[2017-06-17]Bitcoin prices likely to continue wild ride

[Eric Cartman]

SAN FRANCISCO — What goes precipitously up, often comes crashing down to earth.

So it was with bitcoin on Thursday, when the price of the digital currency plunged 19% — its steepest drop in more than two years — after a record run. The volatility remained on full display late Thursday and, as of Friday evening, bitcoin rebounded to $2,484.59.

The cryptocurrency, which flirted with $3,000 on Monday, sunk as low as $2,076.16 in intraday trading early Thursday amid a confluence of bad omens. Tech stocks have recently taken a thumping over concerns about their lofty valuations. Ominous reports from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley suggested bitcoin was due for a reversal in price and required government regulation. The Federal Reserve hiked interest rates Wednesday.

Compounding worries, digital currency exchange Coinbase experienced an outage Monday because of high-trading volume. Another exchange, Bitfinex, on Tuesday said it was under DDOS attack.

Meanwhile, prices for digital currencies ripple and NEM declined the past week, though Ethereum, the second-largest currency, has soared 20% on speculation it will be the top currency. At $371.36, it lags far behind bitcoin in value.

CryptoCurrency Market Capitalizations

"Bitcoin and other digital currencies are experiencing rapid growth these days," says Guy Zyskind, CEO of Enigma, a start-up in cryptocurrency investing. "For this to be sustainable over time, the market has to correct itself from time to time."

The market's wild ride this week underscores "the ebbs and flows of an entirely new asset class," says Bill Barhydt, CEO of Abra, a peer-to-peer payment service.

"While the bitcoin price will likely recover and continue to rise, what we should see in the future is bitcoin becoming a solid store of value, much like gold," says Mihir Magudia, executive director of LEOcoin Foundation. "It will be relatively easy to liquidate but will not be used to commonly pay for goods and services."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2017/06/16/cryptocurrency-prices-likely-continue-wild-ride/102882738/

[iamTom123]

"While the bitcoin price will likely recover and continue to rise, what we should see in the future is bitcoin becoming a solid store of value, much like gold," says Mihir Magudia, executive director of LEOcoin Foundation. "It will be relatively easy to liquidate but will not be used to commonly pay for goods and services."

I agree with this statement as this is currently true for now. Although there would be an influx of merchants accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment, the problem can be from the buyers' side. Personally, I am not using Bitcoin to directly pay goods and services because I usually convert them into the local currency if am not HODLING them because I am sure it would really rise in value.

Well, just like gold. You can easily convert your gold into dollars and you use the dollars as payment tool instead of gold.

[Kemarit]

"While the bitcoin price will likely recover and continue to rise, what we should see in the future is bitcoin becoming a solid store of value, much like gold," says Mihir Magudia, executive director of LEOcoin Foundation. "It will be relatively easy to liquidate but will not be used to commonly pay for goods and services."

I agree with this statement as this is currently true for now. Although there would be an influx of merchants accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment, the problem can be from the buyers' side. Personally, I am not using Bitcoin to directly pay goods and services because I usually convert them into the local currency if am not HODLING them because I am sure it would really rise in value.

Well, just like gold. You can easily convert your gold into dollars and you use the dollars as payment tool instead of gold.

Bitcoin is no longer for micro payments because of the current status of high transaction fees. That's why now it has become a store of value. Most likely a small portion of casual investors are likely holding on our bitcoin and not easily selling if they are price dip and panic selling. And bitcoin is more convenient to store as compare to gold. And we all know that bitcoin price is likely to go moon in the future specially if mass adopted. So hold on your bitcoin.

[1Referee]

Bitcoin is no longer for micro payments because of the current status of high transaction fees. That's why now it has become a store of value.

It's not that it is something that has happened very recently. For people that have been here long enough, this is something that was looming from the very beginning. It's actually very simple; as the usage increases, and that was definitely the case (still is), the free space left in blocks only decreases. It wouldn't take long before the blocks were all filled, and it indeed did happen. Result is that people have to outbid each other with higher fees in order to grant themselves a front row seat, and that's what has been leading to where the fees stand right now. For many it might be something that came as a surprise, but people that have been here long enough know better. I am obviously ignoring the spam transactions as I only focus on legit usage.

[btc_angela]

Bitcoin is no longer for micro payments because of the current status of high transaction fees. That's why now it has become a store of value.

