Silk Road forums

Discussion => Newbie discussion => Topic started by: gingerballs on January 17, 2013, 03:10 am

Title: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: gingerballs on January 17, 2013, 03:10 am
so i've looked up some discussion about this.. and it seems that bitcoins have almost tripled, mainly because supply is finite/dwindling while demand is continually rising..

but man, it has tripled in price these past few months.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: BlueberryBANG on January 17, 2013, 03:13 am
Yeah but as it rises, prices on SR lower, so it's pretty consistent, regardless of whether or not BTC are going up
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: SativaIndica on January 17, 2013, 03:19 am
so i've looked up some discussion about this.. and it seems that bitcoins have almost tripled, mainly because supply is finite/dwindling while demand is continually rising..

but man, it has tripled in price these past few months.

Yes i remember this time last year it was at 2.7 BTC..crazy..i left like 20 bucks for 6 months and i returned i had enough to buy me 3 grams of weed!

I should bought a shitload last year and held on to them.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: BlueberryBANG on January 17, 2013, 03:20 am
Yeah but it'd suck if you stocked up n BTC crashed lol
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: homer2006 on January 17, 2013, 03:26 am
I spend my BTC too fast to make a profit though


 8)
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: gingerballs on January 17, 2013, 03:27 am
if it does crash, i think it'll eventually return to its pre-crash prices. if there's a security leak (decrease in demand) then it'll drop for a while, but will eventually go back all the way up.

i think i should put some more money into bitcoins.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: BlueberryBANG on January 17, 2013, 03:28 am
Yeah same Homer, I'm either too poor/ want to spend it right away. lol
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: John F Kennedy on January 17, 2013, 04:08 am
Mining btc only gives half the coins it did before december. I think this is a boost due to supply going down.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: syme on January 17, 2013, 04:13 am
It doesn't really effect anyone in the long run who's buying btc to spend straight away, since most stuff is pegged to a dollar value on sr. But it goes to show, it's rising so quickly atm that in the hour it took me to a put in a few orders the total value dropped by about .10btc. Not much, but every little helps :P
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: financeguy on January 17, 2013, 04:54 am
 :)
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: Shadowknight890 on January 17, 2013, 05:07 am
Yeah it doubled simce 6 months ago or so.. Interested to see how much higher it gets
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: MaidMandy on January 17, 2013, 05:25 am
When I joined SR as a buyer last May, I was able to get bitcoin for €4.50 each. Now they are in the region of €12. Seriously wish I hoarded a few of them now :)
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: sm1mmer on January 17, 2013, 05:30 am
imagine hoarding bitcoins, haha
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: MaidMandy on January 17, 2013, 05:34 am
imagine hoarding bitcoins, haha

Ha ha wishful thinking! I spend them as fast as they come onto my account! :)
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: sm1mmer on January 17, 2013, 05:54 am
if only i can get them to go IN my account  :(
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: Shadowknight890 on January 17, 2013, 05:58 am
If I was rich, I would so do that :/ ^
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: galacticnomad on January 17, 2013, 06:04 am
Next time BTC prices drop a lot, I'm stocking up!
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: sm1mmer on January 17, 2013, 06:14 am
yea and then sell it with a 10-15%, fuck even a 20% fee and make bank ontop of bank.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: digit on January 18, 2013, 04:03 am
I use my bitcoin as fast as I receive them.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: kola_nutz on January 19, 2013, 01:36 am
Same here digit, I dont like having my coins floating around for too long.  I trust SR but it's not like the coins are FDIC insured or anything...
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: Crazy Eights on January 19, 2013, 01:45 am
I started as a buyer last March 2012 and btc's value was 4 btc - I exchanged as seller  btc's this evening and gave my buyer a break at 15 btc's straight up - that's almost a 4X trend in less than 1 year... digital currency is demand driven
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: nuggets3 on January 19, 2013, 02:08 am
Almost 16 bucks is quite high!
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: ontheregs on January 19, 2013, 02:20 am
I actually plan to hold on to a few bitcoin after each purchase.

When the new miners come out, and the difficulty goes up a few more times you will be glad you had a few in your pocket.

Hoarding takes them out of circulation also increasing their value so you are helping your own price go up by not spending all of them right away. (I know look where we are.)
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: Raichu67 on January 19, 2013, 02:41 am
I usually make a point to get in and out of the market quickly, but lately, it's been fine to sit on it.

