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Bitcoin

Bitcoin Jumps To $50,000 as Record-Breaking Rally Accelerates (bloomberg.com) 210

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
Bitcoin blew through another milestone, surging past $50,000 for the first time as the blistering rally in the largest cryptocurrency continues to captivate investors worldwide. From a report: The world's largest cryptocurrency jumped as much as 4.9% to $50,548 and is now up about 70% so far this year. Bitcoin pared its gain after setting the record high. Ether, a rival crypto, hit a record on Friday and is up about 140% year-to-date. After ending last year with a fourth-quarter surge of 170% to around $29,000, Bitcoin token jumped to $40,000 seven days later. It took just nearly six weeks to breach the latest threshold, buoyed by endorsements from the likes of Paul Tudor Jones, Stan Druckenmiller and Elon Musk. Bitcoin traded for a few cents for several years after its debut more than a decade ago.
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Bitcoin Jumps To $50,000 as Record-Breaking Rally Accelerates More

Bitcoin Jumps To $50,000 as Record-Breaking Rally Accelerates

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  • I know what you'll say.... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by yoey ( 247125 ) on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @11:06AM (#61068630) Journal

    Bitcoin is not currency. It's speculative. Tulip bulbs. Etc.

    Obviously.

    And deep down we all feel stupid for missing out.

    • Re:I know what you'll say.... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by OrangeTide ( 124937 ) on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @11:21AM (#61068666) Homepage Journal

      I slap my forehead every time the winning lotto numbers are announced. *I* could have easily guessed the right six numbers. IF ONLY I KNEW!

      I spent my BTC long ago at a tidy profit. I used it for its intended purpose, to buy stuff online. Nothing weird or illegal, I bought an electronics kit (build you own computer kit). Okay, well weird maybe.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        I slap my forehead every time the winning lotto numbers are announced. *I* could have easily guessed the right six numbers. IF ONLY I KNEW!

        That nicely sums it up.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Anonymous Coward

        I bought $150 in BTC so I could try to buy some acid on the dark web. I got too lazy to buy the acid, but now that BTC is worth.. considerably more. I mean, I could buy a lot more acid now, but that seems excessive and I'd rather have the "value" that that BTC currently represents. And if BTC drops, I can always just buy the acid.

      • Um, mod that Funny... if he really smacks his head every time he hears winning lotto numbers, we need to protect him from head injury.

    • Just because it isn't currency doesn't mean it can't make money.

      Call it a crypto stock
          Currencies need to be stable or you end up with worthless currency. See Argentina and Venezuela.

      Bitcoin is anything but stable or useful. But that doesn't mean you can't make money from it

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by mobby_6kl ( 668092 )

        You can totally make money on pyramid schemes, just need to know when to get in and to get out.

        While I totally expect that it can come crashing tomorrow, it can also go way higher than 50k for way longer considering bitcoin is still mostly a niche for nerds, drug dealers and crazy people. Once joe blow on the street can use it to buy a taco, even more money could would be pouring in.

        Or, again, maybe tomorrow everyone will realize they can use any of the million other coins and my portfolio will go back to $

        • It's not really a pyramid scheme as there's no real top or bottom. Though right now it does have a lot of traction, ditto with stocks, because the super low interest rates and big stimulus payouts mean dollars are currently the hot potato that you don't want to be holding on to.

          Currently I'm sitting on a lot of cash and I really don't like it, though I don't like the idea of stocks or cryptocurrency either. I put a small amount of money in SPXU in the hopes that maybe I'll get something when this bubble pop

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by cfalcon ( 779563 )

            The problem with fundamentals in a massive bull market is that they don't tell you anything super informative. Hooray, every graph is a hockey stick! That tells you that most stocks are valued FAR past the point a rational person might like the stock, every stock will be a better deal at a later time than it is today probably- but when will they drop to their actual fundamental value? Maybe never. Just because the fundamental value of a bitcoin is zero doesn't mean it will ever fall to zero, and that's

            • I really question what 'fundamental value' even means. It certainly makes sense if you think of it as fronting some money to a productive enterprise that will give you a payout from their profits. (Demand for capital)

              But prices are largely driven by something else, which is the supply of capital. People have to put their savings somewhere, so the supply has no direct link to demand.

