Portugal on the Brink

[CurbsideProphet]

Portugal's financial markets nosedived today amid fears that repayments on its £64billion bailout could soon become unsustainable as the government looked set to collapse following a spat over the country's austerity programme.

If Portugal doesn't abide by the austerity program, its bailout creditors could halt the disbursement of funds, potentially leaving it unable to pay what it owes.

That development 'could trigger a sovereign default and potential removal from the eurozone, with contagion spreading across to Greece, a country that is currently struggling to secure its next tranche of aid money,' Ishaq Siddiqi of ETX Capital said today.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2354671/Portugal-brink-collapse-sparking-fears-country-able-meet-terms-64BILLION-bailout.html#ixzz2XzYmw6D2

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[Behemot]

Cool, I could use another BTC price skyrocket

[BitcoinAshley]

Bail-in incoming? Portugal bump?

I'm game. 

[vokain]

Bail-in incoming? Portugal bump?

I'm game. 

whoooo wants to purchase IEV?

[BitChick]

Is Bitcoin popular, or easily accessible in Portugal???

[prophetx]

Is Bitcoin popular, or easily accessible in Portugal???

portugal is part of the EU.  all one need to do is a sepa deposit to bitstamp

[BitChick]

Is Bitcoin popular, or easily accessible in Portugal???

portugal is part of the EU.  all one need to do is a sepa deposit to bitstamp

Hopefully they decide Bitcoin is a good option for their problems then!

[pedrog]

Is Bitcoin popular, or easily accessible in Portugal???

It is not!

You hardly find articles about bitcoin on mainstream media, on one nation-wide newspaper I've counted 6, and it is the "intellectual" one...

[worldinacoin]

I doubt that they have the political will to implement austerity measures.   I guess another crisis is coming about and Bitcoin to the rescue

[ingrownpocket]

Is Bitcoin popular, or easily accessible in Portugal???

It is not!

You hardly find articles about bitcoin on mainstream media, on one mation-wide newspaper I've counted 6, and it is the "intellectual" one...

Bitcoins are quite easy to buy in Portugal.
I've never seen Bitcoin mentioned on TV national news, only on newspapers.

[pedrog]

Is Bitcoin popular, or easily accessible in Portugal???

It is not!

You hardly find articles about bitcoin on mainstream media, on one mation-wide newspaper I've counted 6, and it is the "intellectual" one...

Bitcoins are quite easy to buy in Portugal.
I've never seen Bitcoin mentioned on TV national news, only on newspapers.

I was talking about the popularity.

Yes, pretty easy to buy.

[johnyj]

To be honest, I don't really understand the whole EURO thing

Because money is printed out of nothing, how could Portugal give up this right to ECB?

For a normal citizen, he might not have any choice but obey the government rules, but for a government of the country, how could they give up this biggest right of the country to someone else?

I think none of the government officials understand how money creation works

[pedrog]

To be honest, I don't really understand the whole EURO thing

Because money is printed out of nothing, how could Portugal give up this right to ECB?

For a normal citizen, he might not have any choice but obey the government rules, but for a government of the country, how could they give up this biggest right of the country to someone else?

I think none of the government officials understand how money creation works

I'm a big proponent of EURO, it's the first attempt of a Level 1 civilization currency, well, now we have bitcoin.

But people need to start thinking beyond the borders of their own countries if we are going to thrive as a species, patriotism means nothing, it's just imaginary borders. More and more we need to have a global plan for free flow of people and goods, and to achieve great things that no one nation can achieve alone.

[meanig]

To be honest, I don't really understand the whole EURO thing

Because money is printed out of nothing, how could Portugal give up this right to ECB?

For a normal citizen, he might not have any choice but obey the government rules, but for a government of the country, how could they give up this biggest right of the country to someone else?

I think none of the government officials understand how money creation works

Because when times were good it meant they could get access to money at lower rates then they ever could have if they stayed out of the Euro.

