On April 12, the price of virtual currency bitcoin collapsed to $65, according to quotes on Mt. Gox’s website. On April 10, the price of one bitcoin was $266. Thus, the currency’s value has dropped fourfold in two days.
Until early 2013 bitcoin was traded below $20, after that the quotes started growing. By March the price of one bitcoin had grown to $40, by April, to $100. According to the price chart, the highest level of $266 was reached at 11 AM on April 10.
Then the currency fell sharply to $105 and about 11:00 AM ET the trading at Mt. Gox were halted for 10 hours. The currency managed to reverse, however it dropped again afterwards. The level of $65, the local low, was reached at 2 PM ET. At the moment the price of one bitcoin was $82.
The development of the Bitcoin system started in 2007; the first bitcoins were introduced in 2009. The Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange was established in July 2010. For the first six months one unit of crypto-currency was traded below $1, then the quotes started growing and by June the price reached $35, however, it plunged to $2.5.
The bitcoin’s was founded by a pseudonym developer, Satoshi Nakamoto. The Bitcoin system is built on constant calculation of hash function applying special program software. User puts the magnitudes of variables and looks for the results of hash function in order to find a solution. When it is found, new bitcoins are created – that is “mining”. The main purpose of mining is not to generate new bitcoins but to conduct system transactions.
Those who prefer bitcoins consider bitcoin is a virtual alternative to gold. Nevertheless, the volume of payments for goods and services are not considerable, very few retailers conduct transactions in bitcoins.
