Pyramid from "Bitcoin"

The collapse of the largest exchange of electronic trading exchange has called into question the existence of the Bitcoin virtual currency

Will the most popular Virtual currency "Bitcoin" will survive the collapse of the largest exchange, on which cash electronic auction is held? The fate of Bitcoin was in question on Tuesday after the day earlier stopped trading on the Mount Gox exchange, based in Japan. It became known that the exchange lost several hundred thousand monetary units, the cost of which is estimated at four hundred million dollars.

It became known that the exchange lost several hundred thousand monetary units, which are estimated at four hundred million dollars

Until Monday, the Bitcoin virtual currency was presented by its supporters as the perfect tool for calculating in the future of a beautiful world. Born under the cover of secrets by certain mathematical geniuses or genius, this virtual monetary unit is not subject to manipulations by central banks and governments, is not succumbing to forgery, operates outside the banking system and potentially offers such benefits that its exchange value for two years rose from thirty cents to a hundred hundred dollars. And some even talked about Bitcoin as a win-win object of investment.

Critics indicate the signs that the Mount Gox Exchange may have functioned as a financial pyramid

On Tuesday, many of these myths were apparently dispelled. It turned out that Mount GOKS, the largest Bitcoin electronic exchange, where customers bought and kept their virtual monetary units, is not known how “lost” 744 thousand Bitcoin, the market value of which was about four hundred million dollars. Accordingly, all those who held Bitcoin on this exchange lost their money. But this, as they say, is a sparing interpretation of the collapse of the exchange. Critics indicate signs that the exchange may have functioned as a financial pyramid.

And Mount Gox customers will most likely have to come to terms with the loss of money, since no one guarantees anything to anyone in the world of virtual currency

And Mount Gox customers will most likely have to come to terms with the loss of money, since no one guarantees anything to anyone in the world of virtual currency. This is the payback for the right to introduce anonymous financial transactions. In most countries, the action, sale and exchange of Bitcoin is not regulated by public services. The Japanese authorities announced that they will not conduct an investigation, since it is almost impossible to identify the real names of the participants in electronic exchanges. Clients conducted operations on the stock exchange under pseudonyms.

What, in fact, is a "bitcoin"? Question to the professor of the economy to an employee of the Guuver Institute in California Mikhail Burnstam :

- Bitcoin is a virtual currency, it does not physically exist. There are computer codes: one is in the public domain, this is a public code, and each owner of Bitcoin has his own code with which he has access to his monetary units. This is like a private safe in a bank, for access to which two keys are required. The possession of codes makes a person the owner of "Bitcoin" after their acquisition at the existing foreign exchange rate. That is, it is a currency that exists in the form of codes and numbers on the central exchange.

- But the collapse of the exchange in Japan, apparently, raised the question by the edge: can there be a currency behind which nothing is worth it?

- It is. There are two ways to exist currency. Or these are objects that have their own value. For example, bulls in ancient Greece, or cigarettes in the camps of displaced persons, or - for centuries - gold coins or gold to which paper money is tied. Or behind the currency is the central bank and the government of the country producing currency. There is nothing for Bitcoin, and therefore many doubt that such a “private” currency can exist. It is clear that while there is trust in such money signs, they exist as soon as confidence in them disappears, they disappear.

- Today, The Los Angeles Times writes that Bitcoin is on the verge of collapse. Your predictions?

The future "Bitcoin" is vague. It all depends on whether computer security will be ensured

- The future "Bitcoin" is vague. It all depends on whether computer security will be ensured. After her appearance in 2009, she did not take root for the first months precisely because, due to error in codes, new and new virtual coins were automatically created. The creators of Bitcoin abandoned their original version and created a new code. But if intermediary firms turn out to be bankrupt for some reason, if a significant number of these "bitcoin" are disappeared, then the currency may collapse.

- That is, it can be assumed that the gigantic increase in the cost of Bitcoin, most likely, is speculative, the result of risky exchange games?

- Very strong fluctuations: from thirty cents to three hundred dollars, then to fifty dollars per Bitcoin, then up to a thousand hundred dollars, then up to five hundred - I call real numbers - indicate the instability of this currency and, due to this instability, it cannot be a means of accumulation. None of the normal investors will keep their long -term savings in Bitcoin, and the peculiarity of any currency is that it should not only be a payment tool, but also a means of accumulation, otherwise no one will keep money in it. Therefore, Bitcoin currently at best can be a short -term payment tool.