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Comment by andrewjrangel | Hacker News Reader

I think one of the interesting things is the lack of reason why. There are plenty of theories and many people yelling for the end of crypto, but it seems despite of what people say or predict the crypto market has a mind of it's own. There has been speculation of market manipulation, but it seems odd for there to be a crash now.

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You don't even need fowl play to get here. The reasons don't have to be economic, they can be psychological.

People sometimes just ride the wave and everything around them might convince them it's the way to go, keep going. But there is a point when the realization that it's unsustainable can creep in. That moment where you go from "infallible" to "hmm... can this keep going?" is when the bubble starts to burst. Panic can spread just as quickly or faster than the euphoria of a quick win.

Investors chickening out qualifies as fowl play in my book.

I invested quite a bit, now I have egg on my face.

Chicken-fowl, I see what you did there :). But no, chickening out will never fall under any definition of fowl play. This involves cheating, malice, breaking the rules, all premeditated perhaps. Playing it safe with your money? Definitely not.

*foul

Heh, I thought you're semi-yanking my chain for typing it wrong the first time :D. Well, too late to edit.

My conspiracy theory: Criminals have laundered all the money they needed to last christmas when the boom happened. Jobs done, time to go home. They bought a bunch of bitcoins from clueless techies using dirty money, the blogsphere amplified the news to the world, and the mob sold the bitcoins to a bunch of blue collar Joes who thought they'd get in on the next gold rush.

I'm not sure that job is ever "done".

I think a more likely story is a pump and dump by some large investors.

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