Bitcoin is on fire again

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lxskllr

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
57,505
7,699
126
ultimatebob said:
Do what I did... Convert it to BTC, withdraw it, and then buy something at one of those survival superstores that take BTC. I got a really cool flashlight that way.
Click to expand...

Some charities take bitcoin, and you can use it for digital services. $30 would get you a lot of vpn time.
 
C

Crono

Lifer
Aug 8, 2001
23,720
1,501
136
ultimatebob said:
Do what I did... Convert it to BTC, withdraw it, and then buy something at one of those survival superstores that take BTC. I got a really cool flashlight that way.
Click to expand...

lxskllr said:
Some charities take bitcoin, and you can use it for digital services. $30 would get you a lot of vpn time.
Click to expand...

Hmm, I'll check out what I can buy directly with bitcoin. Converted half my fortune to BTC, keeping the other half as LTC while I slowly churn out more.

Thanks!
 
Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
67,591
12,219
126
www.anyf.ca
Damnit, every time a bitcoin thread pops up it makes me tempted to get into mining.

http://avalon-asics.com/shop/?orderby=popularity&q=/shop/

The prices are actually not as bad as I figured. Of course now would not be the best time to buy.

Though some charge in regular dollars too:

https://products.butterflylabs.com/

Soooo temping. I need to read up way more on it though, and see how sustainable it is. I don't want to buy hardware that will be completely useless in a year from now.

Idealy I'd want rackmount modules though. Some of those look like they could easily be rackmounted or at least shoved in a rackmount case.
 
Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
67,591
12,219
126
www.anyf.ca
I don't know how businesses can take the risk of using a potential unstable currency, but I say all the power to them. A decentralized currency away from the claws of the government is a good thing, and I hope it continues to be good and does not flop.

The next step is widespread adoption of hyperboria or another similar network that everyone would have to agree on.
 
M

mizzou

Diamond Member
Jan 2, 2008
9,734
54
91
Red Squirrel said:
I don't know how businesses can take the risk of using a potential unstable currency, but I say all the power to them. A decentralized currency away from the claws of the government is a good thing, and I hope it continues to be good and does not flop.

The next step is widespread adoption of hyperboria or another similar network that everyone would have to agree on.
Click to expand...

isn't that the definition of "black market" though?
 
SaDiZTiKStyLeZ

SaDiZTiKStyLeZ

Lifer
Apr 12, 2010
10,587
10
0
I want to get into mining but my current pc's are old & sucky & I don't have the monies to invest in some decent hardware right now. :[
 
quakefiend420

quakefiend420

Lifer
Aug 26, 2004
14,685
1
76
I'm amazed at how much hate cryptocurrencies get around here, considering AT is a tech forum that's supposedly populated by forward-thinking, intelligent people.

Surely we, of all people, can see the utility in a currency that can be sent anywhere in the world nearly instantly for almost no cost. That can't be inflated or deflated based on the current political winds. That can't be forcibly taken away from you by a corrupt government.
 
Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
67,591
12,219
126
www.anyf.ca
Once I'm done my server room / upgrades I may consider looking at it. Some of the lower end ASICs are actually not that expensive. They also have some mining cards that look like video cards, but from what I'm reading they are actually USB, so I don't think they actually need to be on a motherboard (most motherboards can only take like 4 cards and even those are hard to find). Imagine putting like 10 of those in a 3U case. Now that would be nice density. Need some serious cooling though.
 
quakefiend420

quakefiend420

Lifer
Aug 26, 2004
14,685
1
76
Red Squirrel said:
Once I'm done my server room / upgrades I may consider looking at it. Some of the lower end ASICs are actually not that expensive. They also have some mining cards that look like video cards, but from what I'm reading they are actually USB, so I don't think they actually need to be on a motherboard (most motherboards can only take like 4 cards and even those are hard to find). Imagine putting like 10 of those in a 3U case. Now that would be nice density. Need some serious cooling though.
Click to expand...

I would probably get into Scrypt instead, if all you want is BTC, trade for BTC as soon as you get them. Or do what I've been doing, I've been mining LTC ten trading and getting into half BTC/keeping about 40% LTC/5% PPC/5% other random altcoins. The ROI is better upfront GPU mining Scrypt right now.
 
KlokWyze

KlokWyze

Diamond Member
Sep 7, 2006
4,451
9
81
www.dogsonacid.com
quakefiend420 said:
I'm amazed at how much hate cryptocurrencies get around here, considering AT is a tech forum that's supposedly populated by forward-thinking, intelligent people.

Surely we, of all people, can see the utility in a currency that can be sent anywhere in the world nearly instantly for almost no cost. That can't be inflated or deflated based on the current political winds. That can't be forcibly taken away from you by a corrupt government.
Click to expand...

Bitter people need to hate on something..... ANYTHING.

(TBH though, I'm fucking sick of bitcoin. :D )
 
I

Intabus

Junior Member
Jan 14, 2013
17
0
0
I always find it ironic when people complain about how "unreliable" bitcoin is. The only thing that gives any currency value is the fact that people believe it has value.
 
Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
67,591
12,219
126
www.anyf.ca
quakefiend420 said:
I would probably get into Scrypt instead, if all you want is BTC, trade for BTC as soon as you get them. Or do what I've been doing, I've been mining LTC ten trading and getting into half BTC/keeping about 40% LTC/5% PPC/5% other random altcoins. The ROI is better upfront GPU mining Scrypt right now.
Click to expand...

What is Scrypt, is this another currency? I'm getting lot of random stuff on google so not sure which one it is.

Another option I suppose is LTC as well, from what I gather that's designed in a way where GPU's are more future proof right?
 
A

Auric

Diamond Member
Oct 11, 1999
9,596
2
71
Mining with GPU was like printing your own lottery tickets but "investing" in specific hardware seems poor risk/reward (that is, buying it rather than selling it). If really believing in BTC's future then that implies an expectation of appreciation so may as well use the monies to buy them instead.
 
C

Crono

Lifer
Aug 8, 2001
23,720
1,501
136
Red Squirrel said:
What is Scrypt, is this another currency? I'm getting lot of random stuff on google so not sure which one it is.

Another option I suppose is LTC as well, from what I gather that's designed in a way where GPU's are more future proof right?
Click to expand...

Scrypt is an algorithm, one that is more computationally intensive, and it is one of the underlying differences between it and bitcoin (and a few other altcurrencies, apparently) which uses regular SHA-256. I won't pretend to understand the cryptographical details any further than that, but suffice it to say that litecoin deliberately demands more memory because of Scrypt, thus making it harder to mine with the typical FPGA/ASIC setups.

I'm assuming the profitability of bitcoin and the slow growth of litecoin value has made it not very lucrative or easy to make dedicated ASIC rigs for litecoin thus far since they would require a lot of cpu cache or RAM, but it looks like there are a few FPGA miners in the works or out already (don't know how many are "real", efficient, or shipping though). Even with regular GPUs it takes a few months to break even at current exchange rate, disregarding electricity cost.

I'm happy about that, it means I'm not tempted to mine on anything that isn't useful to me already for other reasons (the 7870 I'm mining with serves me well in my desktop regardless of whether I mine or not). Meanwhile bitcoin is a big arms race where the really successful people are the ones who got in early (almost like a pyramid scheme, or pump and dump) or have the means to get cheap electricity, decent cooling, and rack space to run large farms or mining operations (I get my metaphors confused).

Most of those setups or even smaller USB type miners are hard to repurpose for anything outside of similar crytpographical or distributed computing, so even if I'm earning peanuts during basically idle computer time, it makes more sense in my case to just stick with a traditional GPU rig or a few more in the future which can always be used as PCs or servers.
 
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John Connor

John Connor

Lifer
Nov 30, 2012
22,840
617
121
I just bought my first ASIC and want to get into Bitcoin mining. If you had around $1200 right now you could make $40 a day with an ASIC.
 
Doppel

Doppel

Lifer
Feb 5, 2011
13,306
3
0
ultimatebob said:
I'd be afraid to put real money in these foreign Bitcoin exchanges like Mt Gox or BTC-E. What is my recourse if they go bust or try to scam me out of my deposit?
Click to expand...
There is also the illegality of it. As far as I know, it's an investment that you should be declaring as such. I bet you 99% of these bitcoin fanboys are not declaring their gains, and thus are evading taxes. And only a patent fool thinks they are anonymous enough to ensure they can get away with it.
 
C

Crono

Lifer
Aug 8, 2001
23,720
1,501
136
Bitcoin back down to $165.5, with litecoin up to $2.38.

The fire is out for now. Hopefully we don't need a new thread every time this happens (someone remember to bump up this one - ATOT makes just as much sense for a bitcoin thread as Video Cards and Graphics).
 
Doppel

Doppel

Lifer
Feb 5, 2011
13,306
3
0
John Connor said:
I just bought my first ASIC and want to get into Bitcoin mining. If you had around $1200 right now you could make $40 a day with an ASIC.
Click to expand...

Math?

You can double your money every 30 days? Gonna be worth $1.2M 10 months from now?
 
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