We've gone past the point of silly with the Euro now. It's no longer of any benefit to 90% of its users and for the people of Greece and Cyprus it's almost unbearable. The latest demands of the IMF/EU/ECB on Greece are to close hospitals in order to get its deficit down  

I always thought Greece would be the first place to have a coup but maybe now it will be Portugal.

[asically]

Portugal's junior party are now negotiating terms with senior partner to smooth things over.

Expect some manner of fear-factor from people here trying to profit from the uninformed.

[Kaiji]

I never understood how the last bitcoin bubble was caused by the Cyprus crisis. Is it known fact or just an assumption? With the blocking of withdrawals in the banks in Cyprus how were they able to put money into bitcoin exchanges in the first place? Or were Cypriots more tech savvy than other countries and saving their wealth in bitcoins just an easy step?

[BitChick]

I never understood how the last bitcoin bubble was caused by the Cyprus crisis. Is it known fact or just an assumption? With the blocking of withdrawals in the banks in Cyprus how were they able to put money into bitcoin exchanges in the first place? Or were Cypriots more tech savvy than other countries and saving their wealth in bitcoins just an easy step?

Maybe they had cash under their mattresses and did not want to bring it the bank?  I don't know but news like this in Portugal certainly cannot hurt BTC.  Hopefully it sparks a little fire in them.

[asically]

I never understood how the last bitcoin bubble was caused by the Cyprus crisis...................

It wasn't.
Cyprus came after we all learnt there was a REAL asic in the wild from avalon, sent to a seinor member here.

Prior to that, BFL was jerking us around.

[BitcoinAshley]

I never understood how the last bitcoin bubble was caused by the Cyprus crisis. Is it known fact or just an assumption? With the blocking of withdrawals in the banks in Cyprus how were they able to put money into bitcoin exchanges in the first place? Or were Cypriots more tech savvy than other countries and saving their wealth in bitcoins just an easy step?

The cyprus-news-induced portion of the bubble did not come from Cypriots (for the most part.) There were indeed some cypriot holders of bitcoins, and some Cypriots started investing in bitcoins. One exchange even had a special discount rate for Cypriots. But there was no "bitcoin boom" in Cyprus like we may have hoped. The vast majority of the funds responsible for the "cyprus-news-induced" portion of the bubble came from others in Europe (either scared that the same would happen to them, or speculating that others would buy on this fear) and elsewhere in the world.

Keep in mind that even with a $266 to, say, $80 pop, after buying at $266, you still have a better (albeit negative) ROI than a Cypriot business with $800,000 operating capital that had $700,000 taken off for the bail-in. So people criticizing BTC for its volatility may not quite realize the true risk of a bail-in. In the end, holding cash is superior to both in the short-term; that's undeniable. But holding BTC means that in many cases, you can pay some invoices and bills online instantly, so it's more acceptable for operating cpaital. There are pros and cons. Most people simply aren't interested in the volatility. But soon, they will learn

Just remember all the people saying "Oh, that would never happen here..." Those are the people you get to laugh at when their livelihoods are ruined and their families are living on the street, and their 16 year old daughters are selling their bodies for 5 euros on an Athens street corner.

[Inedible]

I never understood how the last bitcoin bubble was caused by the Cyprus crisis. Is it known fact or just an assumption? With the blocking of withdrawals in the banks in Cyprus how were they able to put money into bitcoin exchanges in the first place? Or were Cypriots more tech savvy than other countries and saving their wealth in bitcoins just an easy step?

I'm of the same way of thinking.

I can't see that Cypriots rushed to Bitcoin as their solution. Someone already feeling cornered isn't going to take on additional risk with a cryptocurrency that they've never heard of or likely don't understand.

Even if they were to come across this 'solution' I can't see them keeping money in it due to the massive fluctuations in value. They would sell their Bitcoins as soon as possible either in a different currency or in a country where they could open another bank account and deposit their Euro. Not sure how easy it is to open an account in the rest of the Eurozone but in the UK it requires a great proof of address and photo ID.