Cryptocurrency Market Sees $50 Billion Loss

[BlackTortoise + 103]

It's hapenning after South Korea's biggest cryptocurrency exchange UPbit was investigated by local police because of  illicity moving customer funds to the account of its executives. The cryptocurrency market has declined by more than $50 billion over the past 24 hours, as the bitcoin price declined by more than 8 percent and other major cryptocurrencies along with tokens experienced an intensified movement on the downside.

[Jason Lavis + 55]

The irony with the crypto movement is that one of the main reasons for creating a decentralised currency was the suspicion of banks making money 'out of thin air', with no backing. Now look at all these cryptocurrencies that are doing worse than that. Not only are these currencies not backed by tangible assets, they consume huge amounts of energy in the cryptomining.

I think that by the end of this boom, most people will prefer to have bought some Dutch tulips than most of these currencies.

PS: I'm not against crypto/blockchain tech, far from it... But the level of mania and folly has been astounding.

[msk + 42]

"Not only are these currencies not backed by tangible assets, they consume huge amounts of energy in the cryptomining"

Well, this is bitcoin's proof-of-work concept in a nutshell. It has value because the electricity was used to solve the block. Miners essentially turn energy into currency. And in the process, these blocks create a ledger ( the largest immutable ledger ever created) that allows not only financial transactions to be stored [forever] but other points of data, as well, such as ownership or even identity in a completely trust-free fashion.

Just because you can 'feel' gold, doesn't make it any more valuable than bitcoin. In fact, I'd argue quite the opposite. 
 

[Jason Lavis + 55]

Hi msk,

All of the types of money that have been historically tried by humanity have well-known strengths and flaws.

"Well, this is bitcoin's proof-of-work concept in a nutshell. It has value because the electricity was used to solve the block." - Agreed and understood.

"Miners essentially turn energy into currency." - Obviously.

"Just because you can 'feel' gold, doesn't make it any more valuable than bitcoin." - Absolutely, it's not about molecules.

I'm not a gold bug or a crypto fanatic, there are weaknesses and flaws in both. You zeroed in on Bitcoin, do you know how many crypto currencies there are now? How many initial cryptocurrency offerings (ICO's) that have been happening, based on flimsy business plans equivalent to white papers? How many of these currencies will go to zero? Gold might just be more stable than the majority of crypto's that fail.

My original point was more about the mania, not that the technology is bad.

 

 

Edited May 15, 2018 by Jason Lavis
Added some italics on the third quote. (OCD I know:)

[Guillaume Albasini + 851]

The hype around new technologies generates economic bubbles.

The internet survived the 2000 dot-com bubble.

The blockchain will survive the cryptocurrency bubble.

[CMOP + 227]

11 hours ago, Guillaume Albasini said:

The hype around new technologies generates economic bubbles.

The internet survived the 2000 dot-com bubble.

The blockchain will survive the cryptocurrency bubble.

Well said @Guillaume Albasini. This is what we are seeing in 2018. More and more people are becoming aware of the scams you find through ICO's. More and more ICO's are going through private investors. The wild west is calming down. It was fun while it lasted.