The bottom will fall out soon.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: syme on January 19, 2013, 03:21 am
It seems to have leveled out on bitstamp for the last day or two, interesting to see where it goes from here. I don't really check out the other exchanges.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: Believe on January 19, 2013, 03:28 am
I hope the prices don't go up too high. I don't see the vendors reducing the price significantly enough to match the price of the bitcoins, at least just yet.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: zerik on January 19, 2013, 03:58 am
I imaging that the people holding them will see the market stagnant and sell them off groping the price.

Also I think if it goes too high people will find alternatives.

Right now they are legal but I could see them become illegal at the whim of various governments which could make the worthless.

But who knows.

Also while I don't think sites like Sr could be shut down it is not impossible. But if something like that were to happen it could instantly drop the price of bitcoin.

I think you will see people speculating in them but I don't know if long term investment in them is a good idea.

However, I may be 100 % wrong on this and might change my thoughts on this topic.

In the short term they are def on their way up so I think it would be good idea hold on to a few. 
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: kobebryant0824 on January 19, 2013, 04:04 am
Absolutely outragous with the rise in BITCOIN rate.... I currently see $15.50  >:(

Does that mean vendors will drop their prices or is it hedge on a certain amount? (<-- is that possible)
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: SoupN on January 19, 2013, 04:10 am
Worth investing, you will make lots of money, hold on to them
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: kobebryant0824 on January 19, 2013, 04:13 am
Worth investing, you will make lots of money, hold on to them

...and people ask why there are money vendors on SR... this is exactly why

I think it jumped $2 per coin in about 4-5 days
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: syme on January 19, 2013, 04:29 am
Worth investing, you will make lots of money, hold on to them

...and people ask why there are money vendors on SR... this is exactly why

I think it jumped $2 per coin in about 4-5 days
Aye, until the bottom inevitably falls out of the market. But I presume the reliable vendors on SR have their shit together. I just remember people getting burned last year. But people are also short-sighted and greedy.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: empireofthestate on January 19, 2013, 04:39 am
i made about $30 on inflation
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: kungfool on January 19, 2013, 04:55 am
i made -75 two weeks ago, shouldve held onto them!!
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: zerik on January 19, 2013, 05:14 am
Wow 15 a coin now.

That was a quick jump.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: kungfool on January 19, 2013, 05:16 am
yeah i wouldn't buy right now if you're not spending very quickly, it'll be below 14 in a couple days i'm guessing
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: AcrylicArt on January 19, 2013, 05:34 am
 :-\ Darn, I wish I held on to some.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: zerik on January 19, 2013, 06:03 am
:-\ Darn, I wish I held on to some.

Don't worry you will have plenty of time to buy coin and play the market. It will go up and down. Just like anything else.

I sure do wish I had brought coins instead of gold a couple of mo ago.
Too bad I didn't know about them back then. Lol
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: jones21 on January 19, 2013, 06:07 am
i like watching these trades here https://btc-e.com/exchange
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: Fru-t-loops on January 19, 2013, 09:54 am
BTC is a huge gamble.

If you had $1k 2 days ago, you'd have an extra $125 today. You can say in the long run prices will return to what they were in case of a crash. REALLY? They say bitcoins are peer distributed and don't have a single point of failure. What is silk road disappears for good. Will BTC prices return? SIlk road it bitcoins' single point of failure. No road, no value, IMO. What else will you buy?
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: Polly Ester on January 19, 2013, 01:17 pm
We buy Bitcoins to save, as well as spend.  A lot harder to buy them in UK, but not if you know where to look.  BTC can be used for quite a lot of things, not just Silk Road.  The fact you can hold them, and no one knows you have got them, like the taxman for instance, makes them a very attractive option as you can move money around the world quickly with no trace.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: Sumtingwong on January 19, 2013, 01:20 pm
so i've looked up some discussion about this.. and it seems that bitcoins have almost tripled, mainly because supply is finite/dwindling while demand is continually rising..

but man, it has tripled in price these past few months.

