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BitCoin Is Now Officially A (Schrodinger) Currency
Last week was momentuous for BitCoin after a Texas judge officially recognized it as a currency. To wit: "It is clear that Bitcoin can be used as money. It can be used to purchase goods or services, and as Shavers stated, used to pay for individual living expenses. The only limitation of Bitcoin is that it is limited to those places that accept it as currency. However, it can also be exchanged for conventional currencies, such as the U.S. dollar, Euro, Yen, and Yuan. Therefore, Bitcoin is a currency or form of money" (read his full memorandum opinion here).
Whether or not BitCoin actually wants to be regarded as an accepted currency, and thus subject to US government regulation, remains to be seen. However, one thing is certain: a currency is not a currency, until it gets its own Bloomberg ticker. Just recall the confusion that followed the appearance of XGD, or the GREEK DRACHMA (POST EURO), BBG currency ticker in June 2012 caused a panic tsunami across Europe when everyone started asking what does Bloomberg know that nobody else does.
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Considering that it looked like it will be canceled by a government, this comes like a kind of surprise ...
I found out about the bitcoins not too long ago.
I read the information I was able to find and I don't actually understand the whole idea. Ok, crypto currency, but it not controlled and not supported by anything. So it is only exists until there is a demand for it, when everybody decide that it's enough - they will just disappear or become useless like it was from the very beginning. And one mor thing, the bitcoin exchange rate is very easy to manipulate. Like the holder of big amount can take them of market, increasing the demand. As for me it is just a toy.
Regulator Examines Bitcoin Practices
New York's top banking regulator has issued subpoenas to roughly two dozen companies associated with bitcoin as part of a wide-ranging inquiry into the business practices of the fledgling virtual-currency industry, according to people familiar with the matter.
The subpoenas, from the New York Department of Financial Services, seek information on a range of topics, including antimoney-laundering programs, consumer-protection measures and investment strategies, according to the people.
The department, led by Benjamin Lawsky, also plans on Monday to issue a memo expressing concern that virtual-currency companies aren't complying with the state's money-transmission laws. As a result, the state is considering setting new guidelines that are specifically aimed at virtual currencies.
"We believe that—for a number of reasons—putting in place appropriate regulatory safeguards for virtual currencies will be beneficial to the long-term strength of the virtual-currency industry," wrote Mr. Lawsky in a draft of the memo reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Companies that received subpoenas include some of the best-known names in the nascent industry, including Coinbase Inc., BitInstant and Coinsetter.
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Man buys $27 of bitcoin, forgets about them, finds they're now worth $886k
The meteoric rise in bitcoin has meant that within the space of four years, one Norwegian man’s $27 investment turned into a forgotten $886,000 windfall.
Kristoffer Koch invested 150 kroner ($26.60) in 5,000 bitcoins in 2009, after discovering them during the course of writing a thesis on encryption. He promptly forgot about them until widespread media coverage of the anonymous, decentralised, peer-to-peer digital currency in April 2013 jogged his memory.
Bitcoins are stored in encrypted wallets secured with a private key, something Koch had forgotten. After eventually working out what the password could be, Koch got a pleasant surprise:
"It said I had 5,000 bitcoins in there. Measuring that in today's rates it's about NOK5m ($886,000)," Koch told NRK.
Silk Road fluctuations
In April 2013, the value of bitcoin peaked at $266 before crashing to a low of $50 soon after. Since then, bitcoin has seen large fluctuations in its value, most recently following the seizure of online drugs marketplace Silk Road, plummeting before jumping $30 in one day to a high of $197 in October.
Koch exchanged one fifth of his 5,000 bitcoins, generating enough kroner to buy an apartment in Toyen, one of the Norwegian capital’s wealthier areas.
Two ways to acquire bitcoins
Typically bitcoins are bought using traditional currency from a bitcoin "exchanger", although due to strict anti-money laundering controls, the process can can be tricky. A user can then withdraw those bitcoins by sending them back to an exchanger like Mt Gox, the best known bitcoin exchange, in return for cash.
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The meteoric rise in bitcoin has meant that within the space of four years, one Norwegian man’s $27 investment turned into a forgotten $886,000 windfall.
Kristoffer Koch invested 150 kroner ($26.60) in 5,000 bitcoins in 2009, after discovering them during the course of writing a thesis on encryption. He promptly forgot about them until widespread media coverage of the anonymous, decentralised, peer-to-peer digital currency in April 2013 jogged his memory.
Bitcoins are stored in encrypted wallets secured with a private key, something Koch had forgotten. After eventually working out what the password could be, Koch got a pleasant surprise:
"It said I had 5,000 bitcoins in there. Measuring that in today's rates it's about NOK5m ($886,000)," Koch told NRK.