              Or I guess we could ask, with these levels of debt, inflation is not surprising, but why is it in assets and not so muc

          • I put a small amount of money in SPXU in the hopes that maybe I'll get something when this bubble pops, but I'm not counting on it either.

            I don't know what to do either, I've been expecting inflation to take off and a big market crash for years, but it keeps not happening. Anyways I've stuck to my strategy which is to dump most of it into a low-overhead index fund and leave it there. Over the last 3 years my 401k has made more money than my salary, except I don't need the money currently so it's still

            • I don't know what to do either, I've been expecting inflation to take off and a big market crash for years, but it keeps not happening. Anyways I've stuck to my strategy which is to dump most of it into a low-overhead index fund and leave it there. Over the last 3 years my 401k has made more money than my salary, except I don't need the money currently so it's still in there and could disappear at any time. Don't know what to do, except brace myself for a fall of 50% at some point and be prepared to tell myself I knew it would probably happen.

              Nobody knows anything, and anyone who claims to know is lying. We're in some kind of no-shit voodoo economics territory. You'd think everything would be fucked when the whole world ground to a halt for months and still retail, travel, hospitality, entertainment and other sectors are shut down but nope, stonks at record heights, bitcoin through the roof, housing more expensive than ever, etc.

              I too just automatically buy index funds, and other than the exciting period early last year it's been doing pretty we

              • Stocks are up because interest rates have been pathetic for the last decade. Why does low interest rates mean stocks are up. Because you can't earn 2-3% in a savings account so to stay above inflation you need stocks. Even bonds are below inflation rates in many cases.

                So you have people who are at home with access to their home stuff trying to get more bang for their buck. As the safe options are gone. Trump's tax cuts didn't help matters as 75% of that money went. Into stock buybacks and dividends. Com

          • It's not really a pyramid scheme as there's no real top or bottom. Though right now it does have a lot of traction, ditto with stocks, because the super low interest rates and big stimulus payouts mean dollars are currently the hot potato that you don't want to be holding on to.

            It wasn't necesserily designed to be a pyramid scheme but that's still how it works now. The people who got in early are profiting only as long as more and more people are getting into it. The moment that dries up for whatever reason, anyone still holding will be screwed because without the constant growth, bitcoins are pretty useless.

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Definitions (Score:5, Insightful)

      by JBMcB ( 73720 ) on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @11:26AM (#61068682)

      People trying to define Bitcoin in terms of investment instruments, or commodities, or currency, seem to me like people trying to define what the internet was in the 1990s. It's like a phone system, it's like AOL, it's like Cable TV, but it is also none of those things. Same with Bitcoin. Bitcoin is like currency, kind of like an investment or commodity, but it is also none of those things.

      I know people who have invested in Bitcoin. I know people who have used Bitcoin to buy stuff. I know people who have used Bitcoin to send money to relatives in other countries, as doing so through existing bank transfers or money wire services would have been slow or expensive. Some people use it for illicit purposes. Some people use it to verify legal transactions. Bitcoin is it's own thing.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Kisai ( 213879 )

        Yeah, but the speculation in crypto currencies is driving a shortage in electronics and wasted energy, neither are a good thing for the short term or long term. Just look at the vast power outages yesterday from demand and transmission failure. Crypto is keeping dirty energy sources in business.

        Here's what should be happening. Crypto is ultimately worthless. You aren't going to trade or mine crypto when you have no electricity. Paper checks, and manual swipe machines for credit cards still exist, though mos

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by Rinikusu ( 28164 )

          I hate shilling, but if you have some time, check out Nano. It is everything that BTC was supposed to be and completely usable, as is. There's no smart contracts, there's no defi, there's no nothing except being fast, feeless, and usable *right now* and it's not an environmental disaster (no mining). The only thing that concerns me is the deflationary aspect of it (there's 133 million NANOs out there, and that's all that ever will be. Granted, I believe it supports something like 30 decimal places, but if w

          • That sounds good. I do think the whole 'mining' aspect of bitcoin has turned out to be a cute trick but a huge mistake, wasteful and unhelpful. Bitcoin has turned out to be hugely deflationary anyways.

