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Re:Cryptocurrencies are collapsing by stillbourne on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @05:47AM (#16157220)
Or it could be, gasp, perhaps bitcoin was overvalued? No, anything but that.
Re:Cryptocurrencies are collapsing by storafrid on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @05:59AM (#16157276)
How would you define "overvalued"? Is it the current average price compared to a very low price three months from now? What if it recovers a few weeks after that — would that change the fact that it was once "overvalued"? Valuation is not based on nothing, in vacuum. The challenge is to understand the underlying factors. The post you replied to actually tried to shed some light.
Re:Cryptocurrencies are collapsing by Goladus on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @01:58PM (#16161033)
How would you define "overvalued"?

The difference between the price of bitcoin versus the price of bitcoin as it would be if it was only used as a medium of exchange rather than a speculative asset.

Re:Cryptocurrencies are collapsing by jhoechtl on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @06:38AM (#16157445)
The price of energy required to mine 1 BTC. What else? That's its inherent value.
Re:Cryptocurrencies are collapsing by steeleduncan on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @06:51AM (#16157507)
No, the energy required is a function of the price, not the other way around.

The bitcoin network adjusts the block difficulty (effectively the energy required to mine 1 BTC) every 2016 blocks such that the rate of creating blocks is fixed at one block (currently 12.5 BTC) every ten minutes.

If the dollar value of energy required to mine 1 BTC is significantly less than the current dollar value of a bitcoin then it is likely more hash power will be added to the network by the bitcoin farms, further increasing the network's hash rate, and as a consequence the block difficulty and therefore the price of the energy required to mine 1 BTC.

Re:Cryptocurrencies are collapsing by sethgecko on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @06:48AM (#16157492)
The price of energy required to mine a bitcoin follows the bitcoin price not the other way around.
Re:Cryptocurrencies are collapsing by paulgb on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @06:50AM (#16157499)
This is just the discredited labor theory of value, applied to machines instead of humans.
Re:Cryptocurrencies are collapsing by oneeyedpigeon on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @07:07AM (#16157580)
In other words, I could spend an hour exerting effort and have nothing of value to show for it at the end?
Re:Cryptocurrencies are collapsing by jrimbault on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @07:33AM (#16157701)
That's obvious... You can work for a year and still get nothing... Because your work has no value in and of itself.

In general things are only as valuable as the "market" is willing to pay for them.

Re:Cryptocurrencies are collapsing by oneeyedpigeon on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @09:12AM (#16158243)
> That's obvious

Sure, I was agreeing / checking my understanding was correct :)

Re:Cryptocurrencies are collapsing by glenneroo on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @06:42AM (#16157467)
This will end very soon since 80% of coins have been mined already. So the energy consumption will only be miners processing transactions.
Re:Cryptocurrencies are collapsing by teh_klev on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @06:53AM (#16157519)
In my book, 2140 isn't "very soon" (based on the current Bitcoin mining algos).
Re:Cryptocurrencies are collapsing by notsrg on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @06:57AM (#16157537)
The last 1% of unmined Bitcoin will last over 100 years. A majority of mining profits at that point will be from tx fees.
Re:Cryptocurrencies are collapsing by teh_klev on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @09:18AM (#16158291)
Sure, but "only" !== "majority".
Re:Cryptocurrencies are collapsing by skerit on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @06:37AM (#16157443)
I thought most people, even the hard-core believers, were waiting for a correction. The previous times Bitcoin grew so exponentially it was always followed with a hard crash, though this time it's taking a bit longer.
Re:Cryptocurrencies are collapsing by empath75 on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @07:10AM (#16157593)
Not really. It took a long time to bottom out post-gox
Re:Cryptocurrencies are collapsing by sethgecko on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @06:11AM (#16157341)
Please do tell what the correct value is for a bitcoin and how you arrived at that number.
Re:Cryptocurrencies are collapsing by stillbourne on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @10:48PM (#16165313)
The value is 0 because entropy is a stupid commodity.
Re:Cryptocurrencies are collapsing by flowctrl on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @01:57PM (#16161022)
Yes theres that, but BTC being overvalued doesn't explain the entire market dip that we are seeing now. However, it is consistent with Bitcoin's historical pattern:

https://twitter.com/cryptozerp/status/953324474077769728

Re:Cryptocurrencies are collapsing by HenryBemis on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @05:57AM (#16157270)
IMO BTC's value could sensibly fluctuate around $10k. The hype/trend and the media frenzy caused the spike of $20k.

Let it rest for a while and I believe it will have more races up-and-down the 10k-22k range so people can enjoy their gambling ;)

Re:Cryptocurrencies are collapsing by empath75 on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @07:11AM (#16157598)
It could also sensibly fluctuate around $1000 or $100.