Quote from: markj113 on March 25, 2018, 06:31:42 PM

Quote from: zakalwe on March 25, 2018, 04:48:58 PM

Bitcoin is the opposite of a pyramid scheme from the point of view of Bitcoin miners. The Bitcoin protocol is designed like a cannibalistic arms race. Every additional miner prompts the protocol to increase the difficulty of mining. From a social point of view, Bitcoin is a pure market. The price of Bitcoins fluctuates based on market supply, demand, and perceived value.

I think the market is more manipulated than most people realise.

Exchange bots and a few large players dictate the price by creating fake supply/demand.

Well I can't really argue with that, and from what I've been watching lately I would say you are right. The thing is, bitcoin has real value, and price manipulation would become impossible to make if massive adoption takes place. Right now, bitcoin only has a use case for speculators since it's development is not finished, and can't be used for payments in a large scale. But that should change soon, with the deployment of the LN, that is already taking place. If merchants start adopting bitcoin, and people start using it, it's liquidity will increase and it's volatility will decrease because it will be much harder to make it's price move, since a lot of people would now own it, and hold it.