'I actually don't quite care': Australian bitcoin investors hang tough

Australian bitcoin investors are refusing to be spooked by the cryptocurrency’s wild volatility, saying its steep drop in value was a “healthy step” in the virtual currency’s brief history.

Bitcoin – the world’s largest digital coin – fell below $US10,000 ($A12,500) on Wednesday, continuing its month-long slide. Bitcoin peaked in December, at nearly $US20,000 but has since dropped by 50 per cent.

Wednesday’s price drop was sparked by a record sell-off after the South Korean government flagged a crackdown on cryptocurrency trading. South Korea is one of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency markets.

Bitcoin is one of nearly 1400 different types of cryptocurrency. China has also recently flagged a crackdown on bitcoin trading while Australian authorities want to follow Japan’s lead and regulate cryptocurrencies.

“I actually don’t quite care [about the volatility], believe it or not,” said Omar Ma, a 19-year-old computer science student from Melbourne.

He bought into bitcoin with his mother a year ago and the pair have recouped their investment but continue to invest their “considerable” profit. They aren’t bothered by Wednesday’s drop in value.”I just think, hey, ‘it’s still more valuable than what I bought them for’.”

He said that despite the recent volatility he expected bitcoin to continue to grow in the long term because it is a finite currency.

Mr Ma said he’d been trying to get his mother to invest with him for the five years prior, but couldn’t convince her that bitcoin wasn’t a scam until a year ago. “My mother regrets calling bitcoin a scam,” he said. Another young bitcoin investor – 23-year-old commercial property sales assistant and recent university graduate John Mulqueeny – also said he isn’t spooked by recent volatility.

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Source: ‘I actually don’t quite care’: Australian bitcoin investors hang tough – Sydney Morning Herald