https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/heres-big-bitcoin-problem-just-discovered-211912644.html Here’s a big bitcoin problem I just discovered I bought a fraction of a bitcoin in October, and my little investment has appreciated about 150% since then. But if I want to cash out, I might have a problem — because apparently it’s not so easy to sell. I bought my bitcoin through Coinbase, the most popular mainstream exchange for bitcoin and two other cryptcocurrencies, ether and litecoin. That’s where my bitcoin resides. To my mind, it’s the same as buying a mutual fund or ETF at Vanguard or Fidelity, which would then hold the shares and maintain the account. But the frenzied buying and selling of bitcoin during the last several weeks has caused repeat outages at Coinbase, as the firm’s servers get overloaded. I don’t really want to sell my bitcoin right now, but what if I did? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonb...and-anyone-else-who-will-listen/#5f9a2cf7402d Seven Lies Bitcoin Fans Tell Themselves (And Anyone Else Who Will Listen) The recent extraordinary runup and commensurate volatility in the price of Bitcoin has intensified global attention on the cybercurrency. For good or ill, Bitcoin is now a topic of interest to the mainstream press, as Bitcoin newbies near and far take notice. Such newbies and reporters alike have nowhere to turn for information on Bitcoin than the established cadre of Bitcoin fans (some would say fanatics) who helped to drive its price to the stratosphere in the first place. Just one problem: many of these fans are spouting misinformation – and worse, they believe their own nonsense. For you fanatics (you know who you are) as well as the broader newbie audience suddenly interested in Bitcoin, here are some of the lies Bitcoin fans tell themselves – and how to avoid getting snookered yourself. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/08/why-is-bitcoins-price-so-high/ Why is bitcoin’s price so high? Bitcoin’s price has risen stratospherically, a fact that leaves many minor players in the market with massive gains and many bigger players millionaires. But is this a bubble? Are the gains real? And are the bitcoin whales in for a sad Christmas? First we must understand what drives bitcoin price and, in particular, this boom. The common understanding for current growth leads us back to institutional investors preparing for the forthcoming BTC futures exchanges. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/74-bitcoin-questions-answered-202033293.html 74 bitcoin questions, answered It’s hard to think of something so complicated that has become so popular as fast as bitcoin. With the price of the cryptocurrency soaring—and mainstream interest surging—Yahoo Finance recently invited readers to send us their top questions regarding bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. We condensed questions from nearly 3,500 respondents into the list below, and enlisted a team of Yahoo Finance reporters to answer them, including Daniel Roberts, who’s been covering bitcoin since 2012, and Jared Blikre, our authority on trading. Ethan Wolff-Mann and Julia LaRoche contributed as well. Here’s everything you want to know about bitcoin: 1. What the hell is it? In the most general sense, bitcoin is software that forms a decentralized, peer-to-peer payment system with no central authority like the Federal Reserve or U.S. Treasury. It’s fair to call it a digital currency or cryptocurrency, but at the moment, most investors aren’t really using it as currency to pay for things. Instead, they’re using it as a speculative investment to buy in the hope of turning a profit. Maybe a big profit. (And maybe a big loss). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
http://www.breitbart.com/economics/2017/12/21/goldman-sachs-launching-trading-desk-bitcoin/ Goldman Sachs Launching Trading Desk for Bitcoin If you think trading bitcoin is scary now, just wait. Goldman Sachs is launching a bitcoin trading desk. Bloomberg reports: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is setting up a trading desk to make markets in digital currencies such as bitcoin, according to people with knowledge of the strategy. The bank aims to get the business running by the end of June, if not earlier, two of the people said. Another said it’s still trying to work out security issues as well as how it would hold, or custody, the assets. The move positions Goldman Sachs to become the first large Wall Street firm to make markets in cryptocurrencies, whose wild price swings and surging values have captured the public’s imagination but given pause to established institutions. Already, the bank is among just a few mainstream firms clearing a new breed of bitcoin futures offered by Cboe Global Markets Inc. and CME Group Inc. Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp., for example, have been taking a wait-and-see approach. A spokesman for Goldman told Bloomberg that the move is a response to client interest. “In response to client interest in digital currencies, we are exploring how best to serve them,” Michael DuVally, a spokesman, said in a statement. Goldman has spent several years pushing the notion that everything it does is to serve “client interests.” It famously eliminated the word “trading” from its earnings reports and internal organizational structure, rebranding trading as “client execution.” - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Why wouldn't they do this? An old saying of stock and commodity trading firms towards their gambling customers is "churn 'em and burn 'em." Enticing people to trade as much as possible is a primary way that these trading firms make their commissions and profits. If you plan on trading bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, just make sure you pick out the location of a good homeless shelter, because you very well may need it. And it could happen sooner than you might believe possible, as it isn't hard to get badly addicted to this type of monetary speculation.
