Comparison of Bitcoin vs. Euro 2011 & 2012

[evoorhees]

For the record...

--------
Bitcoin vs Euro in 2011
Bitcoin Jan 1, 2011: $0.30
Bitcoin Jan 1, 2012: $5.27
Bitcoin Up 1,756% for 2011
(note that Bitcoin was the best performing asset class in the world in 2011 even after it fell from its price peak in the summer)

Euro Jan 1, 2011: $1.34
Euro Jan 1, 2012: $1.29
Euro Down 4% for 2011


Bitcoin vs Euro so far in 2012
Bitcoin Jan 1, 2012: $5.26
Bitcoin June 11, 2012: $5.51
Bitcoin Up 4.75% for 2012

Euro Jan 1, 2012: $1.29
Euro June 11, 2012: $1.25
Euro Down 3.2% for 2012
---------

[Stephen Gornick]

Your numbers should show even better for 2012.  The closing price on 12/31/2011 was $4.722.

 - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmcTCtjBoRWUdHJuUE1mUkFxa3A0eHBDQkxZLVVFZmc

[evoorhees]

Your numbers should show even better for 2012.  The closing price on 12/31/2011 was 4.722.

 - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmcTCtjBoRWUdHJuUE1mUkFxa3A0eHBDQkxZLVVFZmc

Great point. In that one day it jumped all the way up

[terrytibbs]

Please also add Bitcoin vs Euro (June 10th '11 —  June 10th '12). Thank you.

[evoorhees]

Please also add Bitcoin vs Euro (June 10th '11 —  June 10th '12). Thank you.

 The data I used was year to year and year to date, and that's typically how assets are shown historically. If you'd like to cherry pick data to show Bitcoin falling from a summer price bubble, please feel free to post it yourself. And if you're going to do that, please also post the stats from Jan 1 2011, to June 10, 2011. 

[thezerg]

you can pick good dates & you can pick bad ones.  This is a well known trick and its hard to figure out how to make a fair assessment.  One common method is to assume that you invest the same amount of USD per day into the security/commodity/item.  I wonder what the june 11 run-up would have done to someone spending (say) $5 a day on BTC.  Of course this assumes that the investor makes no price based decisions...

Another methods would be to imagine that a different person bought (say 1000 USD of BTC) every day and sold exactly 1 year later.  Would the aggregate have made or lost money?

[terrytibbs]

The data I used was year to year and year to date, and that's typically how assets are shown historically. If you'd like to cherry pick data to show Bitcoin falling from a summer price bubble, please feel free to post it yourself. And if you're going to do that, please also post the stats from Jan 1 2011, to June 10, 2011. 

That's funny. Bitcoin is (was?) so volatile that your method of comparing the two assets is basically a shot in the dark. I'm glad it worked in your favor this time.

Here's my version:

For the record...
--------
BITCOIN VS GRAVITY (2011-06-10 — 2012-06-10)



EURO (approximately the same period)

[Yankee (BitInstant)]

The data I used was year to year and year to date, and that's typically how assets are shown historically. If you'd like to cherry pick data to show Bitcoin falling from a summer price bubble, please feel free to post it yourself. And if you're going to do that, please also post the stats from Jan 1 2011, to June 10, 2011. 

That's funny. Bitcoin is (was?) so volatile that your method of comparing the two assets is basically a shot in the dark. I'm glad it worked in your favor this time.

Here's my version:

For the record...
--------
BITCOIN VS GRAVITY (2011-06-10 — 2012-06-10)



EURO (approximately the same period)

He clearly used Jan 1st for a specific reason to show yearly differences.

If he wanted to 'trick you' he would have chosen obscure dates that you just did.

Jan 1 - Jan 1 is the standard practice in financial reporting for yearly reports.

[minorman]

For the record...

--------
Bitcoin vs Euro in 2011
Bitcoin Jan 1, 2011: $0.30
Bitcoin Jan 1, 2012: $5.27
Bitcoin Up 1,756% for 2011
(note that Bitcoin was the best performing asset class in the world in 2011 even after it fell from its price peak in the summer)

Euro Jan 1, 2011: $1.34
Euro Jan 1, 2012: $1.29
Euro Down 4% for 2011


Bitcoin vs Euro so far in 2012
Bitcoin Jan 1, 2012: $5.26
Bitcoin June 11, 2012: $5.51
Bitcoin Up 4.75% for 2012

Euro Jan 1, 2012: $1.29
Euro June 11, 2012: $1.25
Euro Down 3.2% for 2012
---------

Makes me realize that I wrote this piece
http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/530678-minorman/248487-best-currency-in-2011
three days too early.

I had Bitcoin up 1400% in 2011. I missed 356% by being three days to early ;-)

[Gavin Andresen]

Here's my version:
 ... see below for chart...