          • Sorry, anything with a finite number of tokens is a trading card, not a currency. It's value is created by the perception of its rarity.

            As far as I can tell, Etherium actually is what Bitcoin pushers want you to think Bitcoin is to draw you into the Bitcoin pyramid scheme. By definition the currency, Ether, is the thing given for transactions to be processed, and that is the basic function of the network. So its value is determined by its usefulness to get transactions processed, not perceived rarity.

      • I know people who have invested in paper money. I know people who have used Cash to buy stuff. I know people who have used Cash to send money to relatives in other countries, as doing so through existing bank transfers or money wire services would have been slow or expensive. Some people use it for illicit purposes. Some people use it to verify legal transactions. Cash is it's own thing.

        Sorry, but I really don't see how BTC is any more it's "own thing" than cash is. It's a legal form of tender that is becoming more and more recognized as such around the planet. Nothing really more to see.

        And for all those bitching about the energy costs, settle down already. To maintain the USD, how many obscenely glorious bank buildings whirr and hum away, sucking outrageous amounts of energy just to keep the over-the-top flat screen TV setups and lobby fountains going? Do you really need a 4K wall of

        • To maintain the USD, how many obscenely glorious bank buildings whirr and hum away, sucking outrageous amounts of energy just to keep the over-the-top flat screen TV setups and lobby fountains going? Do you really need a 4K wall of HDTVs spewing bank ads to cash a check?

          If a bank spends twice as much on this flashy stuff as their competitor, they won't get twice the number of customers. There's a law of diminishing returns. If a miner spends twice as much as their competitor, then they get the majority of the mined bitcoins. So there's a more direct incentive to use energy in the mining case.

          Most bank buildings make Liberace's wardrobe look boring and cheap by comparison.

          I would love to know where these are! Certainly they are not the bank branches I've been to.

    • Re:I know what you'll say.... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by rmdingler ( 1955220 ) on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @11:27AM (#61068684) Journal

      Bitcoin is not currency. It's speculative. Tulip bulbs. Etc.

      Obviously.

      And deep down we all feel stupid for missing out.

      That pretty much captures the sentiment.

      It was worth pennies when this site started covering every mention of it, and we were too smart to fall for the Ponzi scheme.

      Considering all the stupid things I've bought online, I wish I'd have fallen for this one.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by nomadic ( 141991 )

        Hey, I stand by my evaluation back when BitCoin was 5 cents that it was still overpriced.

        Seriously though, I'm just happy that it was difficult to actually buy bitcoin because there were no exchanges. If those had existed I'd be kicking myself a lot more.

      • If you had $4,000 of Bitcoin right now, would you spend it to buy stuff, or would you hold onto it hoping the price continues to go up?

        I think most Bitcoin enthusiasts would say that because they expect the price to go up, spending it would be silly. You should hold onto it, they would say.

        The currency is the thing you use to buy stuff. That's the first of two defining features of currency. If it's not generally used for buying stuff, it's not the currency!

        With actual currencies, when price of the currency

        • Nobody can increase the supply of Bitcoin by 24, or even 6%, so it's locked into deflation (the price of Bitcoin going up) and spending Bitcoin looks kinda foolish. Therefore people won't spend them. Again, if they aren't spent to buy things, they aren't currency.

          Knowing that Bitcoin isn't currency and can never be currency, one then naturally asks how this will end. There are a couple of possibilities. The most likely being a very ugly end, so I hope not too many people are putting more money into Bitcoin than they are prepared to lose

          At last but not least, it's an unregulated security, so there will be no investigation if there's a pump and dump price manipulation.

          The early (far too many) number of exchanges that lost people's bitcoins due to suspicious circumstances turned me off to it, more than anything.

    • Specifically I think they're looking to turn it into company script. e.g. you're paid in Bitcoin, you make all your purchases in Bitcoin, you're loans are in Bitcoin, etc, etc.

      The advantage to this for them is that they can (with their enormous real world wealth and power) easily manipulate the price of Bitcoin to their liking. Just as they manipulated the value of company script to keep their workers as defacto slaves and indentured servants.

      They're building a parallel economy they control. It's a
      • since /. doesn't let you edit comments, this is exactly the sort of thing Cyberpunk Dystopia warned us about. Technology being used to create a new Feudalism instead of a bright future.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Sebby ( 238625 )

        Re:I think the 1% are looking to make it one

        Yeah, the OG 1% are teaming up with the 'new' 1% (all the geeks) to take control of all the money, as usual.

        • this'll be the 1% creating a parallel economy for their own use and purposes. It will benefit them and only them. The Geeks will find their pay is worth a lot less (as will everybody's) because that's the point. The 1% can't directly manipulate a government backed fiat currency with impunity. If they do they'll get their hands slapped, and if it costs their buddies money they might even end up in jail (like Bernie Madoff, who was fine until he scammed some 1%ers).
      • How is this different than existing currencies? You're paid in US dollars, you make all your purchases in US dollars, your loans are in US dollars, etc. etc. Unless you can start paying taxes in BitCoin you'd eventually need to be able to exchange it for US dollars.

        I don't think you understand anything about BitCoin because it immediately loses value as soon as any one group could take it over due to the nature of how the blockchain is constructed. You'd only want to try that kind of attack against it pr

      • Companies won't be as dumb as to use BTC for this. They don't want to pay $100 per transaction, nor be subject to the crazy volatility of the BTC market.
        The cryptocurrency craze may have started off with BTC, but in its wake more than 1000 currencies have already been launched, and all found suckers willing to use them. So companies wanting to go back to the bad old days of the 'company town' will just start their own currency, entirely under their control.

    • Actually I was going to say that it's a huge waste of electricity and better use of money would be to fund removing CO2 from the air.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

        It's too bad we can't think of a decentralized proof of work that would do just that. In Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars series they develop an economy based on releasing nitrogen into the atmosphere.

        • Damn... that's a hell of an idea. We just need a straightforward technology that converts electricity into stored carbon. An algae-based photobioreactor can be basically that (dump nutrients into water, pump CO2 through water, shine grow lights on water, strain out the algae and bury it in a sealed container somewhere), but I think the whole thing is probably a bit too touchy and high-maintenance. Proving that the carbon was actually sequestered and buried (so that it could be used as part of a proof-of-wor

    • Bitcoin is not currency. It's speculative. Tulip bulbs. Etc.

      Obviously.

      It goes up as long as enough people believe.

      And deep down we all feel stupid for missing out.

      Hindsight is always 20:20. Imagine if you'd bought Apple stocks when they were at $1, or Microsoft when it was just starting out...

    • And deep down we all feel stupid for missing out.

      Perhaps you feel stupid, because you don't know what to call it, but the emotion most people will feel is called envy. Once you remember what emotion it is you're feeling might you be able to think about it more clearly and altogether stop feeling envious each time somebody mentions Bitcoin. Legally is Bitcoin treated as a property, like a painting or a piece of land. Still, many think of it as a currency. In the end can one not eat it or do much else with it then to trade it for something else, and you'll

  • Bitcoin is fueled by FOMO (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Karganeth ( 1017580 ) on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @11:18AM (#61068654)
    Stories like this pressure people who have no understanding of Bitcoin to buy it. People generally think that if the price has gone up recently then it'll keep going up. I don't usually mind FOMO trains like this eg I wasn't bothered by the recent $GME surge. However in this case, a rise in price of Bitcoin directly increases the amount of pollution produced by miners. If the price goes up by a factor of x then the electricity usage miners doubles, and it's already using more power than Argentina. Bitcoin is an environmental disaster. It's irresponsible to hype Bitcoin up.

