Bitcoin Explodes Above $14,000 - Korean PM Fears "Serious Pathological Phenomena"
Content adapted from this Zerohedge.com article : [Source](http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-06/bitcoin-explodes-above-14000-korean-pm-fears-serious-pathological-phenomena "Permalink to Bitcoin Explodes Above $14,000 - Korean PM Fears "Serious Pathological Phenomena"")
Well that escalated quickly...
Just a few hours ago, Bitcoin surged above $13,000 and now, on notable volume, it has reached the stunning $14,000 level... up 20% today...
The real surge began at 1715ET...
For those keeping track, this is how long it has taken the cryptocurrency to cross the key psychological levels:
- $0000 - $1000: 1789 days
- $1000- $2000: 1271 days
- $2000- $3000: 23 days
- $3000- $4000: 62 days
- $4000- $5000: 61 days
- $5000- $6000: 8 days
- $6000- $7000: 13 days
- $7000- $8000: 14 days
- $8000- $9000: 9 days
- $9000-$10000: 2 days
- $10000-$11000: 1 day
- $11000-$12000: 6 days
- $12,000-$13,000: 17 hours
- $13,000-$14,000: 4 hours
As Bitcoin has soared, it appears traders have sold other cyrptocurrencies to chase it as Ether has dropped in sync..
One of the regions in the world with the most active Bitcoin community is South Korea where so many Koreans have embraced bitcoin that the prime minister recently warned that cryptocurrencies might corrupt the nation's youth.
As Bloomberg reports,while neighboring Japan hosts more transactions by some measures, Korea punches far above its weight: In the 24-hour period through Wednesday evening in Seoul, about 21 percent of the world's bitcoin trades on fee-charging venues involved the Korean won, according to Coinmarketcap.com. The country accounts for about 1.9 percent of the world economy.
As Korean policy makers grow increasingly worried that the mania has gone too far, the nation could become a focus for bitcoin traders around the world. Korea's top financial watchdog, which briefly roiled cryptocurrency markets with its ban on initial coin offerings in September, said this week that it has "grave concerns" about overheated speculation and has formed a task force with other government bodies to increase supervision.
While it's unclear what measures will emerge from Korea's cryptocurrency task force, the government seems intent on acting. The tax authority is considering a levy on cryptocurrency trading gains, Yonhap News reported on Tuesday, while Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon warned last month that cryptocurrencies could become gateways to pyramid schemes and other illicit activity if left unchecked.
"If we let things continue, I feel some serious pathological phenomena could occur," Lee said.
Bitcoin's stateless status appeals to some Koreans who've grown wary of keeping their savings in a country that shares a border with Kim Jong Un's increasingly belligerent regime in North Korea, according to Kwak Keumjoo, professor of psychology at Seoul National University.
"People want to take comfort in something outside and beyond the country," Kwak said.
Finally, we note that growth continues as Coinbase CEO today noted they currently have 220 customer service reps and will add 400 next year:
"it's very difficult to keep up with the user influx."
As CoinTelegraph reports, since China, Russia, and a few others cracked down hard on Bitcoin, it has been relatively quiet on the regulations front as Bitcoin has continued to soar unbridled. However, the head scratching on how to regulate continues.
The next fear, for Former Fortress Hedge Fund Manager Michael Novogratz, is that Bitcoin's continued rise and prominence in the mainstream media could reawaken the regulation beast.
However, Novogratz still feels that Bitcoin is difficult to regulate and it will be hard for governments to make an impact immediately. Novogratz, who has been outspoken on Bitcoin for some time now, claiming it could be a bubble, but one to profit from has his concerns now.
"I've got concerns that if price movements go higher, we're going to get more regulation," Novogratz said.
"But I think it's hard to shut down. ... I don't think that's a probability."
"One of the big risks out there right now is that prices are moving so fast that regulators are going to get nervous," he added.
"I could legitimately see Bitcoin go $13,000, $14,000, $20,000, $25,000 and see somebody balk."
Novogratz adds:
"We're in a speculative frenzy. Period. Stop. How long can it go? Who knows," Novogratz said. "What's interesting about this is it's global."
Another reason that Bitcoin has hit such heights must also be attributed to it finding its identity. Many were scratching their heads as to what Bitcoin is - a currency or an asset - but recent changes have set it straight.
