Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: k4rts on February 14, 2012, 07:34 pm
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Just overnight I have lost 30$ because the coin has dropped from $5.60(what I bought them for) to as low as $4.21. I know it's stupid to leave coins sitting but I have no choice. Even if I didn't leave any coins in my account; let's say last night I bought coins, transferred to my SR account, went to bed and woke up with $30 less than I should have.
Is there really no other way to transfer money to vendors without exposing the vendors personal information?
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There is, but it opens up a lot of opportunity for scamming (not that it's impossible already on SR; but SR reduces it to an extent).
And some anonymity will be lost if the vendor has to go to a location to pick up cash (say a Western Union) where they could be caught on video camera.
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There are plenty of other ecurrencies that are locked on to specific currencies and have been in use for much longer than bitcoin, but bitcoins are much easier to 'clean' and thus ideal for public vending.
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This would probably be a non-issue had it gone the other way for you, buying at 4.21 then pulling out at 5.60, right? You're playing the game now.. gotta take the punches with the licks.. there is no other way it.
Paxum just crashed their service, so I'm sure that put a little fear in the market value, if you wait it out a few days it'll be back up to where it was before. Just depends on how much you really have to have it now...
Galindoi
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Long run, with repeated transactions it's a zero sum game.
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did you have BTC or did you have USD in your account?
BTC is going to fluctuate daily, so you're up against that no matter what. Vendors prices are going to change according to what the btc is worth at the time (usually, there are those that dont as well).
This is basic principles, buy low sell high (or in our case, buy low(btc) buy when btc is high(sr items))
You can't use any currency other than BTC
from the 'buyers guide' which I suggest you read
silkroadvb5piz3r.onion/index.php/silkroad/buyers_guide
Escrow hedge
Unfortunately, the Bitcoin exchange rate isn't as stable as we would all like it to be, and can fluctuate wildly in a matter of hours, let alone the days or weeks it takes for a package to arrive. Because of this, there is a real danger that the Bitcoins being held in your escrow account will lose value by the time your vendor gets paid or you are refunded. So, we've given the option to vendors to hedge the future payments they are expecting from escrow such that the dollar value of the payment doesn't change as the Bitcoin exchange rate changes.
For example, a seller is hedging the escrow for a 10 btc order you place with them, and the dollar value of your order when you purchase it is $100. Now, let's say your order never arrives and your vendor agrees to a full refund, but those 10 btc are no longer worth $100, they're worth $50! Because your vendor hedged the escrow, you won't get a refund of 10 btc, you'll get 20 btc equaling the original value of $100. Of course, the opposite is also true. If Bitcoins appreciate in value while your order is in escrow, your refund will be fewer Bitcoins, but still equaling the original dollar value.
When checking out, you will see which orders will be hedged and which won't. After the order is placed, your escrow balance will reflect the dollar value of your hedged orders and the Bitcoin value of your unhedged orders. All hedged orders are hedged as soon as the order is placed. So when getting a refund for hedged items, don't be surprised if the number of Bitcoins you get back is not the same as the amount you paid.
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This fall in BTC price might be related to TradeHill being shutdown. There's a risk of government creating too many regulations and close them down. There's a risk of not being able to cash them thru a brokerage like MTGOX, CryptoXchange, etc.
It is like the Megaupload. You don't know if tomorrow all those firms might go down. Maybe bitcoin will be more underground like exchanging just OTC (over the counter).
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Just overnight I have lost 30$ because the coin has dropped from $5.60(what I bought them for) to as low as $4.21.
Welcome to bitcoin :o and remember it goes both ways. Last September the coins were $3.00 when I bought up. I sold em for $5+
Always keep your coins as MtGox USD until you're ready to buy. You can have the BTC->Washed->SR->transaction done in 6 hours. In a typical week, 6 hours is nothing. Unfortunately you got caught by turbulence and if thats your worst luck this week, consider this *great* week.
Keep your eye on the charts and speculation threads too.
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Yeah I lost about $60 overnight but it's not just standard market fluctuations, the 24 hour drop is because of Tradehill closing. Not exactly an everyday occurrence, just look at the huge sell rates on mtgox.
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I'm buying BC tomorrow so I hope it keeps dropping.
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I'm buying BC tomorrow so I hope it keeps dropping.
I just bought a few today. Something tells me I'll be very happy with this trade in five to six weeks.
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I'm buying some too, as soon as my transfer goes through.