Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies did have a great run, although manipulation claims have emerged:
- Bitcoin price manipulation: "Unregulated cryptocurrency markets remain vulnerable ... "
- The 2013 run-up in Bitcoin may have all been an illusion due to manipulation
There are many, many supportive factors for the new technology embodied in bitcoins, but here are 3 (there are more):
- Cryptos are designed to enhance freedom - to be stateless and free of 'leadership'
- To be not subject to single points of failure - distributed
- To shrug off government control
But ... on all of those three there are clear failures.
On 1. Around 40% of bitcoins is held by a small group of users, around 1000 of them
- This concentration makes it potentially more open to manipulation
- These big (and in context of the BTC market size, huge) players can move the market by their buy or sell actions
2. Failure ... I dunno about anyone else but I've lost counts of the number of failed exhanges, hacks of wallets, thieving ....
3. 'No government control' - yeah right, tell that to the South Korean government (and China) - statements from them are having a huge impact on the price.
Comments welcome
Price update on Bitcoin
