Who doesn't love following the Wild West of the Internet -- Bitcoin?
Here are the insane things that happened this week:
1. A college kid rakes in $20,000 from Bitcoin sign
Auburn vs. Alabama was a heck of a football game, but for one fan, it was a quick way to make a buck. One student held up a sign that read, "Hey mom, send Bitcoin" along with a QR code for his Bitcoin address.
Source: imgur.com.
The money poured in, totaling to more than $20,000. It was more than he could ever expect. After receiving several big donations, he pledged to donate anything in excess of 2 Bitcoin to charity. He made good on that promise, handing over the bulk of the money to Sean's Outpost, a Pensacola homeless outreach center.
2. Someone bought a Tesla... with Bitcoin
The rapid rise of Bitcoin created a new class of dot-com millionaires, one of which cashed out at least some of his holdings for a brand-new Tesla. I'm not sure what's more surprising, the fact someone actually cashed out of Bitcoin, or that a Lamborghini dealer accepts the currency in the first place.
Only one question remains: Why the Tesla over a Lamborghini?
3. An early Bitcoin adopter "loses" $1 million bet
In 2011, a Bitcoin enthusiast took to Long Bets to make a wager that bitcoins would outperform the U.S. dollar, gold, silver, and the stock market by over 100 times over the next two years. He offered a $10,000 bet to anyone willing to take the other side.
No one did. And, although Bitcoin rocketed by more than 10,000%, it did it just months too late for Roger Ver to be right with his prediction. Despite the fact no one was willing to take the other side of his bet, he still donated $1 million bitcoin to The Foundation to Economic Education. Why $1 million? That's what his original $10,000 bet was worth in bitcoin two years later.
4. China cracked down on Bitcoin, kind of
The People's Republic of China issued a statement that, in essence, said it would not stop citizens from owning or using Bitcoin. It would, however, restrict banks and financial institutions from using the currency internally, or creating accounts denominated in bitcoin. No surprise here, but the initial shock of the announcement sent Bitcoin down 20%. It quickly recovered.
5. Greenspan called it a bubble on TV...no one listened
Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan took to Bloomberg TV to call Bitcoin a bubble. He should know -- he's often blamed for inciting the real estate bubble with low interest rates under his tenure. In any event, the Bitcoiners of the world wouldn't be bothered by his statement.
