Welcome to this week's segment showing the humorous or interesting tidbits from around the internet related to Bitcoin. 

Enjoy this week's curiosities.

• World's first bitcoin ATM opens in Vancouver
  


• This man bought $27 of bitcoins in 2009 and they’re now worth $980,000
  


• Australian crowdfunding site Pozible accepts bitcoin
  


• Record bitcoin payment of $1 million spent on new mining hardware
  

Well, we have certainly seen volatility in the value of Bitcoin this week. This week included the most recent high price for Bitcoin, a local low price and a quick rebound in the middle.

Certainly a roller coaster week for those investing in Bitcoin.

For savvy investors who may have timed the market perfectly in October, here are the results...Oct 2 ($80/BTC), Oct  24 ($204/BTC). Overall, a tidy 255% return in only three weeks.

The Bitcoin network capacity was noted at 2808TH/s and has grown again to 3088TH/s. The Bitcoin network is now 110% over the span of this week. 

The Bitcoin market capitalization was listed at $1.652B dollars three weeks ago, $2.190B last week and is now $2.496B (MT Gox Pricing). 

This continues to show significant investment in the Bitcoin mining and currency markets and the Bitcoin market as a whole has increased in value by  another $306M this week. 

As mentioned during our weekly market status update, the price of Bitcoin has risen significantly. 

This is driving more interest into Bitcoin itself and therefore driving some strange articles from around the internet. 



Enjoy the insanity...How far down the rabbit hole are we going to go?

• Bitcoin exceeds $200 mark, investors worry about bubble
  


• This Chinese Exchange Just Pushed the Value of Bitcoins Over $200

• I Bought Bitcoin In Person And Here's What Happened
  

• Hunger for bitcoin grows in Scandinavia as regulatory approach evolves
  

• Bitcoin price soars to highest level since April bubble
  

• Ransomware family starts accepting Bitcoin
  

• Bitcoin’s Validity — and Price — Gets Big Boost From Baidu
  

Well, we have certainly seen a turn around in the value of Bitcoin this week. We haven't had the opportunity to use the rocket icon for some time when discussing the value of Bitcoin...However, now seems appropriate.

The ongoing remarkable story is how the negative media attention to the Oct 2nd price drop is generating interest in Bitcoin and bringing new attention to the currency. Those who are already invested in Bitcoin have noted the pricing rebounded to a new monthly high price of $154 on BTC-E.

For savvy investors who may have timed the market perfectly...the Oct 2nd price of $80 has risen to $154 (192% return in only two weeks)

The Bitcoin network capacity was noted at 1494TH/s, expanded to 2145TH/s last week and is now 2808TH/s. The Bitcoin network is now 188% over the span of two weeks. 

The Bitcoin market capitalization was listed at $1.652B dollars two weeks ago and now has increased to $2.190B (MT Gox Pricing). 


This is a means the Bitcoin market as a whole has increased in value by $538M in two weeks. Buckle your seat belts...Bitcoin rocket has taken off!!


Oct 19 - $154/BTC on BTC-E exchange

Welcome to this week's segment showing the humorous or interesting tidbits from around the internet related to Bitcoin. 

Enjoy this week's curiosities.

Last week we asked the question "What does this mean for the next few weeks and months regarding Bitcoin?"

Well if the past week is any indication, there is still significant life in the value of Bitcoin. 

The remarkable story to the Oct 2nd price drop is how quickly the pricing rebounded to a new monthly high price of $129.50 on BTC-E.

The Bitcoin network capacity was last noted at 1494TH/s and has grown to 2145TH/s. The Bitcoin network is now 143% over the span of one week. We noted last week a minimal increase in hashing power on the network...not so this week. This is a huge increase in Bitcoin mining power.

The Bitcoin market capitalization was listed at $1.652B dollars and now has increased to $1.75B. This is a means the Bitcoin market as a whole has increased in value by $98M in one week. 

The significant increase in Bitcoin value and network power signal a large increase in investment into the Bitcoin network....a good sign indeed.

The past week has shown a significant fluctuation in the value of Bitcoin. 

The pricing dropped suddenly on Oct 2, 2013 due to the FBI seizure of Silk Road website and confiscation of a large amount of BTC coins from the Silk Road Wallet. You can read more about this event in our previous post HERE. 

On Oct 2nd, the BTC price dropped on both MT. Gox and BTC-e exchanges very rapidly from a steady state price of around $125 (BTC-e) and $140 (Mt.Gox) down to $75 and $110 respectively. 

However, the remarkable story is the quick rebound to this pricing decrease by the overall Bitcoin economy. The pricing rebounded within a 4 hour window to return approx 85% of value back to the BTC price. This is a great sign for the BTC market resilience. 

The Bitcoin network capacity was last noted at 1376TH/s. Remarkably the Bitcoin network continues to rocket upward and has hit a new milestone of 1494TH/s. The Bitcoin network is now 108% over the span of one week. The good news for those mining on the network, it appears the pace of growth is slowing slightly.

The Bitcoin market capitalization is now listed at $1.652B dollars. This means the Bitcoin market as a whole has increased in value by $6M in one week. This means the entire Oct 2 loss was erased in just 4 days.

What does this mean for the next few weeks and months regarding Bitcoin?
That is a great question, hold on and let's find out together.


MT GOX - PRICING CHART

The Oct 2nd price of Bitcoin saw it's one day price swing wildly from approx $130 in the morning to $80 in early afternoon and back around $98 in the early evening.

This wild price swing is being attributed to the closing of the Silk Road website. This website represents the dark side of the Bitcoin digital currency and promotes illegal drug sales. 

Does this further legitimize the Bitcoin currency by closing a dark chapter of the first digitally distributed currency?

In a word, YES. The Silk Road was touted as one of the reason why Bitcoins rose in popularity and prosperity so quickly during the infancy period of Bitcoin existence. The closing of Silk Road (reported by Coindesk, Coindesk and Bitcoin Magazine) will now allow Bitcoin to find other means to grow its popularity. 

Additionally, due to the closure of the Silk Road website, the FBI has seized over $3.2M worth of Bitcoins. Therefore, individuals with additional stashes of Bitcoins that were to be used for illicit reasons have further liquidated their shares of Bitcoin as well. This appears to be the primary driver behind the rapid sell off of Bitcoins today.

If we look at the Bitcoin exchanges from today, the rapid sell off became increasingly evident. According to TruCoinRT website, the BTC-E exchange fluctuations were rapid and compressed within a tight time window.

From the chart below...Oct 2nd began with a high price of $124.60, a rapid drop to low price of $75 and rebound to around $100.00.

ASIC mining hardware manufacturer KnCMiner (based out of Sweden) has confirmed it has completed its Jupiter based Bitcoin mining platform on schedule.

This in itself is remarkable as other ASIC companies such as Butterfly Labs have continued to struggle to bring their products to market on time. 

Moreover, the announcement made by co-founders Sam Cole and Marcus Erlandsson on YouTube (see below) has also confirmed that the performance of their chip set has far exceeded their initial promise to customers.

The original expected output of their chips was proposed at 250GH/s. This itself was a very impressive promise for a start-up company. However, based on their shipping silicon it appears that the actual performance is over 550GH/s.