It's not that it is something that has happened very recently. For people that have been here long enough, this is something that was looming from the very beginning. It's actually very simple; as the usage increases, and that was definitely the case (still is), the free space left in blocks only decreases. It wouldn't take long before the blocks were all filled, and it indeed did happen. Result is that people have to outbid each other with higher fees in order to grant themselves a front row seat, and that's what has been leading to where the fees stand right now. For many it might be something that came as a surprise, but people that have been here long enough know better. I am obviously ignoring the spam transactions as I only focus on legit usage.

But for some "newbies" like me, I find it frustrating as time having to used bitcoin and then wait for long confirmation. I don't know if Satoshi has initially design his bitcoin to be used for such small payments, but if he did they the purpose was already defeated because of this high tx fees that we have experiencing now.

[Netnox]

Bitcoin is no longer for micro payments because of the current status of high transaction fees. That's why now it has become a store of value.

It's not that it is something that has happened very recently. For people that have been here long enough, this is something that was looming from the very beginning. It's actually very simple; as the usage increases, and that was definitely the case (still is), the free space left in blocks only decreases. It wouldn't take long before the blocks were all filled, and it indeed did happen. Result is that people have to outbid each other with higher fees in order to grant themselves a front row seat, and that's what has been leading to where the fees stand right now. For many it might be something that came as a surprise, but people that have been here long enough know better. I am obviously ignoring the spam transactions as I only focus on legit usage.

But for some "newbies" like me, I find it frustrating as time having to used bitcoin and then wait for long confirmation. I don't know if Satoshi has initially design his bitcoin to be used for such small payments, but if he did they the purpose was already defeated because of this high tx fees that we have experiencing now.

It was a major failure from the part of Satoshi that he limited the block size to just 1 MB. Just around 1,000 transactions can be included in 1MB, and therefore I must say that he was extremely short-sighted about the potential increase in the user-base. If a particular currency is being used by 10 million people, you should expect much more than 1,000 transactions in a period of ~10 minutes.

[1Referee]

I don't know if Satoshi has initially design his bitcoin to be used for such small payments, but if he did they the purpose was already defeated because of this high tx fees that we have experiencing now.

Satoshi can't, and shouldn't be blamed. Back in the days 1MB was more than enough (more precisely said, it was far too much) to efficiently allow the network to cope with all the transactions. Also, Bitcoin eventually would lose it's micro/cheap payment advantage anyway. Bitcoin is set up in a way that due to the block halvings, miners will more and more depend on the income they generate from fees.

It was a major failure from the part of Satoshi that he limited the block size to just 1 MB.

Satoshi's last activity here dates from December 2010. Perhaps that was the moment he left, or a little later, but after that Satoshi was no longer involved in how Bitcoin was developing further. Back in the days the space in blocks that was being used almost never exceeded the 10KB mark. Now you again.

Just around 1,000 transactions can be included in 1MB, and therefore I must say that he was extremely short-sighted about the potential increase in the user-base.

Stop spreading false information. Look for yourself how many transactions fit in one single block. http://blockr.io/block/list/

[Minecache]

Bitcoin is no longer for micro payments because of the current status of high transaction fees. That's why now it has become a store of value.

It's not that it is something that has happened very recently. For people that have been here long enough, this is something that was looming from the very beginning. It's actually very simple; as the usage increases, and that was definitely the case (still is), the free space left in blocks only decreases. It wouldn't take long before the blocks were all filled, and it indeed did happen. Result is that people have to outbid each other with higher fees in order to grant themselves a front row seat, and that's what has been leading to where the fees stand right now. For many it might be something that came as a surprise, but people that have been here long enough know better. I am obviously ignoring the spam transactions as I only focus on legit usage.

But for some "newbies" like me, I find it frustrating as time having to used bitcoin and then wait for long confirmation. I don't know if Satoshi has initially design his bitcoin to be used for such small payments, but if he did they the purpose was already defeated because of this high tx fees that we have experiencing now.

It was a major failure from the part of Satoshi that he limited the block size to just 1 MB. Just around 1,000 transactions can be included in 1MB, and therefore I must say that he was extremely short-sighted about the potential increase in the user-base. If a particular currency is being used by 10 million people, you should expect much more than 1,000 transactions in a period of ~10 minutes.

The initial 1Mb was not a flaw by Satoshi it was by design so that the blocks could not be spammed. Please quit spreading FUD and trying to blacken Satoshis gud name.