Get the price down enough so that nobody is profitable anymore -> miners quit -> difficulty drops -> system can be 51%ed very easily without $13 million etc. -> our wallets are wiped -> people lose confidence in the system -> no more problems with SR or other illegal things the gov. did not want you to buy.
A 51% attack doesn't let you steal wallets. It only lets the attacker double spend their own coins. Even then it's impractical to do in most cases.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Calling this guy (or group of guys) a manipulator is absolutely retarded because the goal of "making money" far outweighs any other incentive to manipulate the market. .... Large sums of money move the market? No shit?
Normally I agree with you. In this case we have an individual who's placing some very large bids
that go against obvious profit interest. Short-term these moves are losing money in a big way. He's either: 1) trying to help Bitcoin by propping up the price at his own expense; 2) trying to manipulate market sentiment for a risky long-term play; 3) a fool being parted from his money.
1 and 2 ARE manipulation. 3 is just business as usual except that we normally don't see a single person with that much money to burn. Fools usually come in flocks.
(Picture of Mr. M)
I like the blue leather. Black has been done to death.
I noticed that too...the tendency to make irrational bids that "go against obvious profit interest" as you put it.
This is one reason I think Gox may be responsible.
Another explanation, which I think is also plausible, is that this person or group of persons has a large enough sum of money such that they would have no problem acting as a catalyst for a spike up to $10 or beyond. Price is psychological and there are a lot of psychological reasons why a series of incredibly large buy orders could cause a panic buy mimicking characteristics of the value increase in June.
$30 wasn't that long ago and, being realistic, Bitcoin trading is currently a legal form of gambling and that is the main reason it is used. Nobody would give a rats ass about Bitcoin if it didn't have the potential to help their financial situation, and the temptation of immediate rewards is oh-so-much-more emotionally satisfying than ideal, long-term goals. If people see the price going up and going up fast, they will buy. It won't matter at that point how many retailers there are or how much the value of BTC "should" be worth given current market conditions.
