Think about who would be doing it and why. It isn't some small group, because they would only hit one or two exchanges.
It is the bankers' behind-the-scenes hackers, or it is the NSA, or CIA, or FBI, or their counterparts in the various governments of the world, like the group that the KGB turned into, or MI6, or you name it.
Bitcoin signals the end of the fiat currencies of the world. Those who are in power don't like that idea. the only way they can legally shut down Bitcoin is to shut down all Internet communications they have so carefully built so that they can rape the people.
I'm not a techie, but if I were, I would be advancing all the different ways that I could think of for maintaining and growing public communications beyond the Internet. I would be working to develop an independent communication grid that is entirely decentralized, yet worldwide, just like Bitcoin is.
I tend to agree. It could be a small group just looking to buy "cheap coins" for a few days, but it smells more like an attack from somebody really looking to discredit i.e. destroy the trust in bitcoin. Bankers and a few national governments spring to mind.
On a related issue, is it true Bitcoin only has one full-time developer, Gavin?
If so, it seems to me if we learn anything from this debacle is that bitcoin needs a full-time team to deal more quickly with both (a) known possible attacks / vulnerabilities and (b) 'upgrades' to the protocol.
2014 is crucial for bitcoin. It has gotten off to a pretty terrible start (Shrem, Gox, now other exchanges). Trust is a very hard thing to gain back.