You just poked one of my pet peeves: the Y-axis on your Euro chart doesn't start at zero, so you're exaggerating it's volatility.

[N12]

I agree with terrytibbs, this is very dishonest.

Most people (no, not me, before someone calles me butthurt. The purchases I made were in Feb and Mar 2011 at parity or below) bought in during May and June, also July and August 2011, and all of them got raped. How do you think they will take this up?

Only a few geeks bought Bitcoins in Jan 2011. The rest had to give up 50-95% of their money and until now they haven’t seen any positive returns. Stop trying to hide that fact.

[cypherdoc]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/europe-brings-out-capital-controls-bazooka


if you live in Europe and understand Bitcoin, you should be buying like mad right now.

[N12]

Here is a meaningful chart. BTC/USD all-time on logscale with volume in USD.



Look how well Bitcoins performed for the people who actually poured money into it last year.

The biggest transfer of wealth occured right at the 32 top with the highest volume spike ever. Do you think these people would have maybe preferred staying in Euros instead of losing ~82% to date?

[terrytibbs]

Only a few geeks bought Bitcoins in Jan 2011. The rest had to give up 50-95% of their money and until now they haven’t seen any positive returns. Stop trying to hide that fact.

"Redistribution of wealth"

[justusranvier]

Only a few geeks bought Bitcoins in Jan 2011. The rest had to give up 50-95% of their money and until now they haven’t seen any positive returns. Stop trying to hide that fact.

That's the risk people take when they use currency as a instrument of speculation instead of as a means of exchange.

[N12]

Only a few geeks bought Bitcoins in Jan 2011. The rest had to give up 50-95% of their money and until now they haven’t seen any positive returns. Stop trying to hide that fact.

That's the risk people take when they use currency as a instrument of speculation instead of as a means of exchange.

"Store of value" is one feature of a currency. People around here want to tell me Bitcoin is a currency.

[justusranvier]

"Store of value" is one feature of a currency. People around here want to tell me Bitcoin is a currency.

"Store of value" is a misleading myth. "Deferred consumption" is a much more accurate term.

[seriouscoin]

For the record...

--------
Bitcoin vs Euro in 2011
Bitcoin Jan 1, 2011: $0.30
Bitcoin Jan 1, 2012: $5.27
Bitcoin Up 1,756% for 2011
(note that Bitcoin was the best performing asset class in the world in 2011 even after it fell from its price peak in the summer)

Euro Jan 1, 2011: $1.34
Euro Jan 1, 2012: $1.29
Euro Down 4% for 2011


Bitcoin vs Euro so far in 2012
Bitcoin Jan 1, 2012: $5.26
Bitcoin June 11, 2012: $5.51
Bitcoin Up 4.75% for 2012

Euro Jan 1, 2012: $1.29
Euro June 11, 2012: $1.25
Euro Down 3.2% for 2012
---------

What the point of this?

The strength of a currency is the exchange rate but the spread

Stupid thread.

[adamstgBit]

For the record...

--------
Bitcoin vs Euro in 2011
Bitcoin Jan 1, 2011: $0.30
Bitcoin Jan 1, 2012: $5.27
Bitcoin Up 1,756% for 2011
(note that Bitcoin was the best performing asset class in the world in 2011 even after it fell from its price peak in the summer)

Euro Jan 1, 2011: $1.34
Euro Jan 1, 2012: $1.29
Euro Down 4% for 2011


Bitcoin vs Euro so far in 2012
Bitcoin Jan 1, 2012: $5.26
Bitcoin June 11, 2012: $5.51
Bitcoin Up 4.75% for 2012

Euro Jan 1, 2012: $1.29
Euro June 11, 2012: $1.25
Euro Down 3.2% for 2012
---------

What the point of this?

The strength of a currency is the exchange rate but the spread

Stupid thread.

I thought it was pretty cool to find out "Bitcoin was the best performing asset class in the world in 2011 even after it fell from its price peak in the summer"

[bitdragon]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/europe-brings-out-capital-controls-bazooka


if you live in Europe and understand Bitcoin, you should be buying like mad right now.

http://worldradio.ch/wrs/news/switzerland/eurozone-crisis-could-prompt-exchange-controls-on-.shtml?30977

Eurozone crisis could prompt exchange controls on Swiss franc, says expert
So far the Swiss National Bank has contented itself with buying euros and other currencies to keep the 1.20 franc peg in place but at least one commentator believes that capital controls are coming with all the bad news coming out of the eurozone. Bruce Krasting, a Swiss citizen living in the U.S., formerly of Wall Street, has worked for Credit Suisse and is a prominent commentator on the euro for Business Insider. He thinks that measures like taxing Swiss franc accounts for non-residents and frustrating the setting up of new accounts in this country are imminent. WRS’s Pete Forster asks him what might trigger the bank to institute capital controls: