It was mentioned here that Cyprus is a very poor nation and that we would not see a whole lot of activity from the people of Cyprus as most of them do not even have Internet connections.
On the other hand markets shift on the slightest indicators. Cyprus is an indicator of what governments are willing to do during this financial crisis. Ben Bernanke could be overheard at dinner saying "stimulate" and the DJIA could jump 200 the next day.
Markets tend to try to beat the actual affects. A huge multi-million barrel oil field is discovered and the price of oil goes down. Even though not one drop of oil has yet to be pumped.
Topic: The Cyprus/Bitcoin connection is totally fake (Read 3702 times)
I think this connection is overblown as well. But, the number of clients downloaded can be tricky. For example in Cyprus many account holders are based in Russia and other places. They are using Cypriot accounts as tax shelters and do not live on the island.
Cyprus vs. China
I would agree that Mr China is pulling up mightily.
CNY is the #3 currency against BTC now. massive.
It's not the cypriots. It's people from the other european union countries being aware of the impending doom, …
yes, that's exactly what i would have want to write. indeed, i think the cyprus effect might even extend around the world into the USA.
Very true. And since prices are set at the margin, it only takes a small increase in interest in bitcoin and a small increase in usage to have a large increase in price.
It's not the cypriots. It's people from the other european union countries being aware of the impending doom, increasing diversification and taking money out of savings in case shit goes down. Don't look at bitcoin in cyprus, look at it's growth in Spain and Italy, they are next under the knife.
Russian Mafia (basically every russian with any sort of money) uses cypress as an offshore for their funds. There has been a rise in russia. The bubble is mostly supported by US tho. I think many nations are looking at cyprus and seeing shades of things to come, so indirectly, in many ways, cyprus has some measure in this current boom.
I think you're right, my website has gotten 0.01% from it's viewers from Cyprus since the problems started.
It's not the cypriots. It's people from the other european union countries being aware of the impending doom, increasing diversification and taking money out of savings in case shit goes down. Don't look at bitcoin in cyprus, look at it's growth in Spain and Italy, they are next under the knife.
If there are any lurkers reading this from Cyprus, or just Greece, please give us an update.
“Cyprus” shows the Achilles heel of centralized currency. When the monetary network providing money to Cyprus stopped working, citizens were left with few of no cash to spend.
But how can someone defend his/her saving if banks cannot be trusted?
The traditional way to keep capital from depreciation is buying silver of gold, for the happiness of thieves.
However seems that the market found out a third possibility: Bitcoins, a “currency” that can use the whole internet to move from place to place. And the internet is nearly impossible to be put down.
Regards, Inge
But how can someone defend his/her saving if banks cannot be trusted?
The traditional way to keep capital from depreciation is buying silver of gold, for the happiness of thieves.
However seems that the market found out a third possibility: Bitcoins, a “currency” that can use the whole internet to move from place to place. And the internet is nearly impossible to be put down.
Regards, Inge
Look for downloads from Russia, instead from Cyprus.
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It could be fake, but even fake rumors can start wars.
bitcoin is the next logical step in monetary advancement
What we're seeing is adoption and speculation by people who already knew about bitcoin. All this media attention will affect the price primarily the next time we see a major financial disruption.
From what I have read, it looks like a good portion of the Cyprus bank deposits are from account holders abroad, specifically Russia, so maybe include Russia and other eastern block countries in your stats.
The other thing is here in the US we have a bunch of conspiracy anti government nuts who buy gold bouillon to have currency to trade after government takes over. Cyprus reinforced their beliefs that they must have an alternate currency and the Cyprus-Bitcoin connection on the mainstream news gave them Ideas as to what that currency should be if not gold (BTC). I have been selling on Craigslist and bitcoinlocal to these types more than speculators. My problem is that I cannot get the money to gox before the price goes up and I don't have a ton of money to fill up my gox account ahead of time, so I can only sell a few BTC at a time.
The other thing is here in the US we have a bunch of conspiracy anti government nuts who buy gold bouillon to have currency to trade after government takes over. Cyprus reinforced their beliefs that they must have an alternate currency and the Cyprus-Bitcoin connection on the mainstream news gave them Ideas as to what that currency should be if not gold (BTC). I have been selling on Craigslist and bitcoinlocal to these types more than speculators. My problem is that I cannot get the money to gox before the price goes up and I don't have a ton of money to fill up my gox account ahead of time, so I can only sell a few BTC at a time.
Here are the download figures from other countries since March 16:
6100 in Spain
2735 in Italy
1234 in Greece
937 in Portugal
This all includes mutliple downloads by same person and perhaps previous users who're just downloading on another device. So maximum of 10,000 across impacted European countries over half a month is nothing to write home about. Sure there are other clients and other ways to 'use' Bitcoin, ignore this very important data at your own peril.
Just for comparison's sake - there's been 15,556 downloads in China over same time frame who're known to love to speculate and gamble in their investments. It's clear that speculators far outweigh people concerned over any type of financial confiscation.
6100 in Spain
2735 in Italy
1234 in Greece
937 in Portugal
This all includes mutliple downloads by same person and perhaps previous users who're just downloading on another device. So maximum of 10,000 across impacted European countries over half a month is nothing to write home about. Sure there are other clients and other ways to 'use' Bitcoin, ignore this very important data at your own peril.
Just for comparison's sake - there's been 15,556 downloads in China over same time frame who're known to love to speculate and gamble in their investments. It's clear that speculators far outweigh people concerned over any type of financial confiscation.
Downloads of the Bitcoin client is a very poor metric.
I would guess that most people will only create an account on mt.gox, because they have no idea how the system works. They will just keep there money there.
Even if they don't, they are likely to use a web client like blockchain.info, rather than the full-blown bitcoin client.
I would guess that most people will only create an account on mt.gox, because they have no idea how the system works. They will just keep there money there.
Even if they don't, they are likely to use a web client like blockchain.info, rather than the full-blown bitcoin client.
You forget that the Bitcoin client isn't exclusive to sourceforge.com, because it's open source people could easily save the install file and put it all over the net without any problems, that said though, I do see where you're coming from, this is a common problem when it comes to financial news, everyones trying to find an explanation for price rises and falls and they've picked the most obvious one they can find.
Human beings always want an explanation for everything. But maybe there simply isn't an explanation for the recent rise in price. Maybe it was caused by an interplay of factors so complex that it can't be reduced to a nice, simple, human-readable story.
Butterfly effect?
Human beings always want an explanation for everything. But maybe there simply isn't an explanation for the recent rise in price. Maybe it was caused by an interplay of factors so complex that it can't be reduced to a nice, simple, human-readable story.
It's clear that speculators far outweigh people concerned over any type of financial confiscation.
It's nothing new
Nonetheless I think the difference between the amount of speculators and 'real' users is (slowly) decreasing. Jump to: