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Bitcoin

$130 Billion Wiped Off Crypto Markets in 24 Hours (cnbc.com) 168

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
The cryptocurrency market had around $130 billion wiped off its value over the last 24 hours as major digital coins continued their multi-day sell-off. From a report: Bitcoin was last down around 4% at $33,755.57, according to Coin Metrics, while Ether plunged 7% to $2,239.08. Earlier in the morning both fell to their lowest points since July and are each about 50% off their all-time highs. Cryptocurrencies are moving in tandem with stocks, which have continued to fall since the beginning of the year and just came off of their worst week since March 2020. Investors have been selling risk assets like technology stocks as they prepare for tighter monetary policy from the U.S. Federal Reserve and higher interest rates. "Looking forward, our most immediate concern is how equities markets respond to this week's Fed meeting," said Leah Wald, CEO at digital asset investment manager Valkyrie Funds. "A consolidation in traditional assets would catalyze a potential recovery in bitcoin, ether and other altcoins. Realistically, though, digital asset traders tend to be willing to take on more risk than traders in other asset classes, so we do expect some volatility in the coming days and weeks."
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$130 Billion Wiped Off Crypto Markets in 24 Hours More

$130 Billion Wiped Off Crypto Markets in 24 Hours

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  • Meme Time! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by chill ( 34294 ) on Monday January 24, 2022 @10:05AM (#62202451) Journal

    And nothing of value was lost.

    • It reminds me the Dutch tulipmania.

      • At least with tulips... (Score:2)

        by Anonymous Coward

        ...you still had an actual tulip.

      • Re:Meme Time! (Score:5, Interesting)

        by fermion ( 181285 ) on Monday January 24, 2022 @10:59AM (#62202645) Homepage Journal
        The issue with tulips, as opposed to later schemes, is that the tulips ran out. There was not enough supply. It did not start, as far as I know, as a scam. It was arbitrage which is scammy. In this case there still is supply and there is still value. It is more like pot. When it became widely legal, it was expensive and there was money to innovate. But then, it was like, how much are we paying for a weed that is easier to grow than strawberries? And the market is no longer there.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by edis ( 266347 )

          Article above is pointing, that bubble collapsed when obligations to purchase at high price have been widely dropped, not the supply end exhausted. Quite possibly, supply outpaced intents of future purchases at that point, which made contract not attractive. With courts tending to avoid cases, the whole thing tanked.

      • Reminds me of the epic Bitcoin crashes of 2021, 2020, 2018, and 2015

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Errol backfiring ( 1280012 )
      Indeed. There is a difference between price and value. Bitcoins have a price.

      • He may need that argument when he gets dragged either in front of a judge or a firing squad for embezzlement [slashdot.org] of public assets.

        There IS an actual value to be lost - in money spent to purchase that imaginary property and the means to produce it.
        And as usual, it's gonna hit the most those who have the least, who bought into it after falling for bullshit of crypto-scammers like Nayib there.

        Personally, I hope they don't go with a firing squad. Those are too... distributed and proof of work based. Proof of stake

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      I'd mostly agree that, at least to users, you wouldn't expect fluctuations in the exchange rate to matter much. One rarely hold much cryptocurrency for long; what does remain is usually just leftover "change" from buying slightly more than someone was charging.

      Nevertheless, it might actually present one problem. As you see from other headlines about the overall topic, a lot of people are using cryptocurrencies as an investment (!?) rather than as money, resulting in lots of miners. (And therefore all the n

    • And nothing of value was lost.

      Unfortunately that's wrong. Electricity was lost.

    • Incorrect - the loss in real currency "brilliant investor" schumcks threw way when bail on imaginary money exodus in panicked sell offs.
      https://www.washingtonpost.com... [washingtonpost.com]
    • My Monopoly currency lost 100% of its value the other day when we put it back in the box! Worse yet, the titles to a great many properties became worthless at the same time!

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Well, to be fair, Monopoly money has entertainment value. But fake money of the crypto variant has that too. At least for the moment, I am highly amused by all these morons and their stupid lies.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by splutty ( 43475 )

      We lost a lot of Monopoly money! It's important. To some people....

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by shanen ( 462549 )

      Nice FP, though a bit predictable, even cliche. Some of the derivative jokes deserve more Funny mods. The Subject only extends about 1/5 of the way into the discussion.

  • Its not wiped out. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by bumblebees ( 1262534 ) on Monday January 24, 2022 @10:09AM (#62202461)
    Someone else was just faster than you at removing their money. Its a zero sum game guys. Pyramide scheme where the fastest guy always win the most. It dont generate money, only shufles it around. Stocks are same

    • Stocks are NOT the same. (Score:5, Informative)

      by Brain-Fu ( 1274756 ) on Monday January 24, 2022 @10:21AM (#62202517) Homepage Journal

      Stocks pay dividends, crypto does not.
      Stocks include voting rights over top-level company decisions, crypto does not.
      Stocks grant ownership of company property, delivered to you if the company flops, crypto does not.
      Stock value is partially tied to how successful the business is, crypto value is only tied to speculation.

      And all of these differences derive from the primary difference:

      Stocks are stakes of ownership over a real, functioning, business that provides a real good or service. Crypto is ownership of nothing.

      • Not entirely correct. (Score:4, Informative)

        by GlennC ( 96879 ) on Monday January 24, 2022 @10:30AM (#62202559)

        Crypto is ownership of nothing.

        A cryptocurrency holder is the proud owner of a specific sequence of ones and zeroes.

        They may not be able to DO anything with those ones and zeroes, but they own them.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by xwin ( 848234 )
          I don't even think that they own the sequence of ones and zeros. You can only own a "real" thing, there is no such thing as imaginary property. The so called "intellectual property" is only owned because it is non trivial to re-create it. As soon as it became trivial to re-create or copy music or movies it became much harder to control the "property". And this is with the backing of the police and the army of the state. Bitcoin is not backed by any state, only by some number of people who are agree to belon

        • Re: Not entirely correct. (Score:4, Insightful)

          by leptons ( 891340 ) on Monday January 24, 2022 @12:45PM (#62203063)
          The do not even own the ones and zeros. Numbers can't be owned. They have no claim to numbers at all - all they do is know of a specific sequence of ones and zeros that represent "something". There isn't much stopping anyone from guessing that specific sequence of ones and zeros, or just copying them.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

          Actually, no. You don't own those either.

      • The most liquid equity markets are index futures, which are pure cash.

      • Can I interest you in my new dividend-paying altcoin which gives voting rights over the altcoin future and grants partial ownership over private property? Its a stablecoin, tied to the success of the asset!

      • Stock value is partially tied to how successful the business is, crypto value is only tied to speculation.

        Gamestop, anyone? A couple of decades ago this might have been true. High speed trading, derivatives, and most other wonders of financial engineering mean this is no longer the case.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by RobinH ( 124750 )
        Yep. People jumped into crypto because many people are suckers for a hockey stick graph. You want to own something that has actual intrinsic value, not just a point on an imaginary number line.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by shanen ( 462549 )

        Interesting branch, but I think you're mostly describing the stock market of about a century ago. The modern legacies of those items are rather attenuated, at best.

    • Re:Its not wiped out. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Monday January 24, 2022 @12:24PM (#62202989)

      It is actually negative-sum though, because real-world value in the form of hardware and energy gets destroyed.

    • Stocks and crypto are not zero sum games if the game ends and you are stuck holding a contract/coin with no one to sell it to.

  • Environmental impact (Score:5, Insightful)

    by enriquevagu ( 1026480 ) on Monday January 24, 2022 @10:11AM (#62202475)

    This has a huge positivo environmental impact. When the cost of bitcoin decreases, it becomes less attractive to mine it (given the electricity price) and mining farms are halted or close, reducing the overall energy consumption and CO2 generation of the system (larger than many countries in the World).

    • It appears that crypto will still be profitable in most areas (where the electrictiy is 0.10$/kWhr), as long as BTC stays above 10000$USD, if it goes below watch out for an implosion.

  • Knew it was going to happen (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MMC Monster ( 602931 ) on Monday January 24, 2022 @10:13AM (#62202483)

    My neighbor, who knows almost nothing about computers and little about finance decided to invest in BTC and Etherium. That was a month ago. That was indication enough that I needed to keep away.

    The kids were entering the game and the big guys would take the opportunity to take some $$$ off the table.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Would give this a +1, Funny if I had not already commented.

    • I'm not sure if this is a joke post or not, given, in text, unless /s is used, I'm guessing not.

      So, you "knew" it was going to happen, based on your neighbour, getting into BTC and "Etherium" (That's "Ethereum" BTW)
      Profound insight there! /s

      The kids were entering the game and the big guys would take the opportunity to take some $$$ off the table.

      What the heck does that even mean?

      I guess, you may mean naive retail investors were ripped a new one by savvy institutional investors - yep, true that, again - happ

  • Except for asset management it should all go (Score:3)

    by DigitalCH ( 582593 ) on Monday January 24, 2022 @10:14AM (#62202491)
    The asset management use case for crypto are generally ok. But most of the other use cases, especially the currency cases have been pretty decently debunked. You can do better with fiat, centralized digital currency, etc, etc. When you combine the debunking with the harm (i.e. waste and crime) that most of the crypto-currencies have it is kinda a no brainer that they should all fall. It won't go to zero, but we should treat it more like how we value art.
  • About another 14 days for it to be under 10k. Nothing to see here, move along.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      I think I will buy some when it is at $1. Just as a historical artefact of a failed idea.

      • I think I will buy some when it is at $1.

        I thought the same, maybe use it to make donations and avoid paypal, but more .org s are distancing themselves from it. Coin is useless when you can't even buy porn with it. I know, who "buys" porn around here.

  • Inevitable (Score:4, Insightful)

    by RobinH ( 124750 ) on Monday January 24, 2022 @10:27AM (#62202543) Homepage
    At the end of the day you'll be holding onto a digital "asset" that you paid a ludicrous sum for simply because people seemed to be paying more and more for them without any solid reason why anyone would actually need one. Then you're left trying to sell something with no intrinsic value and the guy you bought it from is laughing because they were lucky enough to get out before you did. It's called a ponzi scheme. You weren't the first to fall for it, and you won't be the last.

    • Re:Inevitable (Score:4, Informative)

      by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Monday January 24, 2022 @12:21PM (#62202971)

      Then you're left trying to sell something with no intrinsic value and the guy you bought it from is laughing because they were lucky enough to get out before you did.

      That part is called the "greater fool theory", because those that profit or got out with acceptable losses were able to find an even greater fool than themselves to sell to.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Kaenneth ( 82978 )

        The greatest fool is the last person to accept modern reality.

        Keep stuffing cash in your mattress.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by RobinH ( 124750 )
          It's not good to keep too much in cash. Just enough for convenience. But don't hold any cryptocurrency. It's not even convenient to use, doesn't hold a value, and people don't even have loans to repay in cryptocurrency, so there's nobody who actually needs it.
  • Sounds like the perfect time to buy. When everyone else panic sells it is time to buy, when they are all buying because of how well something is doing at the moment... that is when you sell. Buy low, sell high.

    People don't do it though, they buy when things do well and sell when they are afraid of paper losses diving further. Those people are where the profits come from.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Junta ( 36770 )

      The problem is you could have and probably would have said the same thing in mid november, the beginning of January... really any point between early November and now. There's no assurance that it will ever again raise above the current nominal value and no idea where the floor will be. It could be the floor of a dip or it could be the ponzi scheme running out of suckers and people selling off to try to recoup whatever they can as it implodes.

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by shaitand ( 626655 )
        "You could have and would have said the same thing... beginning of january... It could be the floor of a dip or it could be the ponzi scheme running out of suckers"

        Indeed and I have been saying as much here for more than a decade now. I remember saying much the same thing to a New Mexico tea shop owner who'd accepted bitcoin for tea purchases and at around the $30 mark told me he'd no longer accept it because he thought the price had gotten outrageous. I told him then that the market at that point would rea

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by Junta ( 36770 )

          only thing that changes is how much potential profit there is on the next upswing and/or how long your money will be tied up waiting.

          No, there may never be an upswing, ever. An upswing is not a guarantee on any timescale.

          We don't have to guess if bitcoin is a ponzi scheme, bitcoin circulates and changes hands there are gains and losses over time. Therefore it is not a ponzi scheme.

          The primary mechanism for interest in BTC is to buy it hoping to sell it to someone else who wants to give you even more actual money for it than you spent to acquire it. That's a ponzi scheme. There's no such thing as "it always gains value relative to everything else!" and that mindset is the hallmark of ponzi/pyramid schemes.

          I understand that BTC and other crypto currencies are at its core a fixed thing of specific

          • "No, there may never be an upswing, ever. An upswing is not a guarantee on any timescale."

            A concept so generic and broadly applicable as to be meaningless. The only things which are certain in life are death and taxes... unless science/technology beats the one or the government falls. It is not certain you'll be able to walk from your door to the mailbox without being shot or hit by a meteor and yet I boldly intend to face that risk anyway.

            "The primary mechanism for interest in BTC is to buy it hoping to se

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Hahahahaha, no. This is the perfect time to start the Schadenfreude.

    • Agreed. All I see are old people yet again feverishly proclaiming "ITS THE END THIS TIME! FOR REAL!"

    • There's probably quite a few people that thought the same thing about Enron, Bear Stearns, Lehmann Brothers. "Oh what a bargain, I can buy thousands of shares at half the cost, because I heard of 'dollar-cost averaging' once!"

      That's great if it recovers. If it continues the downhill slide to $0.00 then it's a sunk cost fallacy and you've just increased your exposure.

  • Cryptocurrency reminds me of 90s baseball cards (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Raunchola ( 129755 ) on Monday January 24, 2022 @10:30AM (#62202569)

    Cryptocurrency reminds me of the 1990s baseball card market. It’s highly speculative and its value is based on what people think it’s worth.

    For example, in the 1990s, collectors and investors alike jumped on the baseball card bandwagon because they saw dollar signs everywhere. Vintage cards, like the infamous 1909 T206 Honus Wagner, became the holy grail for collectors. New cards of rising stars and prospects likewise commanded high values in price guides like Beckett’s and Tuff Stuff.

    Then, the bottom fell out. Card companies like Topps, Donruss, Upper Deck, Fleer, and Score flooded the market with cards. Higher-priced card packs — which promised to contain a valuable card or autograph — priced out the casual collectors and hobbyists from the 1980s and earlier. What remained were people stuck with a bunch of worthless Todd Van Poppel rookie cards.

    Cryptocurrency is popular, but the market is becoming flooded with all sorts of different digital currencies with different values. Sure, Bitcoin is limited by the amount of available coins (i.e. you won’t see the market flooded with lots of Bitcoin), but when you lump it in with the rest of the crypto market, it comes across as yet another fad. It appears more people are realizing this.

    (Unrelated: Hey, my first post in nearly 20 years!)

  • "Invest in crypto! It's only going up!"

    I imagine people on Wall Street telling themselves something similar on October 23rd...

  • A lot more from the stock market....

  • but it follows the stock market, and is speculation based on nothing, unlike the stock market.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      People that want to sell you something worthless usually use the most fantastic lies. That applies here.

  • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • I have no idea who Brandon is, but I distinctly remember the Federal Reserve over the past five years has been keeping interest rates at near zero. In fact, some orange faced goon even berated them to keep rates at zero or even below.

      All the while, the prices of goods and services kept going up but we were told there was no inflation, it was all in our heads. The monthly reports even said so, and if can't believe the government, who can you believe?

  • The monopoly-money just got a bit less in volume...

  • This is the era of illusions. We have people who are famous for being famous. People who make lots of money because they have lots of money. Virtual things that are valuable because they are valuable. No reason, no justification, just because.

    Naturally this causes problems.

  • I think it is important to remember that there is no such thing as "a bitcoin". It just represents 1 /21000000 share of bitcoin's total value. Essentially you are buying shares in bitcoin, just like shares in any other business venture. Its like all those dot-com bubble companies. People bought their shares based on their expected future revenue. What is not clear is how the bitcoin venture will ever generate any revenue for its shareholders or even to pay its operating expenses.

  • Take a look at NASDAQ and others, the same thing is happening all over the place.

    And by the way, crypto-currencies have already started bouncing back up a bit.

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