Bitcoin crash 2013

If anyone is following Bitcoins, they're crashing right now. After floating this afternoon at the value of €205, Mt.Gox, the world's largest Bitcoin exchange, has started undergoing serious lag, bringing the price soaring down. As a result, the Bitcoin IRC channels have been going crazy and panic sellers losing substantial sums of money.

Speculation is rife as to the source of the lag - could be more hackers, could be server issues, could be anything. Who knows how far down it will go. Might be the time to invest, or the time to get out.

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Reply 1

dgeorge

Original post by miser

I think this is the perfect time to buy. And unless you've invested huge sums of money, you may as well stay in, as I can see the prize rising again within the next 6 months-year

Reply 2

miser

Original post by dgeorge

I think this is the perfect time to buy. And unless you've invested huge sums of money, you may as well stay in, as I can see the prize rising again within the next 6 months-year

Yep, I'm of the same opinion. I think as soon as whatever's causing the lag stops causing it and things go back to normal, it ought to recover fairly quickly. The only danger is if such vulnerability to radical fluctuation erodes whatever confidence people might have in it and not want to buy any. I think that scenario is unlikely though - it's not like people buying Bitcoins have previously been particularly concerned about its stability, but it definitely serves as a barrier to real popularity so long as there are so few exchanges keeping it unreliable.

Reply 3

dgeorge

Been thinking of buying a few ever since I heard about it last week actually, shame I didn't, could have doubled my money it seems!

Reply 4

Martyn*

Time for the globalists to exploit this then?

Reply 5

Darth Stewie

Unfortunately i take the view that Bitcoin is fundamentally flawed, for starters the code comes from various sources although all are very intelligent they don't have the time or resources to properly maintain and test the code which will result in bugs, there is also the possibility of intentional attack and as Bitcoin becomes more popular the potential payoffs of finding flaws you can manipulate becomes more and more lucrative which again comes back to the issue of the volunteers who don't have the time or resources available to properly protect the system.

The other main problem is that Bitcoin has issues with its core design, the perfect example of this is SatoshiDice, the blockchain is becoming more and more enlarged by the sheer number of micro-transactions by this one casino if Bitcoin becomes more popular lots and lots of similar websites will begin springing up all bringing the same issues, various mining groups already hold far too much of the processing power used by the Bitcoin system and even an individual or small group could theoretically cause large amounts of dishonest blocks which would be a huge PR blow.

This isn't even taking into account that certain companies or governments may not want Bitcoin to carry on and may take steps to destroy, regulate or cripple it. Personally i would not recommend anyone taking this crash to mean that it is a good time to invest money in Bitcoin, if you have a bit of spare money lying around that you wouldent miss then go for it but as far as investments go Bitcoin is incredibly risky which even if successful won't have a massive return.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 6

Studentus-anonymous

I'm utterly shocked that a pretend (potentially scammy) currency with a flimsy foundation and vulnerability is crashing and yo-yoing like mad.

Though whoever said now is a good time to buy into them is spot on. Buy now, sell when they peak again and get out with some extra pocket money before it crashes again.

Reply 7

miser

Original post by Darth Stewie

The original code was written entirely by Satoshi Nakamoto (though he might have been a group). Since then it's been maintained by the Bitcoin community. It's already exceptionally lucrative to manipulate Bitcoin, but it is unlikely that anyone will be able to with much success. There are known flaws but they are stupendously difficult to take advantage of that none of them are worth it. There is nothing much that requires protection, but you can be sure that these developers have a financial stake in Bitcoin's success, so there will always be people willing to fix bugs. People would do it for fun even.

Original post by Darth Stewie

The other main problem is that Bitcoin has issues with its core design, the perfect example of this is SatoshiDice, the blockchain is becoming more and more enlarged by the sheer number of micro-transactions by this one casino if Bitcoin becomes more popular lots and lots of similar websites will begin springing up all bringing the same issues, various mining groups already hold far too much of the processing power used by the Bitcoin system and even an individual or small group could theoretically cause large amounts of dishonest blocks which would be a huge PR blow.

Are you referring to attacks attempting to create alternative blockchains to control transaction histories? In order to make this effective, you would need to be controlling more than half of the total combined Bitcoin network processing power. Currently it's running at ~65 terahashes per second - that is not within the power of a small group.

Original post by Darth Stewie

This isn't even taking into account that certain companies or governments may not want Bitcoin to carry on and may take steps to destroy, regulate or cripple it. Personally i would not recommend anyone taking this crash to mean that it is a good time to invest money in Bitcoin, if you have a bit of spare money lying around that you wouldent miss then go for it but as far as investments go Bitcoin is incredibly risky which even if successful won't have a massive return.

They may do, but it is unlikely. Governments would sooner ban Tor, but they would meet little success. As for returns, even considering this crash, if you bought Bitcoins a year ago you will have had a return of 1,300%.

Reply 8

Dursty

Original post by miser

Bought £100 worth in December at around £18 each if my memory serves me. Sold 1 week ago and turned it into £500.so unstable

Reply 9

Bobifier

Just the other day I was trying to buy some, and the only reason I didn't was that I couldn't figure out how. It's all good!

That said, if they go low enough I might make more of an effort. I still think it would be cool to have some.

Reply 10

miser

Original post by Ape Gone Insane

Apparently it was a DDOS. They attack which destabilises the true value of the currency, the value plummets as people panic-sell, they buy as much as they can and, when they re-stabilise the price, they profit.

This was happening last week, yeah (Wednesday). Whether that's related is unknown though, since it's not like it's going through cycles of lag-stable-lag-stable. Lag affects people's ability to sell, and a drop of sales lowers the BTC unit value.

Reply 11

miser

Update:

TechCrunch

Bitcoin Price-Drop Caused By Rush Of Interest, Not DDOS, Says Mt.Gox Exchange; Newcomers Now Opening ~20k Accounts Per Day

http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/11/bitcoin-price-drop-caused-by-rush-of-interest-not-ddos-says-mt-gox-exchange-newcomers-now-opening-20k-accounts-per-day/

So it seems it wasn't DDoS. :smile:

With all this interest, it won't be surprising to me if BTC value increases by a large amount in the next few days once Mt.Gox has increased its servers and is back to providing a stable service.

Reply 12

ThatPerson

Original post by miser

Speaking of BitCoin, a man is selling his house for either about $4000 or Bitcoin, because he is betting on the value increasing.

Reply 13

miser

Price is still haywire, currently at about €95.

Reply 14

miser

Original post by ThatPerson

Speaking of BitCoin, a man is selling his house for either about $4000 or Bitcoin, because he is betting on the value increasing.

He's selling his house for $4000?

Reply 15

ThatPerson

Original post by miser

He's selling his house for $4000?

oops $400,000 (Canadian)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21863593

Reply 16

The Assassin

Many people have now been considering litecoins.

Reply 17

scrotgrot

It is completely unviable in the long term: a currency backed by no exchange of goods, with no central bank. In the short term gains can be made, just as they can by going into a betting shop. It is also soon to be regulated by governments, I hear.

Reply 18

aranexus

I think all the media attention and masses joining caused a spike, now's the inevitable the crash, but it will soon return to norm and to trending upward at a more protracted rate...

Reply 19

miser

Original post by The Assassin

Many people have now been considering litecoins.

I don't think Litecoins will really take off. It will be hard to tempt people away from Bitcoin without legitimate incentive to transfer from one to the other.