Bitcoins, anyone buying?

[gunworks321]

So...if gold and silver are also "worthless," what do you consider currency?

I know, I know! Ammunition!

 

[sgtonory]

I like bitcoin. I trust it more than i do Federal Reserve Notes. There is a set limit on the number of bitcoin's unlike the Dollar that has be inflated. We have lost 97% of the value of a dollar and it is not backed by anything of tangible value. Bitcoin can not be controlled because there is no central power over it. Hard to grow a tyrannical government when you dont control the creation of money. The sooner something like bitcoin takes over and the dollar is gone the sooner we will have no or very limited government.

 

[HeadlessRoland]

I know, I know! Ammunition!

"Gump! How did you put that together so fast?!"

"Because you told me to, Drill Sergeant!"

 

[hoosierdoc]

Digital currency Bitcoin surges through $200 mark - The Globe and Mail

Quite a run recently.

 

[VikingWarlord]

couple thoughts

you really think it would change anything? as soon as the powers that be see the trend they'll snatch up vast holdings of it. its no different than any other currency. which one holds the most value, they will hold.

if it gains traction, soon there will be regulation and government involvement.
no. ill continue to practice financial diversity. while some goes into stocks, some goes into things. things are a great investment, as long as it is things that retain value. guns, for instance, tools, anything that is a GOOD well made product that will have a lifetime of service, and can be USED.

This isn't really possible, given the decentralized nature of the BitCoin. The supply is strictly controlled and the current model is that it isn't really possible for anyone to just jump in and take it over.

There aren't any BitCoins just hanging out there. Creation of new coins is done by "mining" them. There are specialized computer rigs being built (Butterfly Labs) that are dedicated to mining BitCoins. However, the creation isn't linear, in that each block that's mined won't always be the same size. As more are in circulation, the mined blocks get progressively smaller to hedge against inflation.

It's a really cool model. Not sure how it's going to play out but the theory is very interesting.

 

[bigretic]

Interestingly, I just ran across a "miner" last week. I am familiar with bit coins and the other newer spin off.
Can you make money (real money) - yes.
You are essentially off-shoring processor (graphics card) time at your location in exchange for the coins. Like anything, the time to get in was when they were pennies, not now, but still, it is a workable endeavor.
To the point, this kid has an apt. with a bakers rack full of bare mother boards each with 4 dual pci whatever gpu's on them.
He has about $6k in hardware invested.
The cycles on the cards are earning him about $1400 a month and he has long already recovered his ROI on the equipment. As college kid, he is living rent free with $ in his pocket, plus a real job. Plus, there's no heating bill, cuz the damn place is like 80 all the time due to all the crap running. He even has the circuit for the electric stove bypassed to the stuff because of the huge draw. And yes, he accounts for the electric bill in the figuring of his net profit, it is by far the biggest overhead expense along with the internet connection.
all in all, pretty interesting.

 

[hoosierdoc]

But what is the point of all the CPU cycles? Is It the digital equivalent of moving dirt just to do it?

 

[Firebug]

I personally don't trust anything that's not a hard currency.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

I personally don't trust anything that's not a hard currency.

So, only U.S. Dollars for you? Where do you put those U.S. Dollars then?

Bitcoins remind me of the Euro craze 12 years ago. If you are doing Bitcoin, know when to get out!

 

[cooltools]

I heard $100 invested in Bitcoin not to long ago is now work $1 million, cyber bucks of course.

 

[bigretic]

But what is the point of all the CPU cycles? Is It the digital equivalent of moving dirt just to do it?

To my understanding it works the same way as the old SETI environment except you are getting paid.
If you are not familiar, SETI had (probably still does) a program you load on your computer and if your pc is idle, it starts crunching data from all the sound waves and crap from space that SETI collects looking for ET's.
You get "bragging rights" for the most cycles or data processed, but no compensation, it's all volunteer. As for who is using the cycles from the bit coins, I forget what the kid told me. but they are doing work for somebody. very "crowd source" in nature. like a super computer lease.

 

[hoosierdoc]

I get the crowd sourcing. The description I saw said it takes complex computer calculations and processes to mine one but didn't say what the point of all that was.

So they are renting your CPU cycles and paying you with a fake currency. Brilliant!

 

[Fletch]

Seems like a good place for this...

The Money-ness of Bitcoins - Nikolay Gertchev - Mises Daily

Bitcoin: Money of the Future or Old-Fashioned Bubble? - Patrik Korda - Mises Daily

 

[kiddchaos]

You may be an unknown miner if malware is installed on your computer.
Malware turns hacked computers into slaves that “mine” new digital currency – Quartz

And here's a high tech bank robbery:
Hacker steals $250k in Bitcoins from online exchange Bitfloor | Ars Technica

But I like that it thumbs its nose at any real govt, for now.

 

[bigretic]

I get the crowd sourcing. The description I saw said it takes complex computer calculations and processes to mine one but didn't say what the point of all that was.

So they are renting your CPU cycles and paying you with a fake currency. Brilliant!

yup, but there are ways to turn them in for real cash.

 

[VikingWarlord]

I get the crowd sourcing. The description I saw said it takes complex computer calculations and processes to mine one but didn't say what the point of all that was.

So they are renting your CPU cycles and paying you with a fake currency. Brilliant!

If by "fake", you mean that it's not tangible, then it's no different than stocks or the majority of the world's money supply. You can sell your coins on decentralized exchanges for a dollar value. They follow market principles to set the exchange rate. Anything is worth something if someone else is willing to trade you something you value for it.

Mining is done by processing blocks of transactions that have already occurred. Each transaction gets a hash and the processing is a verification of that hash. Once each block is verified, it's considered "solved" and a new block of coins is generated. The most basic way to put it is validating cryptologic keys.

Here is the original whitepaper on the specification if anyone wants to read it but, beware, it's got some really high level nerd **** going on.

http://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

 

[1775usmarine]

Imagine if you will a massive blackout or technology crashes and we are left in the stone age. I bet these people would of wished they had something tangible.

 

[VikingWarlord]

Imagine if you will a massive blackout or technology crashes and we are left in the stone age. I bet these people would of wished they had something tangible.

It would have to be global, since it's completely decentralized. It also wouldn't be any different than anyone who has money in a bank. There is zero practical difference between people investing in BitCoins and people investing in the stock market or even having a savings account. That money doesn't actually exist either.

The chances of an event so catastrophic that it would wipe out all data on the planet is so small that worrying about it is completely myopic.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Wow, is there a way to "sell short" a bitcoin? Over $250 today.

 

[smokingman]

Bitcoins crashed over 50% in 4 hours today.I will stick with gold and silver I can hold in my hand and have physical possession of.

BitCrash Continues: Down 40% And Dumping | Zero Hedge

Still going down by the way.The rumor is hackers bid up the price over the last week then crashed the exchanges and caused panic selling so they could buy bitcoins back cheap.Either way I would not really consider bitcoins money.