Bitcoin hits 3-year peak, nears record high on U.S. ETF approval

Re:Bitcoin hits 3-year peak, nears record high on U.S. ETF a... by contingencies on Thursday February 23, 2017 @02:22PM (#13716863)

First employee of a major exchange here. High BTC values and regulatory acceptance are good for the crypto-currency sector as a whole. Bitcoin's persent-era limitations are well documented, and these do not affect market capitalization, maturity and the availability of conventional asset exchange infrastructure which are all critical factors in large-scale adoption. Major exchanges that have added ETH essentially represent a de-facto recognition that BTC is not the "one true solution", and that's fine. No system is all things to all people. In heterogeneity lies strength.

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Re:Bitcoin hits 3-year peak, nears record high on U.S. ETF a... by kylebenzle on Thursday February 23, 2017 @05:31PM (#13718477)

Bitcoin's ... limitations .... do not affect market capitalization

I hope I am not misunderstanding but it sounds like you are saying people will use bitcoin no matter how long tx time is or how high fees go?

As a major player in Bitcoin I think it imperative that you guys understand that is not true, users will stop using and new users will never join if it takes too long or is too expensive. I feel the exchanges could have a huge part to play in responsibly forking the system to 2 mb and beyond as a signal to miners and offer confidence to users that there coins are safe no matter what, not all this "We have no official stance" stuff which instills neither confidence nor the feeling there there is even anything important that needs "fixed". You guys should be the front line demand this upgrade, why aren't you?

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Re:Bitcoin hits 3-year peak, nears record high on U.S. ETF a... by contingencies on Thursday February 23, 2017 @06:46PM (#13719096)

Firstly, to clarify I am no longer involved in the referenced business except as a shareholder. I am involved in a newly emerging multi-asset financial services business with an interest in using cryptographic currencies for cross-border transactions. I agree with your assessment that high fees will affect volume, however that is really a separate discussion and perceptions of acceptable fees vary widely by scenario.

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Re:Bitcoin hits 3-year peak, nears record high on U.S. ETF a... by wmf on Thursday February 23, 2017 @05:51PM (#13718630)

Bitcoin's value comes from speculators who use exchanges not the blockchain. Their off-chain transactions don't need to confirm and they don't pay (Bitcoin) fees.

Long-term "hodlers" also probably don't care if it takes a full day and a $100 fee to cash out their $100K of profit.

People who actually use the Bitcoin blockchain could all be scared away and BTC would still be $1,000.

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