If I were going by the mood here as to what's changed I could be forgiven for thinking the price going back to where it was a few short weeks ago is going to have a devastating and long-term impact not only on the price of bitcoin but on its acceptance in practical applications for the foreseeable future. But despite my diligent reading up here and elsewhere I am failing to see one reason why this should be so.
Bad press? Gimme a break! It's been mainly rubbish press all the way and the better press has tended to focus on its potential not so much on its meteoric rise in price. The big drop tells me there was a substantial amount bought on the basis of price hype and it is those naiive speculators along with the profit-taking speculators (that's not a criticism by the way) who, along with the ridiculous MtGox scenario, have caused the drop.
But I know I am not alone in having just held on the way down as we had held on the way up and I suspect there are many (together representing a significant amount of coin) for whom the last couple of days means very little.
Whilst I can understand why what just happened may 'feel' just like June 11, to conclude from that that it is 'just like June 11' is to ignore everything that has been going on over the subsequent years and especially this year and last and this month in particular and instead purely to focus in on the rise and fall in price. Is the claim that it is useless as a medium of exchange reasonable considering there are two days when you could with bad timing have been left with not enough money to buy what you'd exchanged your fiat for? For the very few who were doing this for the very first time in the last couple of days they might have been put off but what about all those who have benefited time and time again from increases, sometimes not insubstantial, when the market was going the other way? Are they suddenly going to decide Bitcoin is a bad idea after all? And volatility? There seems to be a bear consensus that the big drop means Bitcoin is useless as a store of value. As a store of value with a predictable any-time-accessible fiat valuation of course it is - and if it took this drop for anyone who bought for that reason to click that it is volatile then they really didn't do any homework before jumping on board. If they constitute a high enough proportion of those who just lost out and cashed out then they may well cripple the price for some time but not its utility. But I have an inkling a more substantial proportion of the money held by those using it as a store of value are those who are confident because of its potential that there's a reasonable chance it will at least retain its value. I understand to many the high risk v. high depreciation means it is considered as an 'investment' but it is still storing value (just riskily and with potential ridiculous gains).
I am sorry for those who lost their shirts even whilst not feeling too sorry for them for having ignored all the warnings and gambled more than they could afford to lose. I am pleased this big drop has happened because it means we're unlikely to attract the same kind of money in any significant amounts for some time. You can repeat 'your investment may go down as well as up' until you're blue in the face but the chart with a drop like this is much more powerful as a lesson.
I don't mind the speed at which the fiat price of bitcoin will rise again. It would be handy if I were able to sell off a couple at a silly profit but I don't need to. I just think it is inevitable - and probably quicker rather than slower simply because that's how ideas spread by networks of people. Also if Bitcoin is ever to be playing its gov't-abuse-protective role say in a small village in one of the more despotic countries in Africa so a mother can sell her rice for bitcoin to buy her vegetables for her kids we need to be thinking such trades will likely be in satoshis which also means the price per whole bitcoin will be immense. I'm not saying it will or it won't but I think it could - and that in this day and age it could happen a lot faster than many people imagine. And I'm quite happy to play my small role in increasing the odds that this comes to be.
Thank you for reading
Thanks for the thoughts; I am a fan.
One small correction: The women in the village in Afric would be using silver grams rather than bitcoins as she does not have a computer or an android or even electricity or running water for that matter.
But, she's still 'on our side' as she's using a deflationary store of value that is not easily controlled by a central bank.
just a little throw in:
http://piccellwireless.blogspot.de/2011/04/cell-phones-vital-new-tool-for-health.html
okay it's an ugly old nokia bone from the 90s, but I wonder what phones they use in 5-10 years when there are octocore-smartphones in 1st world