Bitpocalypse

This past Monday, Bitcoin took a full punch to the face when Mt Gox went under seemingly for good.

It also happened to be the day that I bought some more bitcoin, the most I’ve ever bought.  I had just gotten verified on Coinbase and made my purchase when the news hit.  It was, to be perfectly honest, a pretty low moment.  It felt like I had just set a stack of bills on fire.  The predictions of doom were everywhere, even from seasoned Bitcoin community members.  I wanted to cancel my purchase with Coinbase.  I thought about emptying my account so that the buy would fail.  I was in full blown panic.  Then, I stopped.  I decided to sit tight and see what would happen, in spite of everything inside of me screaming for me to do otherwise.

I went to bed fully expecting Bitcoin to go from around $500 to $0 or close to it overnight.  I “slept” restlessly until about 3:30 and then got up and checked the price.  It was hovering at $500.  What???  The equivalent of Wells Fargo had disappeared, and yet the market had recovered and stabilized, all on its own.  There was no federal bailout.  There was no Federal Reserve to assure everyone that everything would be OK.  The bitcoin market voted collectively and agreed that the principles which underpin this amazing technology were still sound, and that this would not in fact be Bitpocalypse.

I’ve never seen anything quite like it, and I’m not sure if everyone gets how significant this is.  Yes, lots of people were completely screwed by Mt Gox.  These things occur with every new market.  Some people always lose big.  I hate that, and I’m sure that this will need to be addressed going forward.

Bitcoin as a currency may in fact have a day in the future where it collapses.  It’s certainly what the major media outlets (and probably govt officials) want.  Either way, what we witnessed on Monday and in the following 48 or so hours has been nothing short of remarkable.  As I write this, the price of Bitcoin is now ABOVE what I paid on Monday.

You may think Bitcoin is a novelty.  It is nothing short of revolutionary.