# Bitcoins Drop 50% Today
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bitcoins-drop-50-today/655350
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [April 10, 2013, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bitcoins-drop-50-today/655350 "2013-04-10T20:06:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2013, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bitcoins-drop-50-today/655350/1 "2013-04-10T20:06:16Z")
> **[Zerohedge](https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-10/bitcrash-continues-down-40-and-dumping)**
>
> ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
Easy come, easy go.
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### Author:  [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2013, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bitcoins-drop-50-today/655350/2 "2013-04-10T20:10:13Z")
What is bitcoins and why should we care?
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bitcoins-drop-50-today/655350/3 "2013-04-10T20:11:36Z")
I’m dumping mine and investing in something sensible-tulips.
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### Author:  [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2013, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bitcoins-drop-50-today/655350/4 "2013-04-10T20:12:59Z")
But… but… FREEDOM! ANONYMITY! (And Silk Road! At least according to Slashdot. I know nothing of the thing personally.)
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### Author:  [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bitcoins-drop-50-today/655350/5 "2013-04-10T20:16:21Z")
"Bitcoin (sign: BTC) is a decentralized[9] digital currency[10][11] based on an open-source,[12] peer-to-peer internet protocol. It was introduced in 2009 by a pseudonymous developer, Satoshi Nakamoto.[13]
Bitcoins can be exchanged through a computer or smartphone locally or internationally without an intermediate financial institution.[14] In trade, one bitcoin is subdivided into 100 million smaller units called satoshis, defined by eight decimal places.[4]
Bitcoin is not managed like typical currencies: it has no central bank or central organization. Instead, it relies on an Internet-based peer-to-peer network. The money supply is automated and given to servers or “bitcoin miners” that confirm bitcoin transactions as they add them to a decentralized and archived transaction log approximately every 10 minutes."
> **[Bitcoin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin)**
>
> Bitcoin (abbreviation: BTC\[a\] or XBT;\[b\] sign: ₿) is a protocol which implements a public, permanent, and decentralized ledger. In order to add to the ledger, a user must prove they control an entry in the ledger. The protocol specifies that the entry indicates an amount of a token, bitcoin with a minuscule b. The user can update the ledger, assigning some of their bitcoin to another entry in the ledger. Because the token has characteristics of money, it can be thought of as a digital currenc...
Another article:
> **[Bitcoin crashes, losing nearly half of its value in six hours](https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/04/bitcoin-crashes-losing-nearly-half-of-its-value-in-six-hours/)**
>
> Plunge happens on the same day one anonymous redditor made it rain in Bitcoin.
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### Author:  [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2013, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bitcoins-drop-50-today/655350/6 "2013-04-10T20:46:03Z")
Quatloos have been stable at 400Q : Newcomer
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### Author:  [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2013, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bitcoins-drop-50-today/655350/7 "2013-04-10T20:52:51Z")
So an abstract, unnregulated pseudo-currency with no central governing body, which is used primarily to facilitate the sale of drugs and illegal pornography, turns out to _not_ be a stable medium of exchange.
_Noone_ could have seen this coming.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2013, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bitcoins-drop-50-today/655350/8 "2013-04-10T20:52:54Z")
Should I hold onto my gold-pressed latinum?
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### Author:  [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2013, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bitcoins-drop-50-today/655350/9 "2013-04-10T20:55:22Z")
So, I sort of know what it is but still have no idea why anyone would care.
ETA: Oh Porn. Okay. I see.
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### Author:  [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2013, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bitcoins-drop-50-today/655350/10 "2013-04-10T20:58:39Z")
> [@smapti](#):
>
> so an abstract, unnregulated pseudo-currency with no central governing body, which is used primarily to facilitate the sale of drugs and illegal pornography, turns out to _not_ be a stable medium of exchange.
>
> _noone_ could have seen this coming.
Freedom! Anonymity! It’s awesome!!!
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### Author:  [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2013, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bitcoins-drop-50-today/655350/11 "2013-04-10T21:14:17Z")
How are the futures on Farmville crops holding up?
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### Author:  [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2013, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bitcoins-drop-50-today/655350/12 "2013-04-10T21:35:36Z")
For anyone paying attention, this was presaged by the eleventy-billion recent mainstream news articles and stories about bitcoins and whether or not they were the “currency of the future.”
