Click on the image below to see a screenshot, or better yet just visit the widget yourself here(use the scroll wheel of your mouse to zoom in and out, time frame options can be found in the bottom left.)
The Mt Gox exchange, formally one of the largest Bitcoin exchanges in the world, has even halted withdrawals. Ironically this recent run on their exchange seems to be stemming from failed USD withdrawals. Users wait weeks after requesting their money, only to see the transaction fail. Some users report that even a repeat attempt fails. This problem of inconsistent payouts coupled with vague "we're working on it" responses from Mt Gox could be eroding the very trust they need for the exchange to function. The exchange seems to constantly be tackling some giant issue, from delayed account creation, to DDOS attacks, to a 30% payout success rate.
If you're at all interested, this coinwatch blog has some more detailed info on the crash.
It's sad to see such low volume being pumped through the exchange nowadays, and it's not uncommon to see a $20 spread. Hopefully the exchange can regain some traction and finally make a noticeable dent in their technical issues(of which they've been having for a suspiciously long time). The bigger concern seems to be the lack of feedback from Mt Gox. There's just no sense of damage control coming from them, as if this is completely normal.
Granted, this is a completely unregulated, extremely volatile market based on a currency that doesn't tangibly exist...
When you've swallowed that, bitstamp is showing a price of double that of Mt Gox, currently sitting at $615 while Mt Gox at $300. Since this currency is meant for easy transfer, what's to stop a purchase on Mt Gox, a transfer to Bitstamp, then a sell off? AKA arbitrage. What stops most arbitrage is simply that some exchanges do not accept deposits or withdrawals in USD.
In the meantime there are plenty of Litecoin derivative cryptocurrencies that have popped up and become reasonably profitable as a form of triangular arbitrage. For instance dogecoin, has absolutely no mining limit. This is a currency that can be created at will, has a mining difficulty just like bitcoin, but absolutely no limit on the amount that can be mined. This is a completely intangible currency that can be converted to USD, without limit on creation. It'll be interesting to see if/when the doge market becomes extremely saturated. Would this force the value down? What's currently keeping the value up?
Fascinating stuff!
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