    • It's the modern gold rush.
      For relatively abstract reasons, people decided that [gold|bitcoin] has a special value
      People go nuts for [gold/bitcoin]
      In the hopes of striking it rich, millions of people jump on the bandwagon
      Everyons only talks about the success stories, not those who lost everything
      People selling the mining equipment make a lot of money.

      • Hey Slashdot, just remember to post all the stories of people losing their shirt and being wiped out when it happens. People eventually wake up from Tulip manias... broke.
        • Fiat currencies: USD, EUR... are not built to last. They are made, and managed, as a political tool.

          As Voltaire famously said, 'Fiat currency always eventually returns to its intrinsic value -- zero.'

          • Fiat currencies: USD, EUR... are not built to last. They are made, and managed, as a political tool.

            We hear various recitations of this here on slashdot all the time; how fiat currencies are all doomed for various reasons. My question for you though is this - can you name one non-fiat currency that is a significant player in the global economy today? Even the British Pound Sterling isn't tied to the cost of a pound of Sterling.

            While of course the fact that almost no business is done with non-fiat currency doesn't mean that fiat currency is good, it does pour a bit of water on the fire that it is a

        • Hey Slashdot, just remember to post all the stories of people losing their shirt and being wiped out when it happens. People eventually wake up from Tulip manias... broke.

          Here's one, from the Wall Street Journal: "Gamestop investorswho bet big and lost big":
          https://www.wsj.com/articles/g... [wsj.com]

          "Salvador Vergara was so enthusiastic about GameStop Corp. in late January that he took out a $20,000 personal loan and used it to purchase shares. Then the buzzy stock plunged nearly 80%.

          GameStop’s volatile ride is hitting the portfolios of individual investors like Mr. Vergara who purchased the stock in a social-media-fueled frenzy. These casual traders say GameStop was their

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Sebby ( 238625 )

            While some cashed out before it crashed, others who hung onto their shares are in the red

            Which is exactly what's going to happen with Bitcoin as well.

    • lol, bitcoin mining is almost all done using renewable energy like wind, solar, geothermal, etc, often in places where not a lot of people live. Electricity from fossil fuels is WAY too expensive for crypto mining.

  • Also rising: transaction cost (Score:3, Interesting)

    by hackertourist ( 2202674 ) on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @11:20AM (#61068658)

    Currently ~570 kWh, so $100 for a single transaction, and rising with the amount of work required. Credit card transactions are 6 orders of magnitude cheaper.

  • do the exchanges even have the funds for an mass cash out?

  • Only the worst of banana republics have 70%/month movements in the value of their currency. Why is this viewed as a good thing here?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Simple: This is not a currency and everybody somewhat smart knows it. But all these people only will make a profit if the manage to get more and more "greater fools" in there and hence the "narrative" of this being a "currency" and it being "on par with gold" and such nonsense are pushed hard.

  • What is Bitcoin you ask? (Score:2, Informative)

    by Sebby ( 238625 )

    Here's a couple of good Twitter threads [twitter.com] by Stephen Diehl (@smdiehl) about what Bitcoin really is (with an earlier one further down below).

    *** TRIGGER WARNING The Bitcoin boosters will want to avert their eyes! ***

    Let's discuss the environmental cost of bitcoin. Because despite all the push for sustainable and green investment in the tech sector, there's a giant smoldering Chernobyl sitting at the heart of Silicon Valley which a lot of investors would prefer you remain quiet about. Thread (1/)

    TLDR on bitco

    • those are the floor of Bitcoin and crypto in general. Though as I've said elsewhere there's talk from on high of using it as a replacement for cash money (e.g. paying people's salaries in Bitcoin) and this smacks of company script to me.

  • ...until someone loses his money...

  • What's happening is the economy is bifurcating even more than it was.

    The blue collar people who lost their jobs, mostly through no fault of their own, are 4 months behind on rent and aren't sure how they're going to get next months groceries.

