Bitcoin Plunges After Mt. Gox Exchange Halts Trades 249
krakman writes with this excerpt from Bloomberg News: "Bitcoin plunged more than 8 percent [Friday] after a Tokyo-based exchange halted withdrawals of the digital currency, citing technical malfunction. Mt. Gox, claimed in a blog post it needed to 'temporarily pause on all withdrawal requests to obtain a clear technical view of the currency processes.' It promised an 'update' — not a reopening — on Monday, Feb. 10, Japan time. This is day after Russia's Prosecutor General concluded Bitcoin and other digital currencies are illegal under current law."
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Magic the Gathering Online Exchange (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't understand how bitcoins or gold either one retain their values.
Bitcoin is a bubble, though as with every other bubble there are delusional people who assert the emperor is not naked/that it all somehow makes sense. It doesn't... the valuation is absurd.
As for gold, I think the explanation is a mixture of inertia, rarity, resistance to governmental manipulation, and lack of corrosion.
Being able to beat it into a thin leaf is not a real explanation ("ZOMG! You can hammer this *how* thin?! SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!" said essentially no one ever). Saying it is valuable for jewelry begs the question (i.e. it's valuable for jewelry because its rare and expensive, but it's supposedly rare and expensive because it's valuable for jewelry?)
So, it really comes down to "it's always been this way", but everyone can be reasonably certain that there won't be a sudden massive increase in supply, and that their holdings of gold won't corrode away into nothing. Furthermore, the government cannot simply pass a law saying that there is now twice as much gold as there was yesterday; this security against manipulation is certainly a valuable feature (well, unless you believe Krugman, who thinks that the government should always be able to manipulate currencies).
Re:Magic the Gathering Online Exchange (Score:5, Insightful)
Virtually anything you might buy or sell derives at least some of its value from faith, and currencies are no exception to this. In other words, as long as a sufficient number of people believe that 1BTC is worth ~$680, then 1BTC is indeed worth ~$680.
This is even true of gold to a certain extent - its value goes up and down too, though it's seldom as volatile because it has other uses beyond currency.
When something happens to shake that faith, the value drops. When something happens to strengthen that faith, the value rises.
Any currency that isn't backed by something tangible (eg. a precious metal) by definition derives more-or-less all its value from faith. This isn't usually a big deal - most countries came off the gold standard decades ago - but one side-effect is that if your country's government is unstable, there's a very good chance your currency will follow suit in short order. For extreme examples, see Zimbabwean dollars, Afghan Afghanis and German Papiermarks.
Gold Lasts (Score:4, Insightful)
Gold had value historically because of permanence - even though it's somewhat delicate, it does not tarnish or rust which is a damn impressive thing in a world full of other things that fade away quite rapidly.
Re:Enough with this "fuck beta" nonsense. (Score:5, Insightful)
Nice sock puppet. Wonder who modded this up?
Sure as shit not a real user.
The people who made this site - the real grown ups who don't post AC - object not just to the technically poor execution of the latest sites; (both the mobile and the beta desktop sites suck). No, what they loath is that they took time to give feedback, as I did - in detail - which was ignored...and then the beta was just rolled out.
Hence the rather "childish" fuck beta campaign. Treat people like kids, don't be surprised at what you get back.
On a final note, fuck beta, and fuck you AC.
Re:Set for a crash anyway due to difficulty of min (Score:3, Insightful)
In a few years we'll look back at this and laugh at the bitcoin pyramid players as if they were methheads. In the meantime it's a obvious scam baited for geek. We've become mainstream enough to attract predators.
Re: Slashdot Traffic Plunges After Beta ... (Score:2, Insightful)
"Slashdot traffic plunged by way more than 8 percent" /. although it might make it worse. The beta-numbnuts on the other hand are totally destroying it right now.
That would be awesome! Then the other 91+ percent could get to read comments again.
beta is not ruining
Gold has value in a working economy (Score:5, Insightful)
The gold fetishist believe gold has value, no matter what. It doesn't. Examples are for instance the holocaust, people ended up selling small fortunes of gold just to survive or even just to eat. The end of time of dreamers who think that once the government collapses, their gold horde will be any safer then a bank account, forget that when Mad Max becomes real, gold has no value.
THIS is why Fallout uses bottle caps. NOT because of anything to do with bottle caps, just to show value is without meaning. People value whatever they value. And I got food and you don't I am not going to give you my food in exchange for your gold because that would leave me holding no food and only worthless gold.
VALUE is ALWAYS what someone ELSE is willing to give up in exchange for it. Take the value of a dollar bill. How much sex does it buy? It can vary from woman to woman and even from moment to moment and from buyer to buyer. Or for something slashdot readers are more familiar with, how about a softdrink from the exact same factory? Can vary from 35 cents to 2.50 with in a few hundred meters (chinese toko to convention hall).
Bitcoins trade is one person selling and another person buying. The more such traders happen, the more you get an average price. But I am going to bet that if I showed up and wanted to sell a BILLION bitcoins in one go, the average price would not apply. Same as if the US tried to sell all its gold at once.
THAT is how easy value can change. Very few things have any intrinisic value whatsoever. What is the value of water to someone living near a lake? The value of food to a farmer with a bountiful harvest? Want proof, read up on changing eating habbits. Like pigeons, peasant food, flying rats or fine dining?
The hardest thing to accept in life after death is that value is fleeting.
Re:Gold has value in a working economy (Score:5, Insightful)
The gold fetishist believe gold has value, no matter what. It doesn't. Examples are for instance the holocaust, people ended up selling small fortunes of gold just to survive or even just to eat.
Why were people willing to trade gold for food, but not, say, rocks for food?
The end of time of dreamers who think that once the government collapses, their gold horde will be any safer then a bank account, forget that when Mad Max becomes real, gold has no value.
Petrol may well be more valuable than gold in a Mad Max scenario, but don't think for a moment that any collection of humans will not want a way to disintermediate their labor and have a means of trade. Do you really think that in Mad Max's world people who have petrol will be more willing to trade it for rocks than for gold? Or for paper US dollars than for gold?
THIS is why Fallout uses bottle caps. NOT because of anything to do with bottle caps, just to show value is without meaning.
So all items have equal value in your Mad Max scenario?
People value whatever they value.
Exactly!
And I got food and you don't I am not going to give you my food in exchange for your gold because that would leave me holding no food and only worthless gold.
If you only have enough food to survive, then you clearly value food more than you value gold. The question arises when you have more food than you can eat, and it will spoil if you just leave it sitting around. One man offers you bottle caps, one man offers you rocks, and a third man offers you gold for that food. Which offer do you take?
Check out what Carl Menger [wikipedia.org] contributed to economic understanding.
Gold isn't [just] a fetish - it's a natural material that happens to have useful properties of money.
Re:Enough with this "fuck beta" nonsense. (Score:2, Insightful)