welcome to 2011, where sr affects the price of btc.

[Zangelbert Bingledack]

The SR subreddit has nearly a third as many subscribers as the Bitcoin subreddit. Considering people would be especially wont to subscribe to the SR one, it seems SR is really huge in the Bitcoin world, as least as far as discussion goes.

[Kluge]

I've been saying this for ages. Silk Road is the single most driver of REAL bitcoin trade there is.

Most other "businesses" that accept bitcoin are doing very little volume. Whereas SilkRoad is pumping massive amounts through.

Bitpays announcement of $5m is absolute horse shit lies.

If SR is so important to the bitcoin ecosystem maybe i should stop talking
so much to my friends about bitcoins...

Worried they're going to get addicted to crack??

SR is a huge consumer vendor, and there aren't very many large-scale BTC vendors. Bitcoin is also very well-suited to purchases of illegal goods, just like Tor - but I don't think you'd tell your friends not to use Tor because people use it for child porn, drugs, and assassins for hire. It can also be used to "hide" a community of upbeat, positive people looking to impact the lives of others in a good way, which obviously isn't allowed on public Internet.

[N12]

There is nothing to be ashamed of, drug prohibition is the immoral thing. Silk Road is legitimate economic activity and I believe the center point of what others label the "Bitcoin economy".

[meangreen]

I've been saying this for ages. Silk Road is the single most driver of REAL bitcoin trade there is.

Most other "businesses" that accept bitcoin are doing very little volume. Whereas SilkRoad is pumping massive amounts through.

Bitpays announcement of $5m is absolute horse shit lies.

If SR is so important to the bitcoin ecosystem maybe i should stop talking
so much to my friends about bitcoins...

what friends?

[massivebitman]

Meh... It's a good thing.

Silkroad gives bitcoins a bad wrap, it was great to get it started, but surely there's enough vc being pumped in now that we can move beyond the black market ebay?

[Kluge]

Meh... It's a good thing.

Silkroad gives bitcoins a bad wrap, it was great to get it started, but surely there's enough vc being pumped in now that we can move beyond the black market ebay?

I'd think Bitcoin's the perfect medium of exchange for VCs funneling money INTO "the black market eBay."

[meangreen]

Meh... It's a good thing.

Silkroad gives bitcoins a bad wrap, it was great to get it started, but surely there's enough vc being pumped in now that we can move beyond the black market ebay?

oh yea venture capital is just saturating the bitcoin market. prove it

[dg2010]

In 2011 Silk Road was about 80-90% of Bitcoin transactions. Today it is closer to 20-30%.

Source?

I don't believe it at all, that would mean there is another 70-80% of trade going on and I don't see it?

Show me who is doing that much trade? The people that accept bitcoin are really doing so as a fun experiment and not trading real volume.

I think the reality is finally hitting home, that the last few months were basically full of bullshit lies. Most of you fell for it and believed the hype, believed that investors around the world were ready to pump millions into the economy. All this talk of VC's and hedge funds, fucking ATM's, what a load of bullshit.

[mp420]

All of the SR trade raises the bitcoin price probably about one dollar at most.

SR does not create extra demand for Bitcoin. It just decreases supply a tad, as the "in process" trades keep some BTC out of the market.

It does have a hype factor, but it's hard to tell if it's positive or negative.

[adamas]

I would be glad to see Silk Road shut down for good.

Same for me.

[XXthetimeisnowXX]

All of the SR trade raises the bitcoin price probably about one dollar at most.

SR does not create extra demand for Bitcoin. It just decreases supply a tad, as the "in process" trades keep some BTC out of the market.

It does have a hype factor, but it's hard to tell if it's positive or negative.

one percent!!!!!! aughhhhhhhh this guy thinks its about one percent ahahahahahahahahahahaha fucking kidding me!!!!! get real dude!

ha as we watch bitcoin price go from 148 to low 90 in three days and sr is shut down...hummmmmmmmmmm no no you are right just one percent thats all

[Brushan]

It was very bad timing too. A whole week of bank holidays, 2 weeks after a crash and SR being closed. I'm surprised that the price is holding so well and it is a long time very bullish sign.

