The bitcoin death spiral has begun?

graffenwalder · January 15, 2015, 01:10:55 AM

Quote from: islandking on January 15, 2015, 12:58:04 AM
Should people sell BTS to buy bitUSD until the bloodbath ends?

Quote from: islandking on January 12, 2015, 09:18:42 PM

Exactly. We can only "guess" what *may *happen to the price. Nobody knows for sure. This is why short term trading is gambling unless you are a professional. It is much better to pick a long term investment and just hold for 2-3 years instead of day trading as a newbie.

islandking · January 15, 2015, 12:58:04 AM

Should people sell BTS to buy bitUSD until the bloodbath ends?

edilliam · January 15, 2015, 12:37:55 AM

Quote from: starspirit on January 15, 2015, 12:14:53 AM
Quote from: Rune on January 15, 2015, 12:03:44 AM
https://imgur.com/GAklIdZ

Seen on /r/buttcoin. This is really bad... Transaction backlog + miners shutting off due to falling price could cause a total panic run on bitcoin as people can't get their deposits to exchanges confirmed before the price has tanked further. If you hold bitcoins I'd suggest moving them to an exchange you trust asap.

<100 USD is starting to look realistic... This sucks.
I don't understand the point about transaction backlogs. I've had no issues moving BTC around...explain further?

Each new block in Bitcoin has a maximum size of 1MB. This amounts to a maximum of 7 transactions per second. So, if there is a sudden spike in the amount of transactions occurring above this limit then not all of them will make it into the next block. This is when a backlog of transactions occurs.

Akado · January 15, 2015, 12:29:12 AM

I think if bitcoin drops that low, a new era for other cryptos will start. Bitcoin has been suppressing other alts with superior technology from going further, this might just be an opportunity for that to end and other projects can flourish, or at least, I like to think so.

Rune · January 15, 2015, 12:25:21 AM

Right now it'll take 3 blocks before a transaction with standard fee gets 1 confirmation, so transactions will get to 6 confirmations much slower than normal. Add to the fact that falling prices causes miners to shut down, but difficulty will stay high for almost another 2 weeks. This could cause transactions to get even slower. Slower transactions will likely be interpreted as a sell signal by traders, causing the price to fall more and more miners to shutdown and so on, exacerbating the death spiral further.

People have suggested that mining is so centralized at this point that they will likely coordinate to ensure difficulty can fall gradually along with the price. I really hope this will be the case. A hard landing would be really, really ugly for all of crypto.

Ander · January 15, 2015, 12:21:30 AM

Just a panic crash (which may not be over). Bitcoin has seen worse in 2011 and recovered.

starspirit · January 15, 2015, 12:14:53 AM

Quote from: Rune on January 15, 2015, 12:03:44 AM
https://imgur.com/GAklIdZ

Seen on /r/buttcoin. This is really bad... Transaction backlog + miners shutting off due to falling price could cause a total panic run on bitcoin as people can't get their deposits to exchanges confirmed before the price has tanked further. If you hold bitcoins I'd suggest moving them to an exchange you trust asap.

<100 USD is starting to look realistic... This sucks.

I don't understand the point about transaction backlogs. I've had no issues moving BTC around...explain further?

Rune · January 15, 2015, 12:03:44 AM

https://imgur.com/GAklIdZ

Seen on /r/buttcoin. This is really bad... Transaction backlog + miners shutting off due to falling price could cause a total panic run on bitcoin as people can't get their deposits to exchanges confirmed before the price has tanked further. If you hold bitcoins I'd suggest moving them to an exchange you trust asap.

<100 USD is starting to look realistic... This sucks.