.  And that person is evidently a self-destructive lunatic.

Yes, he must be a self-destructive lunatic, because there is no way that the price is going down more then that.
No way I tell you... No way! No..no..no..nonononononono noooooooo!

http://mrwgifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Sheldon-Having-A-Panic-Attack-On-Big-Bang-Theory.gif

[roslinpl]

I love new voting poll stats

"Is bitcoin undervalued?"

YES!

96 votes by now

[aminorex]

There is only one riskless profitable trade at present:  Buy on bfx and sell on another exchange.  The 563 seller appears to have infinite coins.  For more than 24 hours now one person has had total control over the Btcusd rate worldwide.  And that person is evidently a self-destructive lunatic.

Yes, he must be a self-destructive lunatic, because there is no way that the price is going down more then that.
No way I tell you... No way! No..no..no..nonononononono noooooooo!

It doesn't matter how low bitcoin is going to go in the future.  If you're selling at 563 when you could be selling at 568 at the very same moment in time, you're not fit to draw oxygen.