All the cool kids are buying them, USD is played out
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: firehose on January 19, 2013, 01:48 pm
fish sticks I'm hungry
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: mrlavish on January 19, 2013, 02:33 pm
Aw Man, I should have stocked up when BTC were just under $2 when I made my 1st purchase here on SR.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: Under1Nation on January 19, 2013, 09:26 pm
are they still like at 13.50 cents each ?  ???
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: happyhcore on January 19, 2013, 09:43 pm
They are worth $15 now.  That up almost $2 in the last 3 weeks....
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: zwizzle on January 19, 2013, 10:06 pm
It's consumer driven, and demand is inflating with word of mouth......the first rule of something good is to not tell too many people  ;)
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: Stark on January 19, 2013, 10:15 pm
Yeah... One of my orders is unhedged, so if it was cancelled, I'd actually make $150 profit off of it. Amazing shit.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: jackindabox on January 21, 2013, 03:14 am
Man I wish btc would come down a little... almost $16USD each..
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: Strickland Cocaine on January 21, 2013, 03:34 am
Crazy, when I started they were 5 a piece.

decent street blow: http://silkroadvb5piz3r.onion/silkroad/user/501ad082ff

Introductory Prices. No FE. Free ship.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: mumbojumbo47895 on January 21, 2013, 10:50 am
Anyone got any btc investments? Anyone making money?
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: magicpearl on January 21, 2013, 11:11 am
anyone knowing good pages where u can buy bitc within europe but not eu?
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: njguido on January 21, 2013, 01:59 pm
i started off when it was just shy of 10usd, at 16.5ish right now its rising sharply. most good vendors are good about adjusting their listings
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: pspring188 on January 21, 2013, 02:51 pm
jeez man I sure hope it goes down soon
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: sporkehh on January 21, 2013, 03:20 pm
gfgfdsgdfsgds
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: ElBastardo on January 21, 2013, 03:25 pm
I don't think that the price is declining in the near future. I see it at 20$+/BTC for the next few months.

Could bite my self not investing the moment I first heard about Bitcoins
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: mmmmonkey on January 22, 2013, 02:42 am
BTC IS TOO EXPENSIVE
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: doomsdayguy on January 22, 2013, 02:48 am
dudes britcoins
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: Mischke on January 23, 2013, 05:00 am
80% of BTC volume is hoarded. So if you're going to buy in the thought of cashing out in 6 months or a year, realize it's risky. A few large actors could dump millions of BTC's, leaving all us small guys fucked.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: mumbojumbo47895 on January 23, 2013, 05:05 am
I so wish i had known about btc earlier and dumped a load of money into it, but then what do they say ... hindsight is 20/20.

Interesting to see LTC (litecoin) in its infancy. Anyone have any experience with this? I guess it would be good to buy some in the hope that SR might start trading in LTC. I imagine that if SR did begin trading in LTC, their worth would skyrocket.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: username10 on January 23, 2013, 10:48 pm
there was a a huge purchace of btc recently, i think that casued the spike. demand/supply
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: raynardine on January 23, 2013, 11:18 pm
It would be awesome if they reached 20 USD per BTC and stayed above that line.

Then again, I have not stocked up on BTC, yet. *sadface*
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: Charles I on January 24, 2013, 12:52 am
Speculatory bubble my dear.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: Inspectah Deck on January 24, 2013, 01:14 am
what a bummer
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: biteme on January 24, 2013, 01:22 am
It can be frustrating. I've held them too long and the price went down. I've sold them just before the price went up. I've bought them just before the price went down. Just like any other currency, it's difficult to know what will happen to the exchange rate. I wish I had a way to know. I'd be the next George Soros!
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: subzero on January 24, 2013, 09:10 pm
think it is the madness that has increased the price the last time let's hope that he will remain as high or higher.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: mezzanine2323 on January 24, 2013, 09:17 pm
Trading at around $17 right now according to MtGox. Went up to $19 today, seems like some asshole immediately sold around $150k at $19 which dropped it down to the $16-$17 range. Some of us have been expecting this since it first hit $15. We figured it would hit a wall and roll back and that's what happened. Didn't figure on it being just one asshole selling his entire wallet though. I've still made some money off this little mini-bubble. My last Coinbase order was when it was around $14.50.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: emptybanana1 on January 24, 2013, 09:20 pm
I was able to make a nice little profit off of the recent fluctuations. Very happy with it.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: exis on January 25, 2013, 02:57 am
Things are super volatile the last few days (post count +1) I sold BTC at 18USD, which was a great move, it went as low as 15 today. it's a gamblers game right now. day trading is fun!!!
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: beadvised on January 25, 2013, 03:07 am
I've been using btc for about a year now and while the prices go up and down and fluctuate, the overall trend has been up, and pretty steadily by my observations. They were around $4-5 i think when I first bought some and now they are 4x that. Not bad if you happen to have some stored away.

The only thing is I don't know enough about mining and the rate at which new coins come into the marketplace vs the increasing demand for them. BECAUSE, I expect the demand for them to increase, I'd be willing to bet on this, I just don't know enough about the supply of btc to feel like I should be investing in them. I hope I don't regret it when I can't even afford 1 BTC!
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: Generation Y on January 25, 2013, 03:11 am
And the bubble bursts! lol. Good thing I stick to drug dealing instead of BTC speculating/trading.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: AcidMelon on January 25, 2013, 03:13 am
And the bubble bursts! lol. Good thing I stick to drug dealing instead of BTC speculating/trading.

LOL
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: #slothrop on January 25, 2013, 03:16 am
One day when I was sick I just sat around watching my SR bank account (displayed in $) inch upward by the penny. I got a small glimpse then of what it would be like to have a job on Wall Street. No wonder those people tend to be so fucked up.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: napalm on January 25, 2013, 03:34 am
buy high sell low... what a cocksucker! I better stick to smoking bud and playing with my etch a sketch. seriously though I hope this up and down doesn't continue or i may break a knob off when drawing.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: allhercontacts on January 25, 2013, 03:43 am
You could literally make some serious money just going in and out of bitcoins, it is sick.
It is very similar to stock trading, options or currency with the Bid/Ask spread and market orders and of course an intangible idea which has been assigned a value based on demand and belief.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: #slothrop on January 25, 2013, 03:45 am
You could literally make some serious money just going in and out of bitcoins, it is sick.
It is very similar to stock trading, options or currency with the Bid/Ask spread and market orders and of course an intangible idea which has been assigned a value based on demand and belief.
I'm no expert but BTC seem to be to be especially volatile. Something I'd stay away from even if I wanted to invest.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: Oirudeboy73 on January 25, 2013, 03:46 am
if only i can get them to go IN my account  :(

I feel the same way
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: #slothrop on January 25, 2013, 03:49 am
What's the trouble you guys are having with getting them to go in to your account? SR tumbles the coins for security so it can take quite a long time.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: AcidMelon on January 25, 2013, 03:54 am
lol
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: mezzanine2323 on January 25, 2013, 04:43 am
... I'd be willing to bet on this, I just don't know enough about the supply of btc to feel like I should be investing in them.

Okay. To start, the current total number of Bitcoins in existence (as of this writing) is 10,698,425. Because of the architecture of the Bitcoin currency, there can only ever be 21 million Bitcoins in existence. So we're about halfway there, but not in terms of the amount of time it takes which I'll get to in a second. Enthusiasts have calculated that all of the Bitcoins will have been generated at or near the year 2140.

This link is a graph of the total number of Bitcoins (in millions) generated over time by year.

https://en.bitcoin.it/w/images/en/thumb/e/e3/Total_bitcoins_over_time_graph.png/740px-Total_bitcoins_over_time_graph.png

So you can see that in 2010 there were around 3 million. You can see a pretty neat parabola. The infrastructure was built to mimic the mining of actual precious minerals, which because of their scarcity, maintain their value well. The system basically generated a lot of Bitcoins at first, and then less as time goes on. So if you're a Bitcoin miner, you're mining less Bitcoins per kWh (of electricity spent on running a mining rig) in January 2013 than you were in 2010, and you'll be making less next year as well. Thus the invention of ASICs, the industry name for specialized chips designed for Bitcoin mining, which you can read about here:

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/508061/custom-chips-could-be-the-shovels-in-a-bitcoin-gold-rush/

I'm no expert but BTC seem to be to be especially volatile. Something I'd stay away from even if I wanted to invest.

While you're correct in that BTC is "especially volatile" for a currency, it's not a bad investment by any means. With the amount of Bitcoin being spent or otherwise transacted every year, all of the existing businesses that are beginning to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment such as Wordpress, and especially with the black market appeal of SR, I don't think it's likely to see very many more "big" crashes like in 2011 when it went from $30 to $2. It's pretty widely understood in the Bitcoin community that as they are accepted by more businesses, their value will stabilize. Check out this link for more on that:

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/FAQ#Where_does_the_value_of_Bitcoin_stem_from.3F_What_backs_up_Bitcoin.3F
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: allhercontacts on January 25, 2013, 05:15 am
wow, that was a great post.
thanks for the info
really fascinating stuff
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: mezzanine2323 on January 25, 2013, 05:24 am
wow, that was a great post.
thanks for the info
really fascinating stuff

No problem, I was just in the right place at the right time and trying to hit this minimum 50 post count. Glad I could help somebody in the process :)
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: allhercontacts on January 25, 2013, 06:03 am
wow, that was a great post.
thanks for the info
really fascinating stuff

No problem, I was just in the right place at the right time and trying to hit this minimum 50 post count. Glad I could help somebody in the process :)

we seem to be in this thread with similar motivations.

but reading all that stuff about bitcoins really helps me understand why it's thrived when other e-currencies haven't, it's a very unique concept
one might even say, inspired.

Has anyone ever sent you a tip?
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: Justchillin39 on January 25, 2013, 06:06 am
it would seem so
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: allhercontacts on January 25, 2013, 06:08 am
yeah, i meant mezz-
has anyone sent you a tip because of your btc address in your sig?
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: mezzanine2323 on January 25, 2013, 06:31 am
yeah, i meant mezz-
has anyone sent you a tip because of your btc address in your sig?

You can check yourself! All Bitcoin transactions are broadcast to the public. Blockchain.info is also a block explorer, meaning you can just paste any Bitcoin address into the space in the following URL and it will show you all of the associated transactions as well as current balance.

http://blockchain.info/address/1AkcMLXW2uvru9YjuGJwqWEPsd7s7TuP2t

The short answer is no :)

... but reading all that stuff about bitcoins really helps me understand why it's thrived when other e-currencies haven't

I think the main reason why Bitcoin has thrived is because it's based on public key encryption, the same type of encryption we use to hide our address when we send it to vendors. The public keys are published in the blockchain which is public. But the private key, which is what gives you ownership of the coins and allows you to sign transactions as authentic, stays safe and hidden. In hindsight, it seems like an obvious idea. One of those "Why didn't I think of this before?" deals. PGP was invented by a guy named Phil Zimmermann in 1991, but it took until 2009 for somebody to think of creating Bitcoin. And nobody has any idea who the inventor is. It's a total fucking mystery. That's my favorite part of the whole story. The guy invented a currency under a fake name, provided technical support for a year and then left in the middle of 2010. No trace.

If you're curious about how secure PGP is, devices containing PGP-encrypted files have been intercepted multiple times by a multitude of different law enforcement agencies. The more widely-publicized cases indicate that no law enforcement agency has the ability to decrypt these files without the private key. As of about 2007 police have resorted to using legislature to force people to provide their passwords/keys. In the UK for example a man was jailed for 9 months for refusing to provide police with his encryption keys.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy#Security_quality
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: Klipp on January 25, 2013, 06:59 am
mezzanine2323, I wish I could +1 you, those were excellent posts, and I couldn't agree more.
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: Ѕpongebоb on April 19, 2013, 06:26 am
"skyrocketing" when it was $15 a coin lol
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: musichighlife on April 19, 2013, 06:34 am
"skyrocketing" when it was $15 a coin lol
I know right, and as I post this we sit at 1 BTC = $122. Wild
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: Ѕpongebоb on April 19, 2013, 06:36 am
"skyrocketing" when it was $15 a coin lol
I know right, and as I post this we sit at 1 BTC = $122. Wild
oh. my. gawd.   they hit fifteen dollars!!!  SKYROCKETING!!!  haha yes wild
Title: Re: BTC prices skyrocketing lately
Post by: btcrypt on April 19, 2013, 06:56 am

I think the main reason why Bitcoin has thrived is because it's based on public key encryption, the same type of encryption we use to hide our address when we send it to vendors. The public keys are published in the blockchain which is public. But the private key, which is what gives you ownership of the coins and allows you to sign transactions as authentic, stays safe and hidden. In hindsight, it seems like an obvious idea. One of those "Why didn't I think of this before?" deals. PGP was invented by a guy named Phil Zimmermann in 1991, but it took until 2009 for somebody to think of creating Bitcoin. And nobody has any idea who the inventor is. It's a total fucking mystery. That's my favorite part of the whole story. The guy invented a currency under a fake name, provided technical support for a year and then left in the middle of 2010. No trace.


It is intriguing that it took so long for a currency based on PKI to be implemented and become popular. As you said, in hindsight it appears to be obvious. I had actually been curious about the original BTC inventor but never curious enough to do the research. Very interesting, thanks!