Has bitcoin found its cruising speed?

Bitcoin value has always been susceptible to violent jumps and dips in its value, famously crashing from $30 to $3 back in 2012, then shooting up to $200 and then $1200 in 2013. More recently however, with fallout from Mt Gox, one of the world's longest running exchanges, we've seen the value drop, but only so far before it was caught and wrestled to a standstill, where it's remained, despite Mt Gox' continued decline.

The issue with the Japanese exchange (Gox) was the site's administrators' announced problem with bitcoin, that according to many 0thers, is more to do with the way that the exchange handles its transactions, rather than with bitcoin itself. Either way though, Gox halted withdrawals and it's continued to do so for the past few days, leading many on the site to believe that it's days are numbered. This has in turn seen a lot of Gox users dump their bitcoin for whatever they can get for it, leading to the current average price on the exchange of around $275.

While prices remain low, some recent trades show a potential for recovery

As Techcrunch points out though, what's perhaps more impressive than this recent drop, is the fact that others have remained far more constant. A quick look at Blockchain's tracked stats, or Bitstamp and the price is far more constant, having not dropped much beyond $600, if at all. The same is true for many other exchanges. This shows a confidence in the currency and is a telling sign that bitcoin has become far bigger than any one exchange, even a once monstrously dominant one like Mt Gox.

The question is at this point, has bitcoin found its more natural, acceptable value at around the $600 mark? It will no doubt have another shake up if/when Mt Gox reopens its withdrawal system, as at that point a lot of low cost coins could be pulled out and sold for a nice profit on other exchanges.

Perhaps though, the reason for the lack of concern over Mt Gox's tumble from grace is because of the speculation surrounding its reasoning. Some have suggested it could be a scam, with Mt Gox simply halting withdrawals so it can buy coins on the cheap and then sell them elsewhere – though there seems to be little evidence to support this theory at this time.

KitGuru Says: Have any of you guys got coins tied up in Mt Gox? If so, do you think the exchange will open up again and give you a chance to withdraw any time soon?

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