About the author ⁄ Phillip Archer

Bitcoin Mining Round 2 – ASIC Miner auctions 50 blades

Considering a bitcoin mining hardware purchase? Make a more informed decision with our Bitcoin Mining Dashboard. Update: The auction has completed, and the 50 blades sold in a price range of 50-65 BTC each. Following news that ASIC Miner will be more than doubling it’s hashing power to 15 TH/s over the next 7 days, Friedcat announced a second auction of ASIC blades. Like the last set, these will be clocked at 10 GH/s each. Given that the last batch took 4 days to ship from the end of the auction, this is the fastest and most reliable method for buying …

Apr 27, 2013 Posted by Phillip Archer In Featured, Mining, News Tagged ASIC, ASIC Miner, BTC, price, Quick Installation, TH

Who Controls Bitcoin?

The short answer you already know: everyone. But, when broken down into its constituent parts, the answer becomes far more intriguing. This article is mainly a response to the many television and radio interviews I’ve watched where the host is perplexed that Bitcoin is not controlled by a central authority. Bitcoin may be the first truly democratic currency – one where decisions are made by consensus. When Satoshi Nakamoto open-sourced the bitcoin code so anyone curious enough could learn exactly how the system works, people used to looking to Ben Bernanke or Angela Merkel for guidance on currency were initially …

Apr 25, 2013 Posted by Phillip Archer In Bitcoin 201, Economics, Featured, Security Tagged Ben Bernanke, Bitcoin, block, Block chain, chain, fed, software

An Analysis of the Interview with Mark Karpeles, CEO of Mt. Gox

Mt. Gox has been one of the biggest enigmas of the bitcoin community. Despite almost universal criticism, no competitors have been been able to unseat their position as the dominant bitcoin exchange. One of the latest pieces on Bitcoin news is a Reuters interview with CEO Mark Karpeles revealed some interesting insights into their operation and perspectives on bitcoin. The first question we can lay to rest is the correct pronunciation of their company – Mount Gox. Branding and Atmosphere One of the first things most viewers will notice is their use of balls as chairs in the interview. Mark …

Apr 24, 2013 Posted by Phillip Archer In Businesses, Featured, News Tagged Bitcoin, CEO, Disconcerting Quote, Mark Karpeles, Mount Gox

Flash crash – and it wasn’t bitcoin this time

So it turns out traditional markets aren’t as stable as everyone thought. The S&P 500 – an index of the 500 largest companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange – dropped 13 points in a matter of seconds earlier today as a result of a hacked AP twitter account. The tweet in question described an explosion that allegedly injured the president. The flash crash was the equivalent of over $100 billion in market cap disappearing almost instantly. For all of the concerns with bitcoin’s price instability, this would have evaporated 100x the bitcoin market cap due to a vulnerability …

Apr 23, 2013 Posted by Phillip Archer In Economics, News, Trading Tagged AP, attack, Bitcoin, crash, hack, market cap, price, s&p, twitter

Bitcoin Trading: Interpreting Order Books

In this article we will review how read a bitcoin order book, how to interpret a bitcoin order book, and how to spot common market manipulation techniques by properly understanding order book dynamics. What is an Order Book? An order book is a ledger containing all outstanding orders – instructions from traders to buy or sell bitcoin. An order to buy is called a “bid” and an order to sell is called an “ask.” Bids and asks are paired up as soon as their requirements are fulfilled, resulting in a trade. For introductory purposes there are two primary order types …

Apr 22, 2013 Posted by Phillip Archer In Bitcoin 201, Trading Tagged analysis, ask, bid, Bitcoin, BTC, Order Book, price, trading, volume, wall

ASIC Miner Auction: 10 Block Erupter Blades

Considering a bitcoin mining hardware purchase? Make a more informed decision with our Bitcoin Mining Dashboard. UPDATE (4/20): The winners have been announced, and paid ฿75-76 each for each of the cards. This netted shareholders an estimated 0.00188 per share. Friedcat has announced this is only the first of a series of auctions so ASIC Miner share holders can expect these special dividends more frequently in the coming weeks. Update 2 (4/27): The second round of auctions just completed. 50 blades were sold in a price range of 50 to 65 BTC each. ASIC Miner, the first public ASIC mining company, has …

Apr 17, 2013 Posted by Phillip Archer In Mining, News Tagged ASIC, ASIC Miner, Bitcoin, Creation, Mining Reddit, PC, Quick Installation, trading, UPDATE

Bitcoin trading: Bullish inverse head & shoulders forming

In the 15 minute chart we can see a very bullish pattern forming – an inverse head and shoulders. If it is confirmed (breaking ~$81) we will see a quick price movement on heavy volume up to the $100 range. The inverse head and shoulders is a bullish pattern that indicates a trend reversal from the previous bearish sentiment. It consists of a neckline indicating the upper portion of the range, two shoulders, and a head between them. The left shoulder in the above graph is fully formed occurring around the mid 70′s, and consisted of moderate volume. The …

Apr 16, 2013 Posted by Phillip Archer In News, Trading Tagged Bitcoin, light, price, volume

Bitcoin mining – public companies

Considering a bitcoin mining hardware purchase? Make a more informed decision with our Bitcoin Mining Dashboard. Bitcoin mining companies have several advantages over running a mining operation yourself. The most significant one is that you don’t have to worry about setting up and maintaining mining hardware. Many of these companies have built-in plans to increase their speed as the network difficulty rises, reducing the risk of a quickly diminishing payout. Additionally, selling shares is significantly more liquid than selling mining hardware if you decide not to be in the mining business anymore. The counter-point to these advantages is that you will …

Apr 15, 2013 Posted by Phillip Archer In Bitcoin 201, Mining, News Tagged ASIC Miner, Avalon, bASIC Miner, Bitcoin, CEO, Cognitive, GH, GLARI, IPO, market cap, MH, Nasty Mining, Owner Share, TH

Bitcoin technicals – first bullish chart in days

It’s been a rough few days to be bullish for bitcoin, but the technicals indicate the pain will be easing soon. The chart below is the BTC/USD exchange rate on Mt. Gox for the last week using 1 hour candles. As I write this article Bitcoin is just below $100. There are three characteristics of this chart that indicate the first bullish signal in a long time: a capitulation bottom, 2 closes over the 21hour EMA, and a crossover of the 7EMA and 21EMA. 1) Capitulation Bottom: Capitulation occurs when investors give up all hope, and just want to …

Apr 12, 2013 Posted by Phillip Archer In News, Trading Tagged analysis, Bitcoin, EMA, Exponential Moving Average, MA, price, technical

Bitcoin hedge funds will change the game

What are hedge funds? Hedge funds are privately managed investment funds. Their primary goal is to gain outsized financial returns for its investors and are involved in virtually every market. Most investment vehicles like Mutual Funds and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are publicly traded, must disclose their positions regularly, and undergo significant financial scrutiny. Because hedge funds are privately held they are not affected by these constraints. Frequently these funds are only looking for investments in the $10′s to $100′s of millions or more because of their limited time, and the large amount of funds they need to manage. While the bitcoin market …

Apr 11, 2013 Posted by Phillip Archer In Businesses, News Tagged Bitcoin, charts, Exante, Financial Times, Gatis Eglitis, hedge fund, investment, market cap, trading