Bitcoin Fluctuates

If you haven’t stared at the price of bitcoin over the past few days, you’ve missed some excitement. After spending large swaths of 2015 middling in the $200 range, bitcoin broke out, reached the $500 mark, and then gave up some of its gains.

For bitcoin fans, seeing the price move is welcome. For traders, the vertical velocity must be appreciated as well. For the rest of us, well, this is the sort of chart that we once associated with bitcoin:

That spike at the end is what has the bitcoin world in a thrall.

During times like this, I spend too much time reading through the bitcoin subreddit, trying to parse sentiment among bitcoin enthusiasts, investors, and developers. The mood seems to be that current momentum, either up or down, is due to active trading, and not a marked change in the fundamentals of bitcoin over the past few days.

Have you noticed a marked decline in bitcoin coverage over the past few months? Perhaps even the full year? I’ve cut back on covering the cyrptocurrency, so I am at least partially to blame, but in my case I can at least say that it wasn’t on purpose.

While bitcoin is putting points on the board with rising usage, the media has, to some extent, paid less attention to it. That may strike you as confusing — if bitcoin is chugging along, why is it receiving less attention?

As a Certified Member Of The Illuminati Media, I am not surprised. Consider the following, theoretical headline:

Usage Of Bitcoin Rises 3% In March, Measured On A Sequential Basis

If your socks are still on your feet, you get me.

Still, the price of bitcoin is doing bitcoin-like things again, and, to conclude the media point, here we are again. More as it comes, provided that coming fluctuations are interesting.

If you don’t get the headline joke, please unfollow me on Twitter.