News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Bitcoin Plummets Below 40K by dr_zoidberg on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @06:14AM (#27206603)
In this particular case, the no apparent reason is certain person known to speculate with cryptocurrencies suddenly decided he'd go on to publicly bash the thing he pumped in the past "for no apparent reason". I mean, we couldall speculate the price was a bit high for his taste and wanted a discount, or maybe he really believes what he said.

That said, I agree that bitcoin price is kind of a bubble, and something that is pumped and dumped by people with a lot of money to the detriment of those who saw it as a miracle savings investment (usually people with little financial education) or those who truly believed in it (I think those became a small % of the users a long time ago).

Re:Bitcoin Plummets Below 40K by nly on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @06:22AM (#27206658)
My point is nobody has an answer to "Why did people bid up Bitcoin 5x from September 2020 to mid-Feb 2021?"

Maybe Elon is the trigger for the 30% drop over the last few days... but remember he didn't announce his initial holdings until mid-February 2021, which was after the 5x surge. If anything his timing was awful.

Everything in hindsight is pure speculation and rationalization. Nobody has a clue, markets are complex, volatile and full of irrational actors.

Re:Bitcoin Plummets Below 40K by rapsey on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @06:27AM (#27206700)
They are also full of whales/market makers who dance to their own tune and can manipulate the price. All this Elon Tesla talk is just a side show to entertain the public.

There is no doubt hedge funds are playing in this space with lots of money and skills to extract maximum value from the joe shmoes

Re:Bitcoin Plummets Below 40K by spankyspangler on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @06:29AM (#27206716)
In this particular case I don't think the market is all that complex. People were valuing bitcoin on the assumption that other people would keep buying it at higher prices before they sell.

People didn't cut nearly half a trillion dollars from the value of bitcoin on the word of a person known for blurting out impulsive and weird things. He didn't reveal any deep new insights into this thing. What Musk said just spooked the herd, that's all.

Re:Bitcoin Plummets Below 40K by nly on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @06:35AM (#27206757)
It would be interesting to figure out how much $USD has been paid for all the coins currently held, rather than looking at just market cap.

Shame it can't be calculated.

Re:Bitcoin Plummets Below 40K by dr_zoidberg on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @08:32AM (#27207665)
I think the exchanges would be the ones that could answer that question... But I don't think it's in their interests to do so.
Re:Bitcoin Plummets Below 40K by xbmcuser on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @06:39AM (#27206786)
The guy has built and is managing multiple multi billion dollar companies at the same time. Tesla buying bitcoin and profiting from it led to Musk meeting one of the requirements for being awarded options worth billions.