Quote from: datafish on November 30, 2013, 01:21:29 AM

These folks aren't going to sit on their hands and watch their wealth get wiped out.

No, the best (and very small number by head count) of them will execute a switch to cash or an alternative so quickly that by the time everyone else sees what is going on it will be too late.

speculative hot money has zero respect for bitcoin or even the wider concept of a crypto currency, their mantra is after all never get attached to a stock and for the purposes of riding a curve, bitcoin is a stock. They're happy while it is paying them and will pay lip service (Winklevoss etc) but when they sense the capital appreciation has finished they're gone & without a thought. It isn't even comparable to the change of a stock from growth to income: a stable btc price in USD terms is dead money to speculators, they need a ROI. As a long term store? nope, it is no hedge against huge financial collapse either, mtgox and every other btc to currency converter would fold in a nanosecond if the capital markets imploded.