[ballofrubber]

> No authoritarian would EVER cut off or filter the internet in their country. Nope, has never happened, will never happen.

You're right, Myanmar just did that! Scary to think of it. Fortunately Bitcoin works over more communication protocols, but no internet is certainly not in any way easily defendable today. But i still think that physical and banked usd, euros and gold are more easily seizable by a government. A no internet scenario is probably economic suicide by any government.

I really don't get what you mean by financial manipulation in regards to bitcoin.

[jcranmer]

Cutting off internet is virtually the first thing an authoritarian government does at the sign of unrest. I want to say there's been something like a dozen in the last decade. If you include incomplete internet shutdowns, that list would probably grow well over 100. Hell, it's not just limited to authoritarian governments: the UK requires ISPs to filter certain sites.

I would not bet that the government is incapable of cutting off access to bitcoin.

[arrosenberg]

> I really don't get what you mean by financial manipulation in regards to bitcoin.

Bitcoin entered a speculative bubble in the middle of 2017.

[ballofrubber]

And that is financial manipulation how?

The supply got less, while the demand didn't decrease. The intrinsic value increased because of the network and lindy effect, which is why institutional investors jumped in. Bitcoin entered a speculative bubble the moment the first block was created.

I would say we just don't know the price of bitcoin yet, hence the heavy volatility.

What would you price it at? Are you shorting it?

[arrosenberg]

I wouldn't price it at all, because I don't see it as valuable, and I don't gamble, so I'm not going to short it. The supply got less because people bought bitcoin based on media hype. That's pretty classic manipulation.

[ballofrubber]

I'm astonished that you have such a strong opinion, while not even trying to understand how pricing works. Good thing you're not gambling on that!

Media hype typically drives demand, not supply. Supply in bitcoin is a very fundamental concept and controversial topic, which is a function of proof of work, difficulty adjustment and block subsidy.

What exactly in supply and demand is manipulation? You can't just shout manipulation and argue with "media hype", which historically for bitcoin is very mixed[0] and affects any asset class?

[0]https://99bitcoins.com/bitcoin-obituaries/