"Bitcoin is winning out as digital gold," Novogratz explained.
"I don't think it's going to be a currency... Nothing that volatile is going to be a currency."
Surely, there are interesting scenarios with korean regulators..
But if South Korea bans exchange, it can trigger a terrible market crash. Even worse than China in september.
Yeh, really insane.. And insanely profitable.
And the rally is continuing.
Really, really incredible.
At those level is hard to sustain, expect at least a fast correction before of another rally... In my opinion we will probably see at least a great correction in next days (maybe a -20% in one day followed by a rapid recover, as in 30 november, or a -50% in a week). + 80% in 2 weeks, from 25 november, is really really hard to sustain.
Altcoins are really suffering - lots of money inflowing in BTC. This means that BTC growth now is really hard to sustain and needs to take money from altcoin. So, expect this rally to slow down or stop in next days. Then altcoins will start recover.
This is situation now: Bitcoin over 15000$ and total market cap over 400 billion $
It is a bull that just cant help but to keep running. Oddly enough, it seems the more threats of regulation, the fiercer the buying is on bitcoin. Does the community know something that others do not?
I agree that bitcoin will be hard to control. What might happen is that the regulators will open the door to DEX since many are looking to flee fiat currency anyway.
Logic says profit taking should come soon but that brings up the question how many people are actually trading BTC as opposed to buying it and socking it away? With only 21 M coins and an supportive base, there might not be a lot of coin available on the open market.
Wall Street is coming...they could push things a lot higher.
And the rally is continuing.
Really, really incredible.
At those level is hard to sustain, expect at least a fast correction before of another rally...
1000$ USD in just four hour...the same thing is happening in india also ...15156 $ is the current price ...as you said it is hard to shut down...
thanks for the international market news...
hodl my friend
Wow... I was very surprised that I wasn't included in the 17 people you're following... lol... Just kidding, but you really do need to read my posts... We have a lot in common when it comes to the Banksters... BitCoin is a good example of the peoples mistrust in the so called dollar... Gold and Silver would show the same mistrust if they weren't totally Manipulated...
@pocketechange
You aren't included in the 17 people I muted so there is hope. JK
I never run out of hope... Have a nice day, week, month, year and beyond...
@pocketechange
"Serious Pathological Phenomena" hahaha well there's a way to value Bitcoin. Most of the people I know have serious pathological issues what a huge market ; )
You have to consider that, although this is not pathological (it's market, guys, market does everything it wants) unfortunately this rally is also having really negative effects on BTC. Considering that as bitcoin grows we are observing in last days
I believe that using bitcoin as money will continue to became harder day by day.
In facts, yesterday steem announced that it will no longer accept bitcoin payments.. Because BTC as money is becoming unusable. See here
I'll hang on for a bit. Maybe hurts in the long term but it's been sweet today
I bought what I could with my few steam dollars, I would have liked to be able to buy more but I did not have more, some people had not luck as much, but for lack of luck, we go to success and that is earned with effort, which I will start to have today for the new oportunity
As for the fall of the other currencies, I suppose that everybody wants to be in the bitcoin rocket, but only a few will be, I think, I will be not in this
I wish you the best and that you keep growing I will try to grow too
i am your new follower
Bitcoin wins as digital gold, this is definitely true. Increasing the number of users on Coinbase is one detail, the number of users is increasing globally on all stock exchanges, etc.
South Korea is thinking about regulating work with Bitcoin, that's what the state normally wants to do is part of the trading cake, profit tax, etc. This will happen at some point when paper money is replaced, when banks are medernized as banks for crypts.
Bitcoin has a small value compared to the number of users, I believe it will reach the value of $ 200,000 - $ 1,000,000 for the next few years.
Thanks for the excellent news, have a nice day @zer0hedge
Cryptocurrencies will take over the world, in a good way. They will strip the central banks of their influence, although not nearly fast enough if you ask me. But it'll happen eventually. What we're really going through is a consciousness shift. We can already, without advancing our technology any further, provide a generous standard of living for everyone, but we lack the collective education needed to organise ourselves properly because we're still learning of course. I'm happy to hear that people are choosing to participate in what will ultimately replace our oppressors. It's been a long time coming.