Bitcoin a bubble waiting to burst, expert warns

[webfact]

Bitcoin a bubble waiting to burst, expert warns

By The Nation

 

This file picture taken on February 28, 2014 shows a man talking on a mobile phone in a shop displaying a Bitcoin sign during the opening ceremony of the first bitcoin retail shop in Hong Kong./AFP

 

Cybercurrency bitcoin has surpassed US$10,000 in value for the first time since its introduction nine years ago, but a Kasinkornbank researcher says it’s a bubble that’s about to burst.

“Bitcoin mania is like the tulip ‘gold rush’ before the investment bubble collapsed in 1637 and the craze for toxic financial products in the US before the global financial crisis of 2007-2008,” said Kobsidthi Silpachai, head of capital markets research at Kasikornbank.

 

He warned that bitcoin has no “economic fundamentals” to back up its soaring value.

 

Paul Krugman, the American Nobel laureate in economics, earlier dubbed the bitcoin “an evil”. To be successful, he said, money must be both a medium of exchange and a reasonably stable store of value. Bitcoin appears not to be a stable store of value, he said.

 

Central bank governor Veerathai Santiprabhob has also warned of high risk in investing in cryptocurrencies because there is no way to regulate them.

 

He said investors searching for high yield in time of high market liquidity and low deposit rates might overlook the riskiest assets class.

 

Bitcoin’s proponents argue, however, that blockchain technology and the ability to bypass central banks make bitcoin transactions more efficient. Bitcoins can be exchanged peer-to-peer without middlemen or regulators.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/Economy/30332790

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-11-29

[Tilacme]

Unfortunately I missed the bitcoin rush this year but traditional fundamentals are irrelevant.  This currency has proved it's safe and, perhaps most importantly is free from any gov interference, and they don't like it at all.

[BuaBS]

Kasikornbank missed the boat too then .

[Colabamumbai]

Too shy to buy. Too easily hacked. I like the feel of money in my pocket.

[eddie61]

1 hour ago, Colabamumbai said:

Too shy to buy. Too easily hacked. I like the feel of money in my pocket.

OK, maybe they will print some more for you then!!

[spidermike007]

No doubt, alot of this is being fueled by the mistrust of the system, the incredibly corrupt, and criminal banking system, and the incredibly corrupt and criminal governments behind them. So, my guess is it is going to keep going up in value. I hear some predictions of one million dollars per bitcoin. Sorry, I did not get in when I first heard about it, and it was trading at well under $100 each. Imagine the guys who got in at one or two cents each?

[timendres]

The current run up is being fueled by the run up itself. This is classic herd mentality, which is why it is likely to end badly. Long term, crypto-currencies will likely find their niches, and which will succeed is anyone's guess. However, central banks will fight to the death before they let their paper be replaced, and the governments backing them will support that fight.

[wolf81]

4 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

No doubt, alot of this is being fueled by the mistrust of the system, the incredibly corrupt, and criminal banking system, and the incredibly corrupt and criminal governments behind them. So, my guess is it is going to keep going up in value. I hear some predictions of one million dollars per bitcoin. Sorry, I did not get in when I first heard about it, and it was trading at well under $100 each. Imagine the guys who got in at one or two cents each?

John McAfee (a bit of a crazy guy) did a prediction like that and he believes BTC could already reach a $1.000.000 USD value by 2020. James Altucher believes the same. See: 

 

 

I personally believe BTC will at the very least hit 20.000 USD by the end of 2018, because a lot of hedge funds and the general populace will enter a market that thus far mainly consists of tech nerds. Because of the limited supply, the price will rise in a big way.

[wolf81]

1 hour ago, timendres said:

The current run up is being fueled by the run up itself. This is classic herd mentality, which is why it is likely to end badly. Long term, crypto-currencies will likely find their niches, and which will succeed is anyone's guess. However, central banks will fight to the death before they let their paper be replaced, and the governments backing them will support that fight.

It seems OMG (OmiseGo) might stand a chance, since they work together with some banks and e.g. the Thai government. OMG is not based on Bitcoin, but on Ethereum. 

[Colabamumbai]

Satoshi will cash out soon.

[timendres]

10 hours ago, wolf81 said:

It seems OMG (OmiseGo) might stand a chance, since they work together with some banks and e.g. the Thai government. OMG is not based on Bitcoin, but on Ethereum. 

Unfortunately, Omise suffers from one critical flaw with respect to any Thai registered company:

    They cannot conduct any transaction without extracting the 7% VAT tax

This is preventing us from using them for any business we do with clients outside of Thailand.

[bartender100]

14 hours ago, timendres said:

The current run up is being fueled by the run up itself. This is classic herd mentality, which is why it is likely to end badly. Long term, crypto-currencies will likely find their niches, and which will succeed is anyone's guess. However, central banks will fight to the death before they let their paper be replaced, and the governments backing them will support that fight.

The current run up? its been going up for ten years or more. $100 of BC ten years ago worth $75 million now, must be a massive herd

[timendres]

11 hours ago, bartender100 said:

The current run up? its been going up for ten years or more. $100 of BC ten years ago worth $75 million now, must be a massive herd

 

That is what is commonly referred to as a "hockey stick". AKA "run up". It is fueled by the psychology of "greed" as people feel the angst of missing out. There is no way to predict where the chart will go in terms of altitude. Eventually, greed will be replaced by "fear" and the plunge will be more dramatic.

[Golden Triangle]

I'll wait till it goes back to $100 per coin and have a go then 

[bartender100]

Back to $10,500 today despite attempts by "experts" to scare people with there opinions or discredit the technology. Other "experts" say there is  $billions of financial institution money on the side line waiting to come into the cyrpto and we have seen nothing yet

 

 https://coin.fyi/news/ethereum/coinbase-to-add-many-more-coins-in-2018-7elydn

 

Personally I am in ETH and done very well so far. When its a 10x bagger i will hop out

[Golden Triangle]

Okay, being a bit of a tech dummy, if I wanted to buy  GPB 100 of Ripple, as that seems to be pretty cheap at the moment, and I can afford to waste 100 quid, how the hell do I do it ?