[TiagoTiago]

Didn't the price go down due to a hoax about Gox being raided by the gov?

[Coinbuck @ BTCLot]

In 2011 Silk Road was about 80-90% of Bitcoin transactions. Today it is closer to 20-30%.

Illegal transactions are actually a good thing, it shows that the system works.

When the government is going home to home confiscating weapons and bibles you will want a currency that can buy things the government does not like.

Sorry but I have to say it is bullshit. Support your claim please.

[mp420]

All of the SR trade raises the bitcoin price probably about one dollar at most.

SR does not create extra demand for Bitcoin. It just decreases supply a tad, as the "in process" trades keep some BTC out of the market.

It does have a hype factor, but it's hard to tell if it's positive or negative.

one percent!!!!!! aughhhhhhhh this guy thinks its about one percent ahahahahahahahahahahaha fucking kidding me!!!!! get real dude!

ha as we watch bitcoin price go from 148 to low 90 in three days and sr is shut down...hummmmmmmmmmm no no you are right just one percent thats all

You obviously do not understand how the market works.

I agree that drug trade is likely at least 70% of all BTC nominated trade, speculation excluded. But all the drug trade does is keep some amount of bitcoins out of circulation. Even if SR trade is $1M a day and each trade takes 14 days, that means $14 million worth of BTC are kept out of the market. At $100 per BTC that is just 140,000 BTC. Bitcoin's  two month inflation is more than that.

So, SR (or any drug trade, or any actual BTC-nominated non-speculative trade for that matter) does little to affect Bitcoin price. Bitcoin price is over 95 percent speculative demand.

Edit: stupid mistake corrected.

[Kluge]

All of the SR trade raises the bitcoin price probably about one dollar at most.

SR does not create extra demand for Bitcoin. It just decreases supply a tad, as the "in process" trades keep some BTC out of the market.

It does have a hype factor, but it's hard to tell if it's positive or negative.

one percent!!!!!! aughhhhhhhh this guy thinks its about one percent ahahahahahahahahahahaha fucking kidding me!!!!! get real dude!

ha as we watch bitcoin price go from 148 to low 90 in three days and sr is shut down...hummmmmmmmmmm no no you are right just one percent thats all

You obviously do not understand how the market works.

I agree that drug trade is likely at least 70% of all BTC nominated trade, speculation excluded. But all the drug trade does is keep some amount of bitcoins out of circulation. Even if SR trade is $1M a day and each trade takes 14 days, that means $14 million worth of BTC are kept out of the market. At $100 per BTC that is just 140,000 BTC. Bitcoin's  two month inflation is more than that.

So, SR (or any drug trade, or any actual BTC-nominated non-speculative trade for that matter) does little to affect Bitcoin price. Bitcoin price is over 95 percent speculative demand.

Edit: stupid mistake corrected.

I think that's pretty hard to say. Sellers aren't necessarily converting their BTC to USD upon receiving, and may hold, since they're obviously interested in cryptography and Bitcoin itself to at least some extent. It's not like they're using BitInstant.

[mp420]

I think that's pretty hard to say. Sellers aren't necessarily converting their BTC to USD upon receiving, and may hold, since they're obviously interested in cryptography and Bitcoin itself to at least some extent. It's not like they're using BitInstant.

But that is speculative demand, it's just that some of the drug dealers are speculators at the same time.

[Kluge]

I think that's pretty hard to say. Sellers aren't necessarily converting their BTC to USD upon receiving, and may hold, since they're obviously interested in cryptography and Bitcoin itself to at least some extent. It's not like they're using BitInstant.

But that is speculative demand, it's just that some of the drug dealers are speculators at the same time.

That's probably true. Maybe they buy others' drugs and weapons with a share of the profit and put revenues to cover costs back to USD -- Idunno their mindset. Even if they are speculating, though, they obviously have a long position, so that would increase the price because those coins will probably be out of circulation for a significantly longer duration than just the time for escrow to release.