Digital currency Bitcoin hits new high before losing S$200 in value in one day

[cyclone]

Warren Buffett: Bitcoin is a 'real bubble'

By Thomas Barrabi
Published October 26, 2017

Count billionaire investor Warren Buffett among bitcoin’s skeptics. The “Oracle of Omaha” reportedly told attendees of a Q-and-A session in Omaha, Nebraska earlier this month that the popular cryptocurrency’s exploding value is a bubble waiting to burst.

“People get excited from big price movements and Wall Street accommodates,” Buffett said, according to MarketWatch.

Bitcoin, which allows individuals to compensate each other for goods and services without traditional banking methods, currently trades at nearly $5,900. However, it is not backed by any government and its value has fluctuated wildly in recent years.

“You can’t value bitcoin because it’s not a value-producing asset,” Buffett told MarketWatch. He said that it is impossible to say how far bitcoin’s value will rise, adding that there is a “real bubble in that sort of thing.”

More details in http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/...ubble.html

[Wildreamz]

https://blockchain.info/charts/estimated...volume-usd

Average Transaction volume of Bitcoin continue to rise steadily in October. There seems to be some positive self-reinforcement loop here regarding:
(1) the perceived "intrinsic value" (it's legitimacy as an alternative to fiat currency) which is tied to transaction volume,
(2) price appreciation, and
(3) public interest (by the investment community, financial institutions, libertarians etc). 

On the near term, I'm actually slightly bullish on bitcoin price. Less a government crackdown of the virtual asset, or a high profile hack, I don't see many things that would break the loop.

(not vested)

[weijian]

More legitimacy (and confirmation) for bitcoin supporters/holders?

Bitcoin Surges After World's Biggest Exchange Announces Plans for Futures

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...in-futures

[Wildreamz]

Yes. But adding layers of derivatives over Bitcoin, "genius" move I must say. The crash is nigh?

Edit: By crash I meant a wide-spread economic meltdown.

[BlueKelah]

Yes. But adding layers of derivatives over Bitcoin, "genius" move I must say. The crash is nigh?

Edit: By crash I meant a wide-spread economic meltdown.

Only if the institutional investors start getting into the derivatives.

I doubt it will get approval though, since likely US FED will want its USD to continue to be the "reserve currency"

[cyclone]

Bitcoin Plunges 29% From Record High

By Justina Lee  and Yuji Nakamura
November 13, 2017, 10:05 AM GMT+8 Updated on November 13, 2017, 12:28 PM GMT+8

Bitcoin plunged as the cancellation of a technology upgrade prompted some users to switch out of the cryptocurrency, spooking speculators who had profited from a more than 800 percent surge this year.

The cryptocurrency has dropped 9.5 percent since late Friday, extending its slide from last week’s record to as much as 29 percent, according to data compiled by Coinmarketcap.com and Bloomberg. Bitcoin cash, a rival that split from the original bitcoin in August, has jumped nearly 40 percent since Friday.

Bitcoin cash is gaining popularity because of its larger block size, a characteristic that makes transactions cheaper and faster than the original. When a faction of the cryptocurrency community canceled plans to increase bitcoin’s block size on Wednesday -- a move that would have created another offshoot -- some supporters of bigger blocks rallied around bitcoin cash.

More details in https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...ntensifies

[cyclone]

Bitcoin Hits Record Just Days After a 29% Plunge

By Camila Russo  and Eric Lam
November 17, 2017, 5:42 AM GMT+8 Updated on November 17, 2017, 9:23 AM GMT+8

Bitcoin has picked up right where it left off, hitting another record high to close in on $8,000 just days after a plunge of as much as 29 percent tested the confidence of advocates of the cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin climbed as much as 1.3 percent to touch a high of $7,994.56 for a fourth day of gains, bouncing back after erasing as much as $38 billion in market capitalization Monday following the cancellation of a technology upgrade known as SegWit2X on Nov. 8.

While multiple reasons have been cited for the price volatility, one of the more viable is that some investors were switching to alternative coins. Bitcoin cash, an offshoot of bitcoin that includes many of the technical upgrades being debated by developers, had more than doubled in the same period.

More details in https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...-to-memory

[cyclone]

Bitcoin could 'easily' reach $40,000 by the end of 2018, hedge fund legend Novogratz says

Evelyn Cheng
November 28, 2017

Former Fortress hedge fund manager Michael Novogratz said Monday that bitcoin can multiply more than four times in roughly the next 13 months.

"Bitcoin could be at $40,000 at the end of 2018. It easily could," Michael Novogratz said Monday on CNBC's "Fast Money." "Ethereum, which I think just touched $500 or is getting close, could be triple where it is as well."

Bitcoin was trading near $9,656 late Monday afternoon, after hitting a record high above $9,700 earlier in the day, according to CoinDesk. Ethereum hit a record high of $493.40 Monday, according to CoinMarketCap, and last traded near $482.

More details in https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/27/bitcoin-...gratz.html

[holymage]

Bitcoin’s meteoric rise has made it hard for even those in the highest spheres of finance, technology and government to ignore – and many have an opinion about its approximate 1,255 percent gain in the past 12 months. People have debated the potential of cryptocurrencies since the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto released a nine-page paper explaining the technology in 2009. Here’s a look at who’s on which side and what they’re saying.

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/bitcoin-bulls-bears/

[weijian]

Well, a 7mil investment over 2 years is now worth 100mil - assuming all can be liquidated. "Hard to argue" with someone who has made such money, telling him the way he made it, is wrong (heck, he probably doesn't care!)

Q&A: Why a Value Investor Decided to Buy Bitcoin
ILLUSTRATION: HORIZON KINETICS

But Murray Stahl, a longtime value investor who now manages $5.5 billion at his New York-based investment firm Horizon Kinetics, considers Bitcoin “the ultimate value investment.” His original $7 million investment from two years ago has ballooned as Bitcoin’s price has soared, and he now holds about $100 million worth. As of Monday, each Bitcoin is worth about $9,500.

https://www.barrons.com/articles/q-a-why...1511810246