周四比特幣在各大交易平臺上的價格出現大幅分化,當日行情突顯這種新興加密貨幣的交易基礎設施相當脆弱。
In one wild 20 minute period, the price of bitcoin soared $2,000 per coin to more than $19,000 only to drop to $15,000 on the Coinbase trading venue. The frenzied demand left other exchanges struggling to cope, and the difference in prices quoted on other venues for the same bitcoin asset was as much $4,000.
在Coinbase交易平臺上,在一段狂亂的20分鐘期間,比特幣價格飆漲2000美元,至1.9萬美元上方,但隨后回落至1.5萬美元。瘋狂的需求使得其他交易所難以應對,其他平臺對相同比特幣資產報價的差異高達4000美元。
“People are looking at a video game as a regular market. And it’s clearly not, otherwise it wouldn’t be where it is already,” said Walter Zimmerman, technical analyst at ICAP TA. “It’s beyond abnormal, it’s unprecedented. Every other commodity has natural sellers.”
“人們正在把一個視頻游戲看作一個普通的市場。而它顯然不是,否則它就不會像現在這樣,”毅聯匯業(yè)技術分析(ICAP TA)的技術分析師沃爾特•齊默爾曼(Walter Zimmermann)表示。“這已經不只是異常了,這是史無前例的。其他任何商品都有自然賣家。”
The tumult on Thursday came only days before the widely-anticipated first bitcoin futures contracts are due to start trading on Cboe Global Markets Global Markets, the US derivatives exchange. Some investors are betting their introduction will temper the volatility in bitcoin’s price, by allowing traders to hedge their positions in the market.
幾天后,廣受期待的首批比特幣期貨合約將開始在美國衍生品交易所——芝加哥期權交易所全球市場(Cboe Global Markets)交易。一些投資者認為,期貨的推出將緩和比特幣價格的波動,因為交易員將能夠在該市場上對沖自己的頭寸。
On top the price swings, the companies that service bitcoin trade came under severe pressure as demand for the digital currency continued to escalate.
除了價格波動外,隨著對這種數字貨幣的需求不斷增加,提供比特幣交易的公司面臨巨大壓力。
Bitfinex, one of the largest bitcoin exchanges, said it had been under “significant” denial-of-service attacks — which aim to jam servers by flooding them with requests — for several days. “The attack has recently worsened,” the exchange cautioned.
最大的比特幣交易所之一Bitfinex表示,它已連續(xù)幾天受到“嚴重的”拒絕服務攻擊(通過發(fā)送大量請求試圖阻塞服務器)。“近日襲擊加劇,”該交易所告誡稱。
Peter Smith, chief executive and co-founder at Blockchain.com, which provides “wallets” used for holding digital currencies, appealed to customers to “hang in there” as the site was experiencing “record traffic levels and customer support tickets”.
提供用于存儲數字貨幣的“錢包”的Blockchain.com的首席執(zhí)行官和聯合創(chuàng)始人彼得•史密斯(Peter Smith),呼吁客戶“堅持一下”,因為該網站正在經歷“創(chuàng)紀錄的流量水平和客戶支持請求”。
The trading glitches came on top of news that around 4,700 bitcoins — worth about $70m — had been stolen out of a digital wallet at NiceHash, a cryptocurrency platform, the latest in a long line of heists that have plagued bitcoin. Slovenia-based NiceHash told its users on Wednesday that its payment system was compromised and it had contacted the authorities.
發(fā)生交易故障的同時,有消息稱,大約4700個比特幣(價值7000萬美元左右)從加密貨幣平臺NiceHash的一個數字錢包中被竊取,這是長期困擾比特幣的一連串失竊案中的最新一起??偛课挥谒孤逦哪醽喌腘iceHash周三告訴其用戶,其支付系統(tǒng)遭到侵入,已向當局報案。
Bitcoin developers have struggled to overcome the network’s capacity issues for many years. A spree of updates released earlier this year was supposed to help to ease the congestion burden but in the end only divided the community further, while spawning a doppleganger currency called “bitcoin cash”, currently trading at $1,272.
比特幣開發(fā)者多年來難以克服網絡容量問題。今年早些時候發(fā)布的大量更新,本應幫助緩解擁堵負擔,但結果只是進一步分化了投資群體,同時產生一種名為“比特幣現金”(bitcoin cash)的變形貨幣,目前價格為1272美元。
“If there’s a dominant marketplace, then maybe all liquidity will go to one place and we will have more of a uniform bitcoin price,” said Matt Brief, head of dealing at IG Group. “At the moment, it’s a lot more subjective,” he added, noting an “interesting arbitrage opportunity” between exchanges.
“如果有一個主導的市場,那么也許所有的流動性都將集中在一個地方,我們將更能獲得統(tǒng)一的比特幣價格,”IG Group交易負責人馬特•布里弗(Matt Brief)表示。“目前的定價主觀得多。”他進一步指出,各交易所之間存在一個“有意思的套利機會”。