Silk Road fluctuations
In April 2013, the value of bitcoin peaked at $266 before crashing to a low of $50 soon after. Since then, bitcoin has seen large fluctuations in its value, most recently following the seizure of online drugs marketplace Silk Road, plummeting before jumping $30 in one day to a high of $197 in October.
Koch exchanged one fifth of his 5,000 bitcoins, generating enough kroner to buy an apartment in Toyen, one of the Norwegian capital’s wealthier areas.
Two ways to acquire bitcoins
Typically bitcoins are bought using traditional currency from a bitcoin "exchanger", although due to strict anti-money laundering controls, the process can can be tricky. A user can then withdraw those bitcoins by sending them back to an exchanger like Mt Gox, the best known bitcoin exchange, in return for cash.
read moreInteresting story. Thanks for sharing
Seems we need a Bitcoin thread to discuss about due the growing popularity of this virtual money.
Forex-TSD is studying the idea of take Bitcoins as payment method and having our thread to discuss about pros and cons sounds as good approach.
You will find more information on the official Bitcoin page Bitcoin
As any other currency on Forex market bitcoins fluctuates against other currencies. The most know exchange is https://mtgox.com/
And there are charts and real time values at Bitcoin Charts / Markets
Some brokers started to take Bitcoins as payment method.
So. This is Forex talks too-.I keep hearing about bitcoins but don't really know what they are or how to get them. If they are virtual money, how can they be used in a mainstream marketplace?
As BitCoin Touches $400 The Senate Starts Seeking Answers... As Does The Fed
Moments ago BitCoin hit $395, and will likely cross $400 in the immediate future (the chart looks a little less scary in log scale).
So as more and more pile into the electronic currency, some due to ideological reasons, some simply to chase momentum, some out of disappointment with the manipulated gold price looking to park their savings in an alternative, non-fiat based currency, which a year ago traded 40 times lower, the attention of the government is finally starting to shift to what has been the best performing asset class in the past year, outperforming even the infamous Caracas stock market.
Which means one thing: Congressional hearings.
From Bloomberg:
As Bitcoin Plunges 25% On Government Scrutiny ...
It took literally minutes following our report from yesterdaythat in addition to the ECB and Fed, it was the Senate's turn to finally shine the spotlight on the most notorious electronic currency with a hearing titled "Beyond Silk Road: Potential Risks, Threats, and Promises of Virtual Currencies" next Monday, for Bitcoin to tumble 25% from its all time high just shy of $400, to $290 within 12 hours, in large part answering our rhetorical question if "the one thing that can finally end the dream of Bitcoin holders arrive soon: when the government, and existing monetary authorities, start taking it seriously." They appear to be doing just that, which is why additional upside from here may be in the eye of the Cray supercomputer-armed NSA beholder.
So yes: Bitcoin is volatile. Very. That much is clear. But what is not so clear, and perhaps a key reason for this volatility, is just what the fundamental, or intrinsic value of BitCoins is when one strips away the pure euphoric momentum to the upside or downside.
To answer that question, we go to Raoul Pal, head of the Global Macro Investor,and his November 1st recommendation to "Buy Bitcoins" (when BTC was $210 so nearly a 100% return in 1 week) which among other things attempts to "value BTC using a macro framework" or, in other words, the first supply-demand driven fair value assessment of BTC.
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Bitcoin flies above $600 on hopes of D.C. blessing, China buzz
Washington D.C.’s blessing and a Chinese feeding-frenzy: What more could a virtual currency ask for?
Bitcoin was off to the races on Monday, soaring to new highs above $600 — to $618.94 — and last at $610 in choppy trade on Mt. Gox.
Plus, onMonday the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is due to hold a hearing on the challenges law enforcement and regulatory agencies face dealing with bitcoin.
Ahead of that meeting, Bloomberg News reported that the Department of Justice and the SEC are expected to tell a U.S. Senate Committee that bitcoins are are legitimate financial instruments. The virtual currency offers benefits and risks just like any other online-payment system, according to letters released before the hearing:
“The FBI’s approach to virtual currencies is guided by a recognition that online-payment systems, both centralized and decentralized, offer legitimate financial services,” Peter Kadzik, principal deputy assistant attorney general, wrote in a letter on Sunday.
“Like any financial service, virtual currency system of either type can be exploited by malicious actors, but centralized and decentralized online-payment systems can vary significantly in the types and degrees of illicit financial risk they pose.”
The hearing was prompted by the shutdown of the Silk Road Hidden Website, which handled $1.2 billion of bitcoin transactions in over two years before the FBI seized it. And after news surfaced last week of a Chinese bitcoin exchange that vanished with the equivalent of $4.1 million, bitcoin watchers got jittery. (Read MarketWatch’s look at how bitcoin could be one of the next 10 investment bubbles, and Business Insider on whether or not bitcoin is really secure.)
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