    People with built-up money or professional jobs that have maintained income during the pandemic are doing just fine. Actually, they're doing BETTER financially because of the pandemic. They're putting less miles on their car, can barely travel or eat out. Jus

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      People with built-up money or professional jobs that have maintained income during the pandemic are doing just fine. Actually, they're doing BETTER financially because of the pandemic.

      Sad to say, but that is what I observe as well. I just quit my main job (agile and other stupidity) and I found that my side-jobs comfortably fund me. And then the people I have one of the side jobs with are already are asking me to do more for them. If you are over a certain qualification and experience level, making money becomes easy. If you are significantly below, it is a constant struggle. That is not good at all.

  • What??? (Score:3)

    by Rick Zeman ( 15628 ) on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @12:15PM (#61068840)

    "This is the second time in three months that the Tysons Corner, Virginia-based company (Microstrategy) issued debt to fund the purchase of Bitcoin."

    So when this Bitcoin bubble bursts as it inevitably will, MS will be holding coin of less value and have the debt to service, too. How stupid is that? You can make a slight case for a company to park extra cash there (Tesla), but to borrow to do so? Insanity. If I was a MicroStrategy stockholder I'd dump their stock now.

  • To the Moon! (Score:3)

    by organgtool ( 966989 ) on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @12:18PM (#61068848)
    Diamond hands! And there's nothing to worry about, our financial system hasn't become a complete circus.

  • You know what'd be a useful addition for Slashdot? The ability to exclude stories by title word.

  • Basically, the higher the soar, the more impressive the splat.

  • ... is also increasing significantly.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Sebby ( 238625 )

      ... is also increasing significantly.

      I'd see that as proof that the regular 1%-ers are colluding with the end game of controlling that, too.

      • Well it seems institutions are starting to buy in to BTC, increasing the volume. Increased institutional holdings may have the benefit of reduced volatility.

  • Obviously each bitcoin should be worth 4 or 5 times the cumulative value of US GDP. Of course we need to give the market a reasonable time to come to this realization.

    So letâ(TM)s call the target 100 Trillion USD per btc on Memorial Day.

  • They'll come back and I'll be laughing.

  • Bitcoin Jumps To $50,000 as Record-Breaking Rally Accelerates

    It broke through 50K then went down to 48K where it's been since the 11th.

    It *record-accelerated* from December till it peaked on January 8th.

    Then it fell. Then it climbed again (at less of a record than the first rise).

    If this resembles an Elliott Wave/Curve, it has one more peak (aka "3rd Elliot peak") before it begins to climb. And since the second peak (today) is less dramatic than the one leading to January 8th, I assume the 3rd peak will be less dramatic.

    From there, it will decline back to Ja

    • Another possibility is that BTC prices might behave in a "heads and shoulders" pattern. Meaning, today's peak will be the highest one of the current drive. I own coins and by regularly... AND I AIN'T GONNA BUY ANY RIGHT NOW. If this is a "heads and shoulders" situation, then I might stand to lose when the price drops. And if the price doesn't drop, I can always buy later at the newer price (dollar-cost-averaging.)

  • One of the worst things you can do (Score:5, Insightful)

    by istartedi ( 132515 ) on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @06:29PM (#61070302) Journal

    If the fundamentals of Bitcoin (or any investment) never appealed to you in the first place, one of the worst things you can do is change your mind because of what the market is currently doing. There are exceptions of course, such as a change in conditions that would *require* you to buy crypto, but no such change has come.

    I know it's tempting, but one of the phrases that really kills portfolios is "you're going to miss the boat". Forget the boat. If you're the kind of person who doesn't want to go to the party when the invitations go out, don't change your mind and decide to show up late. You'll get there just in time for the cops to show up and push everybody in to a van.

    I'm reminded of Warren Buffet during the dot-com boom. He said he didn't understand the tech companies, thought they were over-valued, etc. Of course thinking like that kept him away from Amazon at a steal, but it also kept him away from Pets.com.

    So. If "this number is worth a lot of money, pay for it" still doesn't appeal to you, then don't pay for it. I know I'm not.

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