Here's a small sample of what's going on in the outside world. The world looking in on us.....
From Ed Steer at Casey Research:
A number of readers were kind enough to send me various stories about what happened to Bitcoin during the previous week. I told the first two or three readers that sent me stories on it, that I wasn't going to run it...but changed my mind when this more in-depth piece showed up.
I posted a story about this virtual currency last week...and I considered it to be right up there with the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny. Since that story last week, there have been major troubles for Bitcoin...
"The storm had been building for over a week now. Last Monday at around 5 p.m. 25,000 Bitcoins were transferred from 478 accounts on the currency's largest exchange -- Mt. Gox. But that was just the beginning. Now Mt. Gox is admitting to a major breach and has shut down, in an unprecedented action. In all, approximately $8.75M USD worth of Bitcoins appear to have -- at least temporarily -- been stolen in the intrusion."
Wesley Legrand sent me this story about it that's posted over at dailytech.com...and the link to all the gory details are here.
Italics emphasis mine.
Link here http://www.dailytech.com/Inside+the+MegaHack+of+Bitcoin+the+Full+Story/article21942.htm
I must admit it's ironic that a silver guy, Ed Steer, would push an article where one of the main complaints about BTC is "volatility" but there it is.
Stay focused. The Mt. Gox situation has many stressed but Mt. Gox is NOT BTC. If they disappeared tomorrow BTC will carry on. A visionary knows why he is doing what he is doing and ignores petty obstacles. A lesser man will stop and complain incessantly about the gum on the bottom of his shoe.......as the bus approacheth to run him over!!!!!
Casey Research, like most PM sources, is rather conservative. It is a tough transition to make for most gold and silver bugs because they are so incredibly distrustful of that which they cannot physically hold. Nevertheless, these are the guys, and gals, who have a great deal of libertarian etc. commonalities with Bitcoin folk.