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### Author:  [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bitcoins-drop-50-today/655350/13 "2013-04-10T21:51:56Z")
Dunning-Krugerrands
(been going around, not mine)
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### Author:  [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2013, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bitcoins-drop-50-today/655350/14 "2013-04-10T21:55:41Z")
Were they not the currency of the future in 2010 or 1011? It’s been around a while.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2013, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bitcoins-drop-50-today/655350/15 "2013-04-10T22:19:55Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> Should I hold onto my gold-pressed latinum?
Hell no.
Everyone knows its Self Sealing Stem Bolts these days (its like the copper in AC units dude).
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### Author:  [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2013, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bitcoins-drop-50-today/655350/16 "2013-04-10T22:22:16Z")
> [@voltaire](#):
>
> For anyone paying attention, this was presaged by the eleventy-billion recent mainstream news articles and stories about bitcoins and whether or not they were the “currency of the future.”
Paying attention to what? I read mainstream news articles daily and have never heard of such a thing. But, of course, I’m only vaguely familiar with something called _paypal._
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### Author:  [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2013, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bitcoins-drop-50-today/655350/17 "2013-04-10T23:05:12Z")
> [@Procrustus](#):
>
> Paying attention to what? I read mainstream news articles daily and have never heard of such a thing. But, of course, I’m only vaguely familiar with something called _paypal._
You’ve just been lucky, I guess. [Here’s the WP article](http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-04-04/world/38280106_1_bitcoin-satoshi-nakamoto-monetary-policy) I read recently. And [here’s a custom Google News search for articles from **just a one week** date range from 04/01 - 04/07](https://www.google.com/search?q=bitcoin&hl=en&newwindow=1&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=8gk&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&biw=1280&bih=937&sa=X&ei=Gu5lUZLwA4HS9QTBwoCQDQ&ved=0CCMQpwUoBg&source=lnt&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A4%2F1%2F2013%2Ccd_max%3A4%2F7%2F2013&tbm=nws), which is before the “crash” generated even more press. Behold all the articles from mainstream press referring to the future of bitcoins, bitcoin ATM’s, etc.
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### Author:  [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2013, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bitcoins-drop-50-today/655350/18 "2013-04-11T06:06:29Z")
And don’t forget the idiots who tried to extort Mitt Romney for bitcoins by claiming that they had stolen his tax records.
> **[Group claiming to have Romney tax records threatens to leak them | CNN Politics](https://www.cnn.com/2012/09/06/politics/romney-tax-threat)**
>
> An anonymous group says it stole copies of GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s tax records and will release them unless it gets $1 million.
> [@](#):
>
> “Using your office” in Franklin, Tennessee, the group tells PricewaterhouseCoopers in an online posting, “we were able to gain access to your network file servers and copy over the tax documents for one Willard M Romney and Ann D Romney.”
>
> It threatens to send encrypted copies to “all major news outlets” and warns, “If the parties interested do not want the encrypted key released to the public to unlock these documents on September 28 of this year then payment will be necessary.”
>
> If the money is not received, “the entire world will be allowed to view the documents with a publicly released key to unlock everything,” the group warns.
>
> The group demands $1 million worth of the online currency Bitcoins. It also says that people who want the documents released can send money as well, and whichever side sends $1 million first will win.
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### Author:  [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2013, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bitcoins-drop-50-today/655350/19 "2013-04-11T09:59:15Z")
> [@](#):
>
> The Tokyo-based exchange said last week that hackers are engaging in a strategy to manipulate the price of the currency: “Attackers wait until the price of Bitcoins reaches a certain value, sell, destabilize the exchange, wait for everybody to panic-sell their Bitcoins, wait for the price to drop to a certain amount, then stop the attack and start buying as much as they can. Repeat this two or three times like we saw over the past few days and they profit.”
Sounds like an amazing business opportunity 🙂
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### Author:  [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2013, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bitcoins-drop-50-today/655350/20 "2013-04-11T10:11:38Z")
That there is called ‘market manipulation’ and it’s agin da law son.
Ah, and according to Google translate, they’re saying I